YouTube Tuesday

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still riding high from the Everblades sweep of the Road Warriors (they are the only team in the East to accomplish that by the way). I personally want to draw this out  a little longer.

Ladies and gentlemen... sad Dean Stork is sad.



Time to gear up for the Jackals. It's go time.

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors

I have one word for you!

SWEEEEEP!!!

I'm too happy to do a re-cap. Enjoy the only way I could relieve stress during the game:

Or it could be the eyebrows. They are a bit overwhelming.

Little know fact: Sebastien Piche can shoot laser from his mustache. No lie.

I don't claim to be good at Photoshop (or MS paint as it actually was) by the way.

Anyway, we play the winner of the yet undecided Reading/Jackals series. Doesn't matter though. It's all us. Giddy-up.

Guest Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (4/4/12)

Here we go with yet another post from the always magnificent Chelsea Clyde. I'm just going to leave to her website here in case you can't get enough.

Keeping with the theme of my t-shirt of the Wednesday night, this post shall be filled with poor pirate/sailing puns. 

So to begin....

The Everblades prepared to set sail for Greenville, SC with a 4-2 victory Wednesday night. 

1. Jason Missiaen walks the plank.

The National Hockey League and I have something in common: we like big goalies. The Everblades liked Greenvilles 6’8” goalie Jason Missiaen so much they scored four times. While the Everblades offense demonstrated some smooth sailing it’s clear Greenville has little choice but to stay the course in goal.

2. Trevor Bruess released the Kraken.

The Everblades have a nightly “Collision of the Game” as voted on by fans. For Wednesday’s game we all got to pick between “option one: Trevor BRUESS” or “option two: Trevor BRUESS”. If you can’t figure it out Trevor Bruess won. Bruess is commonly known for his exuberance and can be spotted racing off the ice at the end of warm ups... and hitting anything that moves. Yeah, that too.

3. Muse sinks their ship.

The Everblades continued to put their faith in John Muse. This time Muse stopped 32 of 34 shots. The third star of the game, faced some rough waters with the marauding Road Warriors in his crease. His crew mates were there to back him up and some pretty glove saves later we had the W.

4. Rutherford is a scurvy dog (in the best way possible).

I once heard a fan refer to David Rutherford as a “man Chihuahua” or “manhuahua” while some people may take offense at the term I think it was a compliment. No one seems to get under opposing teams skin quite like Mr. Rutherford. #tinybutfierce

5. Leigh Salters and his weapons of “mast” destruction.

As tensions continued to rise the off-ice production crew decided to give the Road Warriors a not so subtle reminder. The reminder was a video of Leigh Salters trouncing a Gwinnett Gladiator. His weapons of “mast” destructions: yeah those would be his hands. Salters is not only good in a fight but provided the game winning goal during the second period.

Now for the fun part. My baseless predictions/ wish list for the rest of the series. 

1. A duel to the death between John Muse and Nic Riopel. My money is on Muse. 
2. Brayden Irwin gets a hat trick. This would annoy @Swamphockey till the end of time. (ed. note: I am happy any time a player scores, even when I'm generally underwhelmed by that players effort)
3. Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Sebastien Piche sing “Oh Canada” in harmony and in french. “Oh Canada” is totally under utilized in the US. Plus, I see an episode of karaoke superstars in their future.

What would you like to see happen? Tell me on Twitter @CVClyde or leave a comment!

And as always the link to the stat sheet for those wanting “real” information.

Guest Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (4/2/12)

 As promised, here's the guest post from one of the most fantastic hockey ladies I've ever met, Chelsea Clyde. You can check out here website here and find her on Twitter here.

The curse is broken. I try not to be a superstitious person. I mean truly how much can wearing silly bands really impact a teams performance? However, I was starting to get a complex with the Everblades. They just never won when I was in the rink (my Jr. Blades never had such a problem, but that’s another story).

It got so bad that our dear SwampHockey debated whether inviting me to a game was a good decision. Lot’s of snark, not very many wins.

