BKN Aviators ~ Making a Move on First Place

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  After Knocking 1000 Islands Out of First Place, the Skates of Flatbush Seek to do the Same Against the New Jersey Outlaws.




*FHL NEWS ~ VERMONT WILD CLUB FOLDS:

Prior to this season's start, Brooklyn Head Coach Rob Miller stressed the necessity of all Federal Hockey League member club's ability to finish out their season schedules was paramount to establishing not only a strong foundation for the League, but to also gain much needed credibility for the two year old circuit if they are to survive. 



At this level, players must have a certain degree of confidence in a League's operational viability before they commit.  We hockey fans in Brooklyn have been given a small dose of understanding into this matter with the coming and going of the Brooklyn Aces.  Lest we forget some of our current Aviators were cajoled into coming to Brooklyn from the more established southern circuits.  



The FHL took a bold step step forward into expansion this season by adding teams in New Jersey, Cape Cod, Danville, and Vermont.  And now the Federal Hockey League has announced The VERMONT WILD will cease operations immediately.  The ramifications for the league are wide and varied.  First and foremost, the League must address rescheduling.

*   *   *   *

The A's take on another one of those expansion teams tonight.  Brooklyn's Coolest are headed to New Jersey where they will take on the currently in first place Outlaws for two games on consecutive nights on their ice.  This is still somewhat of an implied rivalry as true tensions between the teams are yet to materialize due to the teams having played each other infrequently.  That should start changing tonight.  With two wins in New Jersey, the Aviators can pull up along side the first place teams.  None the less, the Outlaws sport two former popular Aviators that should get this rivalry kicked-up a notch.  Former Brooklyn forward, Matthew Puntureri, was recently named FHL Player of the Week.



In their last game Wednesday night at the Hangar, the Skates of Flatbush welcomed the then first place 1000 Islands Privateers and gained victory with a 5-2 final score.  Goalie Thomas Lee was waived on Nov. 23rd.  Making his first start against 1000 Islands, new pick-up, goalie Josselin St. Pierre, made the start and gained his first win as an Aviator.  Josselin was a member of the Privateers last season.  He faced twenty-six shots on goal from his former team and turned back twenty-four.



In another transaction, Coach Miller waived Anthony Monte and signed two forwards; RW-Joseph Pelle Jr.; and C-Jason Dolgy.  And in making his debut for Brooklyn, Jason Doly who comes to us via the Vermont Wild situation, scored a power play goal at 12:48 of the second period Wednesday night, and assisted on another.  At the time, Dolgy's goal put Brooklyn ahead of the Privateers 2-0.



Also joining in on the scoring against 1000 Islands was Chris Ferazzoli who started the night with his eighth goal of the season at the 4:40 mark of the opening period.  Casey Mignone and Matt Atsoff chipped in with a goal apiece.  And Vladimir Nikiforov took over the team lead with his ninth goal of the season on an empty netter at the 19:01 mark of the third period.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

vs.

New Jersey Outlaws

FROM

Somewhere in NYC's Backyard

 

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 ~ Road Rage in Cape Cod; Danbury Tonight

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  A Hockey Game Broke-Out During the Cape Cod Friday Night Fights.




After suffering two over-time losses in two meetings against the Cape Cod Blue Fins this season, the A's finally exacted a measure of road rage Friday night.  In meeting number three, Brooklyn won convincingly by a score of 6-1 up in Hyannis, Mass.  The win also snapped a two game losing streak and comes on the heals of an over-time loss to Vermont on Thursday.



After making a relief appearance in Thursday night's game, Coach Miller gave goalie Peter Dundovich the start in Cape Cod.  And he did not disappoint.  He faced fifty-one shots and stopped fifty to secure his first victory of the season.  The game was a much needed confidence builder for Brooklyn's back-up goalie that will no doubt earn him more starts in the coming weeks.



Vladimir Nikiforov scored in the first period.  KC Timmons and Jordan Bernier added goals in the second period.  Chris Ferazzoli took care of everything else.  He scored a goal in each period; two on the power play, and one at even strength for a hat trick.



