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 ~ Flatbush in a Dogfight to the Finish

From the desk of:   THE SKATES OF FLATBUSH

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Flatbush Sweeps Two From Danville Dashers.  Overtake Akwesasne in the Standings.  A's Back in the First Division With Four to Play.



SATURDAY FINAL:   BACK IN FOURTH PLACE!

Brooklyn   7
Danville     3



Let's understand for a moment Danville only has four wins this season.  So it's not like defeating the Danville Dashers; this season at least; is the stuff legends are made of.  Although the any-given-day rule still applies to all teams.  I am merely going to suggest, with the Aviators needing wins most, Jesse Felten stepped-up to remind his mates how to seize the moment; as several of his current mates were part of Brooklyn's miraculous run towards the playoffs last season.


Thanks in large part to their forward, the Aviators are back, but far from safe, in fourth place after defeating the Dashers 7-3 Saturday in the first of a two game series.  The win finally allowed Brooklyn to punch through the percentage points lead Akwesasne held over Flatbush and puts them back in the first division again with only five games left to play.  The Warriors lost to the New Jersey Outlaws 6-2 Saturday, and will be idle Sunday.  Advantage Brooklyn.


Michael DiLorenzo earned his third win in four starts for Brooklyn by turning back twenty-four of twenty-seven shots on goal by Danville.  The night started with a Kings County sized gasp when Danville scored just 0:39 into the game.  But in what are now must-win-games, the "old" Brooklyn vet, Jesse Felten, stepped in to lead Flatbush, when a leader was needed.


Midway through the first period, Felton tied the game with his twenty-fourth goal of the season.  And before the period's end, Jason Dolgy scored at 17:53 on the power play after Danville's Ryan Stern got whistled for cross-checking.  From then on, attitudes and comportment deteriorated.  But the game pressed on without too much chicanery.


Danville got off to another quick start to open the second period.  Four minutes in, this game was tied at two apiece.  But a few minutes later, Matt Atsoff put his Brooklyn mates up by one again.  Then midway through the period, Jesse Felten scored his twenty-fifth goal of the season on a power play to make it a 4-2 game.  Danville answered yet again with a goal at the 11:55 mark.  But it would be their last of the night.  Before the second period expired, Steve Koich gave the A's a 5-3 lead with his sixth goal of the season.


The third period was all Brooklyn.  Just over a minute in, Steve Owsiak scored his seventeenth goal of the season.  Then Jesse Felten and Jason Dolgy finished this game off the same way they started it.  Jesse Felten scored goal number twenty-six of the season at the 2:09 mark on a power play to complete his hat trick.  Jason Dolgy netted his second goal of the game and Brooklyn's final of the  evening for an 8-3 Flatbush win and their sixty-seventh point of the season; four better than the Warriors.





SUNDAY FINAL:  GAIN THREE MORE POINTS OVER AKWESASNE WARRIORS!

Brooklyn   4
Danville    2



Fourth place was now a matter of which team had more points again and no longer based on win percentages.  With the Warriors not playing, Sunday represented a huge opportunity to put some more distance between Flatbush and Akwesasne before both teams take the ice again Wednesday night.


With a day game after a night game, Coach Miller gave John Dorman his first Aviator start between the pipes Sunday after starting Michael DiLorenzo Saturday.  Regular goalie Josselin St. Pierre was not penciled into either game.  Regardless, in his first game in net since November 2011, John Dorman stopped fourteen of sixteen shots Brooklyn's defense allowed Danville.  At the other end, Flatbush peppered Danville's goalie; Nick Wydock; with twenty-one shots in the first period alone.


Sunday's overall shots on goal total was Brooklyn forty; Danville sixteen.  The final score was Brooklyn four; Danville two.  Who accrued more penalty minutes can be figured out if you try.  But ascertaining the number of punches thrown this afternoon is useless.  Saturday's simmering hostilities and lingering feuds boiled over throughout the first and third periods of Sunday afternoon's raucous affair.


When they weren't littering the ice with sticks and gloves, Brooklyn was doing just enough to win their third straight game, and more importantly gaining three more points in the standings over the idle Akwesasne Warriors.


There was no hat trick from Jesse Felten Sunday.  He played facilitator this time, instead assisting on three Brooklyn goals.  Five minutes in, he assisted on Henry Coxe's opening goal of the game.  A little over two minutes later, Jesse Felten again had the primary assist on Andrew Scampoli's power play goal.  With three and a half minutes left in the first period, Danville scored on a power play to end the period 2-1 Brooklyn.


Michael Thompson scored the only goal of the second just 1:31 into the period.  Then in the third period, Jesse Felten recorded his third assist of the game on Andrew Owsiak's goal at the 6:21 mark.  Danville scored a late short-handed goal to make the score a respectable 4-2 final.


That's seventy points and a job well done.  Now, Flatbush has four games left in the regular season.  The Aviators have a seven point lead over the Akwesasne Warriors and for the moment, own the final playoff spot.  Brooklyn now has a daunting task before them.  They will close out the regular season with a home-and-home against the third place Danbury Whalers, then a home-and-home against the first place New Jersey Outlaws.  The defending FHL Champions; Akwesasne Warriors; only have three games remaining.  One game remains against Danville this Wednesday.  They will then finish with a home-and-home against the second place 1000 Islands Privateers.


