NAHL Novemeber 1 top ten

 The North American League is a tier II Jr hockey league that spans from Johnstown PA as the eastern most member.  Traveling west and south to Texas, West and North to Alaska, and the midwest.  Teams are broken in to four division, as regionally as possible and the current snap shot of those teams, and standings is

When you look at the snap shot you can see all the results.  To best understand the bellow projection I have taken in to account.  Team roster moves, historical strength of division, current strength of division, and overall team power.  It is safe to assume that in the final moments of the season, in each division most of these current leaders will be players.  In the South Amarillo is an on going powerhouse, same with Topkea and this year Wichita got an early jump.



1. Kenai - MidWest,  big Game stretch here for the bears.  Austin, Fairbanks, Wichita Falls, and three at home against the Wilderness heading in to thanksgiving.  Make no mistakes about these next 9 games are your in depth preview of this years Robertson Cup.
2. Minnesota Wilderness- Mid West, Former Sylvania Northview Center and 2010 Ohio HS state Runner up Nolan Culver join the Wilderness following the Blain Show case and has the begin of solid season.  The Wilderness have the best goalie and d in the NAHL proff positive the 1.25 GAA and the league leading 100% penalty kill, should the Wilderness show the same home winning consistancy on the road.  A ROAD that has on a plane to Alaska to play Fairbanks twice and Kenai 3 times to end the month.  Should they pull out a fair win percentage, they should be in at the end, and I presume if not in the Robertson cup in their inaugural season, one game shy.
Strong scoring distribution illustrates the overall depth of the team as does the rolling of lines.  Minnesota while not ranked #1 is playing like it, and they may just prove it with games against Austin, Fairbanks and Kenai heading in to the holliday.
3. Austin-Central, the Central I believe offers some the greatest gap in tallent levels in the NAHL.  That disparity will make it hard for good teams to be great.
4. Port Huron-North, hands down favorite to win the North.  Inagural year awesome, big troubles in year two have again brought about calmer water and stability in year this year allowing for quality play.
5.Amarillo-South, Connor Frey of 2011 Ohio HS State Champions St. Francis calls the Bulls home and is having a solid season. The bulls have swept Langers road runners to this point this season, in Topkea's barn and there is no reason not to at least expect split in the Bulls back yard.  The bulls start and end November with the Road Runers.
6. Wichita Falls-South, biggest battles between now and break are Rio Grand and Fairbanks.  The Fairbanks series will give us a good picture of how they fair out of division, against a very strong over all Central division.  Two head to head losses to Amarillo pretty much seal their fate, that they will not in time lead the division.  which again is why they trail the Bulls here.
7.Bismark-Central, has a hot rival Aberdeen team this month 3 times and division leader Austin 4 times.  The of the month may well illustrate the picture heading in to end of season play offs.
8.Topkea-South, Play the bulls and the South picture at the month should be Bulls on top, Topkea, Wichita.
9. Fairbanks-North, Always a contender in the final days.
10. Rio Grand Valley-South,

Philadelphia Little Flyers EHL

The Little Flyers of the EHL have played over over two games not surrendering a goal.  In fact surrendering only 1.63 goals a game, and scoring 3.27 goals a game.  In large part to the defense play of Gabe Chuckran who is +9 in the last three games with 4 pts.  Not enough can be said the goal tending of Alex Dirks  345 min played 4w 1L   1T  1.22 Goals against average and a .951 save %.  He leads all goalies, but the Little Flyers are deep in several categories, including the net.   T.J Black who has played 289 min, 2W 3L 2.28 Goals against average and a .907 save % is ranked 9th.
The Philadelphia Little Flyers have star power

Good attendance in the sports and events saturated North East

Penalty Kill- Power play

Allegedly, a curse exists for people or teams that appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  We’re pretty sure that getting mentioned in the EHL’s Weekly Top 5 is a good thing, but the jury is still out.  Some of last week's Top 5 participants had good things happen; some had bad things happen; some streaks stayed alive, some streaks were broken;  some scoring droughts ended, some scoring droughts started.  We mostly just wanted to put ourselves in the same paragraph with Sports Illustrated ... check.
Now on to new edition of the EHL Weekly Top 5!
 