That's the way the game turned out.  But this is what really happened. 



I guess after two previous hotly contested games against each other, the two teams may have already had enough of each other and perhaps wanted to express themselves a little bit because the game got chippy quite early.  The first period was an exchange of trips, roughing and slashes.  But by the second period, sportsmanship took a back seat as play really degenerated.  First period slashing and roughing turned into second period Fighting; Boarding; Instigating; Misconducts; and Third-Man-In majors.



All that good will towards each other carried over into the third period as they acted out this time with another Unsportsmanlike penalty, more trips and cross-checks too.



In total, Brooklyn was arraigned on sixteen counts of thuggery worth forty-nine minutes, while Cape Cod was charged with thirteen violations and fifty-one minutes of punk time. 



What a great win! 



So while Brooklyn's blood is still boiling, it seems like a perfect time to take on our chief rival; Danbury Whalers; tonight in The Hangar and see if we can finally secure our first home-ice win of the season. 






Yeah!

TONIGHT

Danbury Whalers

(2-3-0)

vs.

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

(3-1-3)

From

HANGAR FIVE off FLATBUSH AVENUE,

BROOKLYN

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 ~ WILD Weekend Starts Thursday

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  The Coolest Will Try and Finally Skin The Fish Friday Night.   But First They Welcome FHL New-Comer, the Vermont Wild, to the Hangar on Thursday.



Those Fish did it again.  For the second time in as many meetings, the Cape Cod Blue Fins beat Brooklyn in over-time.  Last Saturday, they came to Flatbush Avenue to do it too.  But Brooklyn's Coolest will get another chance to see if they can finally turn the tables on Cape Cod in what will be their third meeting this season when Brooklyn travels to Hyannis Friday evening for their only road game of the up-coming weekend.



In last week's loss against the Fins, new-comer Vladimir Nikiforov continued his grand arrival on the team by notching his first hat-trick as an Aviator; coming in part on the strength of two short-handed goals.  Jordan Bernier was the other Brooklyn goal scorer.  After two weeks and five games, Chris Ferazzoli leads the team with nine points.  Vladimir quickly has found his way to second on the list with eight points.  And Jordan Bernier is the third leading point scorer for Brooklyn with six.  Goalie Thomas Lee suffered the hard-luck loss.  He made thirty-three saves on thirty-eight Blue Fin shots on goal.  He has started four of Brooklyn's first five games.

Week Three of the season picks up Thursday evening at Hangar Five.  Brooklyn will host one of the FHL's newest teams, the Vermont Wild, who are making their first ever trip into the Borough of Kings.  Vermont is having a rough start to their season and are still seeking their first victory.  Right Wing Jon Esposito is their leading scorer after four games with six points; all goals.




After their game in Cape Cod this Friday, the Aviators will return to Hangar Five for another scrum against the rival Danbury Whalers this Saturday to wrap up the weekend's action.  The A's put a hurting on them in last week's encounter up in Connecticut.



In the standings so far (prior to the Wednesday night game between Danville and Akwesasne), three teams were tied for the circuit lead with twelve points; 1000 Islands; Akwesasne; and New Jersey.  Then comes Brooklyn in fourth place with eight points after five games.

THURSDAY NIGHT

Vermont Wild

vs.

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

(2-1-2)

From

Hangar Five off Flatbush Avenue,

Brooklyn

 

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ A's Harpoon Whalers; Blue Fins Are Next

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  After Spearing the Danbury Whalers, the Kings County Coolest are Looking to Hook Some Blue Fins.



Mission accomplished.  The sortie over Danbury hit it's mark; eight times to be exact.  Return to base.



Brooklyn's Coolest quieted down the Friday night Danbury crowd with a three goal barrage in the first period, then sent the Whalers' faithful home gagged after Brooklyn dropped another five goals on them in the third.



Newest Aviator, Vladimir Nikiforov opened up the scoring midway through the first period with a power play goal; his first as an Aviator.  Brooklyn followed that up with two more goals before the first period expired.  Jordan Bernier scored at even strength at the 17:36 mark, assisted by Nikiforov, making the score 2-0.  Then just as the period expired, Chris Jones scored the A's second power play goal of the period, unassisted.



