BKN Aviators ~ The Long Bus Ride Home

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Say Goodnight Gracie.  The Fat Lady Sings.



By any standard, or at any level, the Brooklyn Aviators and Danbury Whalers just concluded a great playoff series.  The Federal Hockey League can be proud of this one, for the circuit supplied local hockey fans of Brooklyn and Danbury with three superb games.  And in return, both teams and the league experienced good nights at the gate.



Last season, the A's needed all five games plus two overtime periods to advance past Danbury in the opening round of playoffs.  In the recently concluded regular season, the A's and Whalers split ten games down the middle.  In this year's post-season, Danbury was the third seed, and Brooklyn entered as the four seed.  And with two of their three games going into overtime, this last series only reinforces how close these two teams will remain.  The Whalers get to advance now.  And for Flatbush, it's time to close the Hangar doors on another season.

Federal Hockey League Playoffs

Game Three Final:

BROOKLYN AVIATORS   4

DANBURY WHALERS       5

OVERTIME

I - DNW 5; BKN 4*

II - BKN 5; DNW 2

III - DNW 5; BKN 4*

*overtime

Danbury wins series 2-1

1000 Island Privateers Defeat Akwesasne Warriors 2-1

ROUND TWO

DANBURY WHALERS

vs.

1000 ISLAND PRIVATEERS

All Flatbush could muster were three shots on goal throughout the entire third period.  Josselin St. Pierre faced fifty-one shots in the game and made forty-six saves.  You can't find fault with that.  The A's Tweeted and described the Whalers' game tying goal in the third period as "fluky".  Then came overtime.  And well, with no second chances, there is only one outcome that satisfies.  It's a hard way to end a season.



The game was almost a replay of Friday's game.  It was a back and forth affair, with each team taking turns at a run.  In game one, a last second goal sent them into overtime.  In game three, it was the dreaded "fluke" goal that extended the game.



In quick fashion, the Whalers jumped out to a very early 2-0 first period lead.  Goal number one came at 1:07, and goal two followed at the 3:27 mark.  But unlike game one when Danbury took their 3-0 lead into the intermission, Brooklyn responded this time and matched goals.  At 4:28, Joe Dabkowski answered back with Brooklyn's first goal.   At 5:38, Jason Dolgy answered back with Brooklyn's second goal.  And that's what they took into the first intermission this time.



Brooklyn kept things hot in the second period.  At 6:57, Casey Mignone scored on the power play when Danbury got whistled for a 'Too Many Men' bench minor.  Rob Schweyer followed with Brooklyn's fourth goal (unassisted) of the game at the 9:57 mark for a 4-2 Flatbush lead.  Then back came Danbury.  Greg Holt scored at 18:57 to bring Danbury within one again.



For the first 11:59 of the third period, Josselin St.Pierre fended off shots while Brooklyn mustered too few.  And then, one Danbury shot trickled by.  One of Danbury's leading scorers, Sean O'Malley, was credited with tying the game at four apiece.  Brooklyn finished the third period unable to put any kind of pressure on Peter Vetri.  And so into overtime they went.



Sean O'Malley wasted little time in dispatching the Aviators to their bus and starting the long ride back to Brooklyn.  He scored the game winner, and the series clincher 1:54 into the extra session.





It was a great season guys.  Can't wait to start things up again in the Fall.  Have a great Summer and thanks for the fun.

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Decisive Game Three Today in Danbury

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

2011-2012

Federal Hockey League Playoffs

Round One

Series Tied 1-1

I - DAW 5; BKN 4*

II - BKN 5; DAW 2

*OVERTIME

GAME THREE

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

Danbury Whalers

From,

The Danbury Ice Arena

Connecticut

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:   Series Tied!  Flatbush Pounds Out Three Third Period Goals for Game Two Win in Danbury. Decisive Game Three Sunday Afternoon.



