JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On Tuesday night, the Orlando Solar Bears eliminated the Jacksonville Icemen from contention for the final playoff berth in the ECHL’s Eastern conference. Three days later, the Icemen had an opportunity to get sweet revenge by knocking their Sunshine State rival out, leaving the South Carolina Stingrays to move on to the postseason. When the ice chips at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena finally settled, two teams were happy with the outcome – and neither one was named Solar Bears.
Orlando’s Chris LeBlanc camps in front of Jacksonville goalie Kyle Keyser during Friday’s game (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
Backed by a superb 38-save performance by goalie Kyle Keyser and multi-point nights from Erik Bradford (goal, 2 assists), Mike Szmatula (goal, assist), Abbott Girduckis (goal, assist) and Jake Elmer (2 assists), Jacksonville (34-29-3-4) drubbed Orlando (36-28-6-1) by a final of 5-1 in front of an announced crowd of 5,236. The victory assured the Icemen that they were the kings of Florida as they won the season series against both the Solar Bears and the Florida Everblades.
Joe Garreffa netted the lone goal for Orlando in its penultimate game of the 2020-