Posts Tagged ‘Brannigan’

It’s safe to say that the discussion of whether or not this team can win and win big without sniper James Brannigan in the lineup is over.

The answer is a profound yes on both parts.

After defeating the Bears 10-5 on Sunday, Brooklyn got key contributions from a slew of players including B.J. Kuper, Jesse Felten, Mike Christensen, Eric Frank and new addition Gabe Yeung, all of whom had at least had three points.

While Christensen has proven himself as an offensive force over the past ten games, Felten, Kuper and Frank have come around offensively over the past handful of games as well, making themselves viable options on the ice and giving the Aces the offensive depth needed to win hockey games by wide margins. Garnering player of the week honors last week for scoring three goals and adding three helpers, Felten is beginning to prove that he can in fact be the point a game player he and Aces head coach Chris Firriolo envisioned he’d be before the season began.

Leading the EPHL with 25 assists, Kyle McCollaugh has proved on countless occasions this season what a talented passer he is. Last night against the Hudson Valley Bears, McCollaugh lit the lamp twice in a 7-4 Brooklyn Aces win, proving he isn’t too bad a shooter either.

The Aces started off quickly in the first, getting goals from McCollaugh, James Brannigan and the still white-hot Mike Christensen, giving them a 3-0 lead after one period of play.

Hudson Valley was far from finished for the night however. A goal by defenseman Chris Clark cut the Brooklyn lead to 3-1 at 5:33. The Aces bounced right back after recent addition Bobby Brannigan, the brother of the Aces and EPHL’s leading scorer, netted his first professional goal just 1:36 later to make it a three-goal game again. Tallies by Dan Malloy and Mark Lebenns [who some may remember was a training camp invitee of the Aces this season] cut the Brooklyn lead to 4-3.

Over the past week, the Brooklyn Aces have proved they can play just as gritty as the Danbury Mad Hatters, despite being out-sized and out-manned.

This afternoon, they did it again, but it wasn’t pretty.

Both teams fought hard all game long, combining for 44 penalty minutes, but it was the Aces who ended up prevailing in a 3-1 win, thanks in part to a solid defensive effort, quality goaltending and of course, timely offense.

“Today, we were very consistent,” said Aces head coach Chris Firriolo. “We battled through a lot last night and showed a lot of character and to do what we did today was very impressive. We’re starting to gel and play better defense.”

Miro Recicar made his first appearance for Brooklyn since Dec. 6, after a stint with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL and dealing with an injured ankle afterwards. Shaky at the start, Recicar gave up an Igor Karlov tally at 4:59 that put Danbury ahead 1-0.

After going 10-1 through their first 11 games this season, not many expected the Brooklyn Aces to go on a losing streak.

However, following an overtime loss to New Jersey and a tough loss to a gritty Danbury team on Thursday, the Aces find themselves in unfamiliar waters.

Add in injuries to assistant captain Rob Miller and speedster Tony Resendes and it’s obvious that the Aces have hit their lowest point of the young season. Nevertheless, the team has shown a camaraderie and togetherness that looks like it will help them weather through the storm.

In spite of the loss, the Aces still have the top line in the league with James Brannigan, C.J. Tozzo and Kyle McCollaugh and a host of other players who can put the puck in the net.

The problem right now isn’t so much with the Aces offense as much it is the team’s defense.

Before last night’s game with New Jersey, Rockhoppers goaltender Nick Niedert was the only goaltender to beat the Brooklyn Aces this season.

Today, he’s the only one to do so, twice.

Making 40 saves, Niedert proved why he was called up to ECHL a few weeks ago and then some, standing on his head and leading New Jersey to a 5-4 overtime win over the Brooklyn Aces.

After the team’s whopping 11-3 win over Hudson Valley on Friday, various members of the organization were concerned how the team was going to respond against a much better team in the Rockhoppers. Also, without James Brannigan [team suspension] and Rob Miller [injured reserve] the Aces couldn’t afford to fall behind early. Goals by Anthony Becker and Matt Tyree however forced Brooklyn to play catch up. Luckily for the Aces, speedster Tony Resendes, who filled in for Brannigan on the top line, scored two goals in the second, which cut the lead to 3-2 after a Tom Boudreau goal at 8:17 before his second tally at 11:20.

