An Eye On The E

I will try to keep this a regular feature where I check in with the fortunes of the Brooklyn Aces and the Eastern Professional Hockey League. After telling you who they are, and giving a season-starting update, here is the first edition of "An Eye On The E" - a quick update with game info based on the box scores (unless I actually make it out to a game this season):

There was one midweek game and in it, Brooklyn beat Danbury 6-4 despite being outshot 39-29. Six different players scored for the Aces, who played two men short after a brawl midway through the first period (I woulda liked to have seen that). Mad Hatter Billy "Hard Time" Tibbetts led all skaters with seven shots but didn't score. He had one assist and amazingly managed to stay out of the penalty box. Listed attendance was 838 at the Danbury Arena.

A bigger crowd of 1,339 turned out Saturday in Connecticut. Hard Time was named the first star after collecting two assists in the Mad Hatters 6-4 win over the Hudson Valley Bears. Igor Karlov, a former Russian league player, had a goal and two assists for Danbury while Chris Seifert, who played with Elmira (ECHL) last year, put up two goals and an assist in the losing effort. The Corner of Section 420 and Glendale has a first-hand account of the game.

Meanwhile, Nick Niedert put on a goaltending clinic in Brooklyn. He stopped 60 shots to give the Jersey Rockhoppers a 3-2 win over the Aces. For that, the diminutive (5'8) netminder and former Pensacola Pilot was called up to the Reading Royals today. James Brannigan, who also saw time in the ECHL, put nine shots on Niedert and got just one past him. Aces Over Brooklyn has the game story. Both Brooklyn goals were with the man advantage so that goes to show just how good Niedert was, and over 1,600 fans were able to watch his stellar performance at Aviator Sports.

This week has two games at Aviator. On Friday the Aces play the Bears and on Saturday they face the Mad Hatters. Also on Saturday the Rockhoppers will visit Newburgh to play the Bears. Looking forward, Ranger fans will be interested to see fan favourite Nickie Fotiu guesting as an assistant coach with the Aces as they take on the Rockhoppers on November 21st.