Aces Over Brooklyn: Independent Brooklyn Aces Coverage

It’s not NEPHL-related, but I figured I’d share this with you guys, since you are hockey fans. Why else would you be on this site then?

Enjoy!

http://reviewfix.com/2009/08/relive-the-isles-glory-days-in-standard-definition/

Special thanks to John Landers for working on this, especially after we were both getting conflicting reports there for a while. Two heads are always better than one if you ask me.

Team 1- Kingston RI playing @ University of Rhode Island. This team will be called the Storm.
 
Team 2- Fitchburg, MA playing @ Fitchburg Civic Center. This team will be called the Yeti. [Looking forward to seeing a logo for these guys.]
 
Team 3- Salem, NH  playing @ Salem Ice Center. This team will be called the Phantoms.
 
Team 4- Saugus, MA playing @ Kasabuski Arena. This team will be called the Wings.

No word yet on Danbury and Brooklyn.

According to writer John Landers, and confirmed by an anonymous source with a knowledge of the situation, a team from Brooklyn is extremely close to joining the new NEPHL.

From what is known, Aces owner Alan Friedman is not heading the new team and the new potential owner could not be confirmed.

As well, a team from Danbury is close to joining the league as well, possibly giving the NEPHL six teams.

Check the site again tomorrow for more information.

Still no calls from any of my sources in the EPHL.

But according to John Landers, who writes for Stan “The Maven” Fischler’s newsletter, here’s a list of the teams in the new NEPHL:

Kingston, RI playing @ University of Rhode Island
 
Fitchburg, MA playing @ Fitchburg Civic Center
 
Salem, NH  playing @ Salem Ice Center
 
Saugus, MA playing @ Kasabuski Arena
 
90% chance of the 5th franchise being
 
Danbury, CT playing @ Danbury Arena.

Also, another very interesting sidenote.
 
“Absolutely no owners from the EPHL are involved in this league on any level,” according to Pat Lovett, NEPHL Commissioner.

The way it looks right now, hockey in Brooklyn, for the near-future, is all but dead.

The league’s website and the Aces website, in the addition to all of the teams that were in the EPHL last season, now have no representation on the web. Still no answers on the record for any of this.

Truly a dark day for Brooklyn Aces fans.

Read the Press Release Here @

http://nephl.423942.free-press-release.com/

The News Times reported two days ago that Jim Riggs, the then commissioner of the EPHL has left the league to take on a position as the executive vice president of the Quad City (Ill.) Mallards of the International Hockey League.

You can read the story here:

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_12805142

Editor’s Note:

It’s quite ironic that I’m watching “Slapshot” as I write this. What does this news mean for the future of the EPHL? The Brooklyn Aces? I haven’t been able to get a comment on the record about anything of real importance in over a month from anyone involved in the league, which isn’t exactly strengthening many peoples thoughts on what the future holds for the league and hockey in Brooklyn as we know it.

The second I find out something that I can record ethically, it’ll be on the site.

Saying that last season was a tough one to swallow for Rob Miller would be an understatement.

After the New Hampshire Freeze, the team Miller was supposed to coach, folded, the 30-year-old came out of retirement to play defense for the Brooklyn Aces. Just when things looked to be going his way, Miller suffered a broken hand after a vicious slash by Hudson Valley Bears forward Tom Westfall.

Over the next two and a half months, Miller served as the Aces assistant coach, before coming back to the team for their playoff push. In spite of playing some of the best hockey of his pro career during that stretch and earned player of the week honors for the last week of the season. The team couldn’t hold off the surging Jersey Rockhoppers in spite of having their hard-nosed captain back however and lost an EPHL championship that many felt they owned since the first week of the season.

Sorry for the lack of content lately guys, between writing for my new site, ReviewFix.com, teaching and the NBA and NHL drafts, I’ve been hard pressed for time.

However, the next few weeks will be good ones on the site as I still have to finish up the rest of my Rob Miller piece and I have interviews this week with former Aces BJ Kuper, Eric Frank and Aces head coach Chris Firriolo.

There are also a myriad of rumors circulating around the Internet in regards to where the Aces are playing next season and how the expansion process is coming along. Hopefully, through these interviews over the next few weeks, the answers to those questions will be apparent ones.

Here is the final part of the nearly half-hour Q & A done with Riggs on June 1.

Aces Over Brooklyn: What are looking forward to doing in year two?

Jim Riggs: There’s work to be done, there’s no mistaking that. The sooner we can announce these teams, then we have July and August to sell the product and the players that played last season will know that things are stable and they’ll come back as well. They are our best recruiting tool. When they go back home, if they had a good experience and I would hope the Brooklyn and New Jersey players had a good experience, certainly the way the playoffs went, they’re going to tell people that we’re a decent place to play. We’re telling the people in New England that there are a lot of players from that area and if they don’t make the American Hockey League and the ECHL, what are they doing right now? They’re probably going to start a full-time job. We think we can offer the same type of situation that Brian Gratz and Chris Firriolo did recruiting players from the area that will be more than happy to play because their friends and family are in the area. We also know that there are scouts at our games last year.