Welcome back to the second half of the regular season for the Florida Eels Premier and Elite squads. This weekend, they kick off the second half of the season with the USPHL College Showcase in Tampa Florida. Both teams have been off for about 10 days with their well deserved Christmas break. The boys have played quite a bit of hockey thus far 25 games each and having had to undergo enormous adversity with two Hurricane cancelations, major injuries to key players, rescheduled games, huge unplanned trip to compete in the USPHL Midwest Ft Wayne College Showcase and because of all the rescheduling, they had many games played without the benefit of practices.
Despite these obstacles and adversity thrown upon them, they have done extremely well. In fact, it is a clear example of how adversity builds character, fortitude, determination and resolve.
The Eels Premier team are just 4 points behind Bold City who occupy 2nd place; and just 7 points behind the Tampa Juniors who sit in 1stplace. On the Elite side, the Eels sit in 2nd place, 10 points behind the Tampa Juniors. The stats and standings are always great to look at and discuss, but what is very clear here is the Eels coaches are not consumed with those figures. “We have a much bigger agenda, comments Premier Coach Frankie Scarpaci “….Our mission and focus is to be the best team going into playoffs. We want to be the toughest team to play against come March….. our goal is to have everyone healthy come playoffs. To have our systems down…. To engage a deadly power play, fine tune our shut down PK and to smother and suffocate teams with our fore-check and D-Zone coverage…” As GM Scarpaci echoed, “this is what our standard has been and everyone has grown accustomed to with the Eels. We have been dominate for well over a decade. My major focus is to advance players to college and that stat is we advanced 29 players last season from the Eels organization and 365 in totlal. So yeas, holes had to be filled and that development took time. It still is a work in progress but we are returning to form.”
This is equally true with the Elite team. We have over a 16 new faces on the Elite squad this year. Indeed, we had over 6 players move up to the Premier team. That is exactly what we are suppose to do. That is a major difference with the Eels compared to other programs. We are a model for “Player Development and Advancement. It is all about getting to the Next Level.
Both squads just came off competing in the USPHL Florida College Showcase in Estero just prior to the Christmas break. The Premier team defeated the Charlotte Rush and the Northern Cyclones. Those were very impressive wins against two of the top teams in the USPHL. Those two teams were National Champions in recent years. The Elite team equally had two incredible wins at the Showcase taking down former National title holders the Rush and the Carolina Hurricanes.
This weekend, the Eels have tough draws once again. They take on the best of the best in both the Premier and Elite Divisions. We wouldn’t want it any other way says Eels Elite Coach Mike Gennello. To be the best you have to play the best and beat the best…..” GM Scarpaci reminds everyone, in the end, regular season games are truly training games….Get your players prepared and ready for the playoffs with your sights on Nationals. But you can’t get to Nationals unless you take down everyone in front of you. So we want the toughest opponents. It teaches character, fortitude resilience and heart.
Hopefully you can join us live or on Flohockey and watch some of the most exciting hockey in the USPHL. There will be several dozen college coaches present scouting our guys. We are a leader in college advancement and will continue to do so.