I’m happy to say after Monday’s 5-2 victory, the curse is officially broken and here’s how it happened.

1) The toe-tapping Muse.

 There are times that no matter the statistics I just “feel” comfortable with certain goalies. This year that was John Muse. “The Moose” has an interesting habit of tapping the toes of his skates on the ice before the start of the game. He didn’t stop however and went toe-to-toe with Greenville in the remaining seconds. The Everblades were running the clock with the puck behind the net. It was pretty comical to watch him “dance” as the Road Warriors forward tried to get around and force the Everblades to play the puck. 

2) Sébastien Piché.

The feisty defenseman made the game. He contributed one assist in the contest, but his shining moment is when he told Marc- Olivier Vallerand to “suck it” (not a direct quote). The two players appeared to be exchanging words throughout the contest. By the third period all it took was a little shove by Piche and Vallerand was ready to drop the gloves. From my seat it went like this: (shove) V: French curse word, P: You want to go?

3) Matt Beca’s Ovi inspired goal celebration.

I’m always a fan of enthusiastic goal celebrations. This one took place right in front of my seat. Bec’s beat Nic Riopel and looked like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he his parents surprise him with the Red Ryder BB gun. The chest bump to the glass and smothering of affection from his teammates didn’t hurt either. 

 

4) Scott Pitt and the “score board incident”

I expect things to be feisty with Greenville. After all they are captained by T.J. Reynolds (hate all you want, but his particular form pestering is an art form). However, you have to know when to pick your fights and with whom. I’ve seen Scott Pitt play sporadically since 2007. I’ve seen him score plenty of goals, but I’ve never seen him get in a fight (not saying it’s never happened, just that I’ve never seen it). So it came as no surprise that he didn’t take up the useless call from Greenville throughout the game. The entertaining part was his hand gesture at the end of the game. For those watching it was easy to see Pitt gesturing towards the score board as a Road Warrior tried to engage him. Smart move Mr. Pitt. We approve.

5) David Fischer’s chew toy.

Now we’ve already talked about superstitions and habits, but then there is Fischer’s mouth guard or more aptly named chew toy. I’m not sure how many of Fischer’s teeth it’s protecting, but if chewing on that lime green guard helps you score AND prevent goals, well keep on chewing. Fischer was a +1 on the night and scored the Everblades first goal. 

For people who like actual facts I’ve included the link to the game sheet, but let’s face it a game is much more than just a piece of paper.

 

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (1/25/12)

I'm sure it's no secret that I hate writing re-caps (incidentally, anyone want to join up and take those on?), but after last night's game it's safe to say there is no way in hell I want to write a re-cap. Considering how loose and relaxed the guys looked during warm-ups I assumed it would be a good game. I was wrong. They didn't play with an ounce of heart, it was so depressing. Here's the game sheet and here's a video that summarizes my feeling at the moment (I admit it is a bit melodramatic).



One would hope that after losing four in a row and dropping to last in the division the Blades would wake up tonight and play like they're possessed. One would hope.

A quick roster note: David Fischer was called up to the Houston Aeros and Charles Landry was re-assigned to the Blades by the Norfolk Admirals.

Also, keep an eye on the Blog's photo stream. Photos from last night's game should be up late in the afternoon.

YouTube Tuesday

I'm not sure how I missed this video from the Greenville Road Warriors.



I can't decide if I'm happy or sad the Blades didn't do something like this.

Honestly though, if the Greenville players weren't such a gigantic scumbags I'd actually like them now.

YouTube Tuesday

Now that the holidays are officially over, it's time to get things rolling again here on Swamp Hockey. What better way than to use YouTube Tuesday to feature two videos from the Everblades 6 game win streak.

First, a video of Ryan Galiardi getting down to business with a Greenville player doing what Greenville players do best: Throwing boderline dirty hits on unsuspecting players.



Next up is a video I intended to watch at least once a week. The video is nothing special. What's special is what the players accomplished. A seven game unbeaten streak for the first place Gladiators snapped and Jakitis' three game shut-out streak destroyed. Oh yeah, feels so good.