Another game, another first period deficit.  But unlike Danbury's three goal first period in Brooklyn, the visiting A's didn't allow the Whalers to light up the scoreboard the way they did Friday night after just twenty minutes of play.  While they allowed Danbury to jump out to another lead, this one was a manageable one goal lead.  Unlike Game One, Flatbush avoided a disastrous first period, closing minute, two goal slip-up this time.  Instead, Game Two was a flat-out grind.  The guys played a little rougher and so the game got a little more tougher, and as a result, the score remained a little more closer.  Late third period mistakes would ultimately undo one of these teams.



Danbury might have been on home ice, but after Brooklyn took a 2-1 lead in the second period, Desperation grabbed a stick and took it's place on both team's benches.  Best two out of three series' are like that.



Josselin St. Pierre helped his own cause to get the Aviators' offense going.  He had the secondary assist on Chris Campanale's goal at 2:56 of the second period.  Less than four minutes later, Jason Dolgy gave Flatbush a 2-1 lead.  However, with less than two minutes left in the period, Danbury scored a tying goal.



Danbury Fan's favorite punching bag; Josselin St. Pierre; faced eleven third period shots and turned them all away.  For the game, he faced forty-five shots on goal, and made forty-three saves.  The Whalers' Peter Vetri was having as equally an effective first two periods as St. Pierre was having for Brooklyn.  Through the first two periods, he faced thirty shots, and stopped twenty-eight.



The Whalers bailed-out their goalie Friday evening after Peter Vetri allowed Brooklyn to score four goals, which erased a 3-0 first period Danbury lead.  But his team mates scored with 0:03 left in the game to tie, and then again in OT for the road win at Hangar Five.



In Game Two, like Josselin St. Pierre, Peter Vetri also faced eleven shots in the third period.  Only this time, he let three of them get by.  At 8:32, Chris Campanale nailed his second goal of the game.  Then mistakes on Danbury's part started to ruin any chances of coming back from a three goal deficit.  Penalties put the Whalers on Special Teams and ultimately off their game.  Jesse Felten scored at 14:49 off an Interference penalty.  Later, Michael Thomson scored at 17:33 off a holding penalty, for a 5-3 Brooklyn lead.



Although Chris Campanale wound up with the game winning goal when he made the game 3-2, having to kill off two penalties in the last ten minutes of the game kept Danbury at a disadvantage.  Overall, Brooklyn played a more disciplined game than did the Whalers.  Brooklyn limited Danbury to 0 for 2 on the power play.  Flatbush finished 2 for 6 with the man advantage.  But credit should be given to both teams for playing another high-quality playoff game.



This Round One bracket of the FHL playoffs now boils down to one game between Brooklyn and the Whalers in Danbury, Connecticut.  For thr second consecutive season, Flatbush and Danbury will engage in a decisive series clinching game.  Last year, the Aviators won the last two games in a best of five series to advance passed Danbury into the FHL championship round.



This season's format is somewhat different.  The winner of this bracket will move on to play the victor of the 1000 Islands versus Akwesasne series, which is also tied at a game apiece and will be decided today.  Those two teams will face off for the right to play the winner of the New Jersey Outlaws versus Cape Cod Blue Fins series in the FHL Championship round.

SATURDAY ~ GAME TWO FINAL

Brooklyn Aviators   5

Danbury Whalers    2

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Crushing OT Loss; Face Elimination in Danbury

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

FRIDAY NIGHT FINAL ~ GAME ONE

Danbury Whalers   5

Brooklyn Aviators  4

OVERTIME

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  The Skates of Flatbush Must Now Duke Out Two Wins in Danbury.

Danbury Whalers Fans Have a Wild Time in Brooklyn.  A's Answer Three Whaler Goals With a Four Goal Comeback.  Danbury ties Game With 0:03 Left on Clock; Win in Over-Time.

Links:

Danbury Whalers

Brooklyn Aviators

Federal Hockey League

There were no fights or acts of questionable character - just a small assortment of typical Hockey infractions that do not induce players to lose their composure during playoff games.  This was a very well played game actually; - Not that we should be surprised.  Brooklyn fans did get caught off guard however.



