ESTERO, FL – The Florida Everblades split a pair of pre-season games with ECHL expansion team, the Chicago Express.
With half of the Blades regular lineup on the ice, Friday’s night’s team not only failed to impress, it was a sad effort all around. Slow reaction times, lack of on-ice communication and the inability to control the puck were just a few of the areas the Blades faltered in.
Florida Coach Greg Poss felt that the team was making most of their mental mistakes due to being extremely tired and fatigued after enduring twelve-hour practice days this past week. The training camps schedule can be quite grueling and may very well have lead to some of the critical errors made on Friday night.
The final score was a dismal 4-0 loss for the Blades. The Chicago Express scored three times in the second period. Former Everblades, Yannick Tifu, scored twice for his team. Florida did not post a goal until 17:01 of the third period. Newcomer Justin Shugg, running on less than five hours of sleep, got the Blades on the board and prevented the Express from posting a shut-out victory.
Blades goaltender John Muse played an average game. Unfortunately he was left without any defensive assistance from his team on a number of occasions.
Saturday night’s game was completely different from Florida; the “A” team was definitely in the house. Granted, many of the stronger players were on the ice, including some returning favorites like (LW) Mathieu Roy and (F) Matt Beca.
Tonight the Blades demonstrated the skill level that they possess with the 2011-2012 team: consistent puck possession, smart plays, much improved puck handling and passing – very impressive.
I saw some impressive players on Saturday, number one being (F) Justin Shugg (who scored the only Blades goal on Friday). He posted two more goals on Saturday: one in the first period and one in the second. He is fast, accurate and is always around the net looking for opportunities.
Florida won the Saturday game 5-2. Goal tender Pat Nagle played a very strong game even though he did have the defensive assistance that Muse did not enjoy on Friday.
Shugg was occasionally on the same line as (D) Josh Van Dyk and (F) Bobby Dee. These three players were responsible for six points this past weekend. They function well both as a team and as individuals.
Coach Poss and Assistant Coach Brad Tapper have some hard decisions to make. They will be finalizing their team roster on Monday.
This Blades team looks good. Maybe this is their year.
Contact the writer: sharon.weatherhead@prohockeynews.com
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