January 3, 2011
Brooklyn Boys
by Matt Caputo/
When New York Americans coach and manager Red Dutton changed the name of his early NHL team to the Brooklyn Americans prior to an attempted move from Madison Square Garden, he made a promise that professional hockey would come to Brooklyn that he could never keep.
Despite the fact that Dutton raised $7 million for a new arena to be built in Brooklyn, team owners reneged on the deal and the Americans never found a home. The “Brooklyn” Americans played in Manhattan during the 1941-42 season before they suspended operations because of mounting financial woes. Brooklyn never got an NHL team.
Today, the New York Aviators of the newly formed Federal Hockey League service the Borough of Kings. Formed out of the ashes of the Brooklyn Aces, the Aviators play their home games at the Aviator Sports and Events Center at Floyd Bennett Field.
“We’ve been committed to keeping pro hockey in Brooklyn and building off what we started last year with the A’s,” said Aviators head coach and team president, Rob Miller, who was an Aces defenseman. “This year we’re in a competitive league and we don’t have to worry about blowouts.”
In 2008-09, the Brooklyn Aces played at the Aviator Center in the short-lived Eastern Professional Hockey League, an independent Single-A outfit. In March of 2009, former New York Ranger Ron Duguay signed a waiver, and played with the Aces without a helmet for charity. He assisted on the game-tying goal with 37 seconds left in regulation, but the Aces lost in overtime. The Aces – who gained a small cult following at Aviator – lost to the New Jersey Rockhoppers in the first and only EPHL Championship game.
When the EPHL promptly folded after its first season, the Brooklyn Aces also shut down. The operators of the Aviator Center were committed to keeping professional hockey in their building. They formed the New York Aviators and had plans to going the upstart North East Professional Hockey League.
Still, it wouldn’t be so easy.
The NEPHL essentially failed to launch at the start of the 2009-10 season. Two teams dropped out shortly before the first face-off after the owner that operated both teams had serious health issues. In a bizarre move, the NEPHL began play with three teams (Rhode Island Storm and Connecticut C-Dogs) and fans quickly became disillusioned. The season schedule was chopped from 40 games to 20 and then to 15. The Aviators flew by their only other competition, the Rhode Island Storm, and finished the season with a perfect record. The Aviators defeated the now defunct Storm in an impromptu league Championship series.
In the off-season, the Aviators joined the Federal Hockey League for its inaugural run. The move made it possible for Brooklyn and Danbury to continue the regional rivalry that was formed in the EPHL.
“It’s a huge thing that we are so close to Danbury,” Miller said. “It’s a big game every time we go there or they come here. Fans of both teams are starting to travel back and fourth to games. We’re getting there.”
The Aviators have forged new rivalries with the Akwasasne Warriors -- whose home arena sits on the border of New York and Ontario -- and brought experienced talent to Brooklyn. K.C. Timmons, the Aviators captain, is a 1998 NHL draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche, and part-time player Maxim Linnik was selected by the St. Louis Blues that same year.
“The main thing that bothered me about hockey is that I had to play in places that I didn’t really want to live in,” said K.C. Timmons, the Aviators captain and a 1998 NHL draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche. “This is kind of like the best of both worlds for me. I’m not leaving New York, I love it here and I get to play hockey half of the year. It’s kind of perfect.”
While Single-A hockey in the northeast has struggled to find stability, the A’s focus is having a home for hockey in Brooklyn.
“We’ve got a great place to see a game and fans from around the region are starting to hear about it,” Miller said. “I think they’ll like the hockey and entertainment.”
