Florida Ice Hockey

The Florida Eels Squirt team headed off to Huntsville Alabama in Dec. to take on some heavy competition.  After a hard fought weekend of great hockey games the Eels brought home 1st place.  With getting 1st place in the Regional Silver Sticks Tournament they get the shoot to travel all the way to Sarnia Ontario in Canada on Jan. 15-17.  This team has been training hard and they are confident.  The News-Press just put out a nice article on the Eels Squirt team and you can read it right here:

When players aren’t practicing at the Fort Myers Skatium or traveling to tournaments around the state, their parents are
taking turns playing host each night.
“There are always sleepovers,” said Eels coach Craig Niland. “It’s one big hockey family.”
That familiarity has created a cohesive unit that has gone from losing games by double digits in recent years to
winning the Huntsville (Ala.) Silver Stick Regional Tournament last month.
In that tournament, the 10-under squad beat teams from all over the Southeast to qualify for the Silver Stick
International Tournament in Sarnia, Ontario, on Jan. 15-17.
“These kids went crazy,” Niland said. “They couldn’t believe it.”
The players and coaches credited that closeness as the overriding factor in their championship run.
“We’re used to playing together and we all know each other,” said defenseman James Rowe, 10.
All the time together creates a smoothly operating unit on the ice, with players quick to pick up each other’s
slack and watch each other’s backs.
“There’s no individual efforts on the team,” Niland said.
Even the post-tournament celebration in Huntsville involved more time together.
“Oh, yeah, we celebrated,” said Niland, who has two of his five children, Peyton and Stephanie, on the roster.
“With a long, 12-hour bus ride home.”
That wasn’t the only celebration, though. The parents got in on the act, too.
“One of the dads said, ‘If you guys win, we’ll jump in the pool,’ ” wing Asher Markowski, 9, said of the hotel
pool in the near-freezing temperatures in Huntsville. “And they all did.”
But the celebration is over, and it’s been back to work for the Eels. The team has been squeezing in extra
practice time every chance it can to get ready for the toughest competition it has seen yet.
“They’ll get the experience of knowing what to strive for if they want to compete at the highest level of hockey,”
said Craig Niland, who was an assistant coach when his oldest son, Marco, made the trip with another Eels team a
few years ago. “Everyone looks at Florida and thinks we’re weak at hockey.
“That’s starting to turn around.”
More will be at stake this time than a celebratory dunk in an icy pool. This time, the Eels will have beaten the
best in the world. The champion also gets its banner raised in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Markowski said. “We get to play a bunch of different teams.”
Either way, that long plane trip and five days in the same hotel should provide plenty of opportunities for the
Eels to drive each other crazy.
“That’s one thing that’ll never happen,” Rowe said. “We’ll never get tired of each other.“

We will all be cheering for our squirt team and hope they give it everything they have.  You can leave a comment here to show your support.

Go get the Eels and do your best.

Want to get the most out of your Skating and Stick Handling in your hockey game?  Skate Weights and Stick Weights are the way to go.  Use them when you are out for practice or even out for a stick and puck season.  The skate weights come in a verity of different sizes, shapes and weights and attach to your ice skates.  Get the endurance to last into the 3rd period and the speed and explosiveness to get past the defence and put the puck in the net. 

The power in ice skating along with the endurance to last the whole game can give you the edge you need over your competition.  Check out this link and see all of the great products that you can get to improve your hockey game and take it to the next level.  And always remember that if you can out skate them you have a better chance to beat them.

Imporve your Skating and Stick Handling

The Florida Eels have many great parents and coaches that give a lot of their time to help out the organization.  One parent and coach, Paul Carlson, has been have a tough time this year.  Paul was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and after being laid off from his job as many people have been the Eels knew that some help and support should be giving to such a great family.  The Eels set out to have a fundraiser to raise some extra money for the Carlson’s just to help them pay some bills and to make this holiday season just a bit more enjoyable. 

The 21st of Novermber was the perfect day for a fundraiser at the Fort Myers Skatium. With 3 Bantam AA games, 2 Junior games and a College roller hockey tournament we knew that the building would be full of people that would love to help out a fellow hockey parent and coach.  With a bake sale, a raffle of close to 20 prizes, and a pasta lunch and dinner going on all day it could not have gone any better.  All of the parents and players that were there starting from 9:00 am that day gave in many different ways.   With all of the bake goods sold, raffle tickets, and dinners the Eels managed to raise a good amount of money so far for the Carlson family. And we are not done just yet.

The Florida Eels still have a few more events that we are planing to put together in the near future.  A car wash will be held soon, a special Public Skate this weekend on Saturday the 28th and the Fort Myers Skatium and a roller hockey event that will be announced very soon also at the Skatium. 

A very special THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who donated time to cook, those who bought the food to make,  who contributed money to the cause, who solicited restaurants  and local stores who contributed, those who ran around to pick up items, those at the bake sale, those who sold tickets, those who helped publicize the event to the media,  and those who simply came to eat.

You can check out the video I put together from a lot of pictures we had taken a few ago at a scrimage game against the Florida Everblades Midget U16 A team.  Not too bad but I will be making new ones as we get some video’s and more pictures taken this season.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.  Comments really help so read some of the other articles too and pass them on to others.

The Bantam AA Team split their home stand this weekend. The Bantam team defeated the Golden Wolves AA team on Saturday 4-2. With the goals coming from Garret Bulla, Jordan Court, Gyllian Smith, and Trey Dougherty.  Assists for the game were from Zackary Sword, Jordan Court, Billie Carmellia, Jonathan Carlson, and Alex Groeper. This was a good win as the Golden Wolves are always strong and it was nice to come up strong against their East Coast rivals.  The Eels meet up with the Golden Wolves again on the 7th of Nov. and we will see how the team does and let you know.

