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.
Because of that mindset, the Bears are a great team for the Aces to continue to develop their new forecheck against. While the Aces were powered by an amazing offense and excellent goaltending through their early season success, their game against the New Jersey Rockhoppers proved that they will have to be solid on defense and continue to pressure the puck if they want to induce scoring opportunities and win in the post-season.
Simply put, the speedsters on Brooklyn like B.J. Kuper, Jesse Felten and Tony Resendes were at the top of their games defensively last night, challenging the puck carriers in their own end and giving their teammates and themselves plenty of high percentage scoring opportunities. If they can do that again tonight, expect double-digit goals for Brooklyn.
While the forecheck was stellar last night, the Aces were tougher than usual as well. That had a lot to to do with the physical play of Rob Miller and Chris Robinson, but more to do with Joe Pelle, who in about nine minutes of ice time, was wreaking havoc, doing everything from taunting the Rockhoppers verbally to spraying ice on New Jersey goaltender Nick Niedert in between whistles.
Despite the fact that Pelle won’t be in the lineup tonight, because he too is a part-time player and a full-time college student that lives in Philadelphia, the momentum he’s created should play a very big part in today’s game as well.
Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.
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