BKN Aviators ~ Stepping Up in the Standings

From the desk of:  THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  The Coolest Guys in Brooklyn Rewarded Themselves With a Six-Pack of Points This Weekend For a Job Well Done.


The Skates of Flatbush spent the weekend in Hangar Five taking on the visiting Danbury Whalers and  1000 Islands Privateers.  Their dual victories earned them six more points and inched them a little closer to the circuit leaders.  After the FHL's weekend schedule concluded Sunday in Danbury, the Brooklyn Aviators now find themselves in third place with twenty-eight points; thirteen points behind first place New Jersey, and only eight points behind 1000 Islands who occupy second place.




Friday Final:
Danbury Whalers - 2
Brooklyn Aviators - 4


In quite the civil game by their standards, dotted by mere charging; roughing; and boarding penalties; the Aviators took advantage of extra-man advantages two times in eight opportunities; first to tie the game in the second period, then to seal the deal in the third.


Half way through the first period, Anthony Iaquinto started Brooklyn's night with a goal assisted by Jordan Bernier and KC Timmons.  Then a little over four minutes later, Danbury struck back with an inexcusable short-handed goal, tying the game at one each.


Danbury jumped ahead in the second with a go-ahead goal at the 4:33 mark. Then a tripping minor to Danbury's Kelly Miller opened the door for Chris Ferazzoli's power play goal the the 5:06 mark which tied the score at two.  At 8:10 of the second period, Andrew Owsiak followed-up and put Brooklyn ahead 3-2 with his seventh goal of the season.


When Danbury's Adam Blanchett got whistled for slashing at 3:39 of the third period, Chris Ferazzoli took the opportunity to score on the ensuing power play, upping his team lead in goals to ten, and increasing Brooklyn's lead by two.


And with the score set at 4-2, the game went final.  Josselin St. Pierre made the start in net for Brooklyn and stopped thirty-three shots of the thirty-five he faced.  It's his third win this season since being signed to replace former goalie; Thomas Lee.



Saturday Final:
1000 Islands Privateers - 3
Brooklyn Aviators - 6




In their second ever trip to Brooklyn, the 1000 Islands Privateers were looking pretty good after one period at the Hangar.  They were leading 1-0 on a Ryan Pearson goal scored a little shy of the half way mark.  They also held Brooklyn scoreless after allowing them two power play opportunities.  The A's weren't without their chances however as they put seventeen shots on net during the period.




The second period?  Not so pretty for the Privateers.  Brooklyn lined up the cannons and opened fire lobbing four volleys past 1000 Islands goalie Matt Anthony.  Ken Trentowski fired off the first two goals of the period.  His first was unassisted and came at the 2:26 mark.  A little over two minutes later at 4:32, Jason Dolgy assisted on Ken Trentowski's second goal of the period.  The next blow against the Privateers hit it's mark at 10:13, when Jesse Felton gave Brooklyn a 3-1 lead.  And the final Aviator shot to find net this period came at the 15:32 mark, scored unassisted by Casey Mignone.




The Privateers spent the better part of the third period trying to mount a comeback and came close.  They made it a 4-2 game at just 1:34 into the final session.  Then made it a 4-3 game at exactly 13:00 on a Michael Richard goal.




But Brooklyn got play going their way again and made it a 5-3 game when Matt Atsoff made 1000 Islands pay for a boarding penalty called against Jeff Winchester.  His power play goal came after the 17:45 mark. 




Having to take the necessary step of pulling the goalie for an extra attacker, 1000 Islands suffered the riskier side of the move.  Jesse Felton scored his second goal of the night into an empty net at 19:41 to give this game an ultimate 6-3 final.




Josselin St. Pierre picked up his third win versus one loss (...and an OT loss).  He faced thirty-seven shots and turned back thirty four.  So far in his short time minding Brooklyn's net, he's sporting a  .905% saves percentage and a 3.38 goals against average.






Next weekend should be a lot of fun folks.  The A's will be hosting three games at Hangar Five starting Friday night, Dec 9th against the first place New Jersey Outlaws.  After dropping a pair of back-to-back games on their ice recently, it would be nice to get a measure of pay-back against some of the A's former team-mates and anything generally associated with New Jersey.  Hey!  Rivalries need to start some how.  Right?