Did I mention one more shut-out for Jakitis would have set a new ECHL record? It really can't get any better than ruining division rivals fun.


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YouTube Tuesday

While I feel like I'm obligated as a hockey blogger to find a way to make this post about Sidney Crosby, I'm just going to skip that. Instead, Let's enjoy fight videos from the recent series with Greenville.

First up, Luc Tardif, who has somehow become tied for second in fighting majors on the Everblades.



Not to be outdone (or pushed out of his tie for second either), David Rutherford takes on one of my least favorite players in the division.



On another note, the photos from Friday's game are up on Flickr. Enjoy!

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors

Well, it looks like the ship might really be starting to right itself. Obviously only managing three wins in a nine game road trip isn't ideal, but these last two wins have been great.

The Blades opened up the scoring with a power play tally from Chris Murray (assists to Hutchings and Beca). Around the 3:24 mark, Robby Dee had a chance to make it 2-0 with a penalty shot, but was unsuccessful. Mike McKenzie fought (his second or third of the season I believe) around the 19:24. A few seconds later Greenville was able to slip one past goalie John Muse to tie the game 1-1.

The Blades knew how to respond though. They came out in the opening minutes of the second and took the lead once again with a goal from captain Mathieu Roy (assists to Hutchings and Murray). Less than two minutes later Robby Dee notched his fourth of the season (assist to Rutherford) to make it 3-1. Greenville responded and narrowed the Blades lead to 3-2 at the 8:26 mark.

Luckily, the third period saw the Blades start on the power play and they were able to convert with Murray's second power play goal of the game (assists to Hutchings and McGinnis) 48 seconds into the period. The Road Warriors came on strong but the Blades were able to hold them off. In the closing minutes of the period the Blades were called for a penalty. The Road Warriors opted to pull their goalie for the extra attacker. Luckily, the Blades appear to relish playing two men down. The guys enjoyed it so much Ryan Donald decided to score a short handed empty netter during the 6 on 4. The final buzzer sounded and the Blades skated off with their 5-2 win.

Some thoughts:
- So, uh, I'm thinking the best plan for our power play is to pass it to Murray and let him do his thing. Sheesh.
- Three points for him by the way.
- Roobby Dee is quietly doing his thing, and doing it well, isn't he?
- If he keeps playing the way he's been playing John Muse won't have any competition for the starting job.
- The Blades haven't been able to convert on a penalty shot (they've had two or three attempts) and lost a game in the shoot-out. I'm thinking that might be a good thing to work on.
- *insert usual comment about turnovers and defensive breakdowns*
- *insert usial comment about how awesome it is shot blocking is happening a lot*

The Blades are off until Wednesday. First home game in like two weeks? $2 wine? I don't know about you guys, but I'll be pacing outside the arena three hours before the gates open.

YouTube Tuesday

Well, the weekend series didn't go to well for the Blades. They lost both games by giving up leads. It hasn't been pretty at all. I'm going to be optimistic and hope this is just a very early slump and things will pick up soon.

Until then, why not enjoy Leigh Salters handing a beat down to one of my least favorite players in the ECHL.



 I'm sure T.J. Reynolds is a very nice person off the ice, but I've been an Everblades fan long enough to dislike him intensely.

News and Notes

With all that's been going on lately, it's definitely time for a round-up of all the news.

- Hockey Broad has an interview with Bobby Goepfert and it's awesome.

- I tweeted that Chris Beckford-Tseu was released from the Salmon Kings (yesterdayish?) as well as Ed Snetsinger. Well, today the Greenville Road Warriors picked CBT up.



I mentioned this to someone earlier on Twitter, how much would you look forward to CBT in net for Greenville in the playoffs.

- The Tampa Bay Lightning have released Mitch Fadden. Reports are slowly leaking out that there are some issues going on, including a possible DUI.

- Some roster news: Evgeny Timkin was released (consider me not surprised),the big reason for Timmy being dropped. Roster room had to be made for new forward Scott Pitt.



