An Opinionated Piece from Revolution Broadcaster Dan Marley
Before I start, I would like to congratulate the East Coast Wizards and Vermont Lumberjacks organizations for their entry into the Eastern Hockey League. They have entered a stellar Tier III Junior A league that has a lot of potential to grow even stronger.
With the New Jersey Titans winning the one-game play-in over the Washington Junior Nationals last night, the EHL playoff schedule is now officially set. There are 16 teams that all want to hoist the very first EHL Championship trophy, and it's no surprise that the playoffs are a time where both the expected and unexpected happen.
The question on everyone's mind now is who will skate away the victors? Will it be a team that has dominated the regular season like the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, a team that has been consistently under the radar like the Titans, or a team that has overcame a lot of struggles like the Philadelphia Revolution?
The first round of the playoffs will be a best of three and, more importantly, all three games will be played in three consecutive days. Because of this, the league rules that if opponents are separated by 125 miles or more, all games will be played at the higher-seeded venue. This is a case with the Revolution, who will be playing the Northern Cyclones of Hudson, New Hampshire beginning this Saturday at 5:00 PM; the two teams are separated by 322 miles.
These two teams have met twice in the regular season with both games going in favor of the Cyclones by a combined 12-2 score. These games, however, were played when the Revolution were in their September and October slumps. Since the last time these two teams played each other, the Revolution went 16-12-1-0.
Despite this improvement in their style of play since October 20th, the Revolution will still be up against a power house. The Cyclones missed the regular season crown by five points in the standings and are known for their home-ice advantage (17-5-0-0), special teams success (top four on the power play and penalty kill), and goal scoring (nine players with 10-plus goals). It may be scary to look at these opposing statistics, but the playoffs represent a clean slate for all involved teams.
"Everything that has happened this season," EHL Revolution Head Coach James Laux told his team after Sunday's home loss to the Titans, "no longer matters. The three straight losses to end the year, the incredible role we were on to start the second half of the season, and the slump we endured in the first 16 games no longer mean anything. Every team is zero and zero. Let's show everyone that the postseason is our time to shine."
From my perspective, I see this series being a close one for two reasons.
First, the Revolution are more rested. After the Christmas Break, they played 10 of their 14 remaining games on the road and all within a 43-day span. That's a lot of traveling. It's good to have a couple of days off to kick back and regroup.
Finally, the team has been playing a stronger style of hockey, led by their improvements in goaltending and the extra boost they received from players from the Junior B squad. The addition of goaltender Daniil Gerasimov in net and the dedication seen by call ups Devyn Dworsky and Stanislav Khokhlov have helped this club win close games and play competitively down the stretch.
If the Revolution want to win this series, they need to find a way to shut down both of Northern's special teams units and keep the puck out of their zone as much as they can. Also, they need to prevent forward Kevin Valenti from generating any offense. Valenti has dominated the EHL in offense this season, registered 35 goals and 41 assists in 44 games.
Game one of the series between the Revolution and the Cyclones will be played on Saturday March 1st at 5:00 PM. Game two is scheduled for Sunday March 2nd at noon. If a third game is necessary, both clubs will play on Monday March 3rd at 1:00 PM.
Fans can stream the games live on FastHockey.com.
WARMINSTER, PA - The Eastern Hockey League Philadelphia Revolution's regular season came to a close on Sunday afternoon.
Chris Connor's two goals and Daniil Gerasimov's 24 saves were not enough as the Revolution lost a tough game to the New Jersey Junior Titans by a 5-2 score.
"It was a tough game," said EHL Revolution Head Coach James Laux. "The game did not go our way. We have been playing seven games in 10 days, a majority of the time on the road, and it's been a reason why we haven't been on top of our game this week."
Jordan Dempster led the Junior Titans on the offensive front with two goals and an assist. Also scoring for New Jersey were forwards Jordan Klotz, Anthony Cusanelli, and Michael Zidansek.
Goaltender Justin Kirk earned the win in net, stopping 37 of 39 shots on goal.
"Kirk played a great game in net," said Coach Laux, "and we cannot take that away from him. We definitely had the shots, but he outplayed our forwards and made some stellar saves."
Today's loss finalizes the team's regular season record to 19-23-2-0, good for 40 points in the standings and fourth place in the EHL South division. Their seeding and playoff schedule for the playoffs will be determined later today.
