Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Everblades are back on the Ice
The Florida Everblades played their
third game of the season last Saturday night at their home arena, the Germain
Arena. The arena is located on I-75, between Fort Myers and Naples, close to
the municipality called Estero. More than 7 000 seats fill the barn, and
tickets are most reasonable-starting at $ 16.
The Blades faced their upstate
nemesis, the Orlando Solar Bears for the first of 15 games they will face each
other this year. This year will certainly be one of transition for the
Everblades, as the coach Greg Poss, and the team President and General Manager Craig
Brush, were not happy with the results last year. In a recent interview, Poss
set forth his position on last year’s team: “the intrinsic motivation of the
players wasn’t the level we needed. Instead of 100 percent, we were maybe 98
per cent. The heart of the team wasn’t quite beating as we would like.”
During one of their scouting trips, one
of the players that caught their eyes was Patrick McEachen. Patrick graduated
from Queen’s University earlier this spring, and played all of his
inter-collegiate hockey for the Gaels. Many of you will remember that prior to
his days in Kingston, Patrick played very solid defense for the Wellington
Dukes. He was exactly the type of played that Coach Marty Abrams was looking
for at the time, and he fitted in perfectly.
I chatted with Patrick throughout the
game. He is one of nine defensemen on the roster, and the only rookie;
consequently, he has to show a little patience as the season gets underway. He
knows what he needs to do to make the squad, and he is prepared to work hard to
fill one of the spots on the roster.
One of the first things he told me
was that he was fortunate to have the “best billets in the world”, at the home
of Connie and Pierre Lebrun. He is not the only former Duke to pay respects to billets.
Great billets are critical to the success of junior hockey programs in Canada.
Patrick also got back to wellington for the final game at the old DukeDome, and
the first game at the new arena. “Just awesome,” he commented on the new arena.
Patrick remembered his days in
Kingston. “We had a fabulous season my last year at Queen’s. We had a 21 game
unbeaten streak. I believe it was the most successful season ever for a Queen’s
hockey team. I owe a great deal to my coach, Brett Gibson, who was selected as
the “Coach of the Year” for CIS hockey. I asked him about a popular activity at
Queen’s, attending football games. “Unfortunately, all of our hockey games took
place at the same time as the school’s football games. So I never went to see
the football Gaels.”
One player familiar to McEachen is goaltender
Daniel Altshuller. Daniel also spent a little time in the camp of the
Belleville Bulls. They met at the camp of the Carolina Hurricanes this summer.
McEachen played a couple of games with the rookie ‘Canes in Traverse City
against the Wings and the Stars. The games are used by the scouting fraternity
to assess the young talent on their teams.
The Blades lost 5-1 to the Solar
Bears. They scored in the dying minutes of the game to break the goose egg.
Their record stands at one win, one loss, and one shootout loss. If you are in
the area, check the schedule. ECHL hockey is great hockey, always entertaining.
There are always several future NHL players on each roster.
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
October 25, 2014
# posted by James Hurst @ 7:31 AM 