Should the playoff's fourth seed remain undetermined by March 3rd, Brooklyn's scheduled Sunday, March 4th game against New Jersey can quite literally turn out to be their "ACE" in the hole as Akwesasne will have concluded their season on Saturday.



Let's Go A's!





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 ~ Take Second Big Game From Danbury

From the desk of:   THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:   A's Finish Off Danbury in Two Straight.  Now Winners of Seven out of Last Eight Games.



How about that?  The latest goalie of the day; newly acquired Michael DiLorenzo; not only earned his first win in his first start as an Aviator, he won his first game of the season after seven previous games played for Delaware.  He faced 38 Danbury shots and stopped 36 of them to secure Brooklyn's second straight victory over the rival Whalers.

The two teams competed with far more civility in The Hangar than when compared to Thursday night's bar fight on Danbury's ice.  And for the most part both stayed in control of their tempers.  Minus a slash and some stick infractions, every one stayed cool.  Good guys or bad guys, neither tact worked for Danbury though.  And now they are the ones looking up at Brooklyn in the standings.  Two games; two wins for Brooklyn.  The late season surge is on indeed.  The Skates of Flatbush are now winners of seven of their last eight games.

With one game to go this weekend against New Jersey, the Aviators have so far landed ahead of Danbury in fourth place with sixty-one points.  Danbury slides back to fifth place with fifty-nine points.  Although the Akwesasne Warriors only have fifty-one points, they remain in third place by percentage points due to having played five less games than Brooklyn and Danbury.


It was retro-night of sorts in Hangar Five.  Many of the names we've come to expect led the way for Brooklyn Friday night.  Just keep in mind, Danbury was short players for their involvement in Thursday's exercise in belligerence.


Matt Atsoff was the lone goal scorer of the first period.  His fifteenth of the season came at 14:44; assisted by Andrew Scampoli and Michael Thomson.


At 5:49 of the second period, Brooklyn's Steve Koich got whistled for a slash.  But it was Jesse Felten who cashed in on a short-handed chance a minute later.  Several minutes later, a hooking penalty called against Danbury resulted in Jesse Felten's power play, and second consecutive goal of the period; good for a 3-0 Brooklyn lead.  However with less than a minute left in the period, Danbury got on the board on a James Sanford power play goal off a Michael Thomson hooking penalty to make it a 3-1 game.


Andrew Scampoli found his lost scoring touch again at 4:35 of the third period.  Then at the midway point of the period, Jesse Felten tallied another to complete the hat-trick.  It was his fifth goal in two nights against Danbury.  The Whalers answered that goal a short time later.  But Steve Koich pushed back again with another Brooklyn goal at the 18:00 mark, for a 6-2 lead and a final score.


After getting pummelled the night before, Peter Vetri did not start in goal for Danbury.  Instead Nick Niedert made the start, stopping 29 of 35 shots.


Next up; the first place New Jersey Outlaws.  Brooklyn finally broke through and defeated New Jersey 6-1 for the first time in their previous meeting.  Prior to that, New Jersey was 8-0 over Brooklyn this season and outscored them a combined 45-22 over that time.

SATURDAY

BROOKLYN AVIATORS
vs.

New Jersey Outlaws

From,

Other Side of NY Harbor

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Stranded on 1000 Islands

From the desk of:   THE COOLEST BUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Coach Miller Still Tinkering Between the Pipes.





Coach Miller is still trying to fix cracks in the pipes.  Brooklyn tabbed back-up Peter Dundovich to start Friday night's game against 1000 Islands.  Since Thomas Lee's release, Josselin St. Pierre has started most of Brooklyn's games.  On December 31st, Coach Miller then signed and started Jeff Rose (rookie) last week in a winning effort against Cape Cod.  On January 5th, Coach signed goalie Richard Scarsella to a contract, and was listed as the back-up to Peter Dundovich last night.  With no indication of any players' release, the A's tentatively have four goalies under contract.




Friday night however, it wouldn't have mattered if they had Eddie Giacomin between the pipes.  Brooklyn wasn't scoring against Matt Anthony and the 1000 Island Privateers.  He held the A's to one goal on thirty-three shots.  The Skates of Flatbush' lone goal came in the second period of a 4-1 loss.  That goal came courtesy of Andrew Scampoli's second of the season.  The assists came via newly acquired Henry Coxe, and Steve Koich.




Brooklyn played a relatively penalty free sixty-minutes, but went 0-3 when playing with the man advantage.  Peter Dundovich faced thirty-three shots and stopped thirty.  The Privateers scored an empty-netter to close out the game.




The two teams will do it again tonight and who starts in net for Brooklyn is any one's guess right now.  The team from upstate New York is still firmly entrenched in second place with sixty-two points on the season.  The New Jersey Outlaws continue to run away from the circuit with seventy-one points.  Brooklyn?  We're still in the first division with thirty-nine points this season.  Our fourth place standing is slightly ahead of the Akwesasne Warriors who claim fifth place with thirty-two points.





Mike.BTB