Posts Tagged ‘Mike Thomson’

According to a press release by the EPHL, the Brooklyn Aces have waived forward Mike Thomson just two days after placing him on team suspension.

Shortly afterward, Thomson was claimed by the Hudson Valley Bears.

In 42 games with Brooklyn this season, Thomson had 52 points.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

If the Brooklyn Aces have had a kryptonite this season, it’s been been New Jersey Rockhoppers goaltender Nick Niedert.

Making 39 saves on the night, the gritty netminder guided his team to a 5-3 win over the Brooklyn Aces.

Things didn’t start off the Rockhoppers’ way however, as a Mike Thomson marker at 6:49 of the first gave Brooklyn an early 1-0 lead. New Jersey then bounced right back, getting tallies from Tom Boudreau and Chris Ferazzoli at 10:22 and 15:56, giving the Rockhoppers a 2-1 lead going into the second.

New Jersey extended the lead on a Kyle Bozoian score that made it a 3-1 game. Aces defenseman Doug Hoffman scored on the powerplay at 10:51, cutting the lead to 3-2 with only one period of play.

Nevertheless, the Rockhoppers weren’t done offensively, as Anthony Becker’s 16th goal of the season make it 4-2. Brooklyn still has some fight in them and Thomson ended up lighting the lamp for the 18th time this year, making it a one-goal game with 2:20 left to play.

According to wikipedia, the population of the Northern Rockhopper penguin has “declined by 90% since the 1950s, possibly because of climate change, changes in marine ecosystems and overfishing by humans.”

Despite that shocking information however, the Rockhoppers that wear skates in New Jersey aren’t worried about going extinct any time soon.

With three of the top offensive players in the league in Kyle Bozoian (17 goals & 18 assists), Chris Ferazzoli (15 goals & 20 assists) and Tom Boudreau (15 goals, 19 assists) and a pair of solid danglers in Drew Sanders (30 points in 24 games) and Logan Bittle (19 points in 15 games), Jersey can take it to any team in the league offensively. They also have a more than solid netminder in Nick Niedert (9-10 3.87 GAA), who has stopped the top flight Brooklyn offense before.

With Danbury Mad Hatters top scorer Igor Karlov gone to Russia, it appears as well that New Jersey has clearly become the second-best team in the EPHL.

Injuries are one thing you don’t want to be dealing with when you play the Danbury Mad Hatters.

Already without steady blue liner Rob Miller and speedy forward Tony Resendes, the Aces may be without veteran D-man Nick Grove and captain Chad Wilcox for tonight’s game.

It’s a rough situation and a situation Aces head coach Chris Firriolo isn’t happy about.

“The gang is banged up,” he said after last night’s 6-1 over the Rockhoppers. “I don’t want to think about it until tomorrow. It’s going to be tough.”

On a positive note, despite those injuries to their defense, Firriolo is thrilled with the play of Mike Thomson and Ian McLoughlin, two forwards who have gone to the blue line and stepped up over the past 10 games.

“I think they’re on their way to becoming two of the best defensemen in the league,” he said last night. “I really believe that. They move the puck extremely well and look good on the powerplay. If you ask me, aside from Miro Recicar, they were probably the MVPs of tonight’s game.”

After defeating the lowly Hudson Valley Bears 9-3 in their last game, the Brooklyn Aces knew things would be a bit tougher last night against a much better New Jersey Rockhoppers team.

Making a statement, the Aces never trailed against the second place Rockhoppers and got a hat trick from Jesse Felten and a 36 save night from Miro Recicar, defeating New Jersey 6-1.

“I feel really great out there,” said Recicar. “My teammates supported me and allowed me to see the puck well. I’m happy with what we did tonight.”

The first period was a seesaw battle, with both teams scoring a goal apiece. Felten opened the scoring at 6:51 however and gave the Aces the early 1-0 lead. After some sloppy passing in the neutral zone, the Aces gave the Rockhoppers a two on one opportunity and Anthony Becker made the most of it, scoring his fifth goal of the season at 16:04 and tying the score at 1-1.

Despite beating the Hudson Valley Bears 9-3 last night, the Brooklyn Aces have no time to relax.

The New Jersey Rockhoppers have the weapons on offense, defense and in net to play 60 solid minutes against the Aces and have done it before. Coming off a tough loss to Danbury last night, the Rockhoppers will look to rebound and it’ll be up to the Aces to stop them in their tracks.

Wilcox back in full swing- Making his return to the team last night after nursing a few injuries over the past few games, Aces captain Chad Wilcox nabbed two assists and was on his game, forechecking, fighting and getting the crowd involved. While he may only play about 10 minutes a game, Wilcox can play on any line and is capable of switching the momentum of a contest in a heartbeat. Getting him back in the lineup is definitely a good thing.

As part of their “We will bring home a winner” promotion last night at Aviator Arena, the Brooklyn Aces guaranteed their fans a win.

While the team as a whole played stellar, racking up 63 shots on goal, Mike Thomson and Jesse Felten delivered like Joe Namath and Mark Messier, as Thomson’s first professional hat trick and a pair of goals by Felten paved the way for an impressive 9-3 Brooklyn win.

“I’ve had a couple of chances to get a hat trick this season, but it just didn’t come,” said Thomson. “I feels great now that I’ve done it.”

The Aces got on the scoreboard first after a pretty deflection in front by Thomson on a shot from the point by Gabe Yeung at 9:06. The lead didn’t last for long however, as a tally by Tommy Westfall at 14:51 tied the score at 1-1.

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.

Despite playing on the third line for most of the season, Aces forward Mike Thomson has shown the offensive tenacity of a first-liner, scoring four goals and adding five assists in just eight games.

Proving he’s more than just an energy player, Thomson fit right on on the team’s second line with Mike Christensen and Jesse Felten when Chris Holmes was called up to Elmira for a game a week ago.

However, if that wasn’t enough to show what he means to the Aces, the 24-year-old has also recently drawn the praise of the Brooklyn coaching staff due to his hustle and snarl in corners and his willingness to be play team-first hockey.

“He’s done a really good job for us this season,” said Aces coach Chris Firriolo. “He works really hard and shoots the puck extremely well, but I think his biggest asset is the edge he plays with every night. He’s a very good hockey player and because of that, we’re anxious to see how he continues to develop as the season progresses.”

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.