The first period against Danbury gave Aviator fans every indication Game One of these playoffs was going to be a long night.  The Whalers' faithful fanatics, generally acknowledged as the league's most rabid supporters, invaded Hangar Five in numbers.  They came donned in their green, blue, and white colored jerseys, and basically had their way of the place.  They were raucously loud and for good reason too.  After the teams spent the first ten minutes or so shadow boxing, Danbury went to work on the Aviators' goalie, initially scoring at 13:42, then two more times within the nineteenth minute to close out the opening session staked to a 3-0 lead.

The Whalers' Rooters did their part too, as they were in Brooklyn's Josselin St. Pierre's ear most of the night, but more so when he tended net on the scoreboard side of the ice.  He was the target of a tireless stream of jeers and heckling emanating from sections nineteen and twenty in particular.  That three goal Whaler lead after the first twenty minutes had them all feeling pretty good about themselves.  And in the spirit of sharing, they expressed their opinion of St. Pierre often.  They savored all forty-four Danbury shots against the Flatbush goalie like forty-four indelible moments in time.  Gotta give 'em credit for that.

Jesse Felten tried quieting them down with a power play goal at the 2:51 mark of the second period, making it a 3-1 game.  But after Peter Vetri denied Flatbush upon being awarded a penalty shot, the Danbury contingent was right back at it.



However, Brooklyn was getting their chances and Josselin St. Pierre had a much better second period.  Then came the comeback.  It was now Peter Vetri's time to struggle stopping pucks.  Two and a half minutes into the third period, Michael Thompson's goal got Flatbush to within one.  At the 7:33 mark, Chris Campanale tied the game at three, off assists by Andrew Scampoli, and Michael Thompson.  And needless to say, Hangar Five was hearing less and less from the first two sections off to the right.  Then, at 11:25, Michael Thompson assisted Casey Mignone's goal for a 4-3 Brooklyn lead.  After four unanswered goals over the last two periods, it was now Flatbush Fans pumpin' up the noise in their house.



For the next 8:32, Brooklyn nursed their one goal lead.  Josselin St. Pierre was holding up as Brooklyn was limiting Danbury to their lowest shots-on-goal total of the three periods.  Then Coach Esposito did what any coach should do in the closing moments of this game.  He pulled his goalie in favor of the sixth skater.  And it paid off.  With just three second left on the clock, Danbury scored.  And yeah, sections nineteen and twenty went bonkers.



At 13:40 of overtime, the Danbury Whalers scored again; unassisted no less.  Game over.  And for the people dressed in green, blue, and white jerseys, it was party on.  Once they all regained their composure, it was back to Connecticut for them.  Depending on traffic, the seventy mile drive back to Danbury should take about an hour and a half.  While the A's damn-nearly sent them all home in silence, instead I'm sure there will be car loads of people recapturing the moments of a great game; a great win, and a great trip over all to Brooklyn; for them at least.

Instead, Flatbush will have the quiet drive north.  They'll have seventy miles to ponder how they let one get away after staging such a resilient comeback.  And they'll now have to think about winning two games in a place that will packed with just more than two sections of people wearing green, blue, and white jerseys.  In Danbury, they pack the joint with four-digit figures.  And they certainly won't be there to welcome Brooklyn with open arms either.



I'm sure Coach Miller and his Aviators are stewing.  They had their chance.  In last season's playoffs, Brooklyn had to win Game Four in Danbury to avoid elimination, then won Game Five in Brooklyn to clinch a trip to the championship round.  They are faced once with having to win two in row again if they are to duplicate last year's effort; albeit in a best of three series this time.  But they need to win this evening just to stay alive first.

GAME TWO

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

Danbury Whalers

From,

THE DANBURY ICE ARENA
Delay Street, Danbury





GAME ONE SHOTS

Let's Go A's!

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ First Round Preview Versus Danbury Whalers

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

2011-2012

FEDERAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

PLAYOFFS

 

ROUND ONE

Best of Three:

I - DAW @ BKN

II - BKN @ DAW

III - BKN @ DAW*

*if necessary

 

FRIDAY NIGHT PUCKS

GAME ONE

#3 - Danbury Whalers

vs.

