Posts Tagged ‘Pregame Thoughts’

Just minutes ago, Aces Over Brooklyn interviewed Brooklyn Aces head coach Chris Firriolo to find out his thoughts as his team prepares for the second game of the best of three EPHL championship series with the Jersey Rockhoppers.

You can listen to the interview here @

http://media.switchpod.com//users/patrickhickeyjr1/AcesOverBrooklynPodcastChrisFirrioloPregame327.mp3

Or download it to your I-pod here @

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=294739484

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

The heated rivalry between the Danbury Mad Hatters and Brooklyn Aces will reach its climax on Friday when the two teams face-off today at Aviator.

Forget the fact that the Hatters were eliminated from post-season play after New Jersey defeated the Bears in overtime last night. [EDIT 11:09- Danbury will be eliminated with a loss tonight or a New Jersey win on Saturday. My apologies. With some of these games canceled, it's become a rough to know how many games are actually left in the season.]

Something much bigger is at stake here.

Pride.

Always a heated contest, Brooklyn will nevertheless look to continue to fine tune their non-aggressive forecheck and play smart puck pursuit hockey. If they can, Danbury will have no problem rubbing shoulders, which should make for an excellent hockey game from start to finish.

With their last game of the season against the New Jersey Rockhoppers on Saturday, the Aces will also use this game to see what line combinations they’ll end up using during the post-season.

With four games remaining and a playoff birth and first place finish already in the bag, some would question how important this game is for the Brooklyn Aces.

However, after the team’s 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Rockhoppers, expect Brooklyn to get back on track against the last-place Hudson Valley Bears.

The game can also end up being a pivotal one for two Aces in particular, as both of the team’s assistant captains, C.J. Tozzo and Kyle McCullough, currently find themselves with 90 points. While it’s obvious they won’t both score 10 points tonight, great games against Hudson Valley could play a huge factor in the duo being the first two players in league history to get to 100 points.

While Tozzo has put winning ahead of any personal goals, he did say it was something that has crossed his mind.

With two wins in their last two games, the Brooklyn Aces have seemingly put their struggles over the past month behind them and are looking increasingly ready for the playoffs.

That makes today’s game with the New Jersey Rockhoppers an incredibly interesting one, even though there’s no telling who the Aces will play in the post-season as of yet.

Currently only two points separate the Danbury Mad Hatters and New Jersey with both teams having only five games left to play. If you ask most fans in the league, they probably feel a series between the Aces and Mad Hatters would be great, as both teams aren’t on the friendliest terms with one another, making for a physical and emotional series. However, New Jersey is the better team of the two and if they would play Brooklyn, the quality of the games would be better than if Danbury reached the post-season.

Well, the wait is over. The conspiracy theorists and down-right pessimistic hockey fans on the message boards all over the Internet and just plain scared Brooklyn Aces fans can take a breath.

The Brooklyn Aces are the EPHL regular season champions.

But what does that mean for today’s game against the Hudson Valley Bears, a team that has been playing spoiler for the past month and a half when they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention?

Anyone in the league that knows what they’re talking about will tell you that despite the fact that Hudson Valley have had trouble winning this season, they play hard every game. Full of part-time players that cannot dedicate time to practice during the week, the Bears make the most of what they have, but it’s often just not good enough. Nevertheless, they don’t give up and because of that, they have sent numerous players to the ECHL and AHL this season.

With only seven games and two weeks left this season, the Brooklyn Aces will look to get back on track against the New Jersey Rockhoppers tonight at Aviator Arena.

Despite the fact that the rivalry between these two teams pales in comparison to that between the Aces and Mad Hatters, this match-up will pit the two top offenses in league against one another.

However, the game will have a heavy focus on the defensive side of the puck as well, as regardless of who is in net for Brooklyn, expect a top-notch battle between the pipes as both Miro Recicar, Eddie Neville and New Jersey’s Nick Niedert have played stellar hockey all season.

With that being said, expect a tight game from start to finish that will be decided by how well each team recovers from their mistakes. Earlier in the season, the Aces offense and goaltending covered for many of their breakdowns, but as of late, they’ve come back down to earth. Despite playing spirited hockey against Danbury last Friday and generating plenty of shots, turnovers in the neutral zone and a bad decision with the puck by Neville in the first period ended up leading to their demise.

If any team needed a game against the Hudson Valley Bears right now, it would be the Brooklyn Aces.

Despite having a 10-point lead over the New Jersey Rockhoppers for the top spot in the EPHL, Brooklyn has been unable to muster offense against them and their arch rivals the Danbury Mad Hatters.

Scoring 14 goals in their last two games against Hudson Valley, look for the Aces to take out their frustration on the last place Bears today.

However, expect a few other things as well.

Over the past few games, the Aces offense has been struggling to get goals. This has stemmed from the defense’s inability to take shots from the point that forwards can control from the rebound or while in traffic in front of the net. Unable to get a forward in front of the net, the Aces have seriously limited their defense’s ability to produce offensively. It’s something that Aces head coach Chris Firriolo wants to see more of, so expect it to be implemented and experimented with more today.

During last night’s heart-breaking loss to the Danbury Mad Hatters, the Brooklyn Aces offense failed to convert on 35 shots and five powerplay opportunities, wasting a solid 37-save effort from Eddie Neville.

You wouldn’t expect the team with the best offense in the league all season to have problems scoring, but that’s exactly the case with the Aces lately whenever they play the Hatters or the New Jersey Rockhoppers, the two very teams that are vying for the playoff spot to meet Brooklyn in the post-season.

With only nine games left, the Aces is concerned, but feel they can turn it around.

“We have to snap out of it; I know we can. We can turn it around,” said Miller. “Hopefully, it’s like a light switch.”

Tonight’s game between the Brooklyn Aces and the Danbury Mad Hatters has the potential to be an extremely volatile one.

With the addition of enforcer Joe Pelle, the Aces will have the toughness they’ve lacked since former captain Chad Wilcox’s exodus. With Dan Carney and Mike Christensen back from a one-game stint with Elmira of the ECHL as well, the Aces will be fortified on both the forward lines and on defense.

Nevertheless, they’ll still have to be on top of their game, as the Mad Hatters are fighting for their playoff lives, currently five points behind the New Jersey Rockhoppers with only 10 games left to play.

Danbury head coach Dan MacIsaac has also voiced his displeasure with the league as of late, furious over the fact that recently-acquired Zach Flynn wasn’t able to play in the team’s last game against New Jersey.

With Rob Miller and Mike Christensen back in the lineup for Brooklyn on the Thursday, the Aces were dominant on both sides of the puck for the first time in weeks. While the last place Hudson Valley Bears aren’t exactly the measuring stick for success in the EPHL, the Aces appear confident that they are back on the right track.

With another game against the Bears tonight, the Aces will get another chance to employ their neutral zone trap and aggressive forecheck and will have a chance to iron out any kinks for their next game against the Danbury Mad Hatters next Friday.

Using six defensemen in their last game, the Aces had three steady combinations that played a huge part in the team’s success. While Aces head coach Chris Firriolo liked what he saw from his D-men and believes he’ll keep six defensemen on the roster for the time being, he may be forced to cut one when the playoffs begin.