Well, the season and home opener has proven to be very strong in the first two days of games. One thing for sure, the Mad Hatters are one of the most improved programs in the league. The Mad Hatter’s Elite team is very deep. Last season they had two strong lines. But we readily witnessed, this squad is very deep in talent. They have 4 lines that are very good. They have some wheels and drive to our net consistently. They are a much tougher team using their body very effectively. Despite their stepped-up physicality, they are a much cleaner team than in the past.
On Saturday, the Eels upended the Mad Hatters 2-1 and today they best Atlanta 3-2. For the Eels it gave us a great opportunity to test our new guys. We have a good deal of returning veterans but with 50% rookies, you never know how they make the adjustment to Juniors. The coaching staff was indeed impressed with our guys across the board. In fact, we saw all of the scoring on Saturday was from young guns – 2007 date of births.
Today, once again the Eels Elite team was victorious with a 3-2 final. But the win was not easy. It took our patterned smothering fore-check and suffocating back checking to thaw the Mad Hatters. The boys did out skate Atlanta and no doubt had the edge in skill. GM Scarpaci echoed, that was to be expected. We have been training tirelessly, for over 3 weeks at a clip of 4-5 hours per day. This is the hallmark of the Eels program: to arrive 3 ½ weeks ahead of the season openers and train like never before. We have a staff of 5 coaches and players endure unparrlaared training, demanding unwavering commitment and dedication to our systems. It isn’t easy playing for the Eels. Players need to be 100% committed.
There is a reason the Eels come out “Hot” out of the gate. We expect to be November ready in September. New comers need to jell in with the veteran players as well. This is all part of the process. On Monday the Elite team closes out the 3 game weekend. Game time is 9:00 am. The Eels are looking to capture sweep while the Mad Hatters are looking to avenge its 2 losses.
On the Premier side of the equation, the games have been equally competitive. Last season we all experienced the improvement of the Mad Hatters Premier team. They went form 4th place to 2nd place up ending the Jt Blades, the Palm Beach Typhoon and the Tampa Juniors taking 2nd place overall in the Florida Division. But clearly significantly behind the Eels. This weekend, the Mad Hatters came in trying to close the gap on the Eels.
On Saturday, the Hatters looked quite impressive in period one holding tight with the Eels shift by shift. But the Eels took over in period two putting past 7 goals on the Mad Hatters netminder enroute to a crushing 10-5 defeat. The Eels offense took complete control and looked very much like last season despite having 50% newcomers. The boys were overwhelming and impressive.
Today, the Mad Hatters were much more disciplined and played a tighter game. The Mad Hatters forced the Eels into overtime ending regulation 2-2. However, it only took the Eels a few seconds of OT 3 on 3 to score and close out the match. One thing for sure we started to see some very talented skill set for m our guys. They were putting on a clinic at times. The Hatters goalie was stella turing away shots upon shots holding back a potential repeat of a double diegt Eels performance.
Well, both Eels teams close out the 3 game series Monday at the Skatium Be sure to join us 9:00 am for Elite and noon for the Premier squad.
