The Florida Eels Elite team squares off against their cross-town rivals – the Florida Junior Blades tomorrow night – Wednesday September 29th in a rear middle of the week game. The game time is 6:30 pm at the Fort Myers Skatium. The Premier teams have it off. The Eels are coming off a solid weekend where they went 2-2 earning 4 points. They defeated the Hampton Road Whalers 2- 1 in game one of the USPHL Southeast Showcase. Then they lost to both the Richmond Generals 6-1 and Charlotte Rush 5-2 on Saturday in a double header. Those were two very tough competitors to face in a single day. The Whalers, the Generals and Rush were 3 solid teams who all recently won the USPHL Nationals over the past 3 years. The Eels had a comeback game on Sunday as they handed the Potomac Patriots a serious blow by a score of 8-0. Keep in mind that the Eels have not beaten the Patriots in 3 years. So, this was a satisfying win.
Thus far, the Eels Elite team has been impressive on the season. In 6 games they have earned 8 points. They are tied for 1st place with the Tampa Juniors in the standings. Moreover, Tampa has played one more game. The Junior Blades are sitting in 3rd place with 6 points. However, the Jr Blades have only played 4 games. Give credit to where credit is due. This has been a solid early season for the Blades thus far. They are a very much improved team. They have added s solid coaching to their program. This early in the season they have generally not done well. This should be a solid matchup for both clubs.
The Atlanta Mad Hatters are in 4th place and the new team in Palm Beach are in 5th with no points.
It is quite early in the season and quite frankly it bit to evaluate the strength of the teams and players. Coaches are still learning their players, players are still developing their skill set, learning the coach’s system and in many cases still getting used to playing Junior Hockey. This is true with the Eels and Jr Blades. But it is exciting, nonetheless. A year ago, there were so many uncertainties and unknowns. Were the players safe? Was the season going to happen? How many games would we play? Well, the USPHL showed the hockey world we would overcome those obstacles. This season we still have many unknowns. However, things do look so much more optimistic.
We have seen some thrilling games in the 6 games before us. On the Eels there are so many new faces and many returnees. We are excited about the players on our Elite team and ask that you join us live or on HockeyTV tomorrow night. We always have very competitive and spirited games against the Jr. Blades whether at the Premier or Elite level. In fact, most would consider the Eels vs. Blades rivalry one of the best in Junior hockey. They are two great organizations, and we ask you to come and support these games.
