ORLANDO, FL – In the second game of the season, Orlando Solar Bears defenseman Alex Gudbranson went down with an injury that kept him out of the lineup for two months. In five games since returning to the ice, he steadily worked himself into game shape by playing the role his coaches wanted him to.
Orlando defenseman Alex Gudbranson beats Jacksonville goalie Austin Lotz for the game-winning goal Wednesday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Wednesday night at the Amway Center, Gudbranson gave his team and its fans a holiday gift that they desperately needed: a win.
Gudbranson scored his first goal of the season 2:01 into overtime to life the host Solar Bears (12-14-4-1, 29 points) a 4-3 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen (7-15-3-2, 19 points) in front of a post-Christmas announced crowd of 5,860. Josh Winquist, Todd Skirving and Joe Perry picked up the other three tallies for Orlando.
Playing in the three-on-three overtime format, Orlando forward Kristian Pospisil went into the corner in the Jacksonville end and retreived a pass from Max Novak. Pospisil saw Gudbranson pulling up in front behind the Icemen defenders and threaded a pass to his teammate. Gudbranson took it from there, getting Jacksonville goalie Austin Lotz to go down before firing the puck over the prone netminder for the winner.
The goal was part of a two point night for the younger brother of NHL player Erik Gudbranson and confirmed that the fourth year pro is ready to help the Solar Bears on both ends of the ice.
“It was definately a tough start to the season with my injury and it took a while to get back [into action]. With Drake [Berehowsky, Orlando head coach] and Snowy [associate coach John Snowden] and the way that they coach, it’s pretty easy to find your mold and find you niche within their parameters and how they want you to play,” Gudbranson said. “I got pretty lucky that way. It was a relaxing transition I guess if you will to come into such an awesome team like that.”
With Jacksonville coming into the contest carrying a two-game winning streak while Orlando was winless in its last three, both teams were determined to set a tone early. The Solar Bears were hampered by taking a pair of penalties before  the game was seven minutes old, giving the Icemen a chance to gain the momentum.
Although neither man advantage opportunity bore fruit, the second power play ended  just before Jacksonville opened the scoring at the 8:57 mark. The play began when defenseman Christopher Dienes fired a shot from the point that hit some traffic in front of Solar Bears goalie Mackenzie Skapski. The puck bounded to Icemen forward Jimmy Lodge who quickly fed a pass to Cameron Critchlow who was all alone to Skapski’s left and scored his fifth goal of the season.
Critchlow’s goal was the only score of the first period, giving everyone in attendance the idea that the game might be a defensive struggle. That theory was quickly put to rest as the teams combined for four goals in a span of 5:38 in the second.
Orlando’s Winquist started the offensive outburst 5:12 into the middle frame during a Solar Bears power play. The puck squirted from below the goal line into the crease area where Lotz went to smother it. Just before the goalie covered it, Winquist swooped in and took the disc away from the netminder and backhanded it into the net for his tenth of the year.
Ninety seconds later, the Icemen went back in front when Scott Savage, who seems to like scoring goals against Orlando, drilled a shot from the faceoff circle to Skapski’s left that beat the netminder for his fifth of the season and third against the Solar Bears.
Orlando’s Todd Skirving (17, center) celebrates his second period goal (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The home team again needed an answer and this time it was Skirving, who was making his return to the lineup after an injury, chipping in with a much needed tally. As has been his style, Skirving was just outside the crease when Gudbranson fired a low, hard shot from the point. The puck actually his Skirving in front but before it got too far away, the rookie was able to sweep it past Lotz for his fourth goal of the season.
“It was just a good shift there with my linemates [Joe] Perry and Ranks {Kyle Rankin]. Perry did a good job of muscling off his guy and I think he got it up to [Mike] Monfredo who got it over to Guddy [Gudbranson],” Skirving said. “Ranks and I were both skating hard to the net and tried to cause some havoc. Honestly it could have been me or Ranks and we were able to tap it home there. It was just a hard working shift all around. I was just fortunate to be at the net at the time and put it away.”
There was still one more goal left in the blitz and it belonged to the Icemen. At the 10:50 mark, defenseman Chris Joseph took the puck from Lodge and did what every coach preaches – put it on net. As Joseph did that, Critchlow went to the front of the net and was able to redirect the drive past Skapski for his second of the night and sixth of the year.
With 2:26 left in the second, Jacksonville’s Tim Daly was tagged for a double minor for clipping Rankin with his stick and drawing blood. The Icemen did a tremendous job holding the Solar Bears to no shots on the man advantage before the frame came to an end.
Starting the third period still on the power play, Orlando again failed to capitalize during the man advantage but as the penalty ended, defenseman Sam Jardine made a perfect cross-ice pass to Perry who was on the back side of the play. Perry did not get all of the puck on a one-time swing and it hit off the post. Perry stayed with it and managed to pinball the disc off of Lotz’ glove and in for his third of the year and a tie score.
“It was a great play by Jards [Jardine] to see him [Perry] on the back door,” Berehowsky said. “I thought he had a really good game, he was moving the puck well and Joe was a beneficiary of getting that goal.”
Orlando’s Darryl Bootland found himself surrounded by Jacksonville players Wednesday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Perry’s tally came at the 1:38 mark of the stanza and turned out to be the only one as Lotz (29 saves) and Skapski (30 saves) went toe-to-toe in about as good of a goaltenders battle as anyone could see. The two netminders took turns making big stops, sending the game into an extra period where Gudbranson played the part of the hero.
Gudbranson said he could not recall whether he had ever scored a game-winning goal during his playing career but he said that it would be one that he would definately remember. When asked if it was worthy of a phone call to his brother, the younger Gudbranson said he might just have to brag a bit – that is if Erik would answer his phone.
“I saw him over the Christmas break and we got to talk a bit about hockey so it was great to see him,” Alex said. “Yeah, I’ll probably let him know sooner or later and give him a call but he’s got a tough time answering his phone from time to time so I have to get on him for that.”
Notes: The teams finished the game even in shot at 33 apiece… Jacksonville was 0-for-3 on the power play while Orlando went 1-for-3… Perry now has goals in back-to-back games and three points over that timeframe… With an assist on Perry’s goal, Chris LeBlanc pushed his point streak to two games (1 goal, 1 assist) while Novak extended his streak to two games (3 assists)… The Solar Bears now await the South division-leading Florida Everblades who will invade the Amway Center Friday night at 7 p.m… Jacksonville will make its way to Norfolk to play a weekend set against the suddenly hot Admirals on Friday and Saturday.
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