Florida Ice Hockey

The Florida Eels Bantam AA team competed in the Big Bear MLK Tournament this past weekend in Brandon FL.  The composition was very strong and all of the team seemed to be tough.  The Eels played their first game against the Brandon Bulls on Saturday in the morning.  The game ended with a score of 5-2 with the win going to the Bulls.  Trey Dougherty got both of the goals for the Eels with and assist on the second goal coming from Joey Colatarci.  It the second game of the tournament the Eels faced the Jr. Trashers where the Bantams came out hard and ready to play. They got the win, 4-3 from 4 different players.  Bill Carmelia, Jordan Court, Joey Colatarci, and Trey Dougherty.  The assists came from Marlin Schmidt, and Bill Carmelia.

The Sunday game brought the Jacksonville Barracudas and the Florida Eels together and the score ended in a 1-1 tie.  Sean Kopper got the only goal for the Eels and the assist went to Trey Dougherty.  This keep the team worried that they would have to settle for playing in the consolation game for 3rd or 4th place.  But later that Sunday night the Trashers and the Barracudas would have to play and the final score put the Trashers on top with the win giving the Eels just enough points to face the Brandon Bulls once again, but this time in the Championship game.  This was a great game that the Eels had.  The 1st period ended 0-0.  2nd period ended with the Bulls in a 1-0 lead.  In the 3rd period Bill Carmelia found the back of the net to make the score 1-1.  With just about half of the final period left the bulls took the lead again and very late in the game put one more in on us to take the championship 3-1.

The tournament officials recognized Brian Hotaling as the Tournament MVP in goal.  The team did have a good weekend and they did play hard.

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The Florida Eels Ice Hockey Team, Bantam AA, Is holding its big Raffle of the season.  With over 20 prizes that will be raffled off on Febuary 14th 2010.  The Bantam AA team will be around the Fort Myer Skatium allmost every day of the week untill Valentines day with raffle tickets for you if you wish to get some. 

The tickets are selling for $2.00 each or you can get 3 for $5.00. 

 If you are not at the rink and wish to get some tickets you can get ahold of me by email at BlaineSword@gmail.com and put Valentines Raffle in the subject line and let me know how to get ahold of you.  I have placed the list of items at the bottom of this post so you can see what we have to raffle off.  You don’t have to be present to win but I will need to get you your half of the ticket.

Grand Price – Round of golf for 4 guests ( applicable cart fees included) (a value of $600)
Sponsored by: Worthington Community Renaissance, Ft. Myers

Florida Elite Hockey Summer Camp with Coach Frank Scarpaci  –  2 x 1 week value each week of $ 375
Sponsored by F. Scarpaci

Patricia D./ Brenda R. Grider/ Judys Nails  – Hair, Pedicure, Massage – Gift Certificate $ 135

Sanibel Day Spa – Gift Certificate Pedicure/Manicure Value $ 105

Charles of the Village Saloon and Dayspa 2 Haircuts/ 1 Massage

Eco Tours Sanibel – Gift Certificate 2 P. $ 60

Ruth Messmer Florist – Gift Certificate $ 50

Joe s Crabjack – Gift Certificate $ 25 and T-Shirt

Zumba – Gift Certificate 4 x

Heart n Home Country Cape Coral – Candle

Pete s Philly Steak – Gift Certificate $ 10

Merrick Seafood – Gift Certificate $ 10

Every Detail – Gift Certificate Car Detail Cleaning (Wash,  Wax, Tires, Vacuum, Windows, and Armour-All) $85 .00 Value

Cheeseburger Paradise – Gift Certificate 2 x $ 25

Dinner Bell Café – Gift Certificate $ 10

Sports Authority – Gift Certificate $ 10

Starbucks – Gift Certificate $ 10

Target – Gift Certificate $ 10

City Tavern – Gift Certificate $ 20

Cape Crematory.com – 2 Tundra Wood Hockey Sticks/ 3 pair CCM Hockey Socks/ 1 Bobble Head Doll

City of Fort Myers – 10 Gift Certificates for a Free Public Skate Session

Sweetbay Supermarket – Gift Certificate $ 15

Blockbuster – Gift Certificate 2 x $ 10

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.

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).

