Congratulations to the EJR Peewee Minor team for capturing the 2010 New England Hockey League Championship Title.  The team went 21-5-2 in the regular season and headed into the playoffs as the number one seed.  After losing their first game to the Red Rangers, the team fought back to win the remaining two playoff games against the Cyclones (7-2) and Seacoast (4-3), earning a trip to Sunday's championship round.  In the championship game, the EJR team met a fierce Northern Cyclones team.  The Jr. Raiders battled to a 2-2 tie and with six minutes left in the third period, scored the go-ahead goal.  A team effort held off a last minute Cyclones' push to achieve the victory.  

The tryout registration form for the 2010-2011 season is now available for download.  It can be found under the "Tryouts" tab on the home page.

The Eastern Jr. Raiders 1998 team finished the regular season with two decisive wins this past weekend to claim first place in the NEHL National Conference.  On Saturday, the Jr. Raiders knocked the Monarchs team out of the playoffs with a hard fought 5-4 win.  Joey Kramer had the game winner with two minutes left to play in the game to seal the victory.  On Sunday, the Jr. Raiders took care of the Falcons in the regular season finale with a 9-0 shutout.  The entire team contributed to the win.  Next up, the Jr. Raiders take their number one seeding into the playoffs this weekend.  Congratulations to the entire team and coaching staff on a job well done.  Go Jr. Raiders!!!

The Eastern Jr. Raiders have published the tryout schedule for the 2010-2011 season.  All tryouts will be held at the Salem Icenter. See the "Tryouts" tab for details on dates and times.

The Eastern Jr Raiders organization is pleased to announce the expansion of its hockey program for the 2010-2011 season to include the following levels:

* 1996

* 1997

* 1998

* 2001

* 2002

Tryout dates will be announced shortly and posted on the website.

We expect our program to continue to offer:

* New England Hockey League (NEHL) membership

* 32 league games

* Parity and playoff rounds

* Non-league games

* Summer camp

* Two practices plus one skills session per week

* Game uniforms

* Qualified coaching staff

For more information on the 2010-2011 season, please contact the following people:

1996 & 1997 - Dino Martino  978-852-3379

1998 - Sean Rogers 508-662-3722

2001 & 2002 - Mike Jankowski 978-490-6705

 

 

All you have to do is look at the history of the Super Bowl to know that the big games don't always live up to expectations.  This was not the the case at the Icenter on Saturday as the 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders battled the Northern Cyclones to a 3-3 tie.  Both teams entered the game with nearly identical records atop the NEHL standings.

The Jr. Raiders (25-8-2, 12-2-2), played up to those expectations as they came out of the gates flying and hence controlled the play the majority of the first period.  However, EJR was unable to get one past the Cyclone netminder as he stymied quality shot after quality shot.  The Cyclones took a 1-0 on a shot in which goaltender Chris Raymond was screened and had no chance.  As has been EJR's trademark all year, they did not let the goal deflate their efforts as Tyler Rogers evened the score moments later for a 1-1 tie with Mitchell Forbes assisting.

Zach Lennon, through his tireless back checking and speed broke up and ongoing Cyclone rush.  As a result, the puck mades it's way into the offensive end where textbook forechecking was about to take place.  Mitch Forbes separated the Cyclone defenseman from the puck allowing Lennon to swoop in.  As Lennon moved to the net he drew the other Cyclone defeneder to him and made a beautuful goaline pass to Tyler Rogers who deposited his second of the night into an open net.  A few shifts later, Rogers would complete the hat trick giving the Jr. Raiders a 3-1 lead after two periods.

As expected and as past history has shown, the well coached Cyclone's team did not give up and battled back minutes into the third period scoring to make it 3-2.  Moments later the Cyclones evened the score at 3-3.  Team EJR continued to battle, but again could not find a way to get the puck behind the Cyclone netminder. This is the way this hard fought game would end and thus allowing the Raiders to hold the season series lead over the Cyclones 2-1-1.   Chris Carter continued to play at a very high level, although his efforts did not translate onto the scoreboard this night.  Defensively, the entire group played extremely well again, as did goaltender Chris Raymond.  Brian Rivet and Matt Sharrio played great, standing up opponents on the blue line time and time again.

This was a fantastic youth hockey game.  Team EJR did all the little things to win this one as they worked hard, moved the puck and made great decisions the entire contest.  Although this game did not end the way the boys would have liked, they should be proud of their effort and performance.

The Jr. Raiders will have to wait a couple weeks to get back into NEHL action as they take on the much improved Jr. Monarchs on December 19th.

 

The 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders  (25-8-1 overall, 12-2-1 NEHL) traveled to the Dracut Ice Hut for a non-league contest against team PHD.  Although the Jr, Raiders carried the play thoughout the first period and a half they found themselves in a 4-4 tie at the midway point.  In the second half of the game, those passes that were just missing, finally started connecting as the Jr. Raiders exploded for six unanswered goals making the final score 10-4.

Mitchell Forbes led the scoring with a hat trick not to mention numerous beautiful passes throughout the game.  The line of Chris Carter, Jonathan Verrill and Ryan Dell'orfano continued to play extremely well at both ends of the ice.

