LOVELAND, CO – More often than not, when two hockey teams play each other enough times in a row, there will be bad blood. Sunday afternoon at the Budweiser Events Center, the Orlando Solar Bears and the Colorado Eagles met for the third time in two-and-a-half days and there was certainly enough animosity between the two to make it look like they were mortal rivals
When it came down to the end, it was not just the Eagles that Orlando had some hatred for.
Thanks to a four-goal third period, Colorado (21-10-1-3, 46 points) rolled to a 5-1 win over the visiting Solar Bears (18-12-4-2, 42 points) in front of an announced crowd of 4,561. With the victory, the Eagles claimed the mini series two victories to one.
Much of Orlando’s anger ended up directed at referee Stephen Thomson, who whistled the Solar Bears for 15 infractions and 57 minutes in penalties, including sending head coach Drake Berehowsky to the showers with 7:42 remaining in the contest. Colorado (17 penalty minutes on 7 infractions) took advantage of the Solar Bears lack of composure, scoring two power play goals in ten chances with the man advantage while Orlando failed on all five of its opportunities.
The final outcome was certainly not what much of the afternoon crowd could have expected based on the opening period. The teams battled to a scoreless tie with the two goalies – Kasimir Kaskisuo for the Solar Bears and Clarke Saunders for the Eagles – zoned in and stopping everything in sight. Each team got one power play in the frame and Orlando outshot Colorado by a count of 11-6.
The Solar Bears faced their second penalty kill of the contest early in the middle frame and took advantage of it to open the scoring. Late in the kill, Colorado native Austin Block tracked down the puck along the end boards in the Eagles defensive zone. Looking to make a play, Block found teammate Darik Angeli all alone in front with a pass and the one-time Eagle beat Saunders for his fourth of the season and first in an Orlando jersey.
Midway through the period was when the Solar Bears focus began turning to the game officials. With the teams playing four-on-four thanks to overlapping penalties, Colorado’s Darryl Bootland came out of the penalty box and played the puck. Berehowsky immediately began yelling at the linesman and referee that Bootland had made the play with one of his skates still in the box, which is considered interference. The officials got together and made the call on Bootland but what could have been a Solar Bears power play was negated by a bench minor on Berehowsky – the reason the play was stopped in the first place.
Colorado tied the game at the 12:39 mark of the stanza when Shawn St-Amant knocked down an Orlando pass in the neutral zone and went on the attack. He sped into the Solar Bears end and whipped a wrist shot from the left circle that found the back of the net for his fourth of the year.
Two minutes later, Orlando defenseman Nik Brouillard and Colorado forward Matt Garbowsky got tangled up and with a delayed holding penalty coming to Brouillard, the pair dropped the gloves. Garbowsky was able to pull Brouillard’s jersey over his head and got some punches in before the rookie defenseman responded with a couple of blows of his own. Each player received a fighting major while Brouillard picked up the minor penalty and a game misconduct for not having his fight strap tied properly.
Late in the period, Colorado’s Casey Pierro-Zabotel was in the process of getting a cross checking penalty when a scrum broke out. During the exchange of pleasantries, Kaskisuo sent the puck to the Eagles end and Saunders sent it right back, earning the home team’s netminder an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as the only one of the two goalies who were nabbed.
The Eagles killed the five-on-three power play that came out of the infractions, a little over a minute at the end of the second period and the rest to start the third. Colorado picked up some momentum from the defensive stand and turned it into a lead when at the 7:31 mark, Garbowsky put the puck to the net and Josh Nicholls stashed a backhander past Kaskisuo for his fifth of the season. The lead grew to 3-1 a little over two minutes later when Pierro-Zabotel took a feed from Luke Salazar at the top of the crease and jammed it home for his 13th of the 2016-17 campaign.
Orlando took exception to the play right before Pierro-Zabotel scored, claiming the defenseman Brenden Miller had taken a high stick that caused a turnover. The discussion led to a Solar Bears penalty which less than a minute later became a two-man advantage when Joe Perry went to the box.
The visitors killed off the five-on-three but Jesse Mychan batted the puck out of mid-air and into the net in the waning seconds of Perry’s call for his 21st of the season. Orlando’s Block disputed whether Mychan’s stick was below the height of the crossbar and earned a minor penalty plus a ten-minute misconduct which ended his night. That set Berehowsky off, getting the coach his second two-minute penalty of the game and an abuse of officials game misconduct.
Colorado got one last man advantage when Faille was called for interference when he moved Kaskisuo’s stick out of the way near the net. The Eagles used that power play to close the scoring when a shot by Michael Sdao was redirected home by Michael Colantone at the 17:26 mark. The score was Colantone’s first since joining the Eagles on December 30th.
Notes: Kaskisuo finished the game with 24 saves while Saunders stopped 27 of the 28 Orlando shots he faced… Both Jon Jutzi and Chase Witala were scratches for the Solar Bears as was goalie Ryan Massa. Prior to the game, Orlando signed Corson Cramer from nearby Colorado Springs, CO as an emergency backup… Orlando now heads off to Anchorage, Alaska to face the Alaska Aces in a three-game set that begins Wednesday. Like the trip to Loveland, it with be the Solar Bears first ever trip to Alaska.
Colorado goalie Clarke Saunders stops a bid for a first period goal by Orlando’s Austin Block (PHN photo by Terry Sanford)
Orlando’s Eric Faille (27, purple) battles with Colorado’s Mason Geertsen and goalie Clarke Saunders during third period action (PHN photo by Terry Sanford)
Colorado’s Matt Garbowsky (white) and Orlando’s Nik Brouillard duke it out during the second period (PHN photo by Terry Sanford)
Colorado’s Jesse Mychan (29, white) knocks his 21st goal of the season past Orlando goal Kasimir Kaskisuo during the third period Sunday (PHN photo by Terry Sanford)
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at terry.sanford@prohockeynews.com
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