The Eels players came to play at their season opener. They were excited and nervous not only being their 1stgame but as a team they were 11 new guys who never played as an Eel or even junior hockey for that matter. It took the boys 15 minutes as a feeling out process. But then they stuck pay dirt. The Eels 1stgoal came from Hayden Haldane (1) ASST: Nikita Pinimyasov (1), Jacob Handfast (1) at 15:38 into the 1stperiod. Then the 2ndgoal came 2ndperiod 10:57 when Gabe Hemstrom assisted by Stephan Sizov. Tampa remained scoreless.
The Eels guys found their grove in the 3rdperiod as they opened up for 5 more goals. Yan Kalinovskiy score his first as an Eels with less than a minute into the period. At the 2-minute mark. Gabriel Hemstrom scored his 2ndof the night (ASST: Cameron Carnes. Gabe has one of the hardest and most accurate shots in the league and it was great seeing him use that weapon. (Then at 11:06 Jace Lis-D’Alessandro his 1stof the season and 1stas an Eel since his return of 2 years ago.) ASST: Nikita Pinimyasov (2), Hayden Haldane (1). Less than a minute later Carnes scored his 1stgoal of the season and it was a very exciting moment indeed as it was his 1stof his Junior career. Cam no doubt is one of the most hardest working young men in junior hockey and his work ethic paid off tonight with a big goal. It was assisted by : JP Montmarquette Continuing with their offensive assault the Eels Completing its scoring to make it 7 for the Eels was a goal from Hayden Haldane (2) ASST: Nikita Pinimyasov (3) Tampa did manage a lonely goal in the 3rdperiod.
In net for the Eels was Viktor Paulsson who played a phenomenal game turning away 40+ shots. He was everything we were looking for. Outstanding.
The team had scoring from 5 different guys. This was huge.
The guys came away feeling very good. No doubt when you win by that margin you have to feel good. But the coaches are very prudent and will put that win behind them. It is a new game and we cannot take Tampa lightly or for granted. They are a solid organization with good players and very good coaches. They will not just sit back and be complacent. No doubt we can expect them to come back with a game plan and our coaches too are not sitting on their laurels or being complacent. Thus, we can expect both teams to come out hard and alive.
