ORLANDO, FLA – A couple of weeks ago, the Orlando Solar Bears were having a hard time finding the right combination of skill and “puck luck” that would lead to a string of victories. Over the last week, the Solar Bears have seen their luck change – from a stirring four goal third period in Greenville to a solid home win over Jacksonville to a gutsy victory over a tough South Carolina team on Saturday night.
Orlando goalie Cal Heeter celebrates the Solar Bears shootout win over South Carolina Sunday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
Sunday afternoon at the Amway Center, Orlando continued to turn the corner with an effort that was long on determination and filled with the heart of a lion, or in this case a bear.
Third period goals by Jean Dupuy and Martins Dzierkals in the third period, the latter coming with less than a minute left in regulation, set the stage for scores by Dzierkals and Josh Winquist that gave Orlando (6-8-3-0, 15 points) a thrilling 3-2 victory over the same Stingrays team it had defeated a night earlier in front of an announced crowd of 4,343. The two final frame tallies erased a two-goal deficit and allowed the Solar Bears to earn their fourth win in their last five games.
Dzierkals, Dupuy and Winquist were certainly the stars on the offensive end but the biggest impact player was Orlando goalie Cal Heeter. The 29-year old netminder shut down the high-powered Stingrays offense for the final 32-plus minutes of regulation and overtime, making numerous game-saving stops on the way to a 30-save effort and added two more in the shootout to earn his fourth consecutive win.
“I’d definately say ‘the Heet is on’ right now. Heeter’s playing really well right now,” Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky said after the win. “He kept us in there. He gave us a chance to win and the guys came out in the third and we battled and we were fortunate to get the two points.”
Heeter’s effort aside, the Solar Bears had a lot of trouble kickstarting their offense during the first two periods, managing just 14 shots on South Carolina rookie netminder Carmine Guerriero, who was making his first professional start. Adding to the drama, Orlando also saw a potential game-tying score waived off in the third period at a crucial time.
It was a game that two weeks ago the Orlando team might have lost while it was in the midst of long winless streak. This time, however, the players and coaches just weren’t about to let that happen.
The opening period was a defensive struggle as both teams fought hard to shake off  the affects of an early call after an intense game less than 24 hours prior. South Carolina seemed to find its legs first, keeping Heeter busy thanks to an early power play chance. The lone shot that got past the Solar Bears netminder was a howitzer from the point by Andrew Cherniwchan that rang the crossbar harder and louder than a church bell on a Sunday morning.
At the other end Guerriero, a product of the University of Alabama-Huntsville, was having a relatively easy go of it. His toughest stop of the frame came during a late Orlando man advantage when J.C. Campagna dangled his way around a pair of Stingray defenders and set up Dzierkals for a point blank try that the young goalie snared with his catching glove.
“The first eight to ten minutes of the first period I tought we were taking the play to them. Then all of a sudden we got away from our structure,” Berehowsky said about the opening stanza. “We wanted to try cuter plays. We didn’t want to put as many pucks to the net. We have to do a better job of filtering pucks to the net, making sure they get to the net or get down below the goal line and we can roll around then.”
The middle frame was up for grabs early on and the visiting Stingrays were the ones that took control. South Carolina opened up a 9-3 shot advantage during the initial six minutes of play, keeping Heeter on his toes.
By the midpoint of the period, the Stingrays were ready to strike and that is what they did. At the 11:38 mark, Tim McGauley had the puck on his stick and saw Cherniwchan sneaking behind Orlando defenseman Mike Monfredo. Before Manfredo could adjust, McGauley zipped a perfect pass to his teammate and Cherniwchan redirected it home for his seventh goal of the season. Less than a minute later – 45 seconds to be exact – Dylan Margonari set up Taylor Cammarata for a shot from the slot that beat Heeter low to the stick side. It was Cammarata’s third of the year and gave South Carolina a two-goal lead.
Martins Dzierkals (22, center) celebrates his game-tying goal with Nolan Valleau on Sunday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Meanwhile, Guerriero was spinning a gem. He stared down Orlando’s Michael Turner to keep his shutout going. Later he frustrated Dzierkals again with a solid glove save on the way to a second clean scoresheet at the intermission.
The Solar Bears needed a wake up call and it came in the locker room during the break.
“Right after the second [period], we had a meeting in the room and coach gave us the right tasks [as to] how we should play,” Dzierkals said. “Two goals is nothing. They scored the game before two goals in the third period so we did the same thing.”
Step one of the comeback happened at the 3:55 mark. Kristian Pospisil made the key play when he made a perfect cross-slot pass to the base of the face-off circle to Guerriero’s left. Dupuy was there to collect the feed and lace it into the back of the net for his fifth of the season.
Sensing the opportuinty to seize the momentum, the Solar Bears began to pound away at the South Carolina net. The pressure hemmed in the Stingrays but Guerriero and his defense were able to hold Orlando at bay.
At the 14:12 mark, the Solar Bears appeared to get the equalizing tally when Campagna knocked the rebound of a shot by Dupuy toward the net. Everyone, including referee Sean McFarlane, thought it had crossed the line before quickly exiting the net. McFarlane signaled goal but the goal light never went on. In consultation with the goal judge, McFarlane overturned his original call, taking the score off the board.
It was a call that would have devastated the Solar Bears of two weeks ago. This time, there was no way that was going to happen.
“Here we go again, let’s go tie it up again,” Winquist said about the discussion on the Orlando bench after the negated goal. “We just had to keep trying to score goals out there.”
Following a missed opportunity created by a late power play, the Solar Bears pulled Heeter for an extra attacker. The intense pressure finally paid off when Dupuy sent a pass from the corner to a wide open Dzierkals in the slot. Before Guerriero could react, the puck was flying past him over his shoulder and just under the crossbar for Dzierkals’ fourth of the season with just 31.3 ticks left on the clock.
In the overtime, Heeter was nothing short of spectacular. He robbed McGauley on the rebound of a shot by Margonari to keep the preceedings going, just one of three key saves in the frame. Guerriero (30 saves) only had one shot get past him but the drive by Winquist rocked the crossbar and bounded away. At the end of the extra period, the game was still deadlocked, meaning a skills competition would decide the winner.
Josh Winquist scored the deciding goal in the shootout Sunday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
In round one, Dzierkals made a nifty double move and tucked the puck behind Guerriero. That score was matched by McGauley who slowly weaved his way in and sent a hard wrist shot into the stick side corner of the cage. Neither team was able to score in the second round, setting up the third and final regulation set.
Winquist shot first and he brought the crowd to its feet with a pump fake move that led to him sliding the puck between Guerriero’s legs. Needing a score to extend the contest, Joe Devin bore down on Heeter and tried to go to the stick side but Heeter’s blocker glove got a piece of the shot and sent it careening to the boards, setting off a celebration both on the ice and in the stands.
With a long three-week road trip coming up, Winquist said that the win on Sunday will go a long way to bringing the players closer as they head out starting Tuesday in Jacksonville.
“Every win brings teams closer. We’re going to be beside each other every day 24/7 for three straight weeks,” Winquist said. “It’s good to be happy with each other and not down and battling. It was a good win for us.”
Notes: Final shots in the game were even at 32 with Orlando adding one more team shot for winning in the shootout… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play and are now 1-for-19 on the man advantage since netting four in Greenville a week ago… South Carolina finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play… Orlando placed forward Joe Perry on the injured reserve list retroactive to November 5th before the game and activated Michael Turner off the IR. Turner dressed and played in place of Tayler Thompson who was put on reserve to make room… The Solar Bears will face the Icemen for the fourth time this season on Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial Arena before heading to Greenville on Friday.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.