Aces Memories: The Brannigan’s Magical Weekend

As far as I know, as of today, Bobby and James Brannigan are the only brothers to play in the EPHL.

They also share the distinction of being the only brothers to play on the same team.

A far cry from the Sutter’s or the Staal’s however, these two still have college hockey experience under their belts and have both made it to the pros, albeit in two totally different ways.

In spite of being six years younger than his brother, James was a member of a Colorado College team that reached the frozen four. Even before this season, he had a cup of coffee in the ECHL with the Augusta Lynx and the Columbus Inferno. This past season, he was also easily the best pure goal scorer in the league, scoring 22 goals in just 17 games, before spending the rest of the season with the Utah Grizzlies.

Bobby, the elder of the two, played his college hockey at Fredonia before hitting the work force and putting his dreams of playing pro hockey on hold.

On Dec. 27, 2008 however, none of that mattered though as the Aces, who were dealing with injuries, signed BB to a contract. It was doubtful how much he was going to play at first, but at least they were together at the professional level, right?

For that night and the next, the Brannigan boys shared the same sheet of ice, as teammates.

However, the first night was one that didn’t sit too well with Big Bobby.

On his first professional shift, Bobby was on the ice for an Igor Karlov goal that gave the Danbury Mad Hatters a first period lead. To my best recollection, he didn’t get another shift the rest of the game. Getting the opportunity to play with his kid brother, who ironically got the game-winning goal that night was a once in a lifetime experience that washed away any bad feelings he may have had about his own performance.

“I always wanted to play pro hockey with my brother,” the 30-year-old Brannigan said that day. “In all the years that we’ve played, we’ve never played together. It was a lot of fun.”

The next game, against the Hudson Valley Bears, the very next day, Bobby earned a huge personal victory and scored his first professional goal, making the Brannigan’s the only brothers to hit the back of the net in the EPHL’s short history.

The fun was over soon after though, as in an even more bizarre turn of events, the game against Hudson Valley ended up being the last one both of the Brannigan’s played for the Aces as Bobby was released soon afterwards and James was called up the next day to Utah, where he spent the rest of the season.

Nevertheless, in spite of the small amount of time they both spent with the Aces, the ride was a fun one.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

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