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The Florida Eels Premier team traveled to Palm Beach Wednesday afternoon for a midweek game to take on the Palm Beach Typhoon. Palm Beach came off a huge win over the Florida Junior Blades and have been playing quite well of late. This is a team that is developing quite nicely under coach Joe Flanagan of the Typhoon. They are playing a bit desperate and that makes them dangerous. Well, the Eels came out in their typical style. Focused, deliberate, and   high spirited. They turned on their high-octane offense and sent their fore-check in motion. The boys leaned a hard lesson last Friday taking Tampa a bit for granted and took no chances. They smothered Palm Beach denying any sustained attack limiting the typhoon to 27 shots and suffocated them in the offensive zone unleashing 47 shots on the Typhoon goalie.

The Eels complete the home and away weekend series against the Typhoon on Sunday at home at 1:00 pm Trust me we won’t be taking them for granted. You do not stack up wins on paper. This is a solid team, and we will expend every ounce of energy on Sunday to capture the 4 points on the weekend. With Tampa playing Atlanta this weekend, we can’t be complacent.  Note the Eels are in sole possession of First place in the Florida Division and are ranked 4th over all in the entire Premier Division. That is 4th over all with 65 teams.

Florida Eels 6 at Palm Beach Typhoon 2 – Status: Final
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 – Palm Beach Skate Zone

Florida Eels 2 1 3 – 6
Palm Beach Typhoon 0 1 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Florida Eels, Kiyawasew 5 (Karlstrom), 7:54. 2, Florida Eels, Rosansky 10 (Colton, Kozden), 14:58. Penalties-Schubert Pbt (delay of game), 11:21.

2nd Period-3, Palm Beach Typhoon, Caravella 3 (Choueiri), 4:49. 4, Florida Eels, Patterson 13 (Gaudet, Haddon-Harris), 12:40. Penalties-Morris Pbt (interference), 1:35; Kiyawasew Eel (hooking), 8:37.

3rd Period-5, Florida Eels, Gaudet 8 (Svoboda, Haddon-Harris), 4:53. 6, Palm Beach Typhoon, Brace 7 (Saurbaugh, Choueiri), 7:53. 7, Florida Eels, McCormick 2 (DavIdson, Kozden), 8:17. 8, Florida Eels, DavIdson 2 (Rolleman), 15:37 (SH EN). Penalties-Piehl Pbt (slashing), 5:17; Gaudet Eel (roughing), 13:21; Haddon-Harris Eel (roughing, roughing), 13:21; Lemmers Pbt (roughing), 13:21; Schubert Pbt (roughing), 13:21.

Shots on Goal-Florida Eels 19-10-18-47. Palm Beach Typhoon 3-11-11-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Florida Eels 0 / 0; Palm Beach Typhoon 0 / 0.
Goalies-Florida Eels, Rolleman 7-1-0-1 (25 shots-23 saves). Palm Beach Typhoon, Schubert 2-6-1-0 (46 shots-41 saves).

USPHL Elite Players Of The Week: South Region

By USPHL Staff, 11/11/21, 8:30AM EST

Week of Nov. 11, 2021

Florida Division

Forward: Jake Duhaime, Tampa Bay Juniors

Duhaime (‘04/Ellenton, Fla.) put together a huge weekend against the Palm Beach Typhoon, racking up four goals and three assists for seven points. This included a hat trick on Nov. 7. He is, after 18 points, just four points away from tying his point output over 41 games last season.

Defense: Al Evanyk, Florida Eels

Evanyk (‘02/Wylie, Texas) scored three goals in his first two games of a three-game sweep against the host Atlanta MadHatters. Two of these three goals were game-winning goals in consecutive games.

Goaltender: Matthew Schoer, Florida Eels

Schoer returned to the USPHL after two seasons away and has found great success in net for the Eels. The former Jersey Hitmen and P.A.L. Jr. Islanders Midget player, born in 2001 in Long Valley, N.J., put together a 33-save shutout against the MadHatters on Nov. 7, and improved to 4-0 on the season.

