To say It is all going to come down to the final whistle is the understatement of the year.
The Eels and DME spit over the weekend. The Eels won in OT in Daytona and DME returned the favor and defeated the Eels in OT back in Fort Myers.
The teams continued their battle over supremacy of the Florida Division. The war was fought all weekend along the boards in front of the creases and high-flying Arial attack by forwards flying up the 3 zones. There were separate goalies in et for both games and all 4 goalies played outstanding.
In Daytona on Friday night and again on Sunday in Fort Myers we saw why these two teams are amongst the best in the league. The players were explosive and lightning fast. The shots were direct and punishing.
In Daytona we saw a goal from Stephan Sizov assisted by Hayden Haldane and Jacob Handfast. Then we saw another goal from that line scored by Hayden Haldane assisted by Handfast. On Sunday Jacob Handfast scored the Eels only goal. That line has been on fire for the Eels in this series.
On Friday night the Eels Euro connection which is the hottest line in junior hockey struck again with a goal from Demeed Podrezov assisted from Gabe Hemstrom and Nikita Pinimyasov
The drama continued as the game went into OT and Eels sniper and JS Robidoux scored assisted by Colton Crabtree and Lukas Aaw to put things to rest and a win for the Eels
In Net for the Eels was Viktor Paulsson who turned away in excess of 30 shots. Another fine performance by Eels goalie.
Sunday the two teams played a very tight game as the game. Jacob Handfast got on the board for the Eels in the 2nd period and it was until 8:32 of the 3rd period that DME notched their 1st goal of the game that tied things up and forced the game into OT. Then at 3:00 minutes into 3 on 3 OT DME scored to win the game.
In net for the Eels was Danick Francoeur who showed folks why he was honorable mention for Goalie of the Month for the USPHL South and Florida Division. He was solid.
DME garnered 2 points and the Eels 1 point so two points separate the two top squads in Florida. These are playoff type games. Outstanding competition between the two teams. This game completes the season series between DME Premier and the Eels. The final seeding of the teams is yet to be set except that it is clear neither will face one another in the first round of play. What remains to be determined is whether the Eels will play the Tampa Juniors or the Florida Junior Blades. This fact won’t be known until maybe the last game of the regular season. Tampa and the Blades are playing some strong hockey of late and there is no telling or predicting the seedings at this juncture. The Eels play one game against the Tampa Juniors this weekend and DME has a 3-game series vs. the Jr. Blades all in Daytona.