- Dusty Collins was signed by another AHL team. Although I wish him luck, I still hate seeing our roster get raided by non-affiliates.


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Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (3/12/11)

It's the same story the Blades have been facing for the last dozen or so games, can they find a way to clinch a good spot in the playoffs, can they find a way to win without their most talented players? Sadly, the answer still seems to be, we'll see.

There has been recent news that coach Poss has decided to put a new, more defensively minded, grinding type, system in place. Unfortunately, I was stuck with only the radio broadcast the last few games so I can't really tell you how well its actually working (anyone at the game want to leave a comment on their impression is more than welcome). I will say that on the stat sheet and in the outcomes it appears to be working.

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The first period was relatively uneventful. The Blades seemed to be dictating play. Both teams were pretty disciplined. Then, in what would be the Road Warriors same problem all night, Greenville took a very poorly timed delay of game penalty. This one came just as they killed off a previous penalty that the Blades couldn't really capitalize on. They didn't make the same mistake twice. Mathieu Roy was able to redirect a shot past the Road Warriors goalie to give the Blades the 1-0 lead. They held on to the lead for the rest of the period and the score remained 1-0 when both teams left the ice. The Blades led the SOG 6-3.

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The Road Warriors were obviously not going to let the Blades continue to dictate play. They came out in the second with adjustments made. They worked and the Road Warriors, over the course of the period, tripled the amount of shots they took in the first. The Blades were able to hold them off for most of the period. Unfortunatley, the Road Warriors were able to score with one minute left in the period to make it a 1-1 tie. The score remained that way at the end of the period. The Blades trailed 9 -12 in SOG.

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The play was a bit more balanced in the third. The teams remained tied until after the halfway mark of the period. The Blades took the lead for the second time in the game with a short-handed goal from Alex Hutchings. Greenville responded right away with a power play goal of their own to tie it up 2-2. The Blades took the lead yet again with an even strength tally from Matt Beca about eight minutes later. Unfortunately a weird one was able to get past goalie Bobby Gopefert to tie it up again. Neither team was able to steal the game in the remaining minutes. The score was tied up 3-3 at the end of regulation. The Blades trailed once again in SOG 10-12.

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In a repeat of earlier in the game, the Road Warriors took a poorly timed penalty less than a minute into the game. Perhaps it wasn't the worst time to take it, Hutching had a juicy opportunity that he could easily have cashed in on. It still cost the Road Warriors in the end when Beca was able to cash in with a mere four seconds left on the penalty to earn the win. The final score was 4-3 and the Blades led SOG 5-0.

The three stars: Hutchings, Carlson, Beca

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Some thoughts:

- How great has Matt Beca been lately?! Good lord, the kids quickly become my favorite forward.

- I'm also loving Alex Hutchings stepping up.

- One of the Road Warriors got called for what sounded like a nasty boarding on (I think) Mike McKenzie. I would hope that the league hands down a one game suspension at least.

- 2 for 7 on the power play? I will gladly take that.

- At least we know the best strategy to beat Greenville if we face them in the playoffs. Let them commit the stupid, poorly timed, penalties they've been taking all season and make them pay.

- Has anyone seen Alex Imbeault? He's on the game rosters, but he hasn't been showing up lately. Perhaps being a healthy scratch for a game will make him appear.

- I have a hunch that Goepfert starts tonight rather than Janus. It's a better idea to play the goalie that's been winning consistently, especially against a divisional rival like Greenville.

YouTube Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! The Blades are in Cincinnati for a game tonightt.. Hopefully, they can come away with some much needed points. Until then, enjoy a video of Kevin Fukala and T.J. Reynolds fighting from a game back in January.

We Have a Winner!

I got some pretty good re-caps, and a haiku, but the re-cap Matt (@5hol3) sent me was the best. The winning re-cap of Saturday's game:

Here's my recap.  Painful revisiting it, but..