#4 - BROOKLYN AVIATORS

From,

HANGAR FIVE

Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn

 

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:   Hello Danbury.  We Meet Again.

Brooklyn and Danbury will face-off in a best two of three series to open the 2011-2012 Federal Hockey League playoffs...; Again.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  Decades from now, when someone sets out to write the history of these two teams, the early years will most certainly focus on this two years young, yet very intense rivalry.  But why wait, right?  Let's do this now!

Word is there were circling complaints within the League regarding Akwesasne's overly-aggressive and highly physical play this season.  I know this much, none of those gripes came out of Brooklyn, or Danbury.  If anything, the Warriors are just picking up on a trend Danbury and Brooklyn started last season against each other.  But yeah, the Warriors have been a bunch of brutes this season; no doubt.  However, that's old hat to Danbury and Flatbush.  Their dislike was a mutual feeling upon their first ever face-off.  And so, here we go again.

Brooklyn defeated the Danbury Whalers last season to advance to the FHL Championship round; only to lose to the fore mentioned Warriors.  But they needed all five games against Danbury to get there, and then some.  They split the first two games in Brooklyn.  Then Flatbush suffered a crushing over-time road loss in game three.  With their backs to the wall, they won game four in Danbury to bring the deciding game five back to Brooklyn.  Regulation time ended in a 3-3 tie.  And so they went into over-time for a second time in the series.  Shortly into game five's sudden death session, Jesse Felten assisted on the game's winning goal.  And now, he'll try and lead his team against the Danbury Whalers again this season.

Flatbush and Danbury clashed ten times and split the season  series down the middle, winning five games each.  So they know each other well; very well in fact.  Entering Friday night's game, Brooklyn is 3-2 against the Whalers when hosting at The Hangar.  Flatbush has outscored Danbury by a 43-30 margin this season.  In fact, they scored six or more times in four of the five wins Brooklyn has over Danbury.







The Aviators got caught in a bit of a tail spin to begin the new year.  And Danbury capitalized on the opportunity to pass Brooklyn by in the standings.  Once the Whalers took hold of third place, they were never threatened by Brooklyn or Akwesasne the rest of the way.  Number three seed Danbury finished the regular season with twenty-eight wins and eighty-nine points.  Number four seed Brooklyn, finished with twenty-five wins, and eighty-two points.



Without excuses, Brooklyn has played through their share of ECHL call-ups.  Of the players remaining, centerman Jesse Felten leads Brooklyn's scorers with twenty-seven goals and twenty-seven assists, for fifty-four points.  Matt Moffat is Danbury's leading scorer with seventeen goals and forty-two assists, for fifty-nine points.



Danbury sports three other players with over forty points.  Greg Holt has fifteen goals and forty-six points.  Sean O'Malley has twenty-goals and forty-two points.  And Chris Siefert has twenty-one goals and also has forty-two points.  While at season's end, Brooklyn's other remaining top scorers were Casey Mignone, who scored nineteen goals with forty points.  Matt Atsoff had eighteen goals with thirty one points.



But Brooklyn has other players to consider in light of ECHL call-ups.  Lucas Schott has twelve goals in twenty-six games.  Nick Petriello has twelve goals in twenty-three games.  And Michael Thompson has nine goals in sixteen games.

In discussing the guys between the pipes, Danbury's starting goalie, Peter Vetri (l.) is all too familiar to the A's.  After the pair of net-minders the #1 New Jersey Outlaws platoon between the pipes, the Whalers' goalie was perhaps the League's best this season.  With twenty-one wins, he was third in the circuit behind New Jersey's Dan McWhinney, who tied for the League lead with twenty-four wins, along with 1000 Islands' Matt Anthony, who also had twenty-four wins.  Vetri came in second in the League with a .919 Save Percentage, and was number three with a 3.28 GAA.  Whalers' back-up Nick Neidert played in thirteen games with a 5-6 record.

