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 ~ Danbury Loses Minds and Game; Round VII Tonight

From the desk of:   THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS HOCKEY

in HANGAR FIVE

ROUND - VII

Danbury Whalers

vs.

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

from,

FLATBUSH AVENUE

Kings County

I - BKN 8  -  DNW 1

II - DNW 3  -  BKN 2

III - DNW 3  -  BKN 1

IV - BKN 4  -  DNW 2

V - DNW 8  -  BKN 3

THURSDAY  Feb. 2, 2012

VI - BKN 9 - DNW 3
Series tied 3-3

It's now that time when the Aviators are not only skating against their competition, they're skating against the clock/schedule as well.  So in a series that quite literally can flip the standings between these two teams, the Skates of Flatbush took a strong confident stride in the right direction by taking care of business up in Danbury last night.  Danbury handed Brooklyn their first loss after winning five straight last weekend.  A pair of wins this weekend against their rival gets them back into the all important first division standings again.  They got a big win Thursday.  And now it's home to Brooklyn for a Friday night in Hangar Five.


The first period between visiting Brooklyn and the Danbury Whalers was more like the Chase Watson Show.  The new Aviator centerman, signed in January, opened the scoring right away with his fourth goal of the season at the 1:42 mark.  Chase then assisted on Jesse Felten's goal a little over two minutes later for Watson's eighteenth point in nine games.  Jesse Felten returned the favor assisting on Chase Watson's second goal of the period; this one coming on the power play.


Brooklyn shut-down Danbury allowing just four first period shots on goal against Flatbush starter Josselin St. Pierre.  At the other end, they spent the period peppering Danbury goalie; Peter Vetri; with eighteen first period shots.  Things could have been worse for Danbury as they allowed Brooklyn seven PP opportunities in the first period alone.  And luckily for them, Brooklyn's Coolest only cashed in once with the man advantage.  But it was Danbury who would lose their cool this night, and practically spent the entire third period at a disadvantage due to a major lack of comportment on their part.


In the second period, Danbury continued to their lack of discipline and thus kept putting Brooklyn on the Power Play.  At the 3:36 mark, both Whaler's goalie Perter Vetri, and Coach Phil Esposito, were given Unsportsmanlike Conducts while Esposito was additionally called for the Bench Minor.  That was a mere prelude of things to come.  Twenty seconds into the power play, Jesse Felten struck for his second goal giving Flatbush a 4-0 lead.  Michael Thomson, and Ken Trentowski (who was recently named FHL Rookie of the Month) assisted on Felten's twentieth goal of the season.


Brooklyn took another seventeen shots against Peter Vetri in the second period and limited Danbury to just eight shots against Josselin St. Pierre, for a two period total of twelve.


Danbury finally got on the board in the third period.  At 2:21, the Whalers' Chris Seifert made it a 4-1 game.  Then half way through the period, Chase Watson completed his hat-trick with a power play goal.   At that point, every one in the crowd could smell what was cooking.  The game, sportsmanship, and everything just degenerated from then on.  Brooklyn's next four goals came on the power play as well.  Why?


Apparently, Brooklyn kicked too much sand under Danbury's skates and so the home team looked to take out some frustrations on the invaders visitors.  However, it seemed since they dropped the puck way back in the first period, the Whalers came into the game seemingly inspired to spear, slash,  elbow, be abusive to the Ref, fight, charge, cross-check, and in a case or two, get disqualified.  OH! - And as an encore, Danbury broke out with some new material. - Try this one;  -  a Tier One Gross Gross Gross Misconduct Penalty.  Hey, if that was their plan, mission accomplished. 


In between all Danbury's frolicking and fiestiness, Nick Petriello; Joe Dabkowski; Casey Mignone; and Lucas Schott all tallied power play goals for Flatbush during the third period melee.  The A's took another TWENTY-SIX shots for good measure against a combination of Whaler goalies, for a grand total of sixty-one shots on goal for the game.   Yep.


There was one moment of clarity.  Danbury scored shorthanded shortly before regulation time expired. The "game" finally ended in a 9-2 final.  And now they get to do it again; Tonight!


