Posts on ‘March 14th, 2009’

According to a press release by the EPHL, the Brooklyn Aces have signed goaltender Anthony Felice as an emergency backup for tonight’s game against the Hudson Valley Bears, replacing Eddie Neville, who suffered a strained back and neck yesterday in the team’s 6-3 win over the New Jersey Rockhoppers.

In one prior appearance with Brooklyn this season, also against the Bears, Felice made two saves on three shots in 10 minutes of action.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

According to a source in the Brooklyn Aces organization, Aces goaltender Eddie Neville, who was rushed to the hospital after being rammed into the goalpost during last night’s 6-3 win over the New Jersey Rockhoppers, has left the hospital and is resting comfortably at home.

According to the source, he suffered a strained neck and back. However, it is still unknown when he’ll be back in net for the Aces.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Well, the wait is over. The conspiracy theorists and down-right pessimistic hockey fans on the message boards all over the Internet and just plain scared Brooklyn Aces fans can take a breath.

The Brooklyn Aces are the EPHL regular season champions.

But what does that mean for today’s game against the Hudson Valley Bears, a team that has been playing spoiler for the past month and a half when they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention?

Anyone in the league that knows what they’re talking about will tell you that despite the fact that Hudson Valley have had trouble winning this season, they play hard every game. Full of part-time players that cannot dedicate time to practice during the week, the Bears make the most of what they have, but it’s often just not good enough. Nevertheless, they don’t give up and because of that, they have sent numerous players to the ECHL and AHL this season.

“I don’t quite know,” the Aces head coach said after last night’s game with New Jersey. “It wouldn’t be right for me to say because I’m not a doctor, but what I do know is that he just got out of the CAT scan. I also know that I saw him move his fingers and his extremities, so I think he was very fortunate. I hope to god he’s going to be OK; he hit his neck and his shoulder and he’s bruised pretty badly. Again, like I said, I’m not a doctor, but we’re all pretty optimistic that he’s going to be OK and that we’ll see him back here once he’s healed up.

“I think right now they’re just checking for a possible concussion and any spinal chord injury. Taking him off the ice on the stretcher was a precautionary measure. He was moving his hands and feet at that point, so it’s a good sign.”

Despite going 6-3-1 over their last 10 games, the Brooklyn Aces play hasn’t been at the same level of the New Jersey Rockhoppers during that span. Last Friday, Aces head coach Chris Firriolo went as far to say he thought he team was currently the third best in the EPHL.

Last night was a different story however, as the Aces played one of their best games in recent memory getting plenty of offense and defeating the second-place Rockhoppers 6-3.

“We did a lot of work on our non-aggressive forecheck this week and it paid off tonight,” said Aces captain Rob Miller, who had three assists on the night. “It wasn’t a few weeks ago and now it looks like we’re fine-tuning it.”