JACKSONVILLE, FLA – Throughout the course of the 2021-22 ECHL season to this point, anyone who is regularly following the Orlando Solar Bears understands the importance of goaltending and of Brad Barone. Barone, who was signed at the start of the season to fill a hole caused by callups / recalls, has played an important role in the success of the Solar Bears through 50 games.
Orlando goalie Brad Barone pitched his third 1-0 shutout of the season Wednesday night in Jacksonville (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
Wednesday night in game 51, Barone’s stature with the franchise continued to grow with yet another epic performance.
Barone stopped all 28 shots he faced, outdueling Francois Brassard who made 26 of his own as the Solar Bears (26-21-4-0) came away with a 1-0 win over the Jacksonville Icemen (30-16-2-2) in front of an announced crowd of 4,213 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. The shutout was Barone’s third of the season – all of them by a 1-0 final – and second in less than two weeks time.
The lone goal came off the stick of rookie Shawn Element midway through the final period as he redirected a shot by Luke McInnis past Brassard. Barone made it stand up, right down to the end when he made three saves in the final five seconds to secure the much needed win.
With both teams coming into the tilt in slumps (Jacksonville on a two-game losing streak while Orlando was on a three-game winless streak), coming away with two points was vital to everyone. The problem was that the two netminders, Barone and Brassard, were each prepared to make sure that their opponents got nothing for goals and liked it. Even with four power plays (and a fifth that mostly carried over into the second period) between the sides, a grand total of 15 shots were recorded but none found the back of the net.
The game began to open up in the second frame but the nets were still tightly shut. The chances started to become more and more dangerous but Barone and Brassard answered each and every challenge. Early on, it was Brassard who denied a two-on-one with a save on Tyler Bird followed with a right pad beauty on the rebound by Tristan Langan. Late in the period, Jacksonville’s Jake Elmer set up teammate Zach Berzolla for a shot that Barone went post-to-post to deny.
The biggest opportunity for either side came with just under four minutes remaining before the second intermission. On one sequence, the Icemen were hit for two tripping penalties, one on Brendan Harris and the other on Vladislav Mikhalchuk, giving the Solar Bears a full two minute five-on-three power play. Brassard and his teammates were under siege for a good portion of time but were able to fend off a handful of Orlando shots to keep the game scoreless heading to the third.
Five and a half minutes into the final frame, the Icemen had their own man advantage chance. Orlando held them to just one shot, which Barone stopped, but as the penalty expired, Jacksonville’s James Sanchez tested the Solar Bears netminder only to come up empty.
Then with a couple of ticks above nine minutes remaining in regulation, the visitors from Central Florida struck. The Solar Bears worked the puck up to the blue line where Steve Oleksy made a cross-ice pass to his back line partner McInnis. McInnis flung a wrister toward the net where both Element, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect who was assigned to Orlando on February 20th, and Odeen Tufto were trying to distract Brassard. Element wasable to get his stick in the path of the puck and redirected it home for his first ECHL goal.
From there, it was all about Barone the the defense protecting the slim lead. Barone did most of the heavy lifting, making seven saves down the stretch. His determination became key when Nolan Valleau took an interference penalty with 1:24 left, allowing the Icemen to work with a six-on-four advantage with Brassard on the bench for an extra attacker. In the frantic closing seconds, Barone had to stop Sanchez twice on the doorstep and Elmer as the horn sounded, allowing his teammates and coaches to celebrate the win.
Orlando continues it road trip Friday night in South Carolina while Jacksonville is off until Sunday when the Solar Bears return to town for a matinee matchup.
Notes: Final shots were 28-27 in favor of Jacksonville… The Solar Bears went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Icemen were 0-for-4… The win was Orlando’s third 1-0 victory of the season… The Solar Bears now lead the season series against the Icemen with a 5-4-0-0 record. The teams still have five meetings to go with three of them as part of Orlando’s next five games.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.