BK Southie » New York Aviators hockey

The New York Aviators, Brooklyn’s minor league hockey team, will host the Akwesasne Warriors to decide the 2010-11 Federal Hockey League Championship. The first two games of the championship series are scheduled for March 19 and 20 at the Aviator Sports and Event Center at Floyd Bennett Field, where the Aviators posted a 21-1-1 record during the 47-game regular season. Saturday’s game will begin at 7:30 pm, and the first puck will drop on Sunday at 5:00 pm.

The two teams played six times during the season with Akwesasne capturing the first four games by scores of 6-4, 6-4, 4-3 and 2-1. The Aviators won the final two match-ups 7-3, 6-4. The final victory helped catapult the Aviators past Akwesasne into first place. Continue reading »

Wally Backman was hoping to become the new manager of the New York Mets but was promoted from Single-A to the team’s Double-A Binghamton affiliate. The former World Series Champion Met, 25 years ago and counting, was interviewed by Mets and passed over for Terry Collins, who has not managed in years. Backman lead the Cyclones Baseball Team to a first-place finish in the New York-Penn League last season and Tim Teufel, also on the 1986 Mets, moves up as the manager of Triple-A Buffalo. It is expected that Rich Donnelly will be named manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Other Cyclones notes: Beach Bum Auditions underway apply by March 24 and season tickets are on sale. The New York Aviators (19-12-2) of the Federal Hockey League (FHL, minor league) are currently in third place and play home games at the Aviator Sports and Events Center located at 3159 Flatbush Avenue. The New Jersey Nets Basketball Team (13-32) is planning to relocate to Brooklyn once the new Barclays Center arena is completed in the spring or summer of 2012. The Center is expected to have ice which hopefully won’t give the sucky “looking for a new arena” Islanders any ideas…how does Kansas City sound and take the “never any talent trapping” Devils with you. Brooklyn is New York Rangers territory! The site of the arena is near where the Dodgers should be playing NOW…not in Los Angeles where evil Walter O’Malley moved the loveable bums after a plan was rejected and the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Never elected but powerful Robert Moses’ plan had other ideas for the land and wanted to build a new stadium where the Mets lose now. The Nets would be the first major professional sports team to play their home games in Brooklyn since the devastating move of the Dodgers. However don’t expect Carmelo Anthony to rot away in New Jersey for a year before the Barclays Center arena opens, he’ll be on Broadway by opening night October 2011. South Brooklyners braved the frigid cold to fill the local watering holes to watch the Jets in the AFC Championship Football Game play against what beautiful actress and model Sienna Miller calls Shittsburgh. As the Stealers and non-registered sex offender “Big Goofy Looking” Ben Roethlisberger beat the Jets.

New York Aviators goaltender Kevin Druce, second in the Federal Hockey League with a 2.82 goals-against-average.

It’s been a while since we’ve written about the New York Aviators, the Brooklyn minor league hockey team that plays its games at the Aviator Sports and Events Center at Floyd Bennett Field. This weekend, starting on Saturday night at 7:30pm, they will take a 14-12-2 record into a seven-game homestand – I thought this would be a good time to get everyone caught up.

After a disappointing 2-5 start – with all seven of those games played on the road – the Aviators have battled their way back into third place in the six-team Federal Hockey League. 28 games into the season, they have still only played 11 games in Brooklyn, where they are 9-1-1. So the upcoming homestand is a big opportunity for the team to make up some ground on the second-place 1000 Islands Privateers – their opponent on Saturday – and the first-place Akwesasne Warriors – their opponent on Sunday.

NY Aviators forward Matt Puntureri

Leading the team with 17 goals scored is Matt Puntureri, a 25-year-old right winger from Pennsylvania. Puntureri’s nine goals in December earned him the FHL’s Player Of The Month honors. He’s seventh in the league in goal scoring, and he is eighth in points scored with 40 (through Tuesday night’s games).

The team is backstopped by goalie Kevin Druce, whose 2.82 goals-against-average is the FHL’s second-best. Druce is credited with 11 of the team’s 14 wins.

Fun fact: defenseman K.C. Timmons is second in the league with seven power play goals!

The Aviators signed an affiliation agreement with the Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League earlier this season. The agreement allows Wheeling to call up top-performing Aviators, and also send its own players to Brooklyn for injury rehab and performance assignments. The Nailers themselves have affiliation agreements with the Penguins and Les Habitants of the NHL.

The Aviators play through mid-March, and the top four teams make the playoffs.

The New York Aviators play their home games at a 2,000 seat ice rink at the Aviator Sports & Events Center, 3159 Flatbush Avenue. Tickets are $12 each, $8 for children and seniors and free for active-duty military personnel. (More: Aviators official site)

Minor league hockey comes back to Brooklyn this week! The New York Aviators, already six games into their second season, open up their 30-game home schedule this Friday night at the Aviator Sports & Events Center at Floyd Bennett Field.

The Aviators begin their second season in the brand-new six-team Federal Hockey League – made up of three other teams in New York State, one in Connecticut, and one on the Canadian side of the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne. The FHL joins six other North American minor ice hockey leagues. Unlike the more established American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League, no FHL team has an affiliate agreement with an NHL franchise, so the NY Aviators bring in most of their players from junior- and college-level hockey. Continue reading »

NY Aviators to play for league championship

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New York Aviators: minor league hockey begins at Floyd Bennett Field this Friday