Saturday is the fight game I'm really looking forward to.  The Cape Cod Blue Fins are coming back to Flatbush.  If you're in the neighborhood Saturday night, I assure you, this match-up will not disappoint.  Drive down Flatbush Avenue and check this one out.




Sunday, we welcome back an old competitor in the Akwesasne Warriors; whom we met and lost to in last season's FHL Championship series.






Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ First Look at First Place 1000 Island Club

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS: The Skates of Flatbush Get Their First Look at First Place 1000 Islands Privateers.


Tuesday night in Hyannis, the fifth regular season game between Brooklyn and the Cape Cod Blue Fins was a resounding win by the Fish.  They out-shot Flatbush in the game and outscored them by a wide margin.  The 8-2 final score now gives the Fins a 3-2 season series lead over the A's.



The story of the game?  The Skates of Flatbush were 1 for 15 on the power play.  Cape Cod? - 3 for 5.  What makes this worse?  Cape Cod's fifth goal of the game came short-handed.



Cape Cod seemed content keeping the A's on the power play and did so for forty-eight generous minutes.  Actually, the Blue Fins tried instigating a whole lot-o-stuff Tuesday.  But it didn't seem like Brooklyn cared to bite on the steady flow of baiting.  I'm wondering if Coach Miller had anything to do with that after a brutal session against the Cape last Friday.  And yet in fifteen opportunities with man-advantages, somehow, the Aviators could only manage one puck past Blue Fin goalie; Wes Vesprini.




A's starting goalie; Thomas Lee; on the other hand, lasted two and a half periods before Coach Miller had seen enough and mercifully lifted Lee in favor of Peter Dundovich who made his second relief appearance of the season.  Dundovich stopped all four shots he faced in a little less than ten minutes played.  Thomas Lee suffered his worst night of the season in net.  Of forty-three shots on goal, eight managed to get past him in what turned out to be a Blue Fin rout.




Brooklyn's Andrew Owsiak scored a first period goal, assisted by Anthony Iaquinto.  The A's second and last goal was a power play effort credited to K.C. Timmons, assisted by Andrew Owsiak and Vladimir Nikiforov.




The loss drops Brooklyn's record to 5-4-3, and remain at eighteen points.




The A's will be right back at it Wednesday evening when they get their first look at the 1000 Islands Privateers inside Hangar Five.  The first place Privateers are currently ahead of Brooklyn by eight points, sporting a 9-1-0 record.




Justin Lecav is 1000 Islands' leading point scorer.  The winger is tied for the team lead in goals with Paul Kelly at eleven apiece.  Justin also leads the team in assists with fifteen.  Both of the Privateer's Alternate Captains; Paul Kelly and Michael Richard; each have twenty points.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

 

 

1000 Islands Privateers Web Site

 

1000 Islands Privateers

vs.

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

From

HANGAR FIVE off FLATBUSH AVENUE,

BROOKLYN

 

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Flatbush Faithful Get First Two Wins

From the desk of:

THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH  -  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  The Skates of Flatbush Finally Gain Their First Two Home-Ice Victories; But Needed to Hurt Some Feelings Along the Way.



In the first meeting between the Danville Dashers and Brooklyn Aviators, our gracious and most hospitable Flatbush Avenue Skaters allowed the visiting team from Illinois to score the opening goal midway through the first period SATURDAY night in Hangar Five.  The token offering and respectful welcome to Kings County are just some of the classy reasons why our local hockey club are The Coolest Guys in Brooklyn.  Hospitality has it's limits though.  And on Flatbush Avenue, well...the definition of that word changes a little.  But how is a team from Illinois supposed to know that?  ...Answer; - gotta learn the hard way.

Mistaking Aviators kindness for a weakness, Danville misstepped with that first period goal.  The plan was for them to idly stand by while we won the game.  And because Danville's goal didn't go over so well with the home crowd, the A's responded by dashing any hopes Danville might have had regarding their own first victory of the season, much less on our ice.



The locals responded with four first period goals.  The first one should have served as an omen for Danville.  It came on a short-handed effort by Brooklyn's Steve Koich at the 12:02 mark.  Danville should have dashed away then, before Vladimir Nikiforov put Brooklyn ahead at 17:52 with his eighth goal of the season.  Then inside the final minute of the first period, Andrew Owsiak effectively put an arrow through the Dashers' night with two more goals within twenty-one seconds of each other.




