The Florida Eels Elite team squared off against the Tampa Elite team in a home and away set of games. This was the first time this season these two west coast of Florida Junior teams met. These two teams have a tremendous rivalry over the years. There is enormous respect amongst the players and coaches of these two organizations. The Eels have placed a plethora of players in NCAA college programs and had 4 NHL draft picks. The Tampa Juniors also has an impressive placements and a NHL draft pick. Well to be expected
both teams came out on fire.
Saturday evening, up in Ellenton  (Tampa) in game one, the Eels offense was a little more than Tampa was able to handle in game one. The Eels offense unleashed 51 shots on the Tampa goalie scoring 5 times.  Tampa was not about to quit though. They kept up their attack on the Eels net minder Max Kirkwood but he turned away 47 shots out of 48.

Rookie Brandon Halvorsen had 2 goals and add an assist. Newcomer, Colin Whitt and returning veteran Shilo Vega had 3 assist each. Also 3rdyear veteran Vasili Malliaras and rookie Jeff O’Dea had a goal and an assist. Newcomer Garrett Wood also had a goal. Third year veteran Jonathan Carlson added an assist to the score sheet.

In Sunday’s game back in Fort Myers the Eels again went hard against Tampa scoring 3 goals while Kirkwood again played remarkable in net with a shutout. Garrett Wood again hitting the score board for the second night in a row had a goal and an assist. As was the case with Vasili Malliaras.  Second year veteran who came form the Eels Empire team last season Zac Boyle had a goal.  Second year veterans Doss Allen, Shilo Vega, Michael Kohler, Alex Sanchez and Brandon Hotaling all had an assist.

The Eels Empire team lost a heartbreaker in the final minutes of play in their fist game 3-2. It was a fast paced very competitive game where we had scoring from 3rd year veteran Stephen Bourque and Rookie Zac Briscoe. We had assist from Justin Klick, Travis Bruss and Gozolo Ruiz.

I game 2 the Eels came out too slow and gave Tampa too much respect. They lost 7-2 with  goals from Travis Brus  and Bill Boeberg ; both goals were  assisted by Bryan Miller.

The Empire team regrouped Sunday evening to collect their thoughts, reviewed tapes and instilled some teamwork