Tonight’s contest between the Brooklyn Aces [9-1] and the Hudson Valley Bears [1-8] pitted the best and worst of the EPHL against one another in what was expected to be a lopsided affair.

The cliché “The numbers never lie” couldn’t have been any truer in this one.

Powered by a seven-goal first period, Brooklyn and their top-flight offense dismantled a flustered Hudson Valley team en route to a stellar 11-3 win.

“We got up  on them quick and we didn’t want to embarrass them,” said Aces head coach Chris Firriolo. “It was a rough night for them and we wanted to play with some class and make sure we respected them and the game.”

Things started quiet enough for Brooklyn, but after a goal by leading scorer James Brannigan at 4:00, his 17th of the season, the offense was ignited and followed with two more tallies in the next 1:51 by C.J. Tozzo [9] and Chris Holmes [5], giving them a 3-0 lead.

On paper, this looks to be an extremely lopsided affair.

At 9-1, the Aces have the league’s best offense, best defense and best duo in net. Aside from one hiccup against the Rockhoppers and a few slow starts, Brooklyn has been as perfect as you can be up to this point.

In order for the Hudson Valley Bears to be able to hold their own tonight, they’ll have to do a pair of things.

1- Shutdown the Aces BMT Line of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and C.J. Tozzo.- So far this season, Brooklyn has scored 61 goals. The Aces top line has been responsible for 30 of those tallies, so obviously keeping them off the scoresheet, something no team has really been able to do this season, will prove to be pivotal.

Powered by a four-goal third period, the Brooklyn Aces proved once again that they weren’t going to take the second place New Jersey Rockhoppers for granted, stretching their winning streak to seven games in a 6-3 win.

Like most of the season, Brooklyn received contributions from all three lines, as three point nights from Kyle McCullough [three assists] and James Brannigan [one goal, two assists] and two-point nights from B.J. Kuper, C.J. Tozzo and Mike Thomson fueled a come from behind win.

Brooklyn also had six other players in the game including, defensemen Nick Grove, Doug Hoffman and Rob Miller, register points in the game.

However, things didn’t start exactly the way the Aces would have liked after a Tom Boudreau goal 11:13 into the first on the powerplay gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead.

The way the Brooklyn Aces offense has played this season, it’s easy to forget that they are human beings and not the super heroes that have been consistently scoring a half dozen goals a night.

Nevertheless, even on an “off” night offensively, the Aces still got a more than quality performance from Eddie Neville, who made 34 saves in a 3-2 Aces shootout victory over the Danbury Mad Hatters.

In spite of Neville’s performance however, Danbury goaltender Derek MacIntyre was the real star of the game, stopping 54 of 56 shots, effectively keeping his team above water against the leagues top offense.

Brooklyn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off a Rob Miller powerplay goal, but Danbury leading scorer Igor Karlov answered back 5:02 later with a powerplay marker of his own, tying the score at 1-1. The BMT line of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and C.J. Tozzo came through in the second, as Brannigan notched his 15th goal of the season, giving Brooklyn a 2-1 lead.

Giving up seven goals in the first period over their last three games, the Brooklyn Aces couldn’t afford to make the same mistakes against the Danbury Mad Hatters on Saturday Night at Aviator Arena.

Scoring four goals in the first period, the kings of the EPHL coasted to a 7-1 win in their most complete effort of the young 2008-2009 season.

Stressing the importance of a 60-minute effort after the team’s come from behind victory on Friday, Aces head coach Chris Firriolo was all smiles after the game.

“I think this was a great turn around from the past few games,” said Firriolo. “We came out hard and we did it early. I thought that was key.”

The Aces got an early lead after Chris Holmes smoked a vicious slapshot past Mad Hatters goaltender Derek MacIntyre at 3:14. At 11:47, James Brannigan too proved that he could slap it with the best of them, sending one past MacIntyre and giving Brooklyn a 2-0 lead.