Brooklyn's main guy in net is Josselin St, Pierre.  While seemingly not impressive as Vetri's record, in twenty-five games, St. Pierre (r.) was 12-9-2-0 this season.  He placed fourth, right behind Peter Vetri in GAA with a 3.35 mark.  His .903 Save Percentage also ranked just behind Peter Vetri's mark, and again was good for fourth best in the League.  He was one of only four goalies this season to have a better than .900 Save Percentage; keeping in mind, New Jersey boasts two of them, leaving Vetri and himself.



But Coach Miller is just as likely to start back-up Michael DiLorenzo as well.  Coach Miller gave his newly acquired goalie substantial minutes between the pipes down the stretch, as if to hopefully get him up to game speed in time for the playoffs.  He only has fifteen games played all season.  In eight games for Brooklyn, he was 5-2, with a 3.00 GAA, and a .915 Save Percentage.  In seven games with Delaware prior to his acquisition, his numbers are less appealing.



Friday night, Game One of the best two out of three series will be in Hangar Five.  Game Two, and if necessary Game Three, will be played before, what I'm sure will be a raucous, League's best, Danbury crowd.  The winner of this series will move on to play the winner of the 1000 Islands/Akwesasne series.



I'm expecting nothing short than an intense, hard hitting, somewhat chippy, but well played series by both teams.  While tempers are always liable to explode when these two teams meet, I think hockey will prevail and sportsmanship doesn't deteriorate too badly.  And if mood mismanagement does bring out the worst in each other, well, that's always fun too.



Good Luck to the Danbury Whalers, although I really don't mean it.  But then again, we need each other in order to create great moments in FHL Hockey.  I hope I did you guys some justice here.



And Let's Go Aviators!!





Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Regular Season Finale

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Wins Against Danbury and New Jersey Lock Up Fourth Place and a Playoff Date With the Whalers.



FRIDAY FINALS:

Danbury   1
Brooklyn  7

1000 Islands   15
Akwesasne      8




With wins Friday and  Saturday evening, that should be a wrap.  The A's have secured fourth place.



Friday night, the 1000 Island Privateers wrecked the Akwesasne Warriors 15-8, while Brooklyn made guppies out of the Danbury Whalers.  The night's results gave Brooklyn a ten point lead over the Warriors, on this, the final weekend of the regular season.



A game after Danbury goalie Peter Ventri stymied the A's on Wednesday, Flatbush stormed back in Friday night's return game to defeat the Whalers 7-1 at The Hangar.  Brooklyn jumped out to an early 2-0 first period lead on a power play goal by Nick Petriello, and a goal by Steve Koich.



In the second period, Flatbush again made the Whalers pay for their misplays.  First, Joe Dabkowski put the A's up 3-0 after eight minutes of play.  But it was Michael Thomson who did the damage with two power play goals, for a 5-0 Brooklyn lead.



The Aviators kept pressing matters in the third period with another two goals before Danbury could even score their first.  Michael Thomson completed his hat trick at the 1:40 mark.  And Brian Marks converted on yet another Brooklyn power play opportunity for their final goal of the game.



In all, the Aviators were 4 for 10 on the power play.  Josselin St. Pierre was back in net making his first start in four games.  He faced thirty-one shots while stopping all but one for the win.





SATURDAY FINALS:


New Jersey   3
Brooklyn      9

1000 Islands   8
Akwesasne   20  <   this is not a type-o!




Then Saturday; Wow!  After the drubbing they took from the Privateers Friday, Akwesasne went completely medieval on 1000 Islands and butchered them with twelve goals in the third period, and twenty-two goals overall.  The Warriors' Pierre Dagenais scored three hat-tricks!  Yes, he had ten goals in total all by himself.  For Akwesasne however, this was their last game of the regular season.  That's what you call going out with a bang though.  However, they will be falling short of fourth place and Brooklyn in the standings.  They will be the five seed, and will just picke-up where they left off against 1000 Islands once the second season start.



