MAITLAND,FLA – While most of the ECHL began its regular season last weekend, the Orlando Solar Bears were still in practice mode and getting to know one another in preparation for the franchise’s fifth season in the premiere double-A level league. Come Saturday night when Orlando hosts the Florida Everblades at the Amway Center, the organization and its fans will find out just how ready the team is.
Over the past two weeks, head coach Anthony Noreen and assistant coach John Snowden have been putting together the pieces of the puzzle – both ones they selected themselves and ones given to them by the franchise’s NHL and AHL affiliates in Toronto – and designed a group that is long on both work ethic and confidence.
“I think we have a really good team this year just by looking at the roster and playing with a bunch of these guys,” Cason Hohman, one of the new faces on the team, said. “Our team is very good and very talented. Hopefully we can have a good year and all mesh together and come together and put some wins up on the board.”
The meshing that Hohman, who is entering his second pro season after an ECHL All-Rookie team performance last year, was referring to is the integration of Orlando-signed players on the roster with those assigned to the Solar Bears by the AHL Toronto Marlies. As late as Friday, players were still coming in to join the ECHL team, bringing the number of assigned players to almost half of the roster.
Hohman, along with Chase Witala, Tony Cameranesi, Ty Stanton and Willie Corrin, will be making their inaugural appearances in Solar Bears jerseys. The two players who joined the team on Friday, goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo and defenseman Nikolas Brouillard, and familiar faces Eric Faille, Brett Findlay and T.J. Foster round out the Toronto contingent.
Kaskisuo, who was signed by the Maple Leafs last spring out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is a 23-year old netminder from Vantaa, Finland. In two years with Minnesota-Duluth, he posted some solid numbers including an overall record of 37-29-8 and goals against averages of 2.30 in 2014-15 and 1.92 in 2015-16. It was enough for the Leafs to sign him as a potential future NHL goalie but with Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe deciding to start the AHL season with Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau, Kaskisuo will open the year in Orlando.
Brouillard, 21, is fresh out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League where he split last season between the Quebec Remparts and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. He led the QMJHL in both of his seasons there in goals by a defenseman and left junior hockey with an impressive 259 points and 322 penalty minutes in 312 total games with Quebec, Rouyn-Noranda and the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He was signed to a contract by the Marlies back in June.
Cameranesi, 23, came onto the Maple Leafs radar in 2011 when they selected him in the fifth round of that year’s Entry Draft. A teammate of Kaskisuo’s at Minnesota-Duluth, Cameranesi put up 124 career points (41 goals and 83 assists) for the Bulldogs in 152 games from 2012-16. Also coming from Minnesota-Duluth is Corrin, 25, who is a rugged defenseman known more for his solid backline play.
Like many of his Toronto brothers, Witala, 21, got a taste of the AHL last spring after being signed by the Marlies. He spent six seasons in the Western Hockey League playing for the Prince George Cougars. His final season there was his best as he netted 40 goals and 39 assists for 79 points in 71 games after scoring a point per game the previous year.
Witala admitted that the transition from juniors to the pros is definitely a big jump but the move has been eased a bit both by familiar faces from Toronto as well as the veteran leadership in Orlando.
“I’ve talked to some of the older guys and some of the guys that were in Toronto with me last year toward the end of the season and are now down here with me,” he said. “It’s nice to get some feedback from them a little bit. I don’t know too much about the league so it’s nice to get some questions and answers out of them.”
Witala also said that having Coach Noreen see him in person during the Marlies training camp is helping the transition out.
“He knows what to expect from me, what type of player I am,” Witala said.
Faille, who led the Solar Bears both in scoring and frequent flyer miles between Orlando and Toronto a year ago, got to see and play with most if not all of the Toronto players who have been assigned to the ECHL team. Two of the things he has been most impressed with during the camps in Toronto and Orlando has been the work ethic of the new players and the leadership core that Noreen and Snowden have built.
“They’re (new players) hard workers. They have tons of skill,” he said. “I think the organization did a great job[in building the roster]. There’s a great mix of younger and older players. The chemistry is a lot better and I think that’s going to show throughout the season.”
For the older players like Eric Baier, who was named captain of the Solar Bears earlier in the week, the attitude of the team – thanks in large part to the maturity of the players both new and returning – has everyone feeling like the sky’s the limit for the team in 2016-2017.
“I think everybody can feel the direction that we’re going [in] this year. Just seeing the guys compete in practice everyday, I think we can all feel how special a year we’re going to have,” he said. “It’s just a matter of being humble, competing hard every day and making sure that we’re all developing together and we’ll push each other to our fullest potential.”
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