• The first period seemed to mirror the first period on Friday night.  After 2 quick Everblade shots in the first minute, the Road Warriors controlled all of the play.
• Goepfert was amazing.  Again.
• Its very easy for me to tell how bad the Everblades are playing in the first period based on at what point my wife complains that her neck is sore from staring all the way down to the other end of the ice.  This occurred at around 8 minutes in.  That's very early.
• It did appear the referees were going to let the boys play, which, as soon as I made that observation was inevitably followed by a ridiculous interference call on Phil Paquet, and the resulting Greenville goal to make it 1-0.
• Once again, the second period seemed to shift momentum back to the Everblades.  They looked quick, sharp and controlled much of the puck time.  Not good for my wife's neck, but good for our team.
• Ethan Graham brought the house down with a rocket from the left circle, scoring shorthanded to tie the game at 1-1.
• The 2nd period ended with Mathieu Roy getting a stick to the head from our good friend T.J Reynolds while down on the ice.  Mike McKenzie jumped in to defend him, didn't do very well, but did what he had to.  All Reynolds got was a 'roughing' penalty, while Roy got called for slashing.  Insanity.
• In the 3rd, things seemed pretty even, until the Blades broke out and scored two quick brilliant goals by Alex Hutchings.  The first was a nifty play by Lemieux to send the two of them in 2 on 1, perfect pass and a perfect finish to give the Blades the lead.
• Why doesn't Bobby Raymond play more forward?  Holy crow what a rush down the left and with a pinpoint pass and deflection, the Blades took a 3-1 lead.
• Then the stomach punching began.  30 seconds later, Greenville cut the lead to 1 when Carroll was left alone in front of the net.  He could have bought Bobby dinner and drinks before he scored.  3-2.
• Of course, this goal seemed to put the Blades on their heels, which, is a magnet for more horrible ECHL referring.  Mike Egener got called for a silly tripping call, which naturally resulted in the tying goal.
• The rest of the 3rd period was a blur, I couldn't watch half the time as every time I would look over, Bobby would have to make some ridiculous sprawling save.
• This happened at least 4-5 more times until OT ended and the shootout began.
• It took 12 rounds for Greenville to win the game.  Goepfert looked exhausted towards the end of it and how could he not be.  It was a game which Florida didn't deserve to win, but were given another point by their goalie, who has earned some time off.
• It was a hard loss to swallow.  So many ups and downs, but again we left disappointed.  Greenville showed why they're the best team in the league.  They're better than the Blades right now, and it shows.

 Congrats Matt! You win a Bobby Goepfert t-shirt and the honor of calling yourself a guest writer on Swamp Hockey (I'm sure that's the best part).

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (2/2/11)

The Everblades started what would be the biggest series so far this season. With the division leading Greenville Road Warriors coming to town, they had to string together some wins if they hoped to put themselves in a good position going into the later half of the year.

Starting line-up: Raymond, Fischer, Carlson, Hutchings, McKenzie.

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I don't know what got into them, but the Blades came out strong in the first period. I don't know if the Road Warriors were struggling (they didn't look as controlled and dominant as I remember from the last few games), or if it was all the Everblades.

It didn't really matter though, the Blades were able to score first, thanks to Bobby Raymond's fourth goal of the year. The teams traded chances until the closing minutes. Then the Road Warriors started to let their frustrations show.
While on the penalty kill for an interference call, one of the Road Warriors shot the puck over the glass. It actually flew all the way down to the other end and hit a fan sitting behind the net in the jaw. Luckily, the guy was all right, and the Blades were able to convert on their 5 on 3 with about 15 seconds left on the first penalty. The goal, Ethan Graham's first goal of the year, gave the Blades the 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. One of the Road Warriors continued the teams undisciplined play by going after Alex Hutchings after the buzzer for the end of the period sounded. It didn't matter though, because the Blades held the 2-0 lead and had the Road Warriors on their toes for most of the period.

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The Road Warriors continued to shoot themselves in the foot to start the second. After killing off the penalty that carried over from the first, they proceeded to take another, after killing that off they took another! The Blades weren't able to convert on any of those chances.