5 Same Streak, New League Leader:  The New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs only played once this week, but a 4-2 win over the Boston Bandits on Oct. 23 ran their win streak to an EHL season-long eight games, while they grabbed the overall EHL lead with a winning percentage of .857 (12-2-0-0).  The Monarchs haven’t dropped a game since Sept. 22 when Wilkes-Barre claimed a 1-0 victory in Hooksett.  New Hampshire gets it done at both ends of the ice and on special teams -- they rank first in Power Play Percentage (29.63), second in Penalty Kill Percentage (89.39), second in Goals Against Per Game (2.00) and third in Goals Per Game (4.64).  The streak -- and possibly EHL Game of the Week -- will be Nov. 2 when the Central Division-leading Oilers travel to Hooksett for their first match-up of the season.  No charge to the Hooksett Chamber of Commerce for mixing "Hooksett" into a paragraph four times.

4 Coaching Change:  The New Jersey Titans, who started the season 3-8-0-0, made a coaching change last Sunday with hopes of turning things around in the tightly contested EHL South Division.  George Haviland, Jr. is the interim head coach, and he promptly led the Titans to a 6-1 win over New York Applecore on Wednesday.  The Haviland family helped start the Titans non-profit organization years ago, with George Haviland’s father, George Sr., as the patriarch of the club.  The hockey roots run deep with the Havilands as George’s younger brother, Mike, is a former Titans coach who can be found behind the bench as head coach of the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears.  Mike was an assistant with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks for four years and was part of the Stanley Cup-winning squad in 2010. While George Jr. hasn't been behind the bench for a while, he is fully entrenched in the hockey rink business and the Titans, on a daily basis, so the transition has been smooth.

3a USA Junior Hockey Rulebook Online Seminar:  This test contains only one question but the Top 5 suggests taking a short break after reading this and spending some time studying the Junior Rulebook.  Come back fresh, ready to finish reading and ready to answer the question below.  In the third period of Wednesday’s Monarchs-Bandits game, with New Hampshire leading by one, the Monarchs got a shot on net and a scramble ensued for the rebound.  During the 11-man scrum it was determined that two penalties had taken place – one on the Monarchs for roughing and one on the Bandits for a player covering the puck in the crease.  Can you figure out the options for handling these penalties?

2 The Hartford Jr. Wolfpack hosted their “Play For The Cure” game on October 26 when the Revolution visited Cromwell, Conn.  Many teams, in many different sports and many different ages, stage “Play For The Cure” events each October to raise awareness of cancer and to help raise money for cancer research.  The Wolfpack, however, went the extra mile – literally – when they also participated in New Haven’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event.  The Wolfpack players wore their uniforms, participated in the walk, participated in the Zumba event and handed out fliers for their upcoming Play For The Cure game.  At this time the Top 5 has not yet acquired video footage of Wolfpack head coach Chris Cerrella taking part in the Zumba workout ... but we're working on it.  The week’s events, culminating with their victory over the Revolution, were especially meaningful to the Wolfpack family as numerous players and team officials have had family members affected by cancer.  Lori McCarthy, the wife of Dan McCarthy, who heads up the Wolfpack’s hockey operations, is a recent breast cancer survivor and all in the Wolfpack organization have had an upfront experience with the battle during her treatment.

3b The options for this situation would have been (1) for Monarchs head coach Ryan Frew to elect to take the penalty shot, then play a man down for two minutes due to his team's minor penalty.  Since a penalty shot is always an option -- meaning you don't have to take the shot -- Frew elected to (2) exercise his freedom of choice and take the minor penalty on the Bandits.  This meant the two minors became coincidental and the teams continued to play 5-on-5.  Coaching sanity would suggest 99.9 percent of the time that a coach should take the penalty shot, but there's an exception to every rule.  The Monarchs eventually pulled out the 4-2 victory, validating Coach Frew’s exception-al choice.

