Florida Eels Elite Knocks Out Tampa Bay in Round One #RoadtotheCup
02/20/2017, 7:15pm EST
By Eels Staff
The Florida Eels Elite sweep the Tampa Juniors and now move on to the second round of the USPHL Southern Conference playoffs. This is the first time the Eels swept the Tampa Juniors in the playoff round. Tampa is good and every year they cause havoc for the Eels. In fact two seasons ago when the Eels Elite team seemed invincible, they were upset by Tampa despite being up by 4 goals in game 3.

It was pretty exciting here Saturday night when the final buzzer was sounded and the Eels won. These were not easy wins. Tampa played us so well in both games said Coach Frankie Scarpaci. Give Tampa a lot of credit. They are a good team.

On Friday night the Eels Topped Tampa by a score of 4-3 in a very close contest. The Eels managed to score a pair in the first period and thought a 3rd goal in the 2nd was enough to put Tampa asleep. But Tampa managed a pair in the 2nd to bring the score to with in 1 goal going 3-2 into the 3rd. The Eels got their game winner in the3rd as Tampa struck once again bringing it to within 1, as the score was 4-3. In fact Tampa had a flurry of shots very late in the 3rd period but Eels goalie Nolan Greene came up with another superb performance shutting down Tampa’s late surge.

Scoring for the Eels was as follows:
21 Nicholas Magill-Diaz (even strength) (10 Brian Kozek)
13 Jean-Simon Robidoux (even strength) (9 Clayton Boyd, 16 Zac Boyle)
16 Zac Boyle (even strength) (9 Clayton Boyd, 21 Nicholas Magill-Diaz)
29 Nikita Lopatin (even strength) (28 Andrii Rusakov, 20 Sven Nilsson)
Nolan Greene was in net facing 48 shots.

The two teams faced off once again in Round 1 best of 3 series Sunday. Once again Tampa came out determined and focused looking for their first win of the post season and hoping to tie the series. But the Eels had something else in mind. They too brought their determination to the ice. The boys looked more focused than ever. They knew the history between these two clubs and were not abut to allow Tampa to even the series. This group of Eels wanted to be the first Eels team to sweep Tampa. The task would not be easy but they were prepared. 6-8 hours of prep and training went on the previous two weeks including ice gym video and chalk talk. The guys could not have been more prepared under the tutelage of Head Coach Frankie Scarpaci.

Captain Jordan scored a hat trick how fitting in front of his entire family. The final was 7-5 Eels and when the game was over you could hear the fireworks booming in the building. Sure it was the Edison Light Parade Fireworks but all of the players and fans thought it were for the Eels win!!!!!
Scoring went as follows:

29 Nikita Lopatin (even strength) (28 Andrii Rusakov, 12 Gavin Medina
54 Jordan Court (even strength) (96 Brandon Hotaling, 40 Nolan Greene)
19 Michael Gennello (even strength) (13 Jean-Simon Robidoux)
54 Jordan Court (even strength) (10 Brian Kozek, 28 Andrii Rusakov
19 Michael Gennello (even strength) (7 David Stonebraker, 26 Colton Crabtree)
54 Jordan Court (even strength) (96 Brandon Hotaling, 29 Nikita Lopatin)
9 Clayton Boyd (even strength) (empty net) (21 Nicholas Magill-Diaz, 54 Jordan Court)

The Eels now move Hampton To the Whalers. The two teams match up quite well in fact. These two have a long history making it to the USPHL Frozen 6 League Championships each Spring. This season however, only one will advance to Beantown so I am sure they will be laying everything they have on the ice.

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Tag(s): Elite South Florida Eels Events USPHL Playoffs