Special teams were the difference in this contest as the powerplay was executed with pinpoint precision resulting in three goals on the day.  Defensively, Joe Kramer has come on strong the past several weeks to be a force to be reckoned with with his hard hitting and smart play in the defensive end.  In addition, Joe has gained the attention off his teammates by his ability to look up and find the open man at both ends of the ice.  Well done!  Cam O'Hearn, Matt Sharrio and Brian Rivet all continue to be rock solid D-Liners for team EJR Team 98 and their consistancy has been a major reason for the team's sucess. Another great performance by all.

The clock is already ticking towards next Saturday's NEHL showdown between our 98's and the Northen Cyclones.  The 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders look to build on their five game NEHL win streak as they take on the Northern Cyclones winners of four consecutive NEHL contests.  Buckle up for this one folks, it should be a classic.

 

 

The 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders traveled to Lake PLacid the week before the Thanksgiving holiday to participate in the AAA CANAM hockey tournament.  The Jr. Raiders represented themselves well on and off the ice, highlighted by winning the bronze medal game in convincing fashion.

In the first contest, the EJR squad came out flying against the eventual gold medal winning Vermont Glades.  EJR held a slight 2-1 lead with eight minutes left in the final frame, but were unable to hold off the high flying Glades who finished strong and won the contest 4-2.  In the second game on Friday EJR was sluggish throughout and lost to NEHL foe Albany River Rats by a score of 3-0.  EJR was kept in the game due to oustanding play in goal by Ben Ryan.

On Saturday, the Jr. Raiders would have to win two to stay in medal contenton.  In one of ther best games of the year, EJR pounced all over the Providence Capitals and winning by a convincing margin of 7-1,  Scoring was spread out evenly between the three lines.  In the nightcap, EJR defeated the North Shore Raiders handily by a score of 8-1.  The line ove Jeff Hunt, Dana Rodrigues and Kevin Angelo were responsible for 5 of the 8 Jr. Raider tallies.

In the Bronze medal game. EJR faced off again against the North Shore Raiders.  EJR came home with the hardware in another hard played game by the score of 8-0.  Defense was key throughout with Brian Rivet, Cam O'Hearn, Joe Berberian and Joey Kramer all playing extremely well.  Offense was spread out evenly with Chris Carter, Ryan Dell'Orfano, Jonathan Verrill, Harrison Good, Mitchell Forbes and Tyler Rogers, all contributing multiple points throughout the tourney.  Hats off to the entire team and especially golatender Ben Ryan for making this tournament a fun and sucessfull one.

The 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders traveled to Enfield, CT Sunday and returned home with their 5th consecutive NEHL win, by means of a 4-2 victory over the Springfield Falcons.  The win guarantees that the Jr. Raiders (21-6-1, 12-2-1 NEHL) remain atop of the National Division Standings for at least another week.

With a short bench, the Raiders came out sluggish and fell behind 1-0.  That lead would be short lived as EJR left wing Chris Carter found the back of the net off a nice feed from Ryan Dell'orfano. Ninety seconds later  Dell'orfano poked another one home with an assist to Tyler Rogers.  That gave the Raiders the lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. With under a minute to play in the period, Jonathan Verill put one by the Falcon netminder with the assist going to Jeff Hunt.

The third period remained uneventful as each team traded goals, allowing the Jr. Raiders to take home the 4-2 victory.  Dana Rodrigues popped home a rebound of a Zach Lennon shot for the final tally.

Once again, the defense played tough, physical hockey and continued to execute in their end of the ice.  Cam O'Hearn, Joe Kramer, Brian Rivet and Joe Berberian all looked terrific in the win.

After playing the intial five minutes without a goalie, Kevin Angelo donned the pads to get between the pipes for his team.  Kevin made a few key saves to help the Raiders continue their winning ways.

This week the Jr. Raiders have no league games on the docket as they travel to Lake Placid, NY to compete in the AAA CANAM Hockey Tournament with several of the top teams on the East Coast. Congrats to the team on a great start to the season.

The 98 Eastern Jr. Raiders (20-7-1, 11-2-1 NEHL) continued their winning ways and solidified their position on top of the NEHL standings with a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Northern Cyclones.  On Sunday, they traveled to Hudson, NH where they took on the talented Northern Cyclones (8-3-1).  In this hard hitting, high tempo game, the EJR squad did not back down, scoring two goals in the final period for a 3-1 win.  Goaltending and defense have continued to be the key to sucess as the team has only allowed 20 goals throughout the first 13 NEHL games.

Once again, team EJR came out flying in the first period.  Mitchell Forbes scored the lone goal of the period, while Goaltender Anthony Orlando stopped two breakaways and came up with another sensational save to preserve the 1-0 lead after one.

The Cyclones continued to battle, scoring their only goal of the day at the halfway point.  During this frame the Cyclones carried the play, but once again Orlando stood tall through the barrage.

The third periond belonged to the Jr. Raiders.  Mitch Forbes scored his second of the night and was quickly followed by a wrap around goal by Jeff Hunt.

After a sluggish start, the defense came on strong matching the Cyclones offensive speed on the outside.  Brian Rivet, Matt Sharrio and Joe Berberian continued to play physical and made smart decsions throughout the game.  Once again hard work and self-discipline were the keys to the teams sucess.

The Jr. Raiders continue with their NEHL schedule next Saturday night in Exeter, NH taking on the dangerous Seacoast Spartans.