Posts Tagged ‘Resendes’

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.

When the Brooklyn Aces and Danbury Mad Hatters square off, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s going to be a physical affair.

This time around, it’ll be extra physical.

In the prior three games with Danbury, Brooklyn, despite winning all three, were roughed up physically and were dealing with injuries, which made it even tougher for them in battle in the corners and in front of the net. However, with newly acquired 6′5 D-man Gabe Yeung in the lineup for the first time against Danbury, the Aces just got a whole lot tougher. That’s not to say that Yeung is a talentless goon either. It’s actually quite the opposite, as he’s the stay at home D-man the team was in desperate need of with various injuries to their blueline over the past few weeks. With Yeung’s presence in the neutral zone and the rambunctious play of Chad Wilcox, the days of Brooklyn being pushed around by Danbury may be over.

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.

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.