The Brooklyn Aces may have only nine combined losses in 35 games this season, but five of them have come at the hands of the New Jersey Rockhoppers, a team that many feel is comparable to them in more ways than one.
Sure, they don’t have the offense on the blue line that Brooklyn has, especially with the addition of Andrew Scampoli, who rejoins the Aces after spending the past few months, but they have an equally as dangerous and deep offense and a more than capable goaltender.
However, this time around, the Rockhoppers will find themselves in unknown waters. Leading scorer Chris Ferazzoli was recalled to Cincinnati of the EPHL during the week, forcing his team to play without him for the first time this season. Relatively injury free all season, it’ll be interesting to see how well the Rockhoppers perform without their primary offensive catalyst.
The Aces on the other hand, in addition to getting the slick skating Scampoli back today, will also have Tony Resendes and Vladislav Kouroedov ready to go, which should go a long way in helping revitalize the team’s struggling offense. Added names on the lineup card alone will not be enough to defeat New Jersey though. After Sunday’s 5-3 loss, the Aces will have to do a better job of finishing and while the returning duo of Scampoli and Resendes and the addition of Kouroedov will help in that process, players like Kyle McCullough and C.J. Tozzo, who have been stellar offensively all season, will have to continue to their solid play.
The way Jersey goaltender Nick Niedert played against them last week however, making 39 saves, the Aces will need more than Tozzo and McCullough firing on all cylinders and will need to produce with the man advantage. If they can, New Jersey will have their hands full defending against the revamped Aces offense. If not, expect another tight game that’ll go down to the last minute of play.
There’s a reason why both of these teams have a combined 19 losses in 71 games this season and because of that and the moves both teams have made over the past few days, the rivalry between these two teams [which still pales in comparison to the one between the Aces and Danbury Mad Hatters] is surely to get much more intense before the season is over.
It all starts again tonight.
Photos by Patrick Hickey Jr.
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on Jul 6th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I am new here in this site. But i will be visiting this site
time and again. this article is so interesting. One of the
most interesting analysis on network effect. Great job
buddy.