Ouch!




Danville came out fighting to start the second period however.  After Ken Trentowski's period opening goal at 2:55 put Brooklyn up 5-1, Danville's Chris Affinati decided to drop gloves with Brooklyn's Jari (Rocky) Balbotowski.  Two minutes later, the Dashers netted their second goal of the game scored by Ryan Stern to make it a 5-2 game.




It was a nice try on their part.  Any Brooklynite can appreciate the effort.  But alas, it was a mistake on their part.  And Brooklyn showed them just how much they didn't appreciate Danville's behavior in our Hangar.  For good measure and to teach the expansion team a lesson for the next time, the A's went on to score another four-pack of goals.  Between 8:01 and 16:17 of the period, Jesse Felton sandwiched a Casey Mignone goal with two net-finders of his own; - Felton's second came on a power play.  Andrew Owsiak completed a hat-trick with his goal at the 16:41 mark to make this a 9-2 affair after just forty-minutes of hockey.  Danville scored one more inconsequential goal in the third period but wound up leaving Brooklyn a wounded animal.




Sorry guys.
 



Peter Dundovich started in net for Brooklyn after Thomas Lee started Wednesday and Friday night's games.  Peter stopped 22 of 25 shots on net for his second win.

Saturday's victory over Danville was Brooklyn's second consecutive home-ice win.  After posting an 0-2-2 record playing on Flatbush ice, the Aviators finally gained their first win inside Hangar Five the night before.  The home crowd's first taste of victory this season came against our newest adversary; the Cape Cod Blue Fins.  Brooklyn did some Friday night fishing off Jamaica Bay and enjoyed their fresh catch with a 5-3 filleting-o-The-Fish.  Brooklyn's first home-ice win also evened the season series between these new enemies at two games apiece.

In only their fourth game against each other, these two teams are rewriting the FHL penalty codes with an ever growing myriad of creative and seldom-called acts of brute force, ignorance, and battery.  It's making for an entertaining renaissance of the good old fashioned Canadian-style, on-ice justice system.  You can now add a Butt-Ending Major/Game Misconduct to the arsenal of unscrupulous tactics these two teams have resorted to and employed against each other in the past.




After Friday night's opening period of civilized hockey ended in a 1-1 tie thanks to goals by Cape Cod's Steve Brown and Brooklyn's Jesse Felton, the A's got the better of the Fins during a ferocious second period mix of delinquency and thuggery, with just a pinch of Hockey for taste.




Brooklyn's Chris Ferazzoli scored at 0:35 into the period.  More than just making this a 2-1 game, his goal lit a fuse that set-off the rest of the night.  For just over a minute later, Aviator's defenseman Jarrett Rush tapped into his inner pugilist and earned a swath of penalty minutes after he picked a fight with Cape Cod's Brad Surdam.  As tossed gloves made their way back to their rightful owners, short-tempered Jarrett was charged with two minutes for Instigating, another five for the Fighting Major, and an additional ten minute Game Misconduct, for a total of seventeen penalty minutes.  That translates to one thousand and twenty seconds of Goon Time.  Now that's how you seize the moment with conviction.  No more hockey game for you.




A little under six minutes later, hostilities resumed as Brooklyn's Colin Ronayne and Cape Cod's Kevin McCreedy took swipes at each other.  The hey-makers didn't stop there.  At the 10:00 mark, Brooklyn's Anthony Iaquinto and the Cape's Luke Frey decided they'd introduce each other to their fists as well.




With about three minutes left in the second period, at least Jesse Felton still had enough composure to score his second and third goals of the game for a hat-trick.  His goal at 17:05 put Brooklyn ahead by a 3-1 score.  His third goal of the game then came on a power play at 18:53 which extended Brooklyn's lead to 4-1, and which also turned out to be the game winning goal.




In the final period, of all things, a hockey game broke out again.  The return of sportsmanship allowed Cape Cod to actually use athleticism and skill to get back in this game.  But, apparently Casey Mignone didn't get the memo and got whistled for slashing at the 7:45 mark.  The Blue Fins' Anthony Sarno scored on the ensuing power play to make this a 4-2 game.




