Posts Tagged ‘Rockhoppers’

When Jersey Rockhoppers goaltender Nick Niedert was named the EPHL’s MVP last week, some questioned it.

Today however, Niedert proved for one last time just how dominant he could be, making 43 saves as his Rockhoppers defeated the Brooklyn Aces 4-1 to claim the very first EPHL championship.

“Niedert was dynamite tonight,” said Aces head coach Chis Firriolo. “He showed why he was MVP.”

Despite an absolute lack of offense, the Aces were the aggressors in the first, out-shooting the Rockhoppers 16-9. Niedert was on top of his game, making several solid saves, but was also aided by a Jesse Felten shot that rang off the goalpost around the midway point of the period. On the other side of the ice, Eddie Neville wasn’t tested much, but held his ground and played his part in keeping the game scoreless after 20 minutes of play.

Despite a four-point night from defenseman Andrew Scampoli, the Brooklyn Aces were unable to defeat EPHL leading goal scorer Tom Boudreau and the New Jersey Rockhoppers, falling 6-4 at the Codey Arena yesterday.

Boudreau led off the scoring at 7:41 of the first and the score stayed that way into the second period when Matt Puntureri tallied at 3:21 to make it a 2-0 game.

That’s when Brooklyn began to rally together, as Scampoli scored at 10:09 to cut the lead in half. However, New Jersey was a step ahead, getting a goals from J.P. Pauly and Boudreau over the next four minutes to give themselves a 4-1 lead going into the third.

Again Brooklyn fought back, getting goals from “Super” B.J. Kuper and Scampoli at 5:20 and 5:32, cutting the New Jersey lead to 4-3 with 14:28 left to play. Yogi Berra must have been in attendance for the game, because it was Deja-vu all over again., as the Aces attempted a comeback was spoiled by the Rockhoppers for a second time.

Despite stellar efforts from Mike Christensen and Eddie Neville, the Brooklyn Aces were unable to ward off the New Jersey Rockhoppers, falling 4-3 in a shootout last night.

The struggling Aces offense did light the lamp first though at 5:52 of the first on a Kyle McCullough marker that gave them a 1-0 lead. The score stayed that way until Rockhoppers tough guy Jason McCrimmon scored his second goal of the season at 10:06 of the second to tie the game at 1-1. 5:52 later, New Jersey scored again, this time off the stick of Justin Todd, giving the Rockhoppers their first lead of the night at 2-1 going into the third period.

That’s when the Christensen show finally began.

Just 2:48 into the third, the shifty Aces center scored his 26th goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2. However, Brooklyn was unable to feed off the momentum, as 49 seconds later, Tom Boudreau scored to make it a 3-2 game.

Nick Niedert has proven more than a few times this season that he knows how to steal games against the best the EPHL has to offer.

Making 35 saves against a hungry Brooklyn offense, the Rockhoppers netminder powered a 4-1 win over an Aces team that is looking far from the first place team it’s supposed to be.

“We’re going to create offense, we’re a skilled team; we just have to take advantage of our opportunities. We’re just a bit too vanilla right now ,” said Aces captain C.J. Tozzo. “We were a bit soft. We have to get hungry again.”

Things started off well for the Aces however, as Chris Holmes slapped his way on to the blank scoreboard in the first, depositing his own rebound past Niedert at 8:36 after a sexy pass from Kyle McCullough, giving Brooklyn a 1-0 lead.

The Brooklyn Aces knew last night’s game was an important one and even though they scored three goals in the third period, a flat start after an early first period goal doomed them in a 7-5 loss to the New Jersey Rockhoppers.

B.J. Kuper broke open the scoring at 1:38 on the powerplay after a Matt Tyree tripping penalty, giving Brooklyn an early 1-0 lead. The Aces wouldn’t score again until 12:37 of the second, when Mike Christensen scored on the powerplay. In between that lapse in offense for Brooklyn, the Rockhoppers got four goals from the quartet of Tyree, Kyle Bozoian, Matt Puntureri and Anthony Becker. Soon after Christensen’s goal, the Rockhoppers got another goal from Becker at 14:01 and one from Logan Bittle at 15:57, making it a 6-2 game going into the third period.

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.

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.

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.

The way the Brooklyn Aces offense has played this season, it’s easy to forget that they are human beings and not the super heroes that have been consistently scoring a half dozen goals a night.

Nevertheless, even on an “off” night offensively, the Aces still got a more than quality performance from Eddie Neville, who made 34 saves in a 3-2 Aces shootout victory over the Danbury Mad Hatters.

In spite of Neville’s performance however, Danbury goaltender Derek MacIntyre was the real star of the game, stopping 54 of 56 shots, effectively keeping his team above water against the leagues top offense.

Brooklyn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off a Rob Miller powerplay goal, but Danbury leading scorer Igor Karlov answered back 5:02 later with a powerplay marker of his own, tying the score at 1-1. The BMT line of James Brannigan, Kyle McCollaugh and C.J. Tozzo came through in the second, as Brannigan notched his 15th goal of the season, giving Brooklyn a 2-1 lead.

With 1,609 fans packed inside the Aviator Arena screaming their heads off for their undefeated Brooklyn Aces, things originally looked pretty grim for the New Jersey Rockhoppers.

Beating New Jersey in their two prior meetings and scoring 12 goals through their first two regular season contests, the Aces were the heavy favorite before the game.

New Jersey goaltender Nick Niedert had other things in mind though, making 60 saves in a 3-2 Rockhoppers win.

“You got to tip your hat to the guy,” said Aces coach Chris Firriolo. “They deserved to win tonight. He was the reason why they won.”

The game started well enough for the Aceshowever, as they were aggressive on the forecheck and fired a ton of shots early on Niedert. A fight early in the period by Aces forward and Bensonhurst-native Jerry Cardinale also got the fans into the game and seemed to sway the momentum. Nevertheless, the Aces offense, which came into the game with ten players averaging a point a game, couldn’t find the back of the net.