The Florida Eels are excited to announce that forward Ciro Calvanese 5’10” from Naples Florida has Re-Signed with its junior program for the 2020-21 season. In fact, Calvanese was originally born in Springfield Massachusetts where he first started his hockey career. He came to the Eels last year as a rookie. He played midget and high school hockey locally here in the Ft Myers area. The Eels were thrilled to have one of its local players advance to its junior program.
Ciro is a high character player. A real team guy. He brought huge energies to the team on and off the ice. He was like a sponge. Eager to learn and develop. He knew he was coming to one of the best junior programs in the USA. It was a team that advanced 250 players to college. He wanted to be part of that. To one day be an Eels who advanced to college. It was a team who recruited some of the top players from Europe, Canada and in the USA. This was a quantum leap for him, and he was excited to be part of such a storied and herald program. There was no doubt, anyone knowing Ciro readily recognized he was extremely dedicated to this Eels program. Loyal as the day is long. He wore his Eels jersey with great pride.
From the Eels Pre-Season Sr Chowder Cup in Boston Mass in July, to beginning of training camp back in August of last season, and throughout the 8-month season, Ciro was one of the hardest workers on the Eels Elite team. He was very determined to close the gap. He would stay late every day and shoot 100 pucks. He picked up extra ice in the evening to help develop his skills. His strongest attribute as a player is his speed. He could be downright explosive. The Coaches know this is Ciro’s year to put it all together. We need that on this team echoes GM Scarpaci. When Ciro combines his speed with scoring, he will make a huge impact on the team’s success. We have high expectations of him this season. He is no longer a rookie. He knows what is expected. Moreover, he will be graduating from High School next month, so this upcoming year, he will have so much more time to develop his skills and elevate his game to the Next Level.
Ciro is very proud of the Elite team’s accomplishments as they not only finished the regular season in first place, the team held on to that spot the entire season. That is indeed a lot to be proud of. He was very much a part of capturing the Regular Season Divisional Champs. But Ciro says, so succinctly, he has a job to finish. He is determined as ever to get his team to return to Nationals and win it all. That is the attitude we need and that is why all of the coaching staff are enthusiastic about him returning. Welcome back Ciro