1 Last week’s Weekly Top 5 covered the Philadelphia Little Flyers’ defensive prowess, in contrast with their then-inability to put the puck in the net.  We don’t want to put too much stock in the Top 5, lest we hurt our shoulders patting ourselves on the back (see the opening paragraph of this Top 5 ... Sports Illustrated ... just sayin'), but apparently the Little Flyers players were charged up about the column and went on an offensive tear.  The winners of all three games played this week, the Little Flyers continued their miserly defensive play by allowing only one goal in the three contests, including a 5-0 shutout of offensive juggernaut Northern Cyclones who were averaging 6.22 goals per game heading into Sunday’s contest.  More impressively the Little Flyers lit the lamp 15 times during those three games, led by Jesse MacIntyre (5g-2a-7pts) and Zach Felser (1g-5a-6pts).  "I thought our guys did a great job of getting to the dirty areas," said head coach Rocky Russo in referencing last week's goal-scoring barrage.  "We drove the net well and capitalized on some second and third opportunities. We had some great off-pad rebound goals, we played physical and finished all our checks." Alec Derks and TJ Black continued their stellar play between the pipes as they are currently riding a 60-minute, 50-second shutout streak.  They combined for 69 saves on 70 shots (.986) during the week.  The wins pushed the Little Flyers into second place in the EHL South with a 6-4-1-0 record.  They trail the Rockets by five points but have four games in hand.

From The EHL website
http://easternhockeyleague.pointstreaksites.com/view/easternhockeyleague/ehl-news/news_90063

Little Flyers Eastern Hockey League weekend wrap up. The High School Count Down

Little Flyers,  Zach Felser continues making a statement.  Tied for seventh overall in points with 18.  Those come from 6 goals and 12 assists.   Against Dalton Carter and the Cyclones Felser had a 2 point game, all the while being shadowed by no less than 2 cyclones at all times.  A cyclones club that has no less than 3 NCAA d1 future players.  
Head Coach Rocky Russo told the team to play the Little Flyers brand of hockey, when he said “We’re looking to go out and play a physical, blue collar type of hockey.  We need to suppress their offense, as well as sustain offensive pressure in their zone. We also want Alec Derks to have the type of solid game we’ve grown to expect.”  1996 birth year USHL/ Team USA prospect Derks now has a 1.22 GAA and ultra elite .957 save percentage.  He is when look at bad ass goalies...in any league,  as bad ass as they come.  The Illinois net minder has made his case.   Pickerington Ohio standout Jude Warner looks to be fully recovered from minor injury in preseason play, and showing his intensity on the ice, he found the net twice against the Cyclones in the 5-0 rout.  While center-men Austin Kelly went pointless in the game, his overall play was contribution enough, battling in all three zones.
the Little flyers won three games in four days.  They won them commandingly  beating the Revolution 6-1, Boston 4-0 and the Northern Cyclones 5-0.   Felser tallied 6 pts in the 3 contests and is maintaining a healthy 1.7 PPG
Moving Forward on Nov 16 the Little Flyers face the New Hampshire Jr monarchs 12 wins and 2 losses and were pegged as the team to beat this year.  More on that as that date draws ever nearer.


Well Ohio High School Fans.  Three Days and a wake up call untill the season kicks off!  Get your team colors and school pride going for the puck drop!

EHL showdown. Philidelphia Little Flyers Vs Northern Cyclones

October 26 th at 8pm.  Dalton Carter and Drew Crandal of the Northern Cylones EHL hockey team travel south to Philadelphia and the Ice Work arena.  Home of the Little Flyers, Zach Felser and Austin Kelly, for battle of former Ohio HS standouts. 
You can watch the game LIVE here FAST HOCKEY
just sign up for an account.

Pregame...
Northern Cylones
8 games played
7 wins
1 loss.
Goals for 55
Goals against 16
Dalton Carter 8 games played 3 goals, 10 assits, 13 pts and 4 PIM
Drew Crandal 1 games played 0 goals, 0 assits, 0 pts and 0 PIM
The cyclones are ranked 2nd in the EHL north division and have a win 87.5%

Philadelphia Little Flyers
9 games played
4 wins
4 losses
1 tie
Goals for 27
Goals against 18
Zach Felser 9 games played 5 goals, 9 assits, 14 pim
Austin Kelly 9 games played 5 goals, 2 assist 4 pim

The Little Flyers are 3rd in the EHL south division and have a 500 win %

Fleser is tied for 9th in EHL scoring, Carter 15th and Kelly 70th

ALex Dirks Goalie of the Little Flyers sits a top all EHL goalie with a 1.47 GAA and whomping near 94% save percentage. on 114 shots, over 5 games
Brendan Tidman of the Northern Cyclones is 12th with a 2.72 GAA and 89 Save percentage on 84 shots in 4 games.
 The Cyclones are on a 5 game winning streak and have made little roster moves.  The Little Flyers have a 1 game winning streak, made several roster changes in October.
The little Flyers are ranked 3rd in teh league with home losses having had 3.  The Cyclones have 5 players in double digit points, 3 of which are defensemen, which fits for their shoot from the point style.  The Little Flyers have 2 with double digit prodcution and considering their physical play have 254 PIM to the Cyclones 62 PIM
The Cyclones are 3rd in the league at 27% on the PP and the little Flyers are 1st in PK 90.5%

It will be a good match up.