With time running out on the Blue Fins, the decision was made to pull the goalie in favor of the extra skater.  At 19:07, that decision paid off.  Garrett Peters' goal brought the Fins to within a goal.  Continuing to gamble with that strategy in order to tie, the riskier aspect of the plan materialized and ended Cape Cod's night with a loss instead.  Brooklyn's Vladimir Nikiforov scored on an empty net at 19:22 to send the Blue Fins off into the Jamaica Bay night to sleep with the rest of the fishes.




Aviators' starting goalie; Thomas Lee; faced forty-three total shots, and turned back forty for his third win of the season and a job well done; for Cape Cod out-shot Brooklyn in this game 43-32. 




...And with two more wins under their belts, a successful weekend against the Federal Hockey League's bottom two teams comes to an end.  But Brooklyn and Cape Cod will have little time to heal their wounds.  They have a quick turn-around this week and will face-off against each other again Tuesday night up in Hyannis. 




Can't wait!





LINKS:

Federal Hockey League
Brooklyn Aviators
Cape Cod Blue Fins
Danville Dashers








Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Vermont Has WILD Third Period

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  The Extra Session is Proving to be a Problem.  They Drop Another Over-Time Game, This Time to the Vermont Wild.


Brooklyn's Coolest swung open the doors to Hangar Five for Thursday night's first ever contest against the visiting Vermont Wild.  One of this years FHL expansion teams, the Wild were still in search of their first victory this season as they arrived on Flatbush Avenue for this evening's game.



Anthony Iaquinto started off the Aviators' weekend by putting the team up early in the first period when he netted Brooklyn's first goal at the 2:31 mark.  He was assisted by Colin Ronayne and Jarrett Rush.  At the 15:34 mark of the first period, Jesse Felton received a whistle for tripping.  A minute and a half later, Vermont's Anthony Pisano scored on the power play to knot the game at a goal apiece.



Vermont's James Brooks got called for holding just before the first period expired.  So the A's started the second period on the power play.  Brooklyn cashed in and regained the lead on Chris Ferazzoli's goal at the 1:23 mark.  He was assisted by Chris Jones and Vladimir Nikiforov.



At 15:49 still in the second, the Wild got whistled for a check-from-behind penalty putting Brooklyn on another power play.  Only this time, Brooklyn's PP suffered a breakdown twenty-two seconds into the man-advantage and allowed Vermont's Jason Dolgy to score short-handed and tie the score at two all.  But with five seconds left before the second period expired, a Chris Jones shot found net to put the Aviators back on top by a 3-2 score heading into the second intermission.  Jones' goal was assisted by Jesse Felton and Andrew Owsiak.



Then in the third period, things got very WILD for Brooklyn; maybe a little too Wild.  Vermont spent the first ten minutes of the period tying the game for a third time, and finally taking their first lead of the night by scoring three straight goals.  A 3-2 Aviator lead suddenly became a 5-3 deficit.  All three goals; two coming from Vermont's Konstatine Kalmikov; came at even strength.



Over the following several minutes, the A's regrouped and roared back to tie this game at five goals apiece.  Chris Jones scored on a power play; assisted by K.C. Timmons and Vladimir Nikiforov.  Then at the 13:36 mark, Casey Mignone tied the game at five.



But unfortunately that's the way regulation time ended.  The Aviators were headed towards over-time yet again.  And in the extra sessions this season, they haven't fared too well.  Tonight turned out to be no exception either.  The Aviators dropped this over-time game as well as the end came rather quickly I might add.  Just twenty-nine seconds into the over-time, Vermont's Jason Dolgt, scored for Vermont and gave the Wild their first win of the season.



Tomorrow the Aviators touch down in Cape Cod to play those slippery Fish again.  Two times this young season, they beat us in over-time; most recently last weekend in The Hangar.  So it's high time the A's snag a hook in the Blue Fin's mouths ....and reel in a win this time in Hyannis.

FRIDAY NIGHT

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

Cape Cod Blue Fins

From

Hyannis, Mass.

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Flyin' High; Win Game One

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Comeback Against Defending Champs In Season Opener With Disciplined Play and Composure.



