In the time since I introduced you to the Brooklyn Aces and the Eastern Professional Hockey League, there have been some significant changes. First off, the 'Single A' league lost two teams - the New Hampshire Freeze and the Rome Copper City Chiefs - and added the Hudson Valley Bears, who will split their games between Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, NY. With one less team, the schedule was re-written and cut to 50 games per team, which should make for some good rivalry hockey. The rosters are set for the moment and, looking through them, three names leap out - Billy Tibbetts, Peter Ferraro and Phil Esposito. As reader Ryan Bouwens pointed out to me, the Ferraro that is in the EPHL is not the one that was a former Ranger. In the initial copy of this post, I saw a Ferraro from New York and immediately thought he was the distasteful person I dealt with in Binghamton - after all, it wouldn't surprise me to see him sink so far. However, Ryan thankfully pointed out that it was not the same sob so I dutifully made the fix. And, just fyi, there is Hall of Famer Phil Esposito, and there is EPHLer Phil Esposito - clearly two different people.
But there is only one Tibbetts, and he is worth the price of admission. You get to see an undisciplined psycho on the ice who also happened to have no discipline off of it either apparently - and that isn't a link to the story about his jail stay. Tibbetts has been given chance after chance after chance in hockey due to his pure skill and size but he was just too loose a cannon. But as Sean Avery said, we need villains and, judging by the comments here, Tibbetts should fit the bill for Danbury. For a league looking to delight fans, his lack of sanity should be great.
The rest of the players in the league are what I expected - some guys with Single A experience from the UHL, CHL, MAHL and SPHL and other guys just outta college trying to put off the real world. You may scoff, but they will work hard and probably put on a good show for a cheap ticket. Not that I am trying to sell people on going - I won't do that until I actually see a game - but I am a big fan of minor league hockey and hope that this league has some lasting power. The Danbury team looks like it is the most organized and if you want to root for them, the guys at the Corner of Section 420 and Glendale have been keeping close tabs. I wanted to keep up with the Aces but they never sent me press releases or anything. Oh well, I will still try to check out at least one game this season.
In case you are interested, here is their schedule at home, Aviator Sports in Brooklyn:
November 2008
# 5: Saturday 8th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
# 6: Friday 14th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
# 7: Saturday 15th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
# 9: Friday 21st: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
December 2008
#21: Friday 12th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#24: Thursday 18th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#26: Saturday 20th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#28: Tuesday 23rd: Danbury @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#31: Saturday 27th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (2:00pm)
January 2009
#46: Thursday 15th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#47: Friday 16th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#49: Saturday 17th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#52: Friday 23rd: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#55: Sunday 25th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (2:00pm)
#57: Thursday 29th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
February 2009
#63: Saturday 7th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#65: Sunday 8th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (2:00pm)
#74: Friday 20th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#78: Sunday 22nd: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (2:00pm)
#79: Thursday 26th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
March 2009
#89: Friday 13th: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#91: Saturday 14th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#94: Tuesday 17th: HudsonValley @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#96: Friday 20th: Danbury @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
#98: Saturday 21st: Jersey @ Brooklyn (7:30pm)
You can get some more info on the league's website but just a warning, it is incomplete and buggy. The season started tonight with Brooklyn beating on Jersey and Hudson Valley edging out Danbury.
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