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

An Alliance is Forged…

The Florida Eels and the Tampa Black Bears will joining forces in the 09/10 youth ice hockey season here is Florida.  The two teams will be coming together to form a Bantam A team.  This joint venture came to be this past Saturday night as the Bantam age players for the eels were holding a skills clinic.  Coach Frank Scarpaci and Coach Chris Frontiero of the Black Bears put there heads together while at the Fort Myers Skatium to bring the teams together.  In the upcoming season the Bantam A team will be wearing both the Florida Eels jerseys and the Tampa Black Bear jerseys throughout.

“With this agreement comes the ability to expose youth hockey players, in the Tampa Bay area, to what I believe is the finest hockey program in the southeast” said Coach Frontiero.  “We are very happy to have the Florida Eels as our sister affiliate.”

Coach Scarpaci said,”The black bears are well run and this is an opportunity to open some doors for the and for us.  Having the bears as our sister affiliate just makes our program here that much more accessible.  Our goals are the same, to get as many of these kids to college as we can.  And perhaps even some day see the first Florida born player in the NHL.”

If you would like more information on the Florida Eels youth hockey teams or this article you can check out the
Florida Eels website.

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Florida Ice Hockey Summer Camps that you just don’t want to miss.  Bring out the best in your game and come to join us at the Fort Myers Skatium for some great hockey trainning.

Extreme Training For The Extreme Hockey Player Well, it is time to make that decision.  Are you going to Train over the summer and gain that edge to become one of the top ice hockey players in the Fort Myers area?  We are offering you the opportunity to train 4 hours a day 5 days a week for 6 weeks of on-ice and off-ice strengthen and conditioning training.  Yes that is about 120 hours of intense ice hockey training during the summer.  If you compare this to your regular ice season that runs approximately 30 weeks, you only! get 60 hours of ice for the entire season.  Under the Florida Elite Summer Camp, you would get 60 hours of ice in 6 weeks.  You also will get 60 more hours of hockey specific strengthen and conditioning training.  For the die hard player, we would also include 2 additional hours a day of public skate so you can augment the training – over the 20 summer that equals 60 additional hours!  Do not be fooled.  The only way you will excel in hockey, or any sport, is to have absolute dedication, devotion, determination, commitment, hard work and focus.  Having dreams and goals alone are not enough. You have to implement the goals by an execution of a plan.  Our Summer Ice Hockey Program does just that.  Our Camp focuses on Power Skating, Stick handling, Passing and Scoring.  In addition to individual skills development we work on team skills, power plays, penalty kills and systems.  It is the over all program.  Best of all it is at your front door.  These camps are offered right here at the !  Fort Myers Skatium The Cost for is $325.00 per week.  Multiple week discounts are available at $275.00 per week Special Discount $300.00 for Eels with a further discount of $250 for multiple weeks Florida Elite – Summer Hockey Camp 2009 With Coach Frank Scarpaci ( Florida Eels & Edison Academy )

Hockey Camp Dates – Advanced Reservations Recommended • June 15 – 19 • June 22 – 26 July 13 -17 July 27 – 31 Aug 10 – 14 Aug 17 – 21 Contact Frank Scarpaci – scarpacif@aol.com 941-400-9023

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Florida Eels Junior Teams Tryout This Sunday
June 14, 2009

Come Join the most Exciting Junior Program in Florida.

Six Players making the MJHL All Star Team
Six Players in the Top  20 in League Scoring
36 Alumni20off playing in Div 1 and 3 College Hockey
2 Alumni this year on NHL Central Scouting Expected to go in this year’s NHL Draft
1 Alumni Already Drafted to the NHL
1 Alumni former Captain of the NTDP
400 Hours of on Ice Practice-2 hours a day 5 days a week 40 weeks a year
250 Hours of off-ice conditioning
New England College Tour 12-15 schools
3 College Showcases
Minimum of 3 hours per week of SAT/ACT Educational Training
College Advising and Counseling
Game and Practice Video Analysis

The Florida Eels will be fielding two teams this year. One in the MJHL (Junior B) and one in the SEJHL ( Junior C) The Florida Eels will be hosting a joint tryouts to provide all of its prospects and opportunity to be evaluated by coaches from the Junior B and C Teams.
The Tryout for the Florida Eels Junior teams are as follows:
 
June 14th 2009 Sunday 9am- 1pm
They will be held at the Fort Myers Skatium 2250 Broadway Fort Myers Florida 33901
Cost for players who are attending the Tryouts for the First Time is $50.00

For more information please contact Frank Scarpaci e-mail scarpacif@aol.com or 941-400-9023
Take a look at our web www.floridaeels.org