Posts Tagged ‘offensive domination’

Tonight, the two top teams in the EPHL, the Brooklyn Aces [8-1] and the New Jersey Rockhoppers [5-3] will square off in what looks to be another interesting contest.

If any team has the overall talent to catch the Aces in first place, the Rockhoppers definitely have the pieces in place. Coming off a pair of wins against the Hudson Valley Bears, it seems like the New Jersey offense is starting to come into it’s own. While they don’t have three lines that can produce as dominantly as the Aces, they have a handful of players in, Kyle Bozoian, the reigning EPHL player of the week, Chris Ferazzoli, Drew Sanders and Tom Boudreau, all who will do whatever it takes to get themselves on the scoresheet on any given night. Add in a quality goaltender like Nick Niedert [5-3], who seems to have bounced back after a pair of shaky starts and it’s easy to see that the Aces cannot afford to take the Rockhoppers for granted.

When 11 skaters on your team have at least three shots on goal and every player but one has a point, there aren’t many other ways to describe it.

Offensive domination.

Scoring eight unanswered goals to start the game, the Aces ran all over the Bears and for the fourth game in a row, they hit the back of the net at least seven times. Like most of the season, the Aces offense came from a variety of sources, as Chris Holmes, C.J. Tozzo and James Brannigan netted two goals apiece, while Mike “shooter” Thomson, Kyle McCullough and B.J. Kuper had tallies of their own. McCullough also had two assists on the night, giving him 11 on the season for the league lead.

Like their last three games, the Aces defense and goaltending was extremely solid as well, with backup goaltender Miro Recicar making 24 saves for his third win of the season.

Nick Niedert made 60 saves the last time the New Jersey Rockhoppers faced the Aces at Aviator Arena on November 8. But Brooklyn, coming off of consecutive seven-goal performances against Hudson Valley and Danbury, wasn’t worried about producing offensively.

Why exactly? Three letters explain it all: B…M…T.

Combining for 12 points on the night, the Aces “BMT line” of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and and C.J. Tozzo, proved the New Jersey goaltender’s game of the year performance two weeks ago was simply a mirage, shredding both Niedert and the Rockhoppers defense to bits in a more than convincing 8-2 win.

“These guys are on fire right now,” said Aces coach Chris Firriolo. “They’re definitely a top line in this league.”

After a short-feeling out process by both team’s that included several solid saves by Niedert and Brooklyn goaltender Eddie Neville, McCollaugh, the team’s leading assist man, proved he could do a lot more than pass, scoring on a surreptitious one-timer after a beautiful backhand pass from behind the net from Aces leading scorer Brannigan at 11:31, giving them a 1-0 lead.