Meanwhile, Brooklyn was busy with their continuing recent success on the power play against the first place New Jersey Outlaws.  Over the last two games, they are now 7 for 17 with the man advantage.



New Jersey scored first when old friend Matthew Puntureri assisted on a Kevin Cooper goal just 0:17 into the game.  But Brooklyn answered back with a pair.  Chris Campanale's goal tied it inside the seventh minute.  Just over three minutes later, Andrew Owsiak scored and unassisted goal for a 2-1 Flatbush lead.



Kevin Cooper answered back for the Outlaws to make it a 2-2 game.  But Flatbush countered again making them pay on the power play.  Brett Liscomb was sent to the box after a hit from behind putting the A's on the power play.  Nick Petriello cashed in midway through the man-advantage for a 3-2 Flatbush lead.  Then Jason Dolgy scored Brooklyn's second power play goal of the period after the Outlaws were called for a high sticking penalty.  And so they took a 4-2 lead into the first intermission.



At 2:22 in, Flatbush opened up the second period with another power play goal on Nick Petriello's second of the game.  Chris Campanale also added his second goal of the game giving the A's a 6-2 lead.  But New Jersey's Anthony Battaglia got one back making this a 6-3 game after two periods of play.



The third period was all Flatbush.  Steve Koich made it 7-3 inside the fifth minute.  For two Aviators, he only thing left was a race for the hat trick.  Chris Campanale won.  He completed his when he scored his third goal of the game at the 15:17 mark.  Less than a minute later, Nick Petriello completed his to cap off a 9-3 Flatbush final.  Of note, that's three Brooklyn hat-tricks in their last two games.



Coach Miller decided to make Michael DiLorenzo responsible for guarding the pipes again.  He faced thirty-five Outlaw shots on goal and stopped thirty-two for the win.



By night's end, Brooklyn finished with seventy-nine points and have fourth place locked up.  Tomorrow, Sunday, the A's will wrap up their regular season with another game versus the New Jersey Outlaws over on their ice.  Saturday evening was the Warriors' last game.  Akwesasne ends the season with sixty-nine points.




***It wouldn't be right for me not to admit this, but all this time I was under the impression the top four teams made the playoffs.  Apparently, the top six teams participate.

SUNDAY

REGULAR SEASON FINALE

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

New Jersey Outlaws

From,

The Other Side of the Harbor

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Warriors Deny Flatbush Again

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Akwesasne Warriors Prove TWO Much for Flatbush.



And now..., Flatbush is in a bind.  A weekend sweep suffered against the Warriors was exactly what Brooklyn could least afford with just eight games remaining in the regular season.  But for this game at least, what more could they have done?  Brooklyn took sixty-four shots on goal.  Yet, what all their efforts got them was a 3-0 second period deficit.  Sure they messed up when they allowed the Warriors to score short-handed in the second.  But again, what more could they have done?  Brooklyn kept taking shots and Akwesasne's Alexandre Vincent kept stopping them.



What more could they have done?  Well, they needed to have their goalie situation straightened out by now.  At this point, Brooklyn should be riding Josselin St. Pierre from now until March 4th; the last game of the season versus New Jersey; and hope for the best.  After Coach Miller charged Michael DiLorenzo with Friday's game, Josselin St. Pierre started in net for Brooklyn on Saturday.  The A's limited Akwesasne to seven and nine shots in the first and third periods respectively.  In the second period however, the Warriors peppered St. Pierre with eighteen shots.  He faced thirty-four shots in all and stopped twenty-nine in taking the loss.



Stopping pucks and scoring; it's all about scoring now.  And with every goal, win, and point in the standings of paramount importance, perhaps they needed to be better than 2 for 11 on the power play Saturday as well?  Maybe.  But the affects of Coach Miller's early season roster tinkering are bearing out.  Very simply, the A's need more consistent scoring.