The Premier team came back home Friday night shaking their heads. Not because they lost but in the way they played. It wasn’t there simply put. They were off in the front end. The fore-check wasn’t in place. They didn’t back check as they normally do and their D-Zone was upside down. You could say our goaltending was edgy as well. Generally, when one aspect is off the other one compensates. But we simply were not playing in sync. However, we did not panic. We came back and Saturday we regrouped looked at our deficiencies and inequities and Coaches Scarpaci and Carlson made their adjustments.

You could see from the drop of the puck this was a more rested team. A more energized team. A more confident team. A return to normalcy. A jump in their stride. Harder on the puck. More intelligent passes and plays. Hungrier. They smothered the Juniors on their fore-check and suffocated them in their back check. They unleashed shot after shot. The second forward was crashing the net. Goaltending was on mark. In the end they were victorious. 4-1 Ironically that was the same score they lost to on Friday night against the same team.

The Eels Premier took back 1st place and are now looking towards Wednesday’s game against the Palm Beach Typhoon. We play Wed in Palm Beach and back at home on Sunday. Tampa plays Atlanta so every game is critical if we want to gain some space between them and Tampa.

To say the Eels Elite team were frustrated after its loss to the Tampa Juniors is the understatement of the year. They enjoyed a 3-1 lead going into the 2nd period Friday night. And things unraveled after that. The Juniors turned up the heat and the Eels went cold. The Eels managed 2 more goals, but Tampa scored 6 more. 7-5 Ouch

On Saturday we went frame by frame and did not like what we saw. Changes were made. They had to be. We needed to instill our killer instinct, be much better in the D Zone and be much harder on the puck. We wanted a more desperate team. A more determined team. A hungrier team. A tea who wants it more and not rest on their laurels. Well Sunday they showed up. They owned each end of the ice. They fought for every inch. They were so aggressive on the forecheck Tampa thawed. You knew from the 1st period the boys had it. But so we thought Friday as well. But on Sunday, we kept them driving and I mean we fought for every inch.

The Elite were indeed a different team all around. The final 5-3 but in all reality, it wasn’t that close. We were proud of the boys who showed resilience preservice and fortitude. We head to Palm Beach on Wed for an away game and back home on Sunday.

After returning home from a 3 game sweep over the Atlanta Mad Hatters the Eels Premier team had to face off against their cross town rivals the Jr Blades. The Eels had only one day rest from an incredible but grueling weekend of travel and 3 tough games. They were indeed very physical but the Eels persevered. The bus trips were extra long 14-15 hours each way due to traffic and the Braves winning the World Series. The Jr. Blades enjoyed a weekend off so they were rested and ready.

The Eels looked very good in the 1st period of Wednesday night’s match vs the Blades. But period two we showed signs of tiredness. And they were scored on with an unprecedented onslaught of 4 goals. This was unfamiliar territory for the Eels. They are known for tight defense. But they kept pushing. Their conditioning was a difference maker. They put their game into 2nd and 3rd gear and heightened it to another level. It was not an easy game. It took a lot out of them. But it showed character and mental toughness. The final was 7-5.

Florida Junior Blades 5 at Florida Eels 7 – Status: Final
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 – Fort Myers Skatium

Florida Junior Blades 0 4 1 – 5
Florida Eels 1 4 2 – 7

1st Period-1, Florida Eels, Patterson 12 (Gaudet, Haddon-Harris), 4:54. Penalties-Jorgensen Fjb (holding), 7:57.

