ORLANDO, FLA – Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas gets paid well to do a lot of things including making all of the personnel decisions for the AHL Toronto Marlies. He may at times lose sleep over choices up north but there is one thing he does not worry much about – the ECHL Orlando Solar Bears.
Tuesday, Dubas was in Orlando to take his second in-person look at the numerous Toronto prospects on the Solar Bears roster. He also had face-to-face discussions with Orlando head coach Anthony Noreen about the progress both he and the team are making.
Coming off a successful road trip just two days prior, Dubas got to see the Solar Bears live against the South Carolina Stingrays. It was not a good night as Orlando did not play well in a 6-3 loss. Dubas was philosophical about it, chalking it up to a tough travel schedule and timing.
“I kind of expected it today. The team had a really successful road trip. They came home and played a very good team (South Carolina), the team that gave them trouble on the road as well,” Dubas told the assembled Orlando media. “You get in late after a long trip back (approximately 900 miles from Cincinnati to Orlando) on Sunday at four in the afternoon [after] driving all through the night and day to get back home [for] one day then you play here on a Tuesday. I’m not surprised that the team wasn’t sharp but I won’t lose much sleep over it.”
Admittedly, Dubas has not seen the Solar Bears at their best in either trip down to the City Beautiful this season. He has however seen every game Orlando has played thanks to technology. Although he says he has not seen enough games in person to make any judgements, he has seen enough to be happy with the direction the Solar Bears are going in.
“I’ve watched all but a few of the games online and I’ve watched a lot of them live so I’m happy with the way the team has progressed. The team struggles with the same things we (the Marlies) struggled with earlier in the year,” he said. “They’re a young team relative to the [rest of the] league and when you’re younger, you’re smaller. They struggle with teams like South Carolina that are an older, bigger, more veteran team.
“Watching the road trip especially, I was happy in the second game at South Carolina how the team came out and played. I think it is a testament to the coaching staff and the job that they’ve done so far and a testament to the players,” he continued. “When I watch it, I can’t just base it on the two game that I am here [for], especially when there’s been so many other games played – over a dozen of them. We try to watch them all and talk to Anthony and get his pulse on the team and then talk to Joe (Haleski, team owner) and Jason (Siegel, team president) when we’re here to get a sense of how they think things are going. We’re happy with the progress the team has made. The team’s 8-4-2 now I believe or 8-4-3. That’s a pretty good start.”
The key to having a smooth-running affiliation system is communication. Dubas said that he and the staff in Toronto are working closely with Noreen and assistant coach John Snowden to make sure the goals that the individuals, teams and the system have are being met.
“We’re always here to help Anthony and the players with anything they need. He’s been great working with Sheldon (Keefe, Marlies head coach),” Dubas said. “He and I talk in some form or another nearly every day and if not it doesn’t go more than two days without us speaking.”
One of the biggest challenges that a young team faces is consistency. Noreen has been looking for – and is still in search of – his team playing “a full sixty minute game”. Dubas said that with the rigors of minor league hockey, that can be difficult but it is doable.
“This league (ECHL) is much harder to do that in than any of the leagues that we deal in. The mode of travel, the nights that you play and various different things that impact it. It is a lot of wear and tear on the players,” he said. “The players here, they play Saturday night, travel all the way back. It is a real tough task to have an athlete try to come out here and play a perfect game again tonight. I’m proud of the guys [who] try to grind through it and stay in it until the end, and get it within two [goals] with an empty net goal. I know they’ll be better on Friday night. They just looked tired today and the execution was off.”
All in all, Dubas was pleased with everything going on in Central Florida – that is with the exception of one thing: the weather.
“It’s cold here,” he said of the lower than normal temperatures. “I was expecting it to be pretty warm and I was disappointed but what can you do?”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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