For the Aviators, the memory of losing and watching the Warriors hoist the Championship Trophy on home ice to end Brooklyn's most previous season no doubt rushed back to their minds upon taking the ice Thursday night in Lewiston, Maine for a return engagement against Akwesasne.  But for a night, the Aviators displayed more discipline and composure than did the defending FHL champions.  And for Coach Miller, watching both characteristics play directly into their Opening night victory must have been especially satisfying considering many of his players are still learning how to play together.  For their efforts in the season's first game, they adhered to many key fundamental values.  The A's won Thursday night by grinding the game out a little longer than the Warriors did, and playing an increasingly cleaner and sharper game against the Warriors the longer the contest went on.



It seemed over the first two and one half periods, the A's carried the play; spent less time in the box; got more shots on net; and appeared to be the more disciplined team.  Yet Akwesasne and the scoreboard were unyielding, reflecting a 2-1 score in the Warriors' favor after fifty minutes of regulation time.



Over that span, Akwesasne even put Brooklyn on the man-advantage three times as many as the A's allowed the Warriors.  Both teams combined to go a woeful 0-12 on the PP to that point.  And frustratingly, the Aviators accounted for 0-9 of that.  Chris Ferazolli wound up scoring the first goal of the Aviators' season at even strength.  At the time, his score only served to cut a 2-0 Akwesasne lead in half.  But the defense and Thomas Lee set about ensuring Ferazolli's goal would factor into the outcome.



The Warriors opened the FHL's 2011-2012 scoring this season at 15:55 of the first period on a Miguel Delisle goal past A's starting net minder; Thomas Lee.  And that's how the initial period ended.  Brooklyn managed thirteen shots on goal in the period as Akwesasne unleashed seventeen with one finding net.  Penalties put Brooklyn on the PK three times but they held the Warriors scoreless during the man advantages.



Brooklyn clamped down and limited the Warriors to just four shots on goal the entire second period.  Yet one shot still managed to find net behind Thomas Lee.  At the 7:03 mark of the second session, Akwsasne's Pierre Dagenais scored to make it a 2-0 game. 



Then, just under four minutes later at the 10:50 mark, Chris Ferazzoli's first goal of the season finally put Brooklyn on the scoreboard.  He was assisted by Jordan Bernier and Chris Jones.  Brooklyn put fifteen shots on goal during the second period and behind their defense, the A's game started to gel.  But the second period ended with the A's still down by a 2-1 score.



While the teams traded second period goals, they traded second period punches as well.  Things began to get chippy back when Akwesasne's Carter Trevisani and Brooklyn's Jordan Bernier closed out the first period with roughing penalties.  Then tempers flared between Akwesasne's Ahmed Mahfouz and Brooklyn's Anthony Iaquinto when they dropped the gloves at the 10:58 mark of the second session.  Both received five for fighting.  And bad attitudes prevailed the rest of the period.



Midway through the third period and two power play opportunities later, the Aviators' tying goal still remained elusive.  Then, at 13:23 of the third, Brooklyn's patience was rewarded.  Their attention to detail finally paid off when Anthony Iaquinto scored for Brooklyn and tied the game at two apiece.  The assists came from Andrew Owsiak and Jarrett Rush.



At the 14:14 mark, Akwesasne's penchant for penalties this night opened the door to another Hangar-sized opportunity.  Brooklyn cashed in as the power play finally hit pay dirt when Jordan Bernier buried the go-ahead goal to make it a 3-2 game.  The goal was assisted by Andrew Scampoli.



After allowing seventeen shots on goal in the first period, the defense kept the number of shots against goalie Thomas Lee relatively low the rest of the way.  Four shots in the second period and eight in the third were all Akwesasne could muster.  Meanwhile, Brooklyn peppered Warriors' goalie David Plouffe with fourteen shots in the third period and forty-two overall.  Additionally, the Aviators did very well to stay out of the box.  And even though Brooklyn's power play was 1-10 Thursday night, they scored on the one opportunity that mattered most; their last.



And so Aviators' victory number one came in rather dramatic fashion Thursday night.  If this game is an indication, then it's going to be a fun Winter folks.



Game two of the new season will be Friday night in Cape Cod against the Blue Fins before the Coolest Guys In Brooklyn come home for their Saturday Night Showdown against their newest rival, the New Jersey Outlaws, who now feature former A's fan favorites, Matthew Puntureri and John Goffredo.

FRIDAY NIGHT

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

Cape Cod Bluefins

From

Somewhere in Massachusetts

Mike.BTB