EHL 3 STARS OF THE WEEK (SIMSBURY SHOWCASE)
Holmberg, Gintoli, and Murch Named 3 Stars of the Week
BOSTON, MA -- We've reached the two-week winter break! With no EHL games between now and the turn of the calendar year, all 17 teams get a chance to rest and relax with family and friends during the holiday season. This past weekend featured our 4th showcase of the season in the EHL's top Division, and the perfect ending to the first half of the schedule.
Take a look back at the action from last weekend in Simsbury, with the live blogs from each day.
- December Showcase (Live Blog - Day 1)
- December Showcase (Live Blog - Day 2)
- December Showcase (Live Blog - Day 3)
We're pleased to announce that Bryan Holmberg (Walpole Express), Garrett Gintoli (Valley Jr. Warriors), and Cody Murch (Philadelphia Jr. Flyers) have been named the EHL Stars of the Week.
Also, this week's EHL Team of the Week is the Walpole Express, with Honorable Mentions going out to the Philadelphia Little Flyers and the Boston Jr. Rangers.
Bryan Holmberg
Holmberg and the Express won all three of their games this past week, including both of their games in Connecticut. The six-point week helps improve Walpole's record to 16-7-2 (34 points) on the season, and that puts them just two points back of the Boston Bandits for the top spot in the Boston Division. Walpole also has five games in hand on the Bandits.
- Friday, December 16th ::: Express 4 - Wolfpack 0 ::: (37 saves)
- Monday, December 19th ::: Express 4 - Oilers 1 ::: (21 saves)
Holmberg's two-win week improves his record to 6-2-0 on the season. The '96 netminder from North Carolina turned aside 58 of the 59 shots he faced, while lowering his GAA to 2.02 and picking up his first shutout of the season.
Holmberg will look to pick up where he left off when the Express return from break to face-off with the Bandits on January 11th, and then hit the ice for three games at the Hooksett Showcase.
Garrett Gintoli
Gintoli and the Warriors swept their weekend set of games at the Simsbury Showcase, and improved their overall record to 14-8-3 (31 points) for the season. The Warriors currently sit in 4th place in the Boston Division, but just like Walpole Express, they've only played 25 games so far, which is the lowest total in the division.
- Sunday, December 18th ::: Warriors 4 - Revolution 2 ::: (2g, 0a, 2p)
- Monday, December 19th ::: Warriors 1 - Nighthawks 0 ::: (1g, 0a, 1p)
Gintoli's three-goal weekend included the game-winner on Monday against the Connecticut Nighthawks. The 6'2" forward from Shelton, CT now has seven goals and eight assists in 24 games this season.
The Warriors captain will look to continue to lead the way when his team returns for ten games in the month of January.
Cody Murch
Murch and Jr. Flyers swept their weekend set of games at the Simsbury Showcase, shutting out their opponent in each contest. The '97 netminder was in net for both games helping improve his team's overall record to 16-8-3 (35 points) for the season. The Jr. Flyers currently sit in 3rd place in the Mid-Atlantic Division, and would be the #4 seed if the South Conference playoffs began today.
- Saturday, December 17th ::: Jr. Flyers 1 - Lumberjacks 0 (OT) ::: (32 saves)
- Sunday, December 18th ::: Jr. Flyers 4 - Monarchs 0 ::: (27 saves)
Murch's two-shutout week improves his record to 10-4-2 on the season. Murch has shined brightest during showcase play, where he owns a record of 4-1-1 to go along with a 1.00 GAA and 3 of his 4 shutouts.
Murch was also named a Star of the Week twice prior to this past weekend.
- EHL 3 STARS OF THE WEEK (10/13 TO 10/16)
- EHL 3 STARS OF THE WEEK (BEDFORD SHOWCASE)
EHL Team of the Week
This week's EHL Team of the Week is the Walpole Express.
Walpole had a great week winning all three of their games. The six-point week helps improve their record to 16-7-2 (34 points) on the season, and that puts them just two points back of the Boston Bandits for the top spot in the Boston Division. Walpole also has five games in hand on the Bandits.
- Friday, December 16th ::: Express 4 - Wolfpack 0
- Sunday, December 18th ::: Express 1 - Lumberjacks 0 (SO)
- Monday, December 19th ::: Express 4 - Oilers 1
Offensively, Chris Peters had the shootout winner on Sunday, Dylan Carabia provided his team with a goal and three assists from the point.
The major key for the Express though was the goaltending, as Bryan Holmberg and Brian Kowalski combined to stop 89 of the 90 total shots against this past week.
Honorable Mention
This week's Honorable Mention recipient's are the Philadelphia Little Flyers and the Boston Jr. Rangers.
It wouldn't be right to not recognize the current longest winning streaks in the Eastern Hockey League.
The Rangers finished the weekend with a record of 16-10-2 (34 points) for the season, and they roll into winter break having won their last six games. The key for Boston has been their play when tied at the end of regulation. In their last eight wins dating back to the beginning of November, six of them have either ended in overtime or a shootout.
While the Rangers streak is impressive, the Little Flyers run can be labeled as beyond impressive, as Philadelphia has rolled off 27 straight wins after dropping their season opener in overtime to the Philadelphia Revolution.
Philadelphia owns a great balance between offense and defense, as they lead the league with 117 goals for and only 36 goals against. The numbers stay consistent across the board, from scoring by period, to power-play and penalty kill percentage. The Little Flyers have been the best team in the league all year, and it will be interesting to see how long the streak will last.
EHL Showcase Series By The Numbers
There have been 74 total #EHLShowcaseSeries games played so far this season in the EHL Division.
- 72 non-conference matchups
- 2 conference matchups
All statistics below are based off of the 72 non-conference matchups.
The South Conference is leading the North Conference 38 to 34 in terms of #EHLShowcaseSeries victories.
- South Conference Overall Record ::: 38-32-2
- North Conference Overall Record ::: 34-31-7
There have been a total of 356 goals scored so far in this season's #EHLShowcaseSeries.
- September Showcase (Bedford) ::: 83 goals (44 South, 39 North)
- October Showcase (Hudson) ::: 120 goals (66 South, 54 North)
- November Showcase (Hudson) ::: 89 goals (45 North, 44 South)
- December Showcase (Simsbury) ::: 64 goals (32 North, 32 South)
This season's #EHLShowcaseSeries has featured 9 overtime games so far, with the South Conference having won 7 of these contests.
This season's #EHLShowcaseSeries has featured 41 games decided by two goals or less, and the North Conference leads 21 to 20 in this category.