So when players are looking ahead, why choose the Eastern Hockey League?  Location, location location.  Playing in close proximity to 2/3 of all NCAA programs has its perks.  You get seen , at a low cost of recruiting for those schools.  While keeping in mind that 1/3 to as much as Half of all NCAA commitments come pre JR hockey, EVERY league takes advantage of those commitments.  The USHL on Down.  IF a players for you that has a commitment, its listed.  The EHL does pride itself on leading all league in Earned NCAA commitments, the majority are Division 2, 3 it does illustrate to the prospective player and his familiy the overall quality of the league.
last years look

Boston Bandits
Parker Bowen - Salve Regina
Jack Burton - Colby College
Michael Chen – Concordia-Wisconsin
Nick Finn - Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey)
Tyler Kapp - Providence College (Hockey East)
Michael Phillips - Babson College (ECAC East)
Matt Salhany – Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA)
Jake Soffer – RPI (ECAC)
Luke Stickel - Williams College (NESCAC)
Matt Sullivan - Bowdoin College (NESCAC)
Mike Van Siclen - Colby College
Kevin Walters - Utica College

Boston Jr. Rangers
Kevin Airoldi - Stonehill (Northeast-10)
* Sam Bernard - Sacred Heart University (Atlantic Hockey)
Logan Brown - SUNY-Potsdam (SUNY)
Ryan Doherty - Salem State University (MASCAC)
Shane Dowd - Franklin Pierce University (Northeast-10)
Taylor Fletcher - Franklin Pierce University (Northeast-10)
John Harty - University of New England (ECAC East)
Alex Minter - Salem State University (MASCAC)
& Chris Paulin - Niagara University (Atlantic Hockey)
Brad Rochville - Saint Anselm College (ECAC East)
Alex Rusinak - Salem State (MASCAC)
Alex Taddeo - Worcester State University (MASCAC)

Connecticut Oilers
Sam Boyd - UMASS-Boston
Nick Casacci - Potsdam University
Phil Dinner - Manhattanville College
Grant Garvin – Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey)
Conor Lamberti - Hamilton College
Brett Oldaker - Franklin Pierce University
Jake Rosen - Buffalo State
Gryphon Richardson - Hobart College
Dylan Smith - SUNY-Oswego

Hartford Jr.  Wolfpack
Anthony Beaumont - SUNY-Buffalo State (SUNYAC)
* Nick Belger - Sacred Heart University (Atlantic Hockey)
Rob Belger - Nichols College (ECAC Northeast)
Vincent Caligiuri - SUNY-Potsdam (SUNYAC)
Mark Essery - Framingham State University (MASCAC)
Vaughn Guetens - Framingham State University (MASCAC)
James Hyatt - Johnson & Wales University (ECAC Northeast)
Gene Lane - Babson College (ECAC East)
Nick Owen - Elmira College (ECAC West)
Joe Quintana - Nichols College (ECAC Northeast)
Scott Wood - Suffolk University (ECAC Northeast)

New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs
Nick Bingaman - Hobart
Tyler Bishop – UMass-Boston
Cam Brown - Maine (Hockey East)
Alex Devine - Salve Regina
Patrick Feeley - University of Vermont (Hockey East)
Derek Freeman - Colgate University (ECAC)
Dane Geonard - Western New England College
Patrick Kearns – Wentworth
Ty Lasker - Johnson & Wales (ECAC Northeast)
Steve McKenna - University of Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA)
& Brian Morgan - University of Maine (Hockey East)
* Derek Pratt - University of Connecticut (Hockey East)
Evan Schultz – SUNY-Oswego (SUNYAC)
Devon Smith - Wentworth
Corey Wisnowski - Connecticut College

New Hampshire Lakers
Christian Merritt - University of New England (ECAC East)
Kevin Murphy - Assumption College (Northeast-10)
Aaron Peterson - Becker College (ECAC Northeast)
Greg Soltes - Johnson & Wales (ECAC Northeast)

