Thank You

I still remember the day in June when I found out that a professional hockey team was coming to Brooklyn. I was at Keyspan Park, covering the Cyclones, three hours early as usual, working on a story and watching batting practice, when I got an e-mail from a buddy of mine telling me the news.

Aside from being completely overjoyed as a lifelong hockey fan, I knew I had a chance to do something very special.

I soon after spoke to my editor and publisher for the two websites and newspapers I do most of my writing for and was assured I had the beat. However, by early October, for reasons that I’d like to not get into, both of the publications I wrote for felt it would be best if they didn’t cover the team at all or at a pace that to me, wasn’t going to be worth my time.

Well, having already blogged about the New York Islanders for two seasons and having covered the Brooklyn Cyclones for three, plus covering the Rangers and Devils in addition to the Isles at times during that span, I knew that I could handle the web stuff that bogs down most writers, taking pictures and the actual writing itself.

So on October 4, 2009, this site was born and in all honesty, it’s become almost like a child to me. Sure, it’s plain and it doesn’t load very quickly if you don’t have a DSL modem, but it’s the only place in the world where you can get up to date information on the team. The fact that people came to my site to read articles they couldn’t find anywhere else, means a lot to me.

It didn’t start out that way though as after the team’s first home game of the season, I was waiting for the Q35 bus outside Aviator, not knowing that it came every 45 minutes to an hour that late at night. Freezing my tail off, I went to stand behind a tree to stay warm, when I stepped on someone’s arm.

Yes someone’s arm.

So here I am, standing over a homeless man sleeping behind the tree next to the bus stop. At the time, I figured the guy was dead, so I called 911. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, my bus arrived and I was forced to make a decision. Being the young and upstanding Republican I am [wink], I waited for the ambulance to come. Once it did, along with police, I was happy and shocked at the same time. Once the police pointed a flashlight in his face, he rolled over on to his back and said, “My arm hurts.”

Well yeah dude, I stepped on it.

I ended up getting home around 2:30 A.M. and then had to finish my story.

After I finished, I remember looking at my cat and asking her if she wanted to switch day jobs with me.

Unfortunately, being so tired at the time, I forgot that felines usually don’t speak.

At that point, I knew this season was going to be an adventure.

In the end, I wasn’t let down in the least.

From watching James Brannigan break a water main after one of his shots hit the post in pregame warm-ups to seeing the exploits of guys like C.J. Tozzo, Kyle McCullough, Doug Hoffman, Mike Christensen, Jesse Felten, Tony Resendes, Eric Frank and who could forget, Mike Geoffrion, this was a season I am not to forget anytime soon.

However, this site has allowed me to do so much more than just provide up to date information on the Aces. As an Adjunct Lecturer in English and Journalism at Kingsborough Community College, this site has allowed me to give my students a place where they could showcase their work. While only two of them ended up making the cut, the fact that they will always remember the first place they got published was on AcesOverBrooklyn.com will always make me smile. It’s also allowed me to help out some of the kids at the school’s radio station, WKRB and give them insight into the team on one of their radio shows, Hockey Night in Brooklyn.

Over the course of the season, I’ve also met so many great people. Tom Willms, who not only does a great job calling games over at IYMSportsRadio.com, but he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met in the four and a half years I’ve been writing [Thanks for all the Gatorade's in the playoffs!]. The same goes for Bill Thebert over at EPHLFanZone.com, who is not only an excellent photographer, but is genuinely kind and extremely hilarious. John Landers, who works for “The Maven” Stan Fischler is another good guy that knows the game and is always a good guy to shoot the breeze with.

The same goes for all the people who worked for the league like Kristin Frascelli, who worked the scorers table during Aces games and of course Ryan Wegs, who in addition to having an excellent singing voice [Anyone who heard him sing the National Anthem before game three knows exactly what I'm talking about.] is easily the hardest working guy in the EPHL.

In spite of that though, if it wasn’t for Aces head coach Chris Firriolo, things would have been so much tougher for me this season. Simply put, the guy made sure all of his players were always available to me and went out of his way to make sure I had what I needed before I left the rink. In my travels, I have never found a coach at the professional level that was that available to the press.

Thanks coach.

The same thing goes for Aces equipment manager Dan Barry and captain Rob Miller. These two guys were always willing to go out of their way and let me ask them questions. Miller was even willing to come to my Journalism class and let 25 journalism students, mostly women, who had never watched a hockey game in their lives, interview him. That my friends, takes more guts than getting in front of a Chris Holmes slapshot.

All in all, I can say that every member of the 2008-09 Aces was a decent guy that never made my life difficult.

As a matter of fact, I think this team ranks as one of the best I’ve ever covered in terms of letting me tell their story.

Most of all though, I want to thank all of you, my readers. Regardless of how often you read this season, just the fact that you clicked on my work, helped me put food on the table for my family and helped me realize how important this site is to the fans that love this team.

Thank you all.

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