Oddly enough, it was an incredibly fluky goal that happened shortly after all these chances. Mathieu Roy took a pass from drew Larman and somehow it slipped off his stick and trickled right through the Road Warriors goalies five-hole. Since hockey doesn't give points for pretty goals the Blades were happy to take it and the 3-0 lead.

 (Is there anything as sad as a goalies posture after a fluke goal?)

You could tell Greenville's frustration levels were at their peak. Even their goalie was looking for a fight. They managed to ruin goalie Bobby Goepfert's shut-out while Mike Egener was in the box for hooking to make it 3-1. Aside from plenty of scufles, there wasn't any more action in the period and both teams left the ice with the score still at 3-1.

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The Everblades came out they way they should have in the third. around the six minute mark Ross Carlson notched the Blades second power play goal of the night to make it 4-1. That seemed to make Greenvilles frustration level grow even more.

Road Warrior captain T.J. Reynolds and Roy got into a bit of a tussle, and each received matching roughing penalties. There was a lot of jawing between the two as they went to the boxes. Unfortunately, one of the fans behind the penalty box Reynolds was in thought throwing popcorn at the one of the players Blades fans seem to dislike the most. As a player that has had been involved with a fan in the past, you can imagine his reaction. He struck the glass once, and when the fan continued to give him trouble he struck the glass a second time. He actually broke the glass, and apparently, a shard flew into the stands. Obviously, he received a game misconduct and was escorted off the ice to loud cheers.

Too bad the Blades took a dumb penalty shortly after that to give the Road Warriors a 5 on 3 chance they were able to convert on to make it 4-2. The Road Warriors continued to put on the pressure they had been applying for most of the second period, and peppered Goepfert with tons of shots. It didn't matter though because he gave his best impression of a brick wall and denied them. Even with their goalie pulled for the extra attacker the Road Warriors couldn't score, and the Blades were able to get an empty net goal from Mike McKenzie to make it 5-2. The Game sheet is here.

The three stars: Raymond, Goepfert, Carlson.

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Some thoughts:
- I've said it the last few games, Goepfert's been amazing since coming back from the all-star break. He stopped 37 of 39 shots.
- It was pretty pathetic to see Greenville focus most of their attention on Mike McKenzie. Good for him for refusing to sink to their goonery.
- Actually, all the Blades stayed pretty disciplined through out the game. Considering the liberties the Road Warriors took, it was amazing.
- I was actually a little sad to see the Road Warriors sink to that level. I really thought they were better than that.
- Bobby Raymond continues to be the most underrated player on the squad. If he doesn't get an AHL contract next season something's wrong with the hockey world.
- Except for a few lapses and letting up a bit in the third, the Blade played a really solid game. I hope they keep it up.
- The officiating sucked as usual, way too many calls against Greenville in the first half and make-up calls on the Blades in the last.

Hopefully, the ECHL learned from the last time a visiting team came in and the game got out of hand. Friday and Saturday are going to be repeats of the Gladiators and Royals series if they don't crack down. Of course, we won't know which direction this series is going to go in until Friday. It's going to be a tough games for sure.

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Road Warriors (1/13/11)

It's no secret that the injury plagued Everblades have been struggling lately. Luckily for them, the Road Warriors haven't been doing much better. All the Blades need is some simple play and defense.

Converting on the power play wouldn't hurt either.

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The first period started out as you would expect from two desperate teams, lots of back and forth without too much success. Then the Blades got called for too many men. The Road Warriors had some chances, but none of them were too good. Then it happened.

Ross Carlson managed to get a breakaway, and score a short-handed goal to give the Blades the 1-0 lead.

The Road Warriors came back hard, forcing the Blades to stay in their zone for an extended period of time. They were eventually able to tie it up on a weird play that saw the puck rebound off of the ref's skate on to a dump-in right onto a Road Warriors stick. The subsequent shot bounced up in the air off of goalie Jaroslav Janus and was batted in by a glove. Unfortunately, it's not the Blades month, and the ref ruled it a good goal to give the Road warriors the tie. Less than a minute later, the Road Warriors were able to take the lead a minute later with a power play goal on a Drew Larman hooking penalty.