2nd Period-2, Florida Junior Blades, Croteau 5 (Ketola), 1:14. 3, Florida Eels, Haddon-Harris 9 (Patterson, Gaudet), 3:37. 4, Florida Eels, Haddon-Harris 10 (Patterson, Rosansky), 5:54. 5, Florida Junior Blades, Weber 1 (Beale, Ketola), 6:58. 6, Florida Eels, Rosansky 8 (Moore), 7:32. 7, Florida Junior Blades, Beale 10 (Pegrum, Ketola), 10:30. 8, Florida Eels, Hambling 3 (Svoboda, Rosansky), 16:04. 9, Florida Junior Blades, Croteau 6 (Crawford, Ketola), 17:41 (PP). Penalties-Weber Fjb (roughing, roughing), 9:59; Gaudet Eel (roughing, roughing), 9:59; Weber Fjb (roughing, roughing, misconduct-unsportsmanlike), 16:27; DavIdson Eel (holding, roughing, roughing, misconduct-unsportsmanlike), 16:27.

3rd Period-10, Florida Eels, Haddon-Harris 11 (Harrop, Gaudet), 7:32. 11, Florida Junior Blades, Ketola 8 (Beale, Croteau), 7:44. 12, Florida Eels, Kiyawasew 4 (Gaudet, Voyda), 16:58. Penalties-Svoboda Eel (high-sticking), 2:42; Weitzel Fjb (roughing), 13:09; Hambling Eel (roughing), 13:09; Ketola Fjb (roughing), 16:26; Phillips Eel (roughing), 16:26; Beale Fjb (roughing, misconduct-unsportsmanlike), 19:56; DavIdson Eel (charging, roughing, misconduct-unsportsmanlike), 19:56.

Shots on Goal-Florida Junior Blades 5-16-16-37. Florida Eels 15-16-17-48.
Power Play Opportunities-Florida Junior Blades 1 / 3; Florida Eels 0 / 1.
Goalies-Florida Junior Blades, Ledoux 2-6-1-0 (48 shots-41 saves). Florida Eels, Caron 8-0-0-0 (37 shots-32 saves).

Duncan Rolleman Leads Eels Premier team to a 4-1 Win Over the Atlanta Mad Hatters to Complete Their 3-0 Sweep of the Weekend Series.

Wow A complete performance the entire weekend for the Eels Premier team as they out gunned the Hatters 17-5 in the 3 game series.  Sunday was a real test. A test to see how good the Eels Premier team really was. We witnessed on Friday how determined these guys were overcoming the 13+ hour bus trip and delays. They had every reason to slip, fall and quit. But that was furthest from their DNA. In Fact, we expected the Hatters to have a jump on us with the fatigue factor, but the Eels turned things up and came out on fire. They were running on adrenaline you could say. But in all reality, it was their conditioning and skill that brought their game to this level.  A resounding 7-2 win. That was indeed impressive. I think they stunned the Hatters who had to think the Eels would have no legs and mentally spent.  The Win  set the tone for Saturday.

You could see that Saturday, the Hatters were still unraveled about their set back of Friday and did not fully re-gain their composure. The Eels continued to smothered them on the forecheck and with their aerial attack and high-octane offense. And when it came to defense and the back check the Hatters got no relief as the Eels equally suffocated them. The Eels netminders were again unstoppable with their 2nd two goal against performance.  In game one and three by Rolleman and  in game two by Alex Caron.

What was one of their strongest performances of the weekend was on Sunday. The Premier team Eclipsed the Hatters in that game 4-1. But the score does not reflect the Eels’ play. Their attack was sustained continuous and relentless. Credit to the Hatters goalie who may have turned away at least another ½ dozen point blank sure goals. The difficulty of defeating a team three times in a weekend is near impossible. The enormity here was significant.

These were 3 extremely solid performances against a gritty team who has solid talent. The Mad Hatters continued pressing right to the final buzzer in each game. They never quit. There is a lot of character amongst their Premier and Elite squads alike. They simply ran into a red-hot Eels set of teams who used and turned adversity into a plus rather than allow it to unravel them. This is one hell of a rivalry that will continue to grow and mature as strong organizations do. We thank them for their hospitality and weekend games.