New Jersey Rockets
# Nolan Aibel - Yale University (ECAC)
& Zach Aston-Reese - Northeastern University (Hockey East)
Sam Bloom - Skidmore College (ECAC East)
# Jeremy Bracco - Harvard University (ECAC)
& * Joe Grabowski - Princeton University (ECAC)
John Quinlan - New England College (ECAC East)

New Jersey Titans
Brendan Conroy - Bowdoin College (NESCAC)
Chris Pantaleo - Becker College (ECAC Northeast)

New York Applecore
Steve Santini - Boston College (Hockey East)
& Kevin Lohan - University of Michigan (NCHC)
Justin LaCorte - Nazareth
Colin Reilly - Colby College
Yuri Sokayev - UMass-Dartmouth
Tyler Young - Williams College
Sal Magliocco - Elmira College

New York Bobcats
# Tommy Bucci - Mercyhurst (Atlantic Hockey)
Chris Fersini - New England College
J.D. Rassett - SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC)
Tommy Telesca - SUNY-Potsdam (SUNYAC) 

Northern Cyclones
Connor Bates - University of New England (ECAC East)
Grant Gallo - University of New England (ECAC East)
Jonathan Houk - UMass-Dartmouth (MASCAC)
Jurgen Koster - UMass-Boston (ECAC East)
Simon Leahy - Suffolk University (ECAC East)
Zach Lindsay - UMass-Boston (ECAC East)
J.J. Solloway - UMass-Dartmouth (MASCAC)
Sean Swansen - Nichols College (ECAC Northeast)
Devin Welch - UMass-Dartmouth (MASCAC)
Ty Zampitella - UMass-Boston (ECAC East)

Philadelphia Little Flyers
Sam Manzi - Williams College (NESCAC)
& Michael Marchionda - Franklin Pierce University (Northeast-10)
Brian Oseija - Becker College (ECAC Northeast)
& Anthony Pino - Neumann University (ECAC West)
& John Rey - Robert Morris University (Atlantic Hockey)
& * Doug Rose - Sacred Heart University (Atlantic Hockey)

Philadelphia Junior Flyers
Ben Brouillard - Johnson & Wales University (ECAC Northeast)
Fran Mackin - Johnson & Wales University (ECAC Northeast)
Jim LeNoir - Worcester State University (MASCAC)

Philadelphia Revolution
Jordan Hanth - Utica
Dane Genord - Western New England
Sam Hicks - Wesleyan
Ben Hicks - Wesleyan
Casie Garrison – SUNY-Cortland
 

Valley Jr. Warriors
Ryan Fitzgerald - Boston College (Hockey East)
Brendan Collier - Boston University (Hockey East)
Devin Tringale – Harvard (ECAC)
Gus Harms - Northeastern (Hockey East)
Jake Schechter - Northeastern (Hockey East)
* Ryan Badger - Maine (Hockey East)
John Rogeri - Saint Anslem College (ECAC East)
Nick Leonard – Saint Anslem College (ECAC East)
Nick Pichette - Norwich
Chris Tracy - Salve Regina
Marcus Moles - Fredonia
Albee Daley - Castleton
John Needham - Salem State
Joe Scarfo - Curry College
Blake Barnes - Gustavus Adolphus

Walpole Express
Dan Antonoff - University of New England (ECAC East)
C.J. Blaszka - Saint Anslem College (ECAC East)
Nick Commesso - Assumption College (Northeast-10)
David Goff - University of New England (ECAC East)
Zach Hafeman - St. Olaf College (MIAC)
Matt Lee - SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC)
Collin O'Neil - Neumann University (ECAC West)
Stanton Turner - Suffolk University (ECAC East)

Washington Jr. Nationals
Kevin Collins - Becker College (ECAC Northeast)
Mitch Collum - Suffolk University (ECAC East)
Ryan Gomez - Assumption College (Northeast-10)
Connor Lawrence - Suffolk University (ECAC East)
Aaron Madsen - New England College (ECAC East)
Alex Schleper - Franklin Pierce University (Northeast-10)
Garrett Stephenson - Suffolk University (ECAC East)
Dan Shirilla - New England College (ECAC East)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights
Jack Ceglarski - SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC)
Mike DeLaVergne - Buffalo State (SUNYAC)
Tommy Dowell - Plymouth State University (MASCAC)
Hunter Long - SUNY-Fredonia (SUNYAC)
Erik Moberg - SUNY-Fredonia (SUNYAC)
Marcus Ortiz - SUNY-Fredonia (SUNYAC)