Joe Dabkowski finally broke through for Flatbush at 5:41 into the third period.  But by that time, the Warriors were already up by a 4-1 score.  Make that 4-2 after the Warriors scored again six minutes later.  For the Akwesasne Warriors, it was their usual suspects who did all the damage against Brooklyn.  Nicolas Corbeit, Sylvain Deschateles, and Pierre Dagenais all recorded points.  And Dan Tessier added two third period goals to put the game safely out of reach.  Michael Thompson closed out Brooklyn's offensive effort, first with a short-handed goal at the 12:42 mark, and then scoring again with less that two minutes left during an inconsequential Brooklyn power play.



Although Brooklyn still maintains an overall one point edge over the Warriors, the A's are now 0.30 percentage points behind Akwesasne in the standings due to total games played.  If the season ended today, the Warriors are in the playoffs and Brooklyn would be out.  Unless Danbury hits a big bump in the road, they can and should remain in third place.  But they too can very easily drop back into this rat race.  For the moment though, it seems as if the last playoff spot will come down to which team; Akwesasne or Brooklyn; plays better hockey down the stretch.



After meeting in last season's Federal Hockey League championship round, these two teams will now battle it out for a chance to play beyond March 4th.  Different season.  Different story.  The Aviators will travel home from Upstate and take on first place New Jersey, Monday night in The Hangar.  Then Thursday, the Warriors come into Brooklyn for the last head-to-head match up of the season between these two clubs.

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Crash Landing in Akwesasne; Game Two Tonight

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:   Akwesasne Gives Flatbush a Third Period Scalping as Coach Loses Cool Against the Warriors.



Pre-Game Post



This game was most frustrating.  As in Coach Miller watching his team melt down over the final ten minutes of the game.  As in leading 3-1 and giving up three goals in the third period to lose.  As in Coach Rob Miller blowing off a lot of steam.  As in ending the game at the sixtieth minute with an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty called against him.  As when the A's can least afford losses like this, then going out and suffering a loss just like this. 

Or, was Coach incensed over his own decision to give Michael DiLorenzo his second start in net as an Aviator over his regular goalie, Josselin St. Pierre?  On that one, who knows?  But it's worth asking.  To his credit however, Michael DiLorenzo was very good over the first two periods; stopping twenty-four of twenty-five shots.  Then midway through the third period, the bottom dropped out on the Aviators' night.

It's probably safe to say the third period Unsportsmanlike Conduct Bench Minor called against Lucas Schott at 9:45 had something to do with Coach Miller's frustration.  Because at 10:16, Akwesasne scored on the power play making the score 3-2 A's, but more importantly, ignited the Warriors' greater comeback.

Three Brooklyn goals over the first forty minutes by Nick Petriello, Steve Koich, and Matt Atsoff went for not as the Warriors made the third period a very one sided affair.  Akwesasne's comeback caused a shift in the standings as well.  The Warriors moved up to fourth place based on win percentage while the Aviators slide down to fifth and for the moment, out of the first division.

They'll drop the puck on the second of this two game series Saturday evening.  Nine games remain in the Aviators' season.  So wins and points are of the essence.

Let's Go Aviators!

SATURDAY NIGHT HOCKEY

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

Akwesasne Warriors

From

The Frozen Tundra

of Upstate New York

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Danbury Quiets Flatbush Again

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Flatbush Skates Off Quietly into the Night.   Both Teams Running Even in Race to Stay in First Division.


Coming into Friday night's game at The Hangar, the Aviators were winners of three in a row and victorious in eight out of their last nine games.  It was the rival Whalers who last beat the A's and handed Brooklyn it's only defeat over that stretch.  And Friday night, they did it to us again.

Danbury Whalers Goalie, Peter Vetri

The Whalers came to Brooklyn and defeated the A's 3-1 to even the season series at four games apiece.  And Danbury goalie Peter Vetri's performance was even better than that.  For it wasn't until 2:30 left in the game that Matt Atsoff finally scored to put Flatbush on the scoreboard.  In all, Vetri faced forty-three Brooklyn shots on goal and stopped forty-two of them for the win.  For their part, the The Whalers made the most of their twenty-three shots against Josselin St. Pierre scoring a goal in each period.

