Long Island Gulls Close in on Bantam Minor Regular Season Championship
Team Comcast has Large lead in District Qualification Race

February 2, 2010
by Phil Brand

Regular Season Update

Going into the first weekend of February the high flying Long Island Gulls (47 points) have three games left in the regular season and have only one team that still has a mathematical chance to catch them in the points’ race. Team Comcast (39 points) currently in third place is still alive in terms of total points possible with four games remaining. However, the Gulls own the various tiebreakers plus they have a 0.938 winning percentage and are clearly the favorites to win out in the rest of their schedule.

There is still competition remaining however. There are a number of combinations possible for which teams will finish in second through sixth place in the standings. Mid Fairfield Youth Hockey (40 points), Team Comcast (39 points), the Washington Little Capitals (35 points) and the Mercer Chiefs with (29 points) but having played the fewest number of games among this group could all end up in various spots in the standings.

Also, the sixth and final playoff spot is still up for grabs. Based on the current records and winning percentages it looks as though Team Maryland, (27 points), Philadelphia Little Flyers (25 points) and the New Jersey Rockets (24 points) will battle it out for the last playoff slot.

Accordingly, the month of February will likely have some real excitement as the regular season comes to a close.

District Update

Team Comcast leads the district standings with 40 points. The Mercer Chiefs (25 points), Philadelphia Little Flyers (25 points) and the New Jersey Rockets (24 points) look to have a lock on the first four places in District competition.

Individual Performance Leaders:

In addition to the playoff positioning individual players are looking to hold on to their rankings in the individual statistical comparisons. Just as most of the playoff spots are still not finalized these races are also not settled.

Scoring Forwards:

Nolan Stevens (31g-42a-73p): The Team Comcast forward has four regular season games left and a five point lead in the overall scoring race. He had 15 goals, 17 assists and 32 points playing in 13 games in the month of January.

Jeremy Bracco (32g-36a-68p): The Long Island Gulls benefited in January with Bracco’s 27 points including 16 goals in nine games. He is at a disadvantage in the scoring race as Stevens has one more game left on the schedule than he does in finishing the season.

Ryan Conlin (40g-26a-66p): A second member of Team Comcast roster had an astounding 20 goals in January in 13 games. He also picked up eight assists. His 40 goals for the season leads the Bantam Minor league in terms of goals scored.

Scoring-Defensemen:

Daniel Willett (14g-24a-38p): The Long Island Gulls’ defenseman went on a goal scoring binge in January picking up eight goals in nine games. He also picked up 11 assists with five of them coming in a single seven point night when he also picked up two goals.

Richard Brusco (12g-18a-30p): Team Comcast defenseman Brusco picked up eight points including four goals in January. He has given up some recent ground to Willett as he was held off the score sheet in his last four games.

Nicholas Minerva (9g-21a-30p): The Junior Titans d-man recorded ten assists and one goal in the nine games he played during January. He is one of only three defensemen in the Bantam Minors that have scored 30 points so far this season.

Goaltending Statistics: (based on playing in at least ten games)

Chris Birdsall, Long Island Gulls: Birdsall, part of the Gull’s net minder tandem has allowed less than a goal a game against him in posting a 0.92 gaa to go along with his league leading 0.950 save percentage. He has seven shutouts playing in 14 games.

William Fedor, Long Island Gulls: The other half of the first place Gulls’ success has a gaa of 1.51 and a save percentage of 0.910. The one two punch of Birdsall and Fedor have led the way as the Gulls have held the opposition to only 30 goals in 25 games played.

Cameron Isen, Mercer Chiefs: Isen has posted four shutouts this year and is currently carrying a gaa of 1.72 and a save percentage of 0.910.

Regular Season Overview of teams still in playoff race:

Long Island Gulls-25 games played, (23-1-1)-47 points: The Gulls used January to pick up 17 out of 18 possible points and build their regular season lead into clinching the championship. They are very balanced leading the league in the most goals scored and the least number of goals allowed. They have seven players who have scored 30 points or more thus far with three games left in the regular season.

Mid Fairfield Youth Hockey-26 games played, (18-4-4)-40 points: Mid Fairfield can lock up the playoffs without any help by winning one of their last two games. Two wins gives them at least fourth place and may be enough to hold on to second place dependent on how the competition fares. They host the Long Island Royals and visit the New Jersey Colonials to finish up the season.

Team Comcast-24 games played, (18-3-3) 39 points: The advantage Team Comcast has is two games in hand over Mid Fairfield. They play all of their remaining games at home. They have the potential of 47 points if they sweep their remaining games. They play the Philadelphia Junior Flyers, the first place Gulls and closeout the season with back to back games versus the New Jersey Avalanche. Both the Junior Flyers and Avalanche are having losing seasons so Team Comcast is favored to win these games at least on paper.

Washington Little Capitals-27 games played (16-8-3)-35 points: The Little Capitals host the Little Flyers in their season finale. They have clichéd at least sixth place. They have a maximum potential of 37 points. Given the variation of games left on the schedule of their various competitors there are two teams, the Mercer Chiefs and New Jersey Rockets that could move ahead of them if both go on big win streaks. However the Little Capitals can finish no lower than sixth place so they are in the playoffs in any scenario.

Mercer Chiefs-21 games played (12-4-5)-29 points: The Chiefs with seven more games to finish up the season have the potential for 43 points. A clean sweep of their schedule consisting of two games versus the Minutemen, and single games against the Junior Bears, New Jersey Rockets, Little Flyers, Team Maryland and the Junior Titans could move them up as high as a second place finish if teams ahead of them lose. They control their own playoff fate.

Team Maryland-25 games played (11-9-5) 27 points: The Marylanders have three games remaining giving them six available points for a possible 33 points overall. They appear to be the team on the bubble as they currently are in sixth place and the two teams below them have played less games and have more available points left to capture. Still, they play the game on the ice. Team Maryland closes out their season with single matches against Hershey, the Little Flyers and an important game on Mercer’s home ice.

Philadelphia Little Flyers-22 games played (11-8-3) 25 points: The Little Flyers have six games left and the potential for finishing with 37 points. They have games against teams above them in the standings playing the Little Capitals and the Mercer Chiefs before playing the New Jersey Rockets twice. These could be big games in determining the final standings.

New Jersey Rockets-20 games played (9-5-6) 24 points: The Rockets have the most games left on the schedule among the contenders and a large 16 points available to draw on with wins. They also have two games against the team immediately ahead of them in the standings, the Little Flyers. Otherwise, the other six games are single contests with only one team on the schedule, the Mercer Chiefs that has a winning record