Posts Tagged ‘Jesse Felten’

Coming off a tough 4-1 loss against the Danbury Mad Hatters last night, the Brooklyn Aces were looking for redemption against the lowly Hudson Valley Bears.

Putting together a six-goal second period, the Aces did just that, coasting to an impressive 8-4 win.

“It took us a while,” said Aces head coach Chris Firriolo of his team’s offensive game. “But we came out with the win. I think we have to tighten up a bit more [defensively]and today gave us a chance to work on things like trapping. We have a lot of respect for this team and I’m happy we got the win.”

With Zamboni problems before the game however, the ice wasn’t in optimal shape, having only been partially resurfaced. As a result, both teams’ offensive games suffered through the early stages of the period and gave the game a choppy feel. Despite that, the Aces made the most of things and broke open the scoring on a Mike Thomson goal in traffic at 9:16. At 13:27, Chris Robinson tallied to make it a 2-0 game.

Coming into this afternoon’s game against the Danbury Mad Hatters, the Brooklyn Aces were 18-0 when going into the third period with a lead.

For 57 minutes and 58 seconds, that streak looked like it would continue, but behind a pair of late goals by Alex Redmond and Erik Kent, the gritty Danbury Mad Hatters skated to a hard fought 5-4 shootout win.

“They worked hard,” said Aces forward Eric Frank, who scored twice in the game. “But no one on this team wants to lose to them. We can’t make excuses. I think they just wanted it more in the end. We took it to them for 58 minutes and then we made mistakes. They’re a good team and they took advantage.”

Jesse Felten opened up the scoring at 1:52 of the first, giving Brooklyn the early lead. Eric Frank later scored on a juicy rebound after a Felten shot from in between the circles at 7:26 to make it a two-goal game. Frank tallied again at 9:57 after a gorgeous cross-ice pass from Kyle McCullough, giving the Aces a 3-0 lead after less than 10 minutes of play.

If Aces forward Jesse Felten has a smile on his face lately, it’s for good reason. According to most of his teammates, after he took down Danbury Mad Hatters pest Mykul Haun in a scrap on Dec.18, the 5′8, 160-pound winge became the Heavyweight champion of the world. Even though Felten has never pretended to be a tough guy, he sure has looked like one lately. In the midst of a scoring slump, the speedy winger has transformed himself into a complete player. Already known to be an excellent penalty killer and a solid scorer, Felten hasn’t strayed from the physical play as of late, getting in a handful of fights and finishing his check with extra tenacity and grit.

Chatting with Aces Over Brooklyn before Saturday night’s game against the New Jersey Rockhoppers, the 22-year-old talks about being moved off the “Three Amigos” line and how his game has developed this season.

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While any team in the EPHL would kill to have the Aces BMT line of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and C.J. Tozzo, they wouldn’t exactly cry their eyes out if they got stuck with Chris Holmes, Jesse Felten and Mike Christensen instead.

Combining the NHL-caliber speed of Felten, the 95-mph slapshot of Holmes and the two-way ability and slick shooting of Christensen, the “Three Amigos” line have made opposing defensemen miserable this season.

However, the trio didn’t get their name for being friendly on the ice. As a matter of fact, all three, despite being under six feet tall, are gritty players that if forced to, will drop the gloves.

With that being said, how did they get their name?

You normally wouldn’t think a player that has eight points in nine games is slumping offensively, but Aces head coach Chris Firriolo felt something was going on with his speedy second line winger Jesse Felten.

Nevertheless, in spite of his recent struggles, [which had him going scoreless over his past two games] after Mike Thomson, C.J. Tozzo and James Brannigan all came up empty-handed in the shootout last Saturday against Danbury, Firriolo looked down his bench and figured Felten was due.

Scoring the game-winning goal in the shootout to give the Aces their sixth consecutive victory soon after, the move obviously paid off.

Coming through in the clutch, Firriolo sees the moment as a turning point for the winger, who will be counted on as the season progresses.

After playing one game with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL this weekend, Chris Holmes is back with the Brooklyn Aces.

The bigger question however is will the team’s dominant “Three Amigos,” line of Holmes, Jesse Felten and Mike Christensen, be reunited for the team’s next game on Saturday against the second-place Rockhoppers?

“We knew he was going up for just one game and then he was going to come back,” said Aces coach Chris Firriolo via telephone last night. “Now that he’s back, I have no reason to break up that line.”

Nevertheless, Firriolo understands that the way his team is playing offensively, any one of his forwards can get called up at any time. Considering that, he’s prepared to keep his team ahead of the curve by looking for the best players avaiable.