This year so far

Boston Jr. Rangers
Sam Bernard - Sacred Heart University (Atlantic Hockey) *
Chris Paulin - Niagara University (Atlantic Hockey) &

New Jersey Rockets
Nolan Aibel - Yale University (ECAC) #
Jeremy Bracco - Harvard University (ECAC) #
Troy Conzo - UMass (Hockey East) %
Joe Grabowski - Princeton University (ECAC) & *

Valley Jr. Warriors

Ryan Badger - Maine (Hockey East) *
 

understanding the path to college hockey

Be a student.  Its that simple.  You as a player must, MUST, have the grades and standardized testing scores to keep doors open.  You maybe the next great one, but if your grades are as high, as a rock on water, the ncaa is not your path.   The path for any college bound athlete begins here.

Its not just about finish AAA/HS/Preps and going off to Jr's.  No coach in the world can make the NCAA change their standards.  Further, DO NOT forget, there are very, very few "full rides".  The most NCAA d1 scholarships available to schools is 18.  I dont care where you go, or what you heard, the number is 18 D1 full scholarships.  That money is spread around 25 to as many as 30 guys, do the math. So you need to have the grades, to get the academic money.  Money which conferences like the ECAC only uses, that is right since the Ivy's do not have athletic scholarships...athletes must be students first.  Then there is the Atlantic conference which just increased their scholarships to 16 for 2014.  So if hockey is your dream, you had best apply yourself in school.  D3 schools, do not have athletic scholarships, again only academic, and the general picture is that money offsets your fees to about that of average state school, if your good.
The hockey lifestyle....eating well, getting proper rest, studying, working out, and playing hockey.  In that order.

Good to the last drop.  That is what the commercials tell us, but what happens after the last drop, after that final moment, of your final shift in your final game?   For most in HS this will have been your largest stage, and unless you go on to play in the hotter NAHL markets or the USHL or BCHL or NCAA  you will never again play before such crowds.  The JR player, hopefully you have exhausted yourself in every moment of every day, and been able to answer affirmatively that you have done all you could in each moment to improve. THe NCAA player should have done the same, and again in the class room.  What now?  It is time for the rest of your life, friend.  Time for you take all you have learned in sport, from competition and apply it to your daily life, to your own family.  Hopefully you find it within yourself in time, to return, and mentor others.  Individual greatness is an amazing, and generally very temporary state of being.   It is however in those longer lasting moments after greatness, helping others who desire to follow in your footsteps that matter most, that are the most impactful.   Your wisdom, your experiences are invaluable tools of education and inspiration.  Those last forever, that is true legacy.
more to come....

 

October the PRE wind down of PRE post hockey

October is an interesting month in Ohio.  Deer archery season is full stride, the leaves have begun to turn.  The cool crisp mornings carry the scent of falls splendor.  The hockey players notice the rink has good chill as they enter the arena, and for the tried and true Ohio HS hockey fan, Pre Post hockey is winding down.   So we take look at what we see on the Ohio landscape as once the November 1st date hits, its all HS until Mar1'ish as the state finals down at the ENORMOUSLY EMPTY VOID of Nation Wide arena are March 8&9th.

The Sylvania North Stars 18u club dismantled Team Ohio 5-1, shut out Team Columbus 5-0, and again 4-1.  Also Beating Team Ohio back in Sept 4-2.  Its clear the North Stars are notch above in the state.  They have been for the past 3 USA Hockey National Series, but falling short in the USA Hockey finals.  There are signs this maybe a different year.  In out of state competition National stage perennial power house the Afton Americans, who consistently field great YEAR ROUND teams and consistently play in the USA Hockey Nationals. Afton defeated Sylvania by a narrow 1-0 score.  Team Cleveland, who looks to be building up for a strong showing also lost to the Afton squad, and also trails Sylvania and Team Ohio by the narrowest of margins on the National rankings Sylvania. Less than a .75 points separate the three clubs.    Sylvania played MI elite AAA 18u to a 2-1 loss Team Ohio lost 3-2 to them earlier.  This MI AAA club has played and played well tier 1 eliet power houses Compuware, VH west Mi hounds and Honeybaked in some very heated contests.  While these OH AA teams are not ready for those heavy hitters, they do have a handful of players who are, they just lack the overall depth to be competitive for 3 periods of that caliber hockey.  But it is close enough, just close enough to cause question as to when Mike Mankowski will pull the trigger and pit a full season 18u AAA North Star  on the ice.