The Bantams lost to the Brandon Bulls earlier in the day.  The Bantams were nursing  several injuries that hampered their play. In the first period three of the eels players got beat-up pretty good.  William Roberge recived a big check into the boards that left him on the ice, and when the coaches checked him out they decided it would be best to call the ambulance  just to be safe.  William got checked out at the hospital and he is doing just fine. The boys kept playing hard and we are very proud of their work ethic.

Over all the weekend was not too bad and this left the Eels Bantam AA team with 2 wins and 2 losses so far this season. 12 goals for and 21 goals against

I just came across a great article  on  “How Young is Too Young for Serious Travel Hockey”  If you have a few minutes and you are a parent of a youth hockey player you should take the time to read it.  Also leave a comment and tell us what you think.  I have been a hockey parent for the last 5 seasons and my outlook on where my son was going to where he could go have changed.  I really think that if he can push himself on the ice and more importantly in the class room, he just might be able to get himself into a good college someday.

Here is the link to the article and please let me know what you think on the topic in a comment.

How young is too young for serious travel hockey?

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The Florida Eels Junior C team was undefeated this past weekend against the Tampa Bay Bolts, putting the Eels in first place position in the Southeast Junior Hockey League.  This comes on the heels of last weeks SEJHL Showcase where the Eels went 2-2.  The Eels got off to a rough start losing the first 2 games at the showcase 6-0 to Palm Beach and 5-0 to Tampa Bay.  They rebounded in their final two games of that weekend by defeating the Space Coast Hurricanes 4-3 in both games.

The Eels started off the first game of this weekend down 1-0 against Tampa Bay in the first.  Ben Wetmiller of the Eels took the puck end-to-end assisted by goalie Corry Johnson to tie the score.  With only one minute left in the 2^nd period Tampa scored and again moved into the lead.  KJ Bell of the Eels responded only 38 seconds20later, assisted by Taylor Barnett and Wetmiller – making it an even game going into the 3^rd.  The Eels were not to be outdone again by Tampa and put two more unanswered pucks into Tampa’s n! et.  Jordan unassisted,  and the 2^nd by Michael Scalisi assisted by Jordan to finish the game with a 4-2 victory.

Sunday, the Eels came out strong scoring 4 unanswered goals in the first.  Bell scored the first goal assisted by Rajen Mukherjee and Lincoln Green-Vamos.  Dion Pipia was next with an assist from Cody Peakman and Richey Boyd.  Peakman then picked up a rebound by Pipia and Wetmiller making the score 3-0.  Less than a minute later Boyd took the puck end-to-end and put one in top shelf.  Michael Scalisi, assisted by Boyd had the Eels next and final goal of this game in the 2^nd period.  Tampa put two in the Eels net in the 3^rd period against goa! lie Yussup Amirkhanov making the score 5-2 Eels.

The Florida Eels Junior B team is fire on ice this season.  They defeated the Tampa Bay Bolts last week in their opening weekend series 2-1 and 4-2.  They continued this effort in this last weekend’s Metropolitan Hockey League’s Showcase in Philadelphia.

The Eels Junior B team came out solid this weekend defeating the Charleston Wolverines twice over the weekend  4-2 and 5-2.  Zack Buckland led the team with 4 goals in the 2 games, while Wehebe Darge had a hat trick in the second game against the Wolverines. Nathan Makler shut down  the Wolverines offensively between the pipes only allowing 2 goals in the 2 games.

The Eels first loss of the season was to the Long Island Royals.  Down 3-1 at the end of the first, the Eels fought back with two goals in the final period.  The Royals slipped one by Martinez to make the final score 4-3. 

Despite the loss to Long Island, the Eels are leading the MET league in wins and points.  In addition the Eels have three of their forwards amongst the leading scorers in the MET League – Joey Giambalvo (8p), Zach Buckland (7p), and Cody Boyd (5 p).

With the new youth Ice Hockey season upon us parents, we just need to find the best deals on our kids hockey equipment this year.  As most parents of youth hockey players, just paying for the season can be bad enough.  Then you have to factor in the travel, gas money, a drive thru at least once each day, and the worst part, the hotel.  AHHHHHH. 

We just need to find the best equipment at the best prices for our kids to make it through to the next game.  My son just advanced to the bantam AA division this year and I know he will be getting sticks broken and might even out grow a helmet or even his skates.  “Not the skates, I fell like I just bought him new skates.”

The internet is a great place to find some great deals on hockey equipment.  Have you looked into eBay to get some prices on hockey equipment?  I have a place for you to check out where you can get all of the items from eBay in the hockey equipment section in one great website.  Just come by and take a look at:

Hockeyequipment.ezbidshop.com

All types of equipment can be found in one spot.  Goalie equipment, hockey helmets, hockey shin pads, and more.  You can bid on them or even just buy them now.  Take a look around and then come back to this article and leave me a comment.  Good or bad, just let me know what kind of great deals you might have found.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you around a rink near you.

The Florida Eels will be hosting a SEJHL Junior Tournament on Labor Day Weekend, starting saturday September 5, 2009 – Sunday September 6th, 2009

Next weekend marks the opening weekend for the Florida Eels Junior C team. The Eels are fileding two teams this year. the Junior C and Junior B squads.  The 4 Junior C teams from the Florida Division will battle it out for the Showcase Championship.  These will  be very exciting games. Come and meet and support the many new faces of the Florida Eels. We have added 14 new players this year to our program and we look forward to you and your family being in attendance and supporting our local teams.  Below are the dates and times of our games.

Leave a comment on this blog post if you would like.  Thanks