Everblades halfway to Kelly Cup finals after beating Growlers

The Florida Everblades are now halfway to a Kelly Cup finals return after a come-from-behind Saturday night victory over the Newfoundland Growlers.

The game had Everblades fans on the edges of their seats. The team was down by two goals at two different times during the game before coming back to win in overtime. Will they make it to the Kelly Cup for a third time and for the second year in a row?

“I’ve been here coming since 2009; been through two Kelly Cups, working through the third one,” said longtime Everblades fan Bruce Gorniack.

“I wanna watch ’em crush [their opponents] again,” said another fan.

Gorniack says he wasn’t discouraged even when the Everblades were behind at 1 to 3.

“We’re gonna get that far; we’re gonna go all the way to the end,” Gorniack said. “We got confidence in the team, confidence in the fans, the energy is high. I hear the floor rumbling under me right now.”

“You never expect anything,” said Chris Palin, vice president of business development for the Everblades. “I mean, it’s a very hard journey to win. Kelly Cup. Obviously, we did it last year; we’re off to a good start. But this is a really good team we’re playing.”

Palin says the fans are part of why the players put their blood, sweat and tears into every game.

“There’s a lot of teams that don’t make it to this point,” Palin said. “So, you know, I think at some point along the way, everybody who gets here all the time gets spoiled.”

And the fans agree.

“They just gotta keep playing their game and not get discouraged… stay up on themselves and just keep on going,” said fan Steve Gorelick. “The crowd has to get into it, too. We’re the seventh, man, so we gotta do what we gotta do.

“We come to every game,” said another fan, there with his kids. “We love our team, we love the ‘Blades. It’s our favorite time of the year.”

The third game is on Monday night at Hertz Arena.