What a weekend for the Florida Eels Premier team. We see almost as much fire power than that contained at Mac Dill Air Force base. On Friday the Premier team put up 7 goals despite a losing effort 8-7 and then on Sunday in a winning cause 5-2. Wow that is a 12-goal weekend. You don’t typically see that much ignition at this time of year but there is no doubt the Eels Premier team has this arsenal. Saturday night was a bit wild like the old Wild Wild West. No doubt Head Coach Frankie Scarpaci was not happy losing that game and the defensive effort of his team was wanting. At this juncture of the season we have to be much better. The containment wasn’t there, and we had to too many mental errors.
The coaches were right back at. In fact, even on the bus trip back he was breaking down the mistakes and making changes to fix the problem. We had a short turn around. Unlike our typical schedule with Tampa where the away games are played on Friday and home on Sunday, this weekend we had to play Saturday in Tampa and then back at home on Sunday. There was little time between the games, so time was precious.
We had to take the positives out of Saturday night. The guys wouldn’t quit. They came back from deficits. They kept pushing hard offensively. They scored 7. On Sunday coach had his players refocused. Funny thing about this squad. They knew they could win. They understood there is nothing to be overly concerned about. They had a hiccup. We recognized it. And every team has a bad game. They also were reminded that if this were playoffs, we would be down one game in a best 2 out of 3. On Sunday as they walked into the rink you could tell the boys were ready. They wanted to avenge the loss and they were out to prove why yes why they clinched 1stplace in their Division and why they were dominate in the USPHL the entire season.
That is what they did. The toppled Tampa 5-2 in complete game. Their fore-check was back and their D Zone was much much better. This was not a see-saw effort. This was confidence. This was doing all the little things right. This was back to business. The scoring on the weekend was as follows:
Saturday Night:
| 12:32 | EEL | Jens Petersen (11) ASST: Demeed Podrezov (27), Pavel Timochko (2) | |
| 17:16 | EEL | Keve Toth (7) ASST: Egor Nosov (21) | |
| 2nd | |||
| 1:41 | EEL | Demeed Podrezov (12) ASST: Egor Nosov (22) | |
| 8:25 | EEL | Jake Court (15) ASST: Gage Dill (21) (PP) | |
| 18:20 | EEL | TJ Zebley (12) ASST: Adam Gaudet (17), Easton Moore (5) | |
| 3rd | |||
| 2:47 | EEL | Jake Court (16) ASST: Trevor Voyda (6), Ilya Senik (11) | |
| 13:28 | EEL | Demeed Podrezov (13) ASST: Jared Figueroa (26), Jens Petersen (32) |
Sunday Afternoon:
| 17:03 | EEL | Adam Gaudet (18) ASST: Easton Moore (6), TJ Zebley (19) | |
| 2nd | |||
| 3:05 | EEL | Ryan Goral (2) ASST: TJ Zebley (20), Trevor Voyda (7) | |
| 3:32 | EEL | Demeed Podrezov (14) ASST: Jens Petersen (33), Jared Figueroa (27) | |
| 4:32 | EEL | Jared Figueroa (19) ASST: Demeed Podrezov (28) | |
| 4:50 | EEL | Adam Gaudet (19) ASST: TJ Zebley (21), Easton Moore (7) | |
| 3rd | |||
These same two teams square off once again for the final time this season on Sunday back at home. The Eels play the Jr Blades on Friday night at Hertz Arena.
One thing for sure when the boys are serious, they are extremely difficult to contain. They have all the tools. The top netminder in the league. The top defensemen. The top forwards. They are deep Not just one two or three guys who can do it. Oh no. This is a team with solid 4 lines and they can light the lamp. A very exciting team to watch. These guys are very tight. They are a unit. You can get a feel and flavor of this team by looking at the stats and standings combined. This team’s success has been built on the multiple play by all the players. You won’t see one player dominating in the stats column. The scoring here is very balanced. That is what makes this team so difficult to play against. Opponents cannot simply cover one or two players and shut the Eels down. Because the other players are equally lethal. What does that spell? Team. The job now is keeping this well-oiled machine purring and ready to take on all comers in the playoffs.
