Tonight, the Florida Eels Elite team take on the Florida Jr Blades in a midweek early evening game at 5:30 pm at the Fort Myers Skatium. It is a single game night where the Elite team exclusively host the Blades. This is the first of 4 games the Elite team will be playing over the next 5 days.

The Eels sit in 2nd place having played 11 games with 16 points behind the Tampa Juniors with 22 points. Tampa has played in 17 games. That is 6 more than the Eels. The Jr Blades are  in 3rd place also with 16 points but they have played 15 games. Hence you can see how important tonight’s game is for the Eels in the standings. The Eels are looking to gain some ground on Tampa and narrow the gap. A win here would put the Eels at 18 points just 4 points behind Tampa. Equally important it would give some daylight over the Jr Blades.

The Eels are coming off a very impressive 7-0 win over Tampa. This wasn’t just a win. It was the Elite team’s best game of the year. Moreover, it was a solid and convincing win over the Division leader and one of the best teams in the Elite Division in the USPHL. Additionally, the boys felt good not just with that win but with their practices over Monday and Tuesday. It was two very impressive days of hard work and accomplishment. Indeed, the tea was dialed in with their additional off ice videos and gym sessions.

The Jr Blades split their 2 games against the Atlanta Mad Hatters last weekend. They lost Saturday 6-2 and ironically came back with a 6-3 win on Sunday. The prior weekend they had won one game against the Mad Hatters at home and lost one game.  One week prior they lost to Tampa 6-2 and lost to the Typhoon 6-5. However, they too defeated the Tampa Juniors 4-2 but got crushed by Tampa 9-3 on October 1. How do you read the Blades? It is very difficult. They are inconsistent from day-to-day game to game and week to week. Thye have proven the can defeat any of the other teams in the Florida Division: Except the Eels where they susutaied a Signiant hammering back in September. But this is not a team to take lightly or for granted They downed Richmond, the Jr Hurricanes, Potomac and Hampton at the Southern Showcase. So they are dangerous. We always know they bring their A game against the Eels.

The Eels have a number of players on fire right now. Some very hot hands and they are producing some solid goals and assists. But they also have others equally productive in their roles in shutting opponents down. They have a entire set of guys whose job it is to disrupt the other teams scoring and play. They create a plethora of loose puck turn overs, interceptions, and smother and suffocate their opponents both on the fore-check and back check. These intangibles is what wins games. Our goaltending from all 3 netminders has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Hence, we see tonight’s game as one that is quite exciting and in the spirit of the games against the Jr Blades extremely spirited and competitive. Both teams have a lot riding on today’s results. Both teams are hungry and thirsting to gain ground.  Join us live puck drop at 5:30 pm at the Skatium. Otherwise on HockeyTV.