Yeah!  Tonight the Whalers must come to Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn.  How appropriate huh?  The Dukes Skates of Flatbush will be there waiting along with somewhere between six to eight hundred of their fans friends too.  And who knows, maybe cooler heads prevail and a hockey game breaks out. 


But all kidding aside, this is a very important game for the A's.  A loss would just cancel out last night's effort and keep them skating in place.  By winning Thursday night, they leapfrogged over Danbury in the standings and are now in fourth place and back in the first division just behind Akwesasne.


The late season push is on!


Let's Go Aviators!






Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Catch of the Day

From the desk of:   THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN






BROOKLYN AVIATORS:   Gone Fishing; The Skates of Flatbush Hook Two Wins Against the Blue Fins.



The A's showed no rust for being off eleven days since their last game against Akwesasne.  Finally back on ice, Brooklyn netted twelve goals against Cape Cod's eight over six plus periods of hockey  this week, and completed a two game sweep of the Blue Fins at The Hangar.



In THURSDAY NIGHT's contest the A's struck for six goals and were 3 for 5 on the power play. 



Just over five minutes into the game, newcomer Peter Drikos, put Brooklyn's Coolest on the board first.  Then Cape Cod equalled the score for a first period tie.



This game wasn't marred with some of the more exotic penalties these two teams have collected for brutishness or unsportsmanlike behavior like some of their previous encounters.  Instead, more wholesome penalties like Holding; Interference; and High Sticking; laid doom to Cape Cod's night.  The A's scored two power play goals in the second period.  At 3:14, Jordan Bernier scored off a big assist by goalie Josselin St. Pierre.  Six minutes later, Brendan Baumgartner cashed with a second power play goal for the A's.  Cape Cod picked up a power play goal of their own to end the second period with Brooklyn ahead by a 3-2 score.



To start the third period, Ken Trentowski put the A's in front 4-2 with Brooklyn's third consecutive power play goal.  Matt Atsoff added an unassisted goal.  Then Jesse Felton capped off the night with Flatbush's sixth goal of the night.  The Fins scored once in the third period to complete their end of a 6-3 final.




FRIDAY'S GAME was far more in line with the art of hockey.  With penalties held to a minimum, a really good back and forth contest took place.  And to the delight of the Flatbush Faithful, the game came replete with a dramatic comeback, and overtime win by the Coolest.



Jordan Bernier opened up the scoring.  After Cape Cod scored to tie (they scored twice in the period), Brooklyn rode the strength of two power play goals to a first period 3-2 lead.  Within a minute of each other, Cape Cod committed back-to-back cross checking penalties; their only two real mistakes of the night.  Brooklyn cashed in on each offense.  Jesse Felton netted his twelfth goal of the season off the first penalty.  Andrew Owsiak scored thirty-four seconds later with power play goal number two, making it a 3-2 Brooklyn lead.



The second period was almost all Cape Cod.  Brooklyn watched The Fins score three consecutive goals inside the first three minutes of the second period before they answered back with a goal at the 14:12 mark by Lucas Schott. 



The Skates of Flatbush went into the third period trailing 5-4 and it stayed that way for the first ten minutes until Brendan Baumgartner broke through for a game tying goal, and his second of the weekend. 



The rest of regulation time stayed goal and penalty free.  So into overtime they went.  The home town Flatbush Faithful crowd didn't have to sweat the free-hockey portion of the evening very long.  Thirty-nine seconds into the extra session, an Andrew Owsiak shot found net, and Brooklyn completed a weekend sweep of The Fish.  And off went the Fans happily into the Brooklyn night, free to start a very Merry Christmas weekend with two victories in hand.



Josselin St. Pierre picked up his fourth and fifth wins of the season since replacing Lee Thomas as the A's goalie.  He's now 5-3 with an overtime loss mixed in.  He faced fifty-two shots over the weekend and turned back forty-four Blue Fin shots.  The season series between Cape Cod and Flatbush is now tied at four games apiece. 



Two victories this weekend make ten wins on the season.  The A's upped their season point total to thirty-six which gets them out of the second division and anchored into a tie with Danbury for third place.  FHL games resume after the Holiday break on Dec. 27th.  The A's will be back on the ice Dec. 29th against the Outlaws in New Jersey.



Merry Christmas Guys.  Let's Go Brooklyn!

Mike.BTB