The Eels Premier team traveled to Tampa on Friday and to say they were ready for battle is the understatement of the year. You could see the fire in their eyes as they set foot at Advent Ice. In fact , you could see the determination and focus all week long at training and when they boarded the bus. We could feel it during warmups.  They had the step in the strides, the power in their shots, the hunger in their faces. These two squads always give the league great games, but this was all out tent offensive put on by the Eels.

 

Well, the Eels exploded for 5 goals in the 1st period. And then added 4 more to completely dismantled the Tampa Juniors. This was a very well-balanced attack by the Eels. Indeed, the Eels had 8 different scorers in Friday’s game. Moreover, 2 goals came from our blueliners. There were 13 different players who garnered points on the night. Toby Bell was solid in net turning away 33 of 36 shots. Scoring summary below:

 

Florida Eels 9 at Tampa Bay Juniors 3 – Status: Final
Friday, December 2, 2022 – Advent Health Center Ice Rink D

Florida Eels 5 2 2 – 9
Tampa Bay Juniors 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Florida Eels, Zebley 1 (Deshaies, Phillips), 1:29. 2, Florida Eels, Hennessy 10 (Carpenter), 4:43. 3, Florida Eels, Hennessy 11 (Moore, Trathen), 6:23 (PP). 4, Florida Eels, Patterson 13 (Moore, Hambling), 8:46. 5, Florida Eels, Budgell 3 (Maltais, Kiyawasew), 10:23. 6, Tampa Bay Juniors, Ostankovics 9 (Cullen, Weisjahn), 14:40. Penalties-Oliverio Tbj (tripping), 6:01; Crupi Eel (roughing), 12:22; Hambling Eel (interference), 18:35.

2nd Period-7, Florida Eels, Trathen 8 (Ziemba, Bzovey), 6:16. 8, Tampa Bay Juniors, Walsh 3 (Ostankovics, Cullen), 6:44 (PP). 9, Florida Eels, Moore 6 (Goddard, Hennessy), 11:56 (PP). 10, Tampa Bay Juniors, Neckar 3 (Cullen, Duhaime), 15:06 (PP). Penalties-Salminen Eel (holding the stick), 6:34; Beugen Tbj (interference), 8:32; Bailey Tbj (holding), 11:31; Crupi Eel (tripping), 13:31; Kiyawasew Eel (tripping), 13:54.

3rd Period-11, Florida Eels, Phillips 1 (Salminen, Zebley), 7:59. 12, Florida Eels, Bzovey 4 (Zebley, Deshaies), 8:28 (PP). Penalties-Bailey Tbj (charging), 8:23; Deshaies Eel (roughing), 11:33.

Shots on Goal-Florida Eels 16-13-10-39. Tampa Bay Juniors 8-15-13-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Florida Eels 3 / 0; Tampa Bay Juniors 2 / 0.
Goalies-Florida Eels, Bell 3-2-0-0 (36 shots-33 saves). Tampa Bay Juniors, Mons 4-7-0-0 (13 shots-8 saves); Miller 0-0-0-0 (26 shots-22 saves).

 

On Sunday the two teams square off once again to complete the Home -and -Away homestands. Game time is 1:30 pm. We can expect Tampa to come on red hot to avenge its loss. They are a proud group of guys in their own right and they felt the indelible sting of a lop sided game. But take it to the bank the Eels have no intentions of letting up or taking their foot off the pedal. The Eels feel good but not overconfident. They are moving in the right direction holding down first place and exuding confidence. They are taking nothing for granted and are anything but complacent.

 

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