As of this afternoon, Brooklyn leads Danbury by mere percentage points in the standings.  While still in third place the A's have sixty-four points.  With Friday night's win, Danbury passes Brooklyn in points however with sixty-five.  And that can change after Saturday night however.  Danbury is scheduled to host the 1000 Islands Privateers this evening.  Unfortunately, the Aviators will be idle the rest of the weekend.  Today's (Saturday) game was cancelled due to the Vermont Wild shutting down operations earlier this season.  And so the Whalers can wrestle third place back from the A's with a win at home tonight.

Game Shots from Friday Night:

Danbury   3

Flatbush   1

Final

Singing of the National Anthem

Aviators' Goalie, Josselin St. Pierre

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ A's Crash ACE's Party in Hangar Five

From the desk of:   THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

Friday Night ~ Pre-Game Skate

NEW JERSEY OUTLAWS vs. BROOKLYN AVIATORS

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  It Was Party Night at Hangar Five Friday Night; Until the Home Team Crashed It.




Seeing Matthew Puntureri and John Goffredo certainly brings back memories, doesn't it? - Back to a time when they used to score goals for the home team and leading us to the Finals last season.  Without them, life in Hanger Five has been somewhat of a struggle this season.



The return of Josselin St. Pierre wasn't enough to thwart a fourth consecutive loss by the Aviators.  New Jersey heisted the game from Brooklyn in a big first period.  The A's were left chasing down the Outlaws the rest of the night.

Jesse Felten rushes back on defense.

The Skates of Flatbush were grounded before they ever took off.  In the first period alone,

One Goal - Two Goals - Three Goals - Four Goals, found net beyond Josselin St. Pierre before the Aviators could muster even one before the session expired.

John Goffredo scored New Jersey's fourth goal of the first period.  That's when Coach Miller decided to use his time-out.

Later, Matthew Puntureri scored a third period power play goal to make the game a 6-3 affair at the time.  Brooklyn ultimately lost a 7-3 final to the FHL's first place team.

#27 - Casey Mignone

The Aviators were kind of skating around in figure-eights right around this time last season also.  Then, along with a bunch of this year's A's, former Brooklyn favorites Matthew Puntureri and John Goffredo embarked on a remarkable twenty-one game winning streak, and rode that wave all the way into the Finals against Akwesasne.

If that's Brooklyn's plan again this year.  They had better hurry up.  There's only twenty-three scheduled games left in the season.  And there's no time like the present.  The Coolest Guys in Brooklyn will try to end this four game losing streak in the second game of a home-and-home series out in Wayne, New Jersey tonight.

The final score might have sent everyone home in a somber mood.  But it was a festive night inside Hangar Five during the first intermission.  Team mascot, ACE, celebrated his second birthday Friday night.  Seven hundred-two fans and a few of ACE's closest friends stopped by to offer their congratulations to the Crazy Bird and Keeper of the Hangar.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACE!

Johnnie, the St. John's Red Storm mascot stopped by.  And the Brooklyn Cyclones' own Sandy the Seagull came down off his perch atop the Parachute Jump in Coney Island to help ACE make sure he had some fun on his birthday.

Ace's party gift?  -  An opportunity to take a couple of slap-shots against his unprotected and vulnerable buddies.  Johnny and Sandy didn't walk away too bruised though.  ACE has quite the accurate shot.  Many of his goals found nothing but net although you couldn't convince Sandy of that.

Sandy better stick to Baseball because there is no future Brooklyn's beloved seagull as a goalie.  Look at all those pucks in the lower left corner that got by.  I think this shot (pictured) clipped Sandy in the wing.  But just look at the smile on Ace's face.  You know that Crazy Bird was having fun and that's all that really matters.  Johnnie from St. John's was forced to put his body in front of a few shots as well.  His message was simply - Real Mascots don't wear pads! - Then ACE let him have it.

After scoring some goals, even more little friends joined the on-ice party, and along with the fans, joined together in singing Happy Birthday to ACE.

Mike.BTB