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 20 FEB | BY FRANK SCARPACI

Tonight folks the Florida Eels Elite team square off vs. the Jr Blades in their final away game of the season. No doubt there is a lot on the line. For the Eels if they tie or win they capture 1st place. Yes they need just one point to secure first seed in the playoffs. The Eels have this home and away series against their cross town rivals – the Jr. Blades as their season concludes.

The Blades Elite team on the other hand are already eliminated from the playoffs. They are playing simply for pride and that is dangerous as the Jr Blades never quit when they are playing against the Eels. This rivalry brings out the the most competitive nerve endings from both teams.

The game is tonight 9:00 pm start time.

The Premier teams square off Friday at 5:00 pm and both teams play back home on Sunday Elite at 10:15 and Premier at 1:00 pm

Wow. Says it all. Last night at Hertz Arena against the Jr. Blades, the Eels Premier team came out flying from the drop of the puck and never looked back. This may have been their best game of the season. The boys were darn right explosive. If it wasn’t the Jr Blades home rink, they might have asked for a surface check because there was no doubt it seemed like the entire ice surface was tilted toward their netminder.  The Eels brought out all the stops and weaponry. You can see the aerial attack was triggered. They kept flying in line after line after line. The Eels ground assault was equally lethal as they won all the key battles along the boards, in from of the opposing netminder and they were punishing in front of their own crease. Simply said, the Eels took ownership of all the real estate. The Eels breakout was unchecked. Not only were the forwards invading the Blades zone, the Eels defensemen were equally on the attack propelling the attack and garnering goal after goal.

You could see it in their faces as they were entering the rink. You could see it in their body language as they warmed up pregame outside. You could see again it in the actual 15 minutes warm up on the ice. These guys were and are in playoff mode. It is indicative in the way they train all year long and their physical and mental preparation over the past several weeks.  There is a reason why they are and have been in 1stplace in the Florida Division the entire season. Indeed, their lead in by double digits over their closest opponents: The Charleston Colonials.

This win was not the result of a few guys scoring. Oh no this was a total team effort. It was a precision performance like performing surgery. You could see every move was calculated. The attack was relentless. A systemamtic and continuous onslaught. A tent offensive. You could see the Eels had owned possession from the get-go. Possession of the puck and  with zone time. Looking at the game,  one would say  the Eels had possession of the puck and in the offensive zone by about a 70% margin. I don’t know if we have seen such a relentless fore-check all season. But what was equally impressive was the absolute denial of the Eels back-checking effort and performance. The word NO was used throughout  their game. “No you won’t stop us from scoring. No, you won’t shoot on our goalie. No, you won’t score on us. No, you wont garner any offense on us.”   Indeed, the Eels goalie was nothing short of outstanding. Jakub Kostelnyshowed why he is considered by many as the best goalie in the entire USPHL. He was so dialed in. Even when the Eels were short handed they mounted an attack. They had 3-4 short handed breakaways.

The Eels Premier and Elite play back at home on Sunday against their other west coast rivals the Tampa Juniors. The Elite play at 10:15 am while the Premier play at 1:00 pm.

THE FLORIDA EELS ELITE GAME VS THE TAMPA JUNIORS ON SUNDAY IS FEATURED AS THE GAME OF THE WEEK
Guys
Sunday’s Elite game vs the Tampa Juniors will be featured on Hockey TV as the game of the week. The league considers this a critical game in the standings with playoff seeding implications and wants to honor both the Tampa Juniors and Florida Eels. This game will be free for anyone watching. So spread the word. Game time 10:15 am Florida Eels Junior Hockey Tampa Bay Juniors Hockey Club United States Premier Hockey League

The Event: The Florida Eels Elite team vs the Tampa Juniors.

The venue: The Fort Myers Skatium.

The Time: 10:15 am

The Date: Sunday February 16, 2020

The Consequence:

The Eels are in 1stplace. They hold the 1stseed for the Florida Division playoffs. A position they held on to for the entire season.  Yes, the entire season. The Eels have 52 points. The Tampa Juniors have 47 points. That is a 5-point spread. The Eels wins over the Tampa Juniors  last weekend helped secure this narrow lead. The Eels and Tampa have 3 games remaining in the season including this critical game between the two  teams on Sunday. If the Eels lose all 3 games and Tampa wins all 3 Tampa takes the lead. On the other hand, if the Eels secure a single point the Eels capture 1stplace and consequentially the 1stseed in the playoffs.

The  1stseed will play the 4thseed in the playoffs. The 2ndseed will square off vs the 3rdseed. The way it stands now the 4thseed is the Charleston Colonials and the 4thseed is the Atlanta Manhaters. Quite frankly, both the Colonials and Manhaters are both pretty good teams and the Eels have played them about the same all season. They played 8 games against the Manhaters and 3 vs the Colonials. Both teams have been playing very good hockey of late. The Eels players nor coaches are overly focused on who we will play at this point. Our game plan and preparation will be the same.

What makes the games against Tampa and the remaining 2 vs the Jr Blades next weekend  is that the Eels have been “mind set” that we are to treat them like they are part of the playoff race. Playoff mentality. Play hard play with determination and everything is on the line. Leave everything on the ice and empty the tank.  Play like there is no tomorrow because in the playoffs… there is no tomorrow if we don’t win today. Of course, we would be remiss to say that in the back of each Eels Elite players’ mind WE WANT 1STPLACE. WE WANT TO WIN THE FLORIDA DIVISION. WE OWNED IT ALL SEASON. One thing that folks don’t realize is you can play Juniors and college hockey and never have the opportunity to win your Division, never reach the playoffs and never get the opportunity to compete for a National title. These all mean something. You cannot take for  granted that you will someday reach this plateau again. The boys are realizing in part now the fruits of their hard work all season. It has not been easy. It has been extremely hard, and they have endured. Training that often exceeded 3+ hours per day with enormous sacrifices. But it is why they came here.

Please join us for Sunday’s game at home vs the Tampa Juniors at 10:15 am