Posts under ‘Pregame Thoughts’

The Brooklyn Aces may have a point when they say referee Mike Geoffrion made several crucial mistakes in his officiating of the game last night, but let’s face it: referees do not play goaltender and defense.

After the game got sorted out last night, the Aces were a different club and weren’t forechecking the way they were earlier in the game.  Jersey’s fourth goal, scored by Matt Tyree, was a weak wrister that seemed to have changed direction, but compared to the other goals Jersey has scored in the series, it was by far the weakest one. The Brooklyn defense also allowed Tyree to get a decent enough shot on Eddie Neville and possibly even got in his line of sight, something that wasn’t happening through the game’s first 40 minutes.

With his grandmother in the hospital following heart surgery yesterday, Brooklyn Aces goaltender played perhaps the best game of his professional career, making 35 saves in the biggest win of the Aces franchise.

If the Aces are to win again tonight and claim the EPHL championship, Neville will be asked to rise to the occasion once again.

“Eddie was the man tonight,” said Aces head coach Chris Firriolo after last night’s game. “New Jersey was dynamite tonight and made him work. It was one of the top three hockey games I’ve been a part of in the 14-years I’ve been involved in this sport. Neville was phenomenal.”

Speaking of phenomenal, the Aces “Red Line” of “Super” B.J. Kuper, Jesse Felten and Andrew Scampoli were also a big part of the team’s success, as they were aggressive on the forecheck, in the corners and weren’t scared to take shots on net. Of the Aces three forward lines, the Red Line produced 12 of the team’s 37 shots and drew several penalties with their hard work.

After last night’s disappointing loss to the Danbury Mad Hatters, the Brooklyn Aces have one thing in mind today:

Defeating the New Jersey Rockhoppers.

That may come to the surprise to some of the conspiracy theorists out there that feel that this is a meaningless game for Brooklyn and they won’t give their all, especially with former Ranger sniper Ron Duguay in the lineup.

Quite the contrary, actually.

Not playing the same dominating hockey against both the Rockhoppers and Danbury over the past month, Brooklyn will look to go out with a bang in the regular season and do not see Duguay as a distraction at all.

“It’s going to be fun having him here,” said Aces forward Jesse Felten after last night’s loss. “We still know what we have to do tomorrow though. We want to beat those guys.”

The heated rivalry between the Danbury Mad Hatters and Brooklyn Aces will reach its climax on Friday when the two teams face-off today at Aviator.

Forget the fact that the Hatters were eliminated from post-season play after New Jersey defeated the Bears in overtime last night. [EDIT 11:09- Danbury will be eliminated with a loss tonight or a New Jersey win on Saturday. My apologies. With some of these games canceled, it's become a rough to know how many games are actually left in the season.]

Something much bigger is at stake here.

Pride.

Always a heated contest, Brooklyn will nevertheless look to continue to fine tune their non-aggressive forecheck and play smart puck pursuit hockey. If they can, Danbury will have no problem rubbing shoulders, which should make for an excellent hockey game from start to finish.

With their last game of the season against the New Jersey Rockhoppers on Saturday, the Aces will also use this game to see what line combinations they’ll end up using during the post-season.

With four games remaining and a playoff birth and first place finish already in the bag, some would question how important this game is for the Brooklyn Aces.

However, after the team’s 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Rockhoppers, expect Brooklyn to get back on track against the last-place Hudson Valley Bears.

The game can also end up being a pivotal one for two Aces in particular, as both of the team’s assistant captains, C.J. Tozzo and Kyle McCullough, currently find themselves with 90 points. While it’s obvious they won’t both score 10 points tonight, great games against Hudson Valley could play a huge factor in the duo being the first two players in league history to get to 100 points.

While Tozzo has put winning ahead of any personal goals, he did say it was something that has crossed his mind.

With two wins in their last two games, the Brooklyn Aces have seemingly put their struggles over the past month behind them and are looking increasingly ready for the playoffs.

That makes today’s game with the New Jersey Rockhoppers an incredibly interesting one, even though there’s no telling who the Aces will play in the post-season as of yet.

Currently only two points separate the Danbury Mad Hatters and New Jersey with both teams having only five games left to play. If you ask most fans in the league, they probably feel a series between the Aces and Mad Hatters would be great, as both teams aren’t on the friendliest terms with one another, making for a physical and emotional series. However, New Jersey is the better team of the two and if they would play Brooklyn, the quality of the games would be better than if Danbury reached the post-season.

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.

With only seven games and two weeks left this season, the Brooklyn Aces will look to get back on track against the New Jersey Rockhoppers tonight at Aviator Arena.

Despite the fact that the rivalry between these two teams pales in comparison to that between the Aces and Mad Hatters, this match-up will pit the two top offenses in league against one another.

However, the game will have a heavy focus on the defensive side of the puck as well, as regardless of who is in net for Brooklyn, expect a top-notch battle between the pipes as both Miro Recicar, Eddie Neville and New Jersey’s Nick Niedert have played stellar hockey all season.

With that being said, expect a tight game from start to finish that will be decided by how well each team recovers from their mistakes. Earlier in the season, the Aces offense and goaltending covered for many of their breakdowns, but as of late, they’ve come back down to earth. Despite playing spirited hockey against Danbury last Friday and generating plenty of shots, turnovers in the neutral zone and a bad decision with the puck by Neville in the first period ended up leading to their demise.

If any team needed a game against the Hudson Valley Bears right now, it would be the Brooklyn Aces.

Despite having a 10-point lead over the New Jersey Rockhoppers for the top spot in the EPHL, Brooklyn has been unable to muster offense against them and their arch rivals the Danbury Mad Hatters.

Scoring 14 goals in their last two games against Hudson Valley, look for the Aces to take out their frustration on the last place Bears today.

However, expect a few other things as well.

Over the past few games, the Aces offense has been struggling to get goals. This has stemmed from the defense’s inability to take shots from the point that forwards can control from the rebound or while in traffic in front of the net. Unable to get a forward in front of the net, the Aces have seriously limited their defense’s ability to produce offensively. It’s something that Aces head coach Chris Firriolo wants to see more of, so expect it to be implemented and experimented with more today.

During last night’s heart-breaking loss to the Danbury Mad Hatters, the Brooklyn Aces offense failed to convert on 35 shots and five powerplay opportunities, wasting a solid 37-save effort from Eddie Neville.

You wouldn’t expect the team with the best offense in the league all season to have problems scoring, but that’s exactly the case with the Aces lately whenever they play the Hatters or the New Jersey Rockhoppers, the two very teams that are vying for the playoff spot to meet Brooklyn in the post-season.

With only nine games left, the Aces is concerned, but feel they can turn it around.

“We have to snap out of it; I know we can. We can turn it around,” said Miller. “Hopefully, it’s like a light switch.”