JACKSONVILLE, FLA – Looking to break a three-game winless streak, the Orlando Solar Bears headed up to Jacksonville to take on the Icemen in game two of the rivals’ four-game set. It was a special throwback night for the Icemen as they celebrated the city’s ECHL history by wearing the jersey of the Jacksonville Lizard Kings, part of the Interstate-10 rivalry run that became part of the double-A league’s storied past.
And as the Solar Bears found out, the one night incarnation of the Lizard Kings were just as ornery and combative and hungry to win as its predecessor.
Led by a pair of second period goals by Derek Lodermeier and a stingy defense, the host Lizard Kings/Icemen (14-13-1-3) thumped Orlando (17-13-3-1) by a final of 5-1 in front of a COVID-restricted crowd of 3,472 at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. Mike Szmatula, Ara Nazarian and Brandon Gingac all added third period goals as Jacksonville glided to its second straight win over their in-state rival in three days.
Krystof Hrabik, one of four players assigned to the Solar Bears earlier in the week by the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, scored his first goal in an Orlando uniform late in the final frame after the outcome was long decided. Hrabik’s tally came on the visitors’ tenth shot of the contest, a new franchise record for fewest shots recorded in a game.
Neither team was able to light the goal light in the opening period. Orlando netminder Clint Windsor made sure that his scoresheet was clean, turning away all nine shots he faced. The initial twenty minutes were even easier for Jacksonville goalie Charles Williams. The Solar Bears recorded just one shot in the period, it coming when Kyle Topping put a shot on net during a power play with less than two minutes remaining before the intermission. Up until that point, Orlando had a lot of trouble finding the cage, either missing wide, having shots blocked or having issues controlling the puck in the Icemen end.
The Solar Bears began the second period in a much better way, getting three shots on Williams in the initial 7:29 of the frame. Then a penalty on defenseman Nolan Valleau put the offense back into cold storage, setting the visitors back until they recorded three more in the last five minutes of the stanza.
Jacksonville finally broke the ice on the scoreboard at the 11:56 mark when Lodermeier, who had connected on Wednesday night, did it again. On a rush into the Orlando defensive zone, Lodermeier got loose behind the Solar Bears defense and took a feed from teammate Craig Martin and netted his sixth goal of the season.
Then with just under two minutes remaining in the period, an odd-man push led to Jake Elmer finding Lodermeier in the slot for a shot that eluded Windsor’s glove hand for his second of the night and seventh of the year to make it 2-0.
The Icemen/Lizard Kings went for the kill in the third. They pounded seven shots on Windsor (25 saves) in the first six minutes before Anthony Repaci collected Orlando’s first shot of the frame. Two minutes later, Solar Bears captain Chris LeBlanc recorded a shot but it would be the last for quite some time.
At the 8:39 mark, Szmatula redirected a pass from Nick Saracino past Windsor for his sixth of the season and was followed three minutes later by Nazarian who got behind the defense, and rifled a shot over the goalie’s blocker glove for his tenth of the campaign and a commanding 4-0 cushion.
In between the two tallies, Orlando’s frustrations began to overflow, leading to a fight between the Solar Bears’ Chaz Reddekopp and Jacksonville’s Jacob Friend. That incident was followed by a tussle between Orlando defenseman Alex Kuqali and the Icemen/Lizard Kings’ Pascal Aquin.
Following Nazarian’s score, Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky pulled Windsor in favor of rookie netminder Kris Oldham who was making his professional debut. He stopped the first shot that he saw and one after that for a perfect 2-for-2 showing.
With just under five minutes remaining in the contest, Joseph Garreffa, another of the San Jose assignees, set up his Barracudas teammate Hrabik for his third ECHL goal of the season (both with Allen) and his first Solar Bears tally to break Williams’ shutout bid. Berehowsky then rolled the dice and took Oldham out for an extra attacker. It took a couple of tries but Jacksonville finally hit the empty cage when Gingac scored his second goal in as many game to complete the scoring.
The two teams will head to Orlando for game three of the mini-series Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center. The game has been marked by the Solar Bears a First Responders Appreciation night.
Notes: Final shots were 32-10 in favor of Jacksonville…Neither team hit on the power play with Orlando going 0-for-2 while Jacksonville ended 0-for-4… The previous low for shots on net in a game by the ECHL Solar Bears was 13 in a game on January 29, 2020 in Cincinnati during a 2-1 loss to the Cyclones… Solar Bears forward Jake Coughler was injured late in the first period and did not return… Rookie defenseman Jordan Schneider, son of former NHLer Mathieu Schneider, made his professional debut for Orlando in the game… Orlando now holds a 4-3-1-0 lead in the season series against Jacksonville.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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