ESTERO, Fla – Last weekend, the Orlando Solar Bears made their ECHL debut, playing well but losing twice. Friday night, they turned things around in a big way.
 
Captain Ryan Cruthers scored two goals and Mathew Sisca recorded four assists to lead the Solar Bears to a resounding 8-2 victory over the Florida Everblades at the Germain Arena. The Solar Bears scored four goals in each of the first two periods en route to their first win since coming out of hibernation. The two teams will finish their season-opening, four-game mini series Saturday night in Orlando.
 
Orlando came out on fire in the opening frame as left winger Ryan Ginand collected his own rebound in front of the net and powered the second chance home for a 1-0 lead 7:38 into the period. At the 10:45 mark, forward Rob Mignardi held the puck in the offensive zone and found F C.J. Severyn open in front. Severyn tapped in the pass to double the lead. Just 45 seconds later, Josh Caron slammed home a wraparound for his first professional goal.
 
Olivier Fortier, playing in his first game with the Solar Bears, capped off the scoring by deflecting home a pass from defenseman Kyle Medvec with 6:29 left before the intermission.
 
The offensive rush continued for the Solar Bears in the second period. Medvec started it off when he finished off a wrap around 6:46 into the frame. The margin grew to six 1:30 later when left winger Nick Petersen fired home his own rebound for his third goal in as many games. Cruthers picked up the next two goals, first deflecting in a Petersen shot and then blasting home a power play goal with 36 seconds left in the stanza. The tallies gave Cruthers four goals in Orlando’s first three contests.
 
Florida struck back early in the third period as forward Justin Shugg capitalized 56 seconds into the frame, giving the home fans hope. Forward Leigh Salters made it an 8-2 score when he redirected a shot midway through the period, but neither team would strike after that and the Solar Bears skated away with the 8-2 victory.
 
The offensive outburst made a winner of Orlando goalie John Curry, who stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced. John Muse and Pat Nagle split time in the Everblades net, facing a combined 49 shots.
 
The Solar Bears will host their first-ever ECHL game at the Amway Center starting at 7 p.m. Former Solar Bear and current Columbus Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards will participate in a special pre-game ceremony that starts at 6:45 p.m.
 
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ELMIRA, NY – Evan as questions continue to swirl about the fate of the team, the Elmira Jackals gave fans something to be happy about on Monday.
The Jackals named Dwight Mullins as  the team’s new head coach this morning and introduced him to the fans and media this afternoon. He is the tenth man to lead the club in its history and fifth since it moved to the ECHL in 2007. Mullins replaces Pat Bingham who resigned as head coach earlier this month amid uncertainty about the Jackals’ future.

“I’m excited to have the privilege to come to Elmira and lead the Jackals. I am equally excited to be a part of an organization, and a league, that offers players development and advancement opportunities both personally and professionally,” Mullins said. “Our team will display the hard-working character that Pat Bingham has established here. With the core group of players we have assembled, our sights are set on a championship.”
Mullins arrives in Elmira with a .700 winning percentage in three years as a professional head coach. From 2009 to 2012, he was the head coach and general manager of the Central Hockey League’s Allen Americans, and built a record of 128-51-17. He took the expansion Americans to the CHL’s President’s Cup finals in 2010 and followed that up with a conference-leading 47 wins and a trip to the Berry Conference finals in 2011. Last year Mullins directed Allen to 39 wins, a second-place conference finish, and a playoff berth.
In recognition of his success, Mullins was charged with leading the CHL All-Star team in 2011 and 2012. He also finished as runner up for CHL Coach of the Year honors in 2010 and 2011.
Before coaching in Allen, Mullins worked as the head coach of the North American Hockey League’s Texas Tornado, coached at the Dallas Stars’ NHL player development camp, and gained experience as an assistant coach with the Western Professional Hockey League’s Fort Worth Brahmas and Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
A native of Calgary, Alberta, Mullins played major junior hockey in the WHL for six seasons. After a 21-goal campaign for Lethbridge in 1984-85 he was selected 90th overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. His professional playing career spanned three seasons from 1994 to 1997 with the Fort Worth Fire of the CHL. As a player, Mullins went out on top by serving as the captain for the ’97 Fire team that won the CHL title.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Dwight coaching the Jackals. His experience, passion, dedication, energy, and determination to win really put him at the front of the pack when it came to our search,” Jackals general manager Matt Hufnagel said. “Dwight is the kind of coach that is organized, focused on doing the little things right, and is committed to building good relationships with our fans and our community. But most of all he is going to coach a team that will play the right way and compete every night which is what this community respects and enjoys.”
The Jackals are scheduled to begin training camp later this week ahead of their annual Blue and White intra-squad scrimmage on Thursday, October 4th at the First Arena and a preseason game in Reading on October 8th. Elmira will begin the regular season at home against Reading on Friday, October 12th.
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