Felser now tied for #1 spot in EHL scoring.

There are many ways for the Junior hockey player to establish they kind of player he is, and what he brings to the NCAA and Professional table.  All defined by position, and role.  Zach Felser is a goal scorer and play-maker, adding 2 goals and assit lastnight agaisnt cross town rival Philadelphia Jr Flyers.  Now just three games into the long season.  Felser is tied for first place in scoring.  His 10 points having come from 4 goals and 6 assist, in three games.  The rest of the top 10 have 5 games or more.  The 5'9" 165lb forward is fortunate to playing for a coach who had watched him grow, push and develop.  Coach Russo, formerly of the Amarillo Bulls NAHL, has pushed Felser more, pushing him to push others.  Playing on line centered by former Toledo St Johns standout, and long time team mate Austin Kelly (4goals, 2 assist, 6 pts) and Waterford Mi native Jesse McIntyre (3 goals, 3 Assist 6 pts) makes this a prototypical east coast, Hockey East caliber line.  with average height of 5'9 3/4" and weights of 173lbs.  The speedsters have explosiveness, vision and hockey sense.  All being maximized in a system where they are able truly uses those skills to exploit the opposition.
The Ohio-Michigan connection line, is racking up numbers, and attention.  Attention that will surely aid in some no longer wondering what is happening in the Ohio Hockey scene, but coming to see first hand.  Making moves of their own, creating competition and ultimately opportunity for these rising stars, who shall follow in their footsteps.  Not every 6.7 years.  But with much great frequency, and hopefully as Ohio's HS graduate some, may do so having already earned a commitment from and NCAA program, a commitment that will aid in opening doors of development.  Commitments like that will only come from time spent by the schools themselves watching from the stands, or remotely on web sites like fast hockey, should the Ohio HS's take the time to order the services.

Zach Felser earns EHL honors

Following each weekend every league posts league honors / recognitions for the Teams and players from the previous weekend.   In his junior hockey debut,  the Philadelphia Little Flyers, and Zach Felser earned the #1 spot.   The link to the EHL web site is preceded by a copy of that write bellow.

http://easternhockeyleague.pointstreaksites.com/view/easternhockeyleague/ehl-news/news_88017

5
New York Bobcats vs. New York Applcecore.  It's not really the Battle of Long Island since that name was claimed in 1776 when the British drubbed the Americans in the Revolutionary War.  Oh yeah ... and New York Applecore moved from the Island to Brewster, N.Y., a few years ago.  It's not really a re-kindling of a once-fierce rivalry since Applecore and the New York Bobcats have never played in the same Junior league.  But everybody assumed these two teams would immediately form a spirited -- maybe even grudge-filled -- rivalry.  They did not disappoint.  They split one-goal games last weekend with the home team claiming the victory each night.  Plenty of PIMs but plenty of playoff-like intensity.  Don't miss their future dates.

4
Parity.  With a new league name and six new organizations joining the EHL ranks, most clairvoyants and Tarot card readers were having trouble identifying how the mix of teams would acquit themselves on the ice.  With EHL teams having played between one and seven games, there is only one winless squad and four undefeated teams.  Three of the four undefeated teams have played two or fewer games.  On any given night ... NCAA scouts will witness a competitive game.

3
High-scoring trio of Northern Cyclones players – Chris Zuccaro, Grant Gallo and Kevin Valenti – waited until third week of season to get into action but burst on the 2013-14 campaign by leading Cyclones to 6-0 (Boston Jr. Rangers) and 7-2 (Valley Jr. Warriors) victories.  Zuccaro put up 1-7-8 numbers in those two game, Gallo managed 5-1-6 numbers from his blueline post and Valenti split his contribution with 3-3-6 totals.

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Philadelphia Revolution’s Riley Egan led his team to its first win of the season – a 7-1 shellacking of Washington – by factoring on five of the seven goals.  He talled twice and added three assists to get the Revolution into the win column.

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The Philadelphia Little Flyers kicked off their season last week and jumped out to a 2-0 record by scoring 11 goals and only giving up two. Zach Felser has carried a big load offensively with three assists in the 5-0 win over Washington and two goals and two assist in the 6-2 win over the Titans.