Aces Owner Discusses Season With AOB- Part One

After losing in the EPHL finals in March, many have been wondering what the Brooklyn Aces will do in the upcoming season to make sure that they make sure they have the pieces necessary to contend for a championship again. Chatting via telephone with Aces owner Alan Friedman answers several questions about his team’s play this season.

Aces Over Brooklyn: The team ended the season in a somewhat disappointing fashion. It must have been rough. What did you do to deal with it?

Alan Friedman: With what happened in the playoffs and not being able to score on 18 powerplays approximately, we sat down with our coaching staff and decided which direction we wanted to take the team so we can become a powerful, higher-scoring team.

AOB: You just mentioned that you want the team next season to be better offensively, but they were the best team in the league this past season in that regards. Were you more specifically talking about the team’s special teams play?

Friedman: Yes, we’d really like to improve our special teams. In the playoffs, there were times where I think we would have liked to decline some of those powerplays. When we were shorthanded, we played great and we dug down deep. But when we were on the powerplay, I felt like I was watching the New York Rangers. We just couldn’t buy a goal.

AOB: Is there anything else you’d like to do with next season’s team?

Friedman: I want to have a more physical team as well. If you have all goal scorers on your team, you’re not going to win; you need guys that can pass them the puck. We’re trying to put a team together that can do a bunch of different things and be as well-rounded as possible.

AOB: I spoke to Aces forward Chris Holmes last week and he thought one of the bigger problems on the team was that they had too much talent and not enough role players. He also felt the team needed someone like Chad Wilcox in the playoffs. How do you feel about that?

Friedman: That’s an interesting concept. I’m sure if you spoke to all 17 to 20 players on the team that they’d give you a different answer to that. I felt that they had leadership going in, but things just didn’t click. There were just so many variables going into the playoffs. I felt like karma really wasn’t on our side. I felt that we weren’t on a roll going into the playoffs and that played a huge part in how we played.

AOB: Speaking of karma, do you feel the work of referee Mike Geoffrion in game two of the EPHL finals played a role in the team’s demise?

Friedman: I can’t comment about the way the game was officiated. All I can say about that is that we were on a major roll before we committed several bad penalties. However, what I can say is this- for 50 games, we were the best team in the league and whenever someone came into Aviator, they knew that had to bring their best. As far as I’m concerned, despite the fact that we lost, we still had a successful season.

Photos by Patrick Hickey Jr.

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