season with three-hour gym sessions five days per week, and a couple of
weekly scrimmages with “local talent” who are home for the summer from
college and other high-level professional leagues.
During the summer, players also participate in showcases to continue
building upon their skills and picking up new ones along the way.
If you think that’s intense training, think again. In addition to the postseason
workouts, the scrimmages with higher level players, and the junior
showcases, the Eels also attend a 21-day training camp in Fort Myers
each summer. When they’re not on the ice or in the gym conditioning, the
coaches make sure that players stick to their books as they are enrolled in
formal college-preparation classes.
Thus, the fruits of their labor are sweet. Both the Elite and Premier scholarathletes
closed out the 2018-19 season ranking second in the Florida
Division of the USPHL. The Elite team finished 9th overall in the league with
a total of 60 points and a 28-12 record. The Premier team earned a spot in
13th place with a total of 59 points overall and a 28-13 record.
“The Eels management has one of the most impressive placement and
advancement of players to college,” Scarpaci said, which include more
than a dozen NCAA Division I colleges and universities across the country.
The team also boasts four program alumni who have been drafted to the
NHL, which is undoubtedly a great accomplishment
for a Florida junior hockey program.
Tampa’s Time-Tested Recipe for Success
Over the past 11 years, the Tampa Bay Juniors
program has sent more than 60 of its players to
compete in higher leagues of hockey, including the
ACHA, NCAA Divisions I, II and III; as well as World Juniors, European
professional leagues, and proudly to the greatest show of them all: the NHL.
A main factor in this impressively high-level development is the powerful
partnership that the program has with the Hockey International training
academy based out of Wesley Chapel. This collaboration provides Tampa’s
young athletes with exceptionally unique resources to help them advance
their hockey careers to the highest level achievable for each individual.
In addition to the numerous college athletes that Tampa Bay has produced,
some notable professional names that got their start in Tampa’s junior
program include Brian Ferlin who was a fourth round draft pick for the
Boston Bruins in 2011, and currently plays right wing for the Bakersfield
Condors, an ECHL-affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers; and also includes Roope
Hintz, a Finnish-native who built his strengths in the Tampa program, and
was a second round draft pick for the Dallas Stars in 2015.
As can be seen through their rigorous training programs with Hockey
International, each player is challenged with enhancing not only their
physical skills on the ice, but their mental and emotional strengths as well,
as they can have a great impact on a player’s performance on the ice.
In their mission statement, the Tampa Juniors state that this multi-faceted
training allows their coaches to continuously strive to “cultivate and nurture
the gifts and talents of each student/athlete as they discover their path to
success, fulfilling their purpose in life.”
This strategy proved to be extremely effective for Tampa’s Elite team, which
finished first in the Florida Division, and sixth overall in the conference with
66 points on a 32-10 season record. Facing more mature competition on a
larger scale, the Premier team closed out their season at third place in the
Florida Division, and 39th overall in the conference with a total of 35 points
and a 15-24 season.
Carrying on the Future of Florida Hockey
As one of the newer programs to feature both
Premier and Elite Juniors teams, the Florida Jr.
Blades of Estero have proudly sent more than 40
of their hockey players to the collegiate level, and
plan to develop many more talented young players
as the program grows. Now moving on to their
10th season, the Jr. Blades have taken the title in two championships and
finished the regular season as 4th in the Florida Division for the Premiers
with 23 points, and 3rd in the Florida Division for the Elite team with 20
points.
Some of the former-Jr. Blades who achieved status in higher levels of
hockey in recent years are Dan Echeverri, JP Larmoyeux, Marcus Ortiz,
Fabio Meier, and Jirka Kalis. These five men – each from different countries,
and different walks of the world – found a passion and a fire to drive them
to succeed in playing a sport they love, together.
After the Medellin, Colombia-native Echeverri left Estero, he went on to play
for the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles from 2011-16 where he was a
key player for two national title-winning teams. Following his success in
college, Echeverri represented his home country in the 2016 Pan-American
games and helped his country win the gold medal. When he returned to the
States, Echeverri played for the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem from 2016-18, as
well as the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits during the 2017-18 season.
Whether he’ll be returning to the ice is uncertain at this time.
Just two years after Echeverri left the Jr. Blades, West Palm Beach-native
JP Larmoyeux was recruited by the Johnson and Wales hockey team to play
NCAA III from 2013-15. Later, he transferred to play for the FGCU Eagles
in 2015-16, and then advanced to play with his former teammate on the
Macon Mayhem from 2016-17.
Another Jr. Blades teammate of Larmoyeux and Echeverri is Marcus Ortiz, a
right winger who was recruited by SUNY-Fredonia and played for the team
from 2013 until 2017. Like his youth league teammates, Ortiz has followed
his hockey dreams as far as he can take them, and currently plays for the
SPHL’s Knoxville Ice Bears. Two of the most recent Jr. Blades to take their
skills and determination to the next level are Fabio Meier of Switzerland,
and Jirka Kalis of the Czech Republic. Since leaving the Jr. Blades in 2017,
Meier has taken his game to the next level in the Swiss amateur league as
a goalie for the EC Wil Bears. Kalis also returned home after building his
skills while playing for both the Jr. Blades and the Federal Hockey League’s
Carolina Thunderbirds during the 2017-18 season. Kalis was given the
“Most Penalized Player Award” in the USPHL during that season.
As more young athletes get involved with hockey through learn to skate
and learn to play programs at local rinks, and have the opportunities to
learn from more developed players on hometown college and NHL teams,
our wonderful sport will continue to grow in the Sunshine State, and that is
something that we can all look forward to.
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