Danbury got one back in the second period when centerman Chris Siefert scored on A's starting goalie Lee Thomas.  Brooklyn's defense kept the Whalers' shots against their goalie limited to roughly ten per period.  Thomas faced thirty-one shots in total; stopping thirty while the A's finished the night with fifty-three shots.  Other than the lone Danbury goal, it was all Aviators this night.



Brooklyn scored at 3:10 into the third period on Jordan Bernier's second goal of the game; assisted again by Nikiforov.  Then over the next seven minutes, Brooklyn continued to lace Danbury with four more goals.



Chris Ferazolli and Vladimir Nikiforov joined Bernier as Brooklyn's multiple goal scorers of the evening.  Ferazolli cashed in after Bernier's earlier third period goal.  Then new blue-liner Ken Trentowski snuck in his first goal as an Aviator to make the game a 6-1 affair.



On a later power play, Chris Ferrazolli scored his second goal of the period at the 7:57 mark.  Then forward Vladimir Nikiforov capped off one hell of an Aviator debut for himself, in what was an overall formidable performance by Brooklyn, with his second goal and fifth point of the night, as he had three assists on the evening as well.



Tonight, a little pay-back is in order.  In game two of the season, the Cape Cod Blue Fins defeated Brooklyn 3-2 in overtime up in Hyannis, Mass.  Back home in the Hangar this evening, it's time for Brooklyn to even the score with those Fishy characters.

Saturday Night is Alright for Fighting...

Cape Cod  Blue Fins

vs.

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

From

HANGAR FIVE

off Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn

Mike.BTB

BKN Aviators ~ Friday Night Rumble in Danbury

From the desk of:  THE COOLEST GUYS IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN AVIATORS:  Week Two Cleared For Take-Off; Mission - Danbury.


It's that time; it's FHL week two and the A's are opening the doors to Hangar Five and taking-off for Connecticut.  Friday night, Brooklyn's Coolest will head up to Danbury for their first meeting against the Whalers.  Then Saturday, the Aviators return to Hangar Five for a rematch against the Cape Cod Bluefins who defeated the A's in over-time last time they met in Hyannis.




The first place New Jersey Outlaws may have ruined our home-ice opener this season and they'll surely need to pay for that...eventually.  But right now they're still second-in on Brooklyn's rivalry depth chart.  Danbury however; - The Danbury Whalers?  Now you speak of the Brooklyn Aviators' true rival.  After the inaugural season of FHL play, this has developed into a fierce Tri-State area rivalry indeed.  And the folks of Danbury are without a doubt very supportive of their team and fill the seats, which should add some electricity to this initial Friday night match-up of the season.



One thing is very clear about the Danbury team thus far, they are very strong up the middle. Center - Kelly Miller leads Danbury scoring after two games with three goals and three assists; good for six points.  Center-Chris Seifert and Center-Joe Dabkowski are Danbury's other two multiple goal scorers. 



Casey Mignone is Brooklyn's leading goal scorer so far with a pair.  And newcomer Chris Ferazolli leads the team in points with four on the strength of three assists.



Whalers' goalie-Rick Niedert has made both of Danbury's starts so far.  A's Coach Miller rotated his goalies last week.  Lee Thomas made two starts for the A's while Peter Dundovich started in net once.  On a side note, Peter's lone start against Cape Cod last week is still something bordering bizarre.



The A's signed a pair of players during the week.  Coach Miller signed Forward - Vladimir Nikiforov from the ECHL, and picked up more defensive help from the SPHL by signing Defenseman - Ken Trentowski.  Both should be in uniform for Friday's game.



New Jersey leads the circuit with four games played and nine points.  Brooklyn trails in fourth place with four points after three games and Danbury is fifth with three points after two games played.

FHL.com

BrooklynAviators.com

DanburyWhalers

FRIDAY NIGHT

BROOKLYN AVIATORS

(1-1-1) 

vs.

Danbury Whalers

(1-1-0)

From

Danbury, Connecticut

Mike.BTB