"Mental and physical rest is needed right now. Our goal is to get everybody back into top shape and ready for the opening playoff round."
The Philadelphia Revolution are a United States Tier-III junior hockey organization stationed in Warminster, Pennsylvania. The team sports squads in the Eastern Hockey League, the United States Premier Hockey League, the Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League, and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. For more information about the Revolution, visit www.PhiladelphiaRevolution.net. Like Philadelphia Revolution Ice Hockey on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @RevsJrHockey for team scores and news.
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WARMINSTER, PA - The Eastern Hockey League Philadelphia Revolution (16-20-2-0) came from behind to defeat the Washington Junior Nationals (4-32-1-1) at The Rink at Warwick by a 3-2 score on Wednesday afternoon.
Revolution forward Riley Egan scored the game-winning goal 30 seconds into the third period after his team scored two unanswered to tie the game at two in the second. The captain's 13th goal of the season was his first since January 11th.
"It was about time for me to get back in the goal column," said Egan, "but more importantly, we as a team came together and battled back for the win. It shows when everyone is doing the right thing on and off the ice."
Ken Tencza and Zachary England scored the other two goals for the Revolution. Goaltender Daniil Gerasimov earned the win in net, stopping 27 of 29 shots on net.
"It was a good all-around team win," said EHL Revolution Head Coach James Laux. "We had to make some adjustments in the second period, but we were able to pull through and preach the kind of game we have been playing all season."
Junior National forwards Mitchell McLean and Taylor Cox scored two goals in a 35-second span to give their team a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Net minder Anthony Giordano received the loss in net, allowing three goals in 44 shots.
"Giordano played a really good game and made some really phenomenal saves," said Gerasimov. "It was nice to have that special battle against a solid goalie like him. He helped make this game both exciting and competitive."
The Revolution will be playing in the President's Day EHL Showcase up in Walpole, Massachusetts this weekend. The team will be playing on Saturday the 15th against the Valley Junior Warriors (14-18-3-5), Sunday the 16th against the Boston Bandits (20-13-3-2), and Monday the 17th against the Boston Junior Rangers (14-20-2-3).
"This is the last showcase of the season," said Coach Laux, "and the three games we are playing this weekend are going to be huge for us in the standings. We want to use this weekend to set the tone for the playoffs."
The Philadelphia Revolution are a United States Tier-III junior hockey organization stationed in Warminster, Pennsylvania. The team sports squads in the Eastern Hockey League, the United States Premier Hockey League, the Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League, and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. For more information about the Revolution, visit www.PhiladelphiaRevolution.net. Like Philadelphia Revolution Ice Hockey on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @RevsJrHockey for team scores and news.
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WARMINSTER, PA - Today, the Eastern Hockey League Philadelphia Revolution will host the Washington Junior Nationals in a rare mid-week matinee matchup at The Rink at Warwick. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1:30 PM.
This will be the final meeting between the two EHL South division rivals this season. The Revolution have won the previous five contests, outscoring the Junior Nationals 28-10.
"We plan on running an aggressive and physical forecheck to establish our tempo early on in this game," said EHL Head Coach James Laux. "This is key for playing a Junior Nationals team that has been showing signs of improvement in the past few weeks in their regular season play."
The Revolution come into this game after a 2-2 draw against the Philadelphia Junior Flyers Sunday afternoon. Scoring for the team were James Wallace and Stanislav Khokhlov.
"We played a well-rounded game coming off the long break," said Coach Laux. "We were able to out chase them in regulation and hold them to 30 shots between the regulation and overtime frames."
With seven games remaining in the regular season, the Revolution will keep Khokhlov and Devyn Dworsky on the EHL roster and not send them back down to the USPHL Empire club.
"These two have been showing me and the rest of the coaching staff that they belong at the Junior A level," said Coach Laux. "We have a lot of big games coming up before the playoffs, and we need them to continue to play the style of hockey we know they are capable of playing."
Fans can stream today's game online at FastHockey.com.
The Philadelphia Revolution are a United States Tier-III junior hockey organization stationed in Warminster, Pennsylvania. The team sports squads in the Eastern Hockey League, the United States Premier Hockey League, the Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League, and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. For more information about the Revolution, visit www.PhiladelphiaRevolution.net. Like Philadelphia Revolution Ice Hockey on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @RevsJrHockey for team scores and news.
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