The final score at the end of the first saw the Blades down 2-1. The Blades trailed in SOG 7-13.

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The 2nd was relatively quiet, some great chances, and a post each for each team. The Blades did take quite a few stupid penalties, and the Road Warriors were not called on several penalties. In the end, thanks to both goalies playing solid, the score remained 2-1. The Blades continued to trail the SOG for the period 7-12.

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As much as I'd like to write about the Everblades amazing comeback, it didn't happen. The Blades played pretty strong, but two goals from the Road Warriors in the latter half of the period put the nail in the coffin. The final score when the buzzer sounded was 4-1 and the Blades sixth straight loss.

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Time for some thoughts:
- Yes the roster is depleated, but so is most of the rosters in the ECHL. This should not be a crutch.
- Janus was the only thing that kept the Blades in the game. He was left out to dry way too many times.
- I'm obviously biased, but the officiating was terrible.
- For some reason Kevin Fukala felt the need to get into a meaningless fight after the buzzer sounded. Totally pointless and will probably earn him a suspension the Blades don't need right now.
- The Everblades just can't catch a break or get any luck. Sheesh.
 - Wish I could tell you how successful the new Olidis guy is (he's apparently a face-off specialist), too bad the ECHL doesn't think that's a stat worth tracking, along with TOI and blocked shots.
- Slumps suck .

Honestly, the only way to express my current feeling toward the hockey gods is with this kitty.


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One more game tomorrow against the super hot South Carolina Stingrays. Their slump earlier this year has completely turned around, and their currently on a six game win streak. I'm so not excited.

YouTube Tuesday

Some fight videos have slowly been making their way to YouTube. First up, Elgin Reid taking on Yannick Tifu.



If you remember, Reid was thrown out of the game for not having his jersey tied down. The Blades were already down a defenceman and the loss of Reid was a big blow. Of course, they still went on to beat the Jackals.

Next up, Evgeny Timkin and his foolish decision to fight Big Benn Olson. There really wasn't any chance for poor Timmy.



Now, another fight with a Cyclone, this time Mathieu Roy. He didn't do much better than Timmy.



And, last but not least, Francis Lemieux mixing it up with a Road Warrior.



The Blades take on Gwinett tonight and tomorrow. The Gladiators couldn't be coming into town at a better time. Although they started the year off very strong, their recent seven game losing streak has allowed the Stingrays to jump ahead of them in the standings. With Pistilli, Staal, and Lawson back in town, tonight and tomorrows games are looking like their going to be fun.

Don't forget, tonight after the game, everyone will be able to go for a skate with Santa. Tomorrow you can skate with Santa and the Everblades. The team also announced that children under 12 get in free when you purchase an adult ticket tonight or tomorrow. I might need to go buy earplugs before the game.

YouTube Tuesday

I'm very ready for Trevor Hendrikx to come of the IR list. Why?



I've watched the video a few times and I'm convinced that the Road Warriors player wasn't able to land a single punch. Seriously Hendrikx, get well soon.

News and Notes

- The Jr. Blades won both their games this weekend. They are undefeated so far this season. The team has tweeted a preview of the game notes for this weekends series against the Atlanta Hawks.

- I got all the pictures from the Alumni game and Fridays game against Greenville up on Flickr.

- You can check out the game summaries for the two games against the Road warriors here and here. I have no idea why they announced the three stars wrong on Friday (they said McColm [who didn't even play], Raymond Nikiforov), but they seem to have corrected it.

- One of our affiliates has finally sent us a goalie. The Charlotte Checkers have reassigned Bobby Goepfert to the Everblades.Check out his stats:



- The Checkers have also assigned defenceman Kyle Lawson. His stats:



- I have to link to this blog post that talks about the growth of youth hockey in Florida. Especially because of the mention of two local boys R.J. Boyd and David Bohem.