The State of Hockey: FGCU owned the weekend, and the Panthers waived the wrong guy

Florida hockey spent the week getting ready, and the team that looked most ready wasn't the one in Sunrise. Florida Gulf Coast swept a New York school at Hertz Arena while the Panthers finished pretend hockey with a shootout loss to Tampa's kids.

My verdict: the cats are fine, the roster call at the bottom was wrong, and the state's best weekend belonged to a club team in Estero.

The cats

The preseason ends at 2-0-2, and the two games that mattered were both against Tampa. Wednesday in Tampa, the kids beat the Lightning's regulars 5-3, and Cole Reinhardt stripped McDonagh for the winner. That recap is here.

Friday at home, the kids held a lead for half the night, took five minors after the first period and lost 3-2 in a shootout. That one's here.

Then Sunday happened. Eight Panthers went on waivers to get to 23, and Reinhardt was one of them. Bokondji Imama keeps the fourth-line job with Eller and Hathaway.

I said all week that Reinhardt won the camp, and I'll say it one more time: he holds the wall, gets the puck out and finishes his checks. That's the Ferda job on a Tuesday in November, and Florida sent it to the wire.

Waiver results land this afternoon. If a team claims him, that's a camp battle we lost twice.

The bigger story is the crease. Jacob Markstrom starts the opener at 36, coming off an .883 season in New Jersey, with Akira Schmid behind him.

I said Sunday that he doesn't have to be Bob, and I still believe it. This team was fifth in offensive-zone time last year. Give the big man 22 shots a night and he's fine.

Who's rolling: Sandis Vilmanis took Marchand's minutes, played 20:15 Friday and scored. Who owes the room a better week: the penalty kill, which gave Tampa's power play a live rep every ten minutes.

The week ahead is all planes. Tuesday at Carolina at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN (game page), then San Jose on Thursday night and Anaheim on Sunday. Carolina scored three power-play goals in its finale. The math from Friday has one day to change.

Across the bay

The Lightning finished preseason 2-1-1, and the last win was ours to give them. Dennis Hildeby stopped 20 in the finale, Lucas Mercuri scored and won six of eight draws, and Benjamin Rautiainen scored on the power play and again in the shootout with a move he said he'd never tried before.

Tampa trimmed to 37 on Friday, released Luke Glendening and traded goalie Jonas Johansson to Ottawa for future considerations. Then it waived five more Sunday, Nick Abruzzese and Jakob Pelletier among them.

The real Tampa story is that Kucherov still doesn't have a contract past this season, and nobody there is sweating. Gord has the rumor side. My read as a Panthers lifer: Tampa is still Tampa, and I'd rather they play Kucherov nervous than Kucherov paid. They open Thursday at the Rangers.

The Estero line

No games yet, and the Everblades are the one Florida team that gets to hang a banner before it drops a puck. Opening night is Saturday, Oct. 17 against Orlando at Hertz Arena, with the Kelly Cup banner going up and 7,000 light-up bracelets going out.

Before that, two preseason games against the same Solar Bears, Oct. 8 and 9, both at home.

The offseason move to know: Roddy Ross, a 26-year-old goalie, came over from Wichita on Sept. 10 for future considerations. He went 14-17-6 with a 3.34 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage as Wichita's starter in his first pro year. He's 6-foot-3, played four years at the University of Saskatchewan, and was a Flyers pick in 2019.

The read: a .900 goalie behind last year's 49-13-7-3 team is a fine bet. It's the ECHL, and the Blades won 108 points' worth of it. Team page.

Campus to Sunrise

Florida Gulf Coast owned the state's weekend. The Eagles hosted RPI at Hertz Arena and swept: 6-1 Friday and 3-2 Saturday. Friday they outshot RPI 61-12, Chad Noetzel scored twice, and Kai Girard needed 11 saves.

Saturday was 66-27 on the shot clock, RPI's Torin Schraven stopped 63, and Anthony Zebley broke a 2-2 tie in the third. Sixty-six shots and it took until the third. That's not a bad night, that's a goalie.

Box scores: Friday, Saturday. FGCU sits 3-2-0 in M2.

Florida shows 2-0-0 atop the M2 Southeastern standings after its Ole Miss weekend, and the box scores haven't posted yet. Team page.

Embry-Riddle went to Palm Beach Skate Zone on Sunday and beat Lynn 4-2, tied 2-2 into the third before Jaxon Boyes and an empty-netter from Daniel Rippee. Korbin Vickrey stopped 29 of 31 and Lynn's Hunter Galgani stopped 43 of 46 in the loss. Box score. In M3 College Hockey South, Lynn is 2-1-0 and Embry-Riddle is 1-1-0.

Tampa's M3 games at Miami and the USF–Tampa women's games haven't posted scores either. When they do, the Florida hub has them.

The one game to see next: Florida at Florida Gulf Coast, Friday and Saturday at Hertz Arena (Friday, Saturday). Two unbeaten in-state M2 teams, one barn. If you're a Gator in Southwest Florida, that's your weekend.

State rankings

My ranking, my rules, argue below. Every Florida team with a posted result this week, ranked by its week.

1. Florida Gulf Coast (2-0): Nine goals, three against, 127 shots. Nobody in the state had a better week.

2. Florida (2-0): Undefeated by the standings, invisible by the box score. Prove it in Estero.

3. Panthers (1-0-1): Beat Tampa's regulars with kids, lost to Tampa's kids with kids. Then waived the best of them.

4. Lightning (1-0-1): Split with us, cut the roster clean, and still don't have their best player signed past May.

5. Embry-Riddle (1-0): One posted game, one road win, two third-period goals. Tidy.

6. Lynn (0-1): Galgani gave them 43 saves and the skaters gave him 31 shots. That's backwards.

The state of the state

Florida hockey is one win from feeling like itself again, and that win is Tuesday in Raleigh. Dale.

Next week in Florida: Panthers at Carolina Tuesday, at San Jose Thursday, at Anaheim Sunday. Lightning at the Rangers Thursday, Washington at Tampa Saturday.

Florida at FGCU Friday and Saturday in Estero. USF and Tampa play twice in M3, Friday at Tampa and Saturday at USF.

FAU and Lynn go Friday and Saturday in M3, and FAU's M2 team meets St. Thomas Friday and Saturday.

FGCU's M3 side visits Embry-Riddle Saturday, and on the women's side it's Miami at Tampa Saturday.