The time off gave Melick's Flying Aces
of Flemington some space to get over a painful and questionable
finals, overtime loss. But the Aces GM was quite busy in
the offseason with a fan shocking, landmark, four player trade that
sent Brian Herzhauser, Mark Herzhauser, Chris Anderson and
Kevin Breuer to the new Federal C League club, The Regulars. In
return, the Aces acquired defenseman Kevin Brown, Kyle Turner and two players
to be named later. And leave it up to the mighty AIAHL to set the
schedule with a season opening battle between the two clubs.
The contest started off
a defensive battle with both goalies stopping all attempts. But the Aces
quickly let the packed house know that this was their night. With a hat
trick from Kevin Smith, 2 goals from 'Juvy' Lou Johnson and goals from Darren
Jones, 'Donny' Donahue, Ryan Warn and new Ace, Kevin Brown, the AIAHL
South Conference champs took off and did not look back. 'Shock and
Awe', 'Black Powder' and the 'Grind Line' each played to their powers. Assist contributions
came from Ryan Warn, Mike Petersen, Matt Stockwell, Bill Marcolini, Josh
Lovering and 2 from Captain Jones. The Aces D Force played hard and angry
hockey. Assists came from Ryan Bleck and Eric Kuszinier. And Nick 'The Brick'
Minarik had quite an assortment of tremendous saves including a sweet stop
on a penalty shot in the 2nd. It was a powerful C league, season opening
statement. The Regulars played well in their first game, lighting the lamp 4
times. Including a late goal from X Ace Mark Herzhauser.
First Star honors went
to Flying Ace Captain Darren Jones for his 3 point performance. 'Dream Weaver'
Jr, Tray Weaver received the Fan of the Night award for his Flying Ace shirt,
poster and game time chant, herd by the entire Ace bench. The Ace EuroVan(1-0-1)
was loaded with a record 5 Flying Aces responsible for 4 of the teams 17
points. And finally, Saturday, Flying Ace Bill Marcolini, held true to his
promise that an Ace playoff win was the only way he would show his 1 hour
Flying Ace documentary WE BEAT WHACK-A-MOLE to the squad. The build up was
classic. Aces were not permitted to drink until scoring 3 goals on Marcolini's
son, who was suited up and was making some great saves. Bill made the boys
burgers, pulled pork and hosted a fine party that went to midnight. Other
highlights included a high stakes horse race with winnings going to Josh
Lovering and Ryan Bleck handing out his folk LP 'One From Home' to his
teammates. There are rumors of the two having a little post game jam session
later in the season. Mike Petersen honored his responsibility as a hockey
coach and left the party early to run a full house at Aspen Ice Hockey Skills.
Our next game is Sunday,
May 25th against cup champs the Shamrock/Muligans. We're going gray boys.
-#19 Bleck
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