The Premier team is on a hot streakwinning 5 of their last 6 games and winning 4 straight over the Jr Blades over the past two weekends. In fact, over that series the Eels have scored 33 goals for, an average of over 8 goals per game. They have allowed a stingy 7 goals against which is an impressive 1.75 GAA in those games. The Eels are not coming into this game assuming anything. They know how tough this game is going to be. It will be “game 5 against the same opponent.” This is one of the best rivalries in all junior hockey so the spirit and energies are always high.
Several of these games were make ups for the Palm Beach Hawks suspension of their season. So, these players have seen one another much too much of late. The Blades lost 9 out of the last 10 games. You can only imagine how hungry and determined the Jr Blades are. They want a win and they can taste it and no doubt they would like nothing better to hand that loss over to their cross town rivals the Eels. The Blades coaching staff no doubt has been very busy mapping out the game plan. These are very good coaches and they are determined to stem the tide. In fact, the Jr Blades added 3 new players to their squad for today’s match. So, we can predict a much harder fought battle in today’s game.
In their own right, the Eels have been extremely impressive of late. They have tremendous speed and so much fire power. They have a balanced offense with so many weapons deep with 4 lines. By the same token they have a potent offense in the back end on defense. The Eels defenseman are very mobile and extremely gifted in handling the puck. They are very offensive minded. They are extremely hard to contain. Despite their nifty offensive abilities, the Eels defensemen do not sacrifice their defensive responsibilities. You look at their defensive play they shut you down. Look at the GAA and outstanding play of their two netminders. One thing for sure these are experienced veterans who know and appreciate that in the Eels system of play there is no room for individualism and never will these guys sit on the laurels or be complacent. They are expected to come out on fire today and we can only expect a very exciting extremely fast paced game.
