ORLANDO, FLA – For much of the young season, Orlando Solar Bears goalie Brad Barone has been giving his teammates the gift of stellar play between the pipes. So when Thursday – the actual day of Barone’s 31st birthday – came around, it was a good day for his guys to return the favor.
Rookie Braydon Barker scored his first two ECHL goals and recently assigned defenseman Dmitry Semykin scored his first goal as a Solar Bear as Orlando (11-7-1-0) downed the Jacksonville Icemen (9-8-1-1) by a final of 4-1 at the Amway Center. The victory in front of an announced crowd of 3,627 salvaged a split of a home-and-home series between the two South division rivals. It also, thanks to a second straight win by Trois-Rivieres over Florida, allowed Orlando to take over first place in the division by two points over the Everblades.
Russian Pavel Vorobei, one of four players who joined the roster earlier in the day, picked up his first point in North America with an assist on Barker’s first goal. Stalwart forward Tristin Langan also added two assists to the cause as the Solar Bears advanced their all-time record against the Icemen at the Amway Center to 23-0.
Still, it was Barone, who continued to show that although he has called twelve different cities across the FHL, SPHL and ECHL home since 2015, that has been one of the biggest constants for Orlando. Thursday’s win brought his season record to 7-3-0-0 with a 1.93 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He currently is in the middle of a four-game win streak since November 23rd with a 1.21 goals against average and .965 save percentage, most of which got him named ECHL Goalie of the Week for last week.
Barone turned away all nine Jacksonville shots in the first period, the most dangerous coming late in the frame when Luke Lynch got loose right in front but Barone used his left leg to thwart the opportunity. A few seconds later, Langan won an offensive zone faceoff back to Luke McInnis at the point. McInnis moved down the boards into the faceoff circle to the left hand side of Icemen netminder Charles Williams. McInnis used the angle to surprise Williams with a short side shot that went in for McInnis’ third goal of the year and a 1-0 lead at the intermission.
Barone played his strongest period in the second, posting a perfect 16-for-16 in the save column. His friends, specifically Semykin and Barker, gifted him with a goal each to extend the Solar Bears lead. First at the 8:20 mark, Canon Pieper won a faceoff in the Jacksonville end back to Vorobei above the top of the faceoff circle to Williams’ right. Vorobei teed up a pass for Semykin to one-time into the back of the net for Semykin’s first goal in 21 games with Orlando dating back to the 2020-21 season.
A little over two minutes later, Barker got on the board. Langan did most of the hard work, forechecking behind the Jacksonville net and forcing a turnover. Barker, who is normally a defenseman but has spent most of the season playing forward, took a feed from Langan and swung it around the post. Somehow he managed to get the puck inside the post and past Williams’ right skate for his first professional goal at 10:43.
Early in the third period, the Icemen were given a power play and converted. Christopher Brown got the puck down below the goal line in the Orlando end from Ara Nazarian. Brown somehow managed to make a perfect pass with his back to the net across the crease to James Sanchez in the circle to Barone’s left. Sanchez wasted little time in depositing a shot between Barone’s legs into the cage for his fifth of the season, trimming the Jacksonville deficit to 3-1.
That was as close as the Icemen got to a comeback as Barker put a seal on the scoring during a power play midway through the final twenty minutes. Jackson Keane swung a pass along the boards to Barker at the point. As a penalty killer came at him, Barker released a wrist shot that kicked off a Jacksonville defender in front of the net and went in for Barker’s second of the night.
Barone easily finished off the rest of regulation for his sixth 30-plus save performance in ten starts.
Orlando gets a few days off before starting a six-game road trip with a game in Greenville, SC against the Swamp Rabbits on Wednesday, December 8th.
Notes: Final shots were 35 to 27 in favor of Jacksonville…Â Both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play… Orlando now leads the season series against the Icemen 3-2-0-0… The Solar Bears are a perfect 10-0-0-0 when scoring first in a contest this season.
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