ORLANDO, FLA – For the longest time, fans of the Orlando Solar Bears have been teased with the concept of just how good their team could be offensively. On many occasions, they have watched as the Solar Bears have struggled to score more than two goals in a game, putting an enormous amount of pressure on the defense and goaltenders to provide a victory.
Sunday afternoon, all of those anxious moments came to a glorious end.
Led by veteran Akim Aliu, who posted two goals and an assist, and rookie Jackson Playfair who netted his first professional goal and added an assist, Orlando (27-19-3-0) shredded the visiting Manchester Monarchs (27-24-1-1) by a final of 8-2 in front of a wildly happy announced crowd of 5,146 at the Amway Center. Tayler Thompson (1 goal, 2 assists), Zach Frye (1 goal, 1 assist), Matthew Spencer (2 assists) and Dylan Fitze (3 assists) all posted multi-point games along wit Aliu and Playfair to help the Solar Bears jump into second place in the ECHL’s South division by one point over idle Jacksonville.
Orlando forward Dylan Fitze (13, left) had three assists in Sunday’s win over Manchester (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“I thought that the boys played hard and they capitalized on their chances,” Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said about his team’s largest goal output of the season, one that matched the franchise high set back in December of 2012. “It was a good game for us.”
The Solar Bears figured they might be in a good spot coming into the contest with the Monarchs playing their third game in three days and fourth in five. Manchester spent a lot of energy on Saturday in besting the Florida Everblades down in southwest Florida and had arrived in the City Beautiful between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. ahead of the 1:30 p.m. matchup.
The Monarchs came out hard as Head Coach and General Manager Doug Christiansen started a line with two former Solar Bears – Austin Block and Tony Cameranesi – on it. The pair, along with linemate Spencer Watson immediately pressured the Orlando defense and netminder Martin Ouellette with three close-in shots before the first period was a minute old but the Solar Bears goalie held off the early push.
Orlando responded with a hard push that led to the game’s first goal at the 2:04 mark. It came when Aliu, playing in his fourth game for the Solar Bears, had the puck on his stick at the blue line and curled toward the middle of the ice. Seeing a shooting lane to the net, Aliu launched a shot that beat a screened Charles Williams who started in the cage for the visitors. The tally was Aliu’s second in his last three games.
“I think I kind of came down on a rush and then the puck bounced back out to me. I started to round out and I was thinking of giving it to my defensive partner Kuch [Alexander Kuqali] for a one-timer,” Aliu said. “The [defensive] guy didn’t really come to me so I rethought and I just thought I’d get it to the net and it found its way in.”
The teams settled into a war of shots with Ouellette and Williams coming through with saves until the Solar Bears struck for a second tally before the first intermission. With a minute and 23 seconds left before the break, Alex Schoenborn got a piece of a drive by Aliu, redirecting it past Williams for his seventh of the season.
If the Monarchs thought the offensive explosion by the Solar Bears was over, they thought wrong. Just 4:20 into the second period, Spencer and Corey Kalk combined for a hustle goal. Spencer put on the jets and advanced toward the Manchester net and circled behind looking for a wraparound try. Although Spencer was unable to finish off the move, Kalk was there to convert the rebound for his eighth of the season and fourth in his last two outings.
Orlando’s lead grew to four midway through the middle frame when Playfair, who was playing in just his second professional game, lit the goal light. Thompson set the rookie up with a perfect circle-to-circle pass across the slot that the Abbotsford, British Columbia native rifled just under the crossbar and in. The goal was the end of Williams’ night as he was replaced by Cole Kehler in net.
“It was an offensive zone draw. The puck went to the wall and up high so I jumped low for some support,” Playfair said. “We were going east-west, high-low all night so it was nice [that] the lane opened up and I put it back to the point. It came back low and Tommer [Thompson] made a great play holding the guy off down there. He was shaking around and finally was able to pull out. I just slipped to the backside and luckily he saw me and I grabbed it [pass]. I closed my eyes but I happened to put it in. It’s nice to get that first one out of the way for sure.”
Orlando’s Dylan Fitze (13, white) and Akim Aliu chase after the puck in front of Manchester goalie Charles Williams during Sunday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Late in the stanza, Fitze took a pass from Frye and looked up to see Aliu speeding toward the Manchester side of center ice. Fitze made a great stretch pass, sending the veteran in for a clean breakaway. Aliu made a couple of moves and went top corner for his second of the game and third of the year.
While all that scoring was going on, Ouellette (season high 40 saves) as holding off the Monarchs at the other end of the ice. It was not until a late period power play that Manchester was able to break Ouellette’s spell when Nic Pierog fired a shot that snuck through the goalie’s equipment for his 23rd goal of the season, cutting the Orlando lead to 5-1 after two.
The Solar Bears pounded away at Kehler to start the third and met with even more success. At the 4:39 mark of the final frame, Thompson cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Playfair for his fifth of the season. That was followed by Mike Robinson collecting a loose puck in the slot and burying a backhander for his fourth at 8:23. Frye then closed the Orlando side of the score sheet when he blasted a shot from the point past Kehler for his first ECHL goal and second as a peofessional – the first coming in the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda.
Former Solar Bear Cameranesi finished the scoring for the game with a power play goal with 19.4 seconds remaining to create the final score.
Asked whether the output of 14 goals in the last two games was an indicator of just how good offensively the Solar Bears can be, Berehowsky chalked it up to the ebb and flow that all teams go through during a season.
Solar Bears forward Alex Schoenborn (center) sets a screen in front of Manchester goalie Charles Williams (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“We’ve going to go through some dry spells and that’s just the way hockey is. You get hot for a while and sometimes you have a hard time finding the back of the net,” Berehowsky said. “We just want to be a consistent team that works hard every night.”
As for Playfair, he got to share the excitement of his first pro weekend and goal with his family who were following him via the internet from Buffalo.
“My dad, my brother and my mom are up in Buffalo with my uncle and his family. They were all huddled around the computer watching the live stream. I got off the ice and had a couple of videos of everybody celebrating and having a good time. It’s awesome, it’s such a huge piece of it,” Playfair said. “I left home when I was 15 to chase this dream a little bit and its been nice. I have a great support system. My brothers are always there texting me after games [and] checking in. My dad like to kind of drop in when he can and kinda let me do my own thing at the same time. I think he knows that once you get to this level, the coaches take care of how you play and they just need to support you. My mom’s been awesome. She’e obviously been the biggest backbone to getting me to where I am today. She’s always great for a text or a call to pick me up or let me know I played well and stuff like that. I’m pretty lucky when it comes to that sort of support system for sure.”
Notes: Final shots favored Manchester 42-36… The Monarchs went 2-for-6 on the power play while the Solar Bears finished 0-for-2… The six-goal win set a new Orlando franchise mark for largest margin of victory… The Solar Bears are now 18-2-1-0 when scoring first and a perfect 19-0-0-0 when leading after two periods… Thompson’s goal and two assists gave him his first three-point outing as a member of the Solar Bears… Schoenborn (3 game point), Kalk (2 game goal), Spencer (3 game assist), Fitze (2 game assist), Mathieu Foget (3 game point), Robinson (2 game point) and Playfair (2 game point) all extended personal streaks in the game… Aliu’s plus-4 rating matched the previous season high set by Nolan Valleau (October 27th vs. Florida) and Frye (February 15th vs. Jacksonville)… Orlando’s eight goals at home matched the franchise mark set on December 28th, 2012 against Florida in an 8-4 victory… The Solar Bears are off until Thursday when the Norfolk Admirals visit the Amway Center.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author oiion Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.