Only five weeks remain in the EBMHL’s third season and with all squads advancing to the playoffs at the end of the regular season, the jockeying for position has begun. Lightning Express, the surprise of the EBMHL, still after 21 weeks of play remains the top dog just above the surging and very dangerous Milano’s Deli. Lightning Express has suffered some key losses due to an injury to Joe Duca and the absence of power forward Dom DiMarzo. It has been goalie Nick Rossi keeping them afloat, as he has shut down opponents week in and week out. Rossi is top dog in the nets this season with only 76 goals against. Milano’s Deli, who started out snake bitten and winless, have propelled into 2nd place riding the backs of the most prolific line in the league, Gerard Cioffi, Mike Burri, and Peter Hanlon. Cioffi, Burri, and Hanlon have a total of 172 pts this season. Meanwhile, goalie Tony Dandrea has backboned Milano’s with some clutch stops. A team that looked to be a contender, East Boston Yacht Club, has sunk into third place as they went on a short winless streak recently. The tandem of Charlie Daniels, leagues leading scorer, and Dave Berardinelli have still continued their stellar play while goalie Chris Grossmann has seen some recent struggles. The fourth and fifth place teams will surely do battle for their playoff spot as Chiara’s Auto and Royal Roast Beef have picked it up in a major way heading into the seasons end. For Chiara’s Auto, Paul Monzione and Sean Smith have continued their dominance of opposing defenders. Royal Roast Beef has relied on the line of Sebastiano Amara, Dante Arinella, and Darrell Interbartolo all season long as they have hopped out of the cellar with their remarkable play the second half of the season. All but locked in at last place, is Danilchuk Auto Body who have sunk into the basement of the EBMHL with their lackluster performances. Danilchuk started out the season 5-0 only to end up in week 22 at 6-14-1. Lone bright spot for Danilchuk Auto has been Marc Lanzilli all season long as the captain has led his team in scoring with his 27 goals and 27 assists for 54 pts. With the playoffs fast approaching the level of play is certain to impress, so we encourage any and all to come out to Porazzo Rink on Eastie’s Constitution Beach for some Tuesday night action. Stay tuned for the playoffs, this could get very interesting.