ORLANDO, FLA – There are not too many times when a hockey coach can look out on the ice and almost see a mirror image of his team staring back at him. Saturday night at the Amway Center, Orlando Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen had such an opportunity and it did not end well.
Erik Bradford scored his first goal as a Solar Bear Saturday night (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Paced by a balanced scoring attack and a sturdy 26-save performance by goaltender Daniel Altshuller, the visiting Florida Everblades (7-4-0-0, 14 points) dealt the Solar Bears (4-2-1-0, 9 points) a 3-2 defeat in front of an amped up announced crowd of 7,511. Erik Bradford and Eric Baier scored the two goals for Orlando which fell for the first time at home this season.
Noreen’s vision for his team is an aggressive one, especially when on the penalty kill. The Everblades turned the tables on the Solar Bears by forcing the play while short-handed, a strategy that allowed Orlando no goals and just a handful of shots in seven opportunities.
“It was certainly the most aggressive penalty kill we’ve seen. You beat that by outworking them. You get in a workman-like mindset,” Noreen said. “It’s very easy for a power play to say we’re five skilled guys, we’re five against four, we’re going to make pretty plays. That’s the easy thing to do. The hard thing to do and the thing that guys who make it [to higher levels] do is they go out and outwork the penalty kill. That’s the lesson for tonight – you’ve just got to outwork the kill.”
The first of fourteen regular season meetings of what has been dubbed “The Sunshine Cup Series” had a storyline or two beyond the renewal of what has become an intense in-state rivalry. The Everblades ended Orlando’s hopes for a run to the Kelly Cup finals last March, giving a slight revenge factor to the evening. It was also Solar Bears goalie Ryan Massa’s first start as the number one netminder with Rob Madore recalled by the AHL Toronto Marlies (Massa’s backup, SPHL Mississippi RiverKings goalie Matt Grogan, who Orlando got on loan, arrived less than a handful of hours before puck drop).
The Solar Bears came out of the gates hot, putting the first four shots of the game on Altshuller. The fourth one came off the stick of Erik Bradford – a shoulder high wrister from the slot after a pretty backhand drop pass from Brett Findlay – that found the back of the net just 1:52 in. It was Bradford’s first goal in a Solar Bears’ uniform.
A theme that developed from almost the outset of the contest was special teams play. Orlando began taking penalties in the worst of places, the offensive zone. The second such infraction – a hooking call on Brady Vail – cost the home team the lead. Just 37 seconds into the Everblades second man advantage, sniper Mike Aviani pounced on the rebound of a Corey Cowick tip shot and scooped a backhander over the sprawled Massa at the 6:40 mark of the opening frame. For Aviani, it was his team-leading fifth score of the season.
Less than four minutes later the visitors took the lead for good. Defenseman Corey Syvret gathered in a loose puck near the top of the face-off circle to Massa’s right. He sailed a high wrist shot toward the net. Cowick waived his stick at the puck, causing the Orlando netminder to blink just enough for the shot to beat him high to the glove side for the defenseman’s second tally of the year.
What could have been a turning point in the game came early in the second period. Overlapping penalties to Solar Bears’ forwards Chris Clapperton and Eric Faille left the home team down two men for 37 seconds. Like they have done so many times early in the season, Orlando’s penalty killers stood tall, holding the Everblades to just three shots in the extended power play time.
Any energy or spark the Solar Bears gained from the special teams play was lost soon after the successful kill. With a delayed penalty coming on Bradford, Florida sprinted down the ice where Brant Harris dished a cross-crease pass to noted Orlando killer Evan Bloodoff who got loose on the backside and tucked his fourth goal of the season home.
Eric Baier netted his second goal of the season in Orlando’s loss on Saturday (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Now down by two, the Solar Bears dug deep and found a spark in defenseman Eric Baier. Considered by many to be a key leader, Baier took a feed from Matt Rupert in the slot and picked the corner low to Altshuller’s stick side for his second of the season to bring Orlando back within 3-2.
Baier’s tally seemed to pump life back into the Orlando players, not to mention the crowd.
“We’ve just got to put together a full sixty minutes. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Baier said. “You can’t say we didn’t compete. That feeling that we had from midway through the second on, we were down by a goal and we kind of got some life on the bench and everybody was chatting and talking to each other. We got some energy going but we’ve got to have that feeling from the start.”
The Everblades began to clamp down of the Solar Bears in the final frame, keeping the home team from getting a shot on Altshuller until shortly after the midpoint of the period. Massa (33 saves) did his best to keep Orlando in the game, shutting down Florida’s high-powered offense at every turn.
Two late power plays gave the Solar Bears a chance to send the game to overtime but Florida’s aggressive play left Orlando in a state of frustration that eventually turned into a loss.
Noreen was excited about getting right back at it on Sunday with a 6 pm rematch at the Amway Center. So excited in fact that he wanted to be behind the bench right away.
“I wish we were playing right now. I wish we could jump out and play them again right now,” he said. “I think that’s the mindset up and down our guys. I think they’re excited that we have another chance at them. Let’s get better from tonight to tomorrow. That’s the key – can we come back and can we be even better tomorrow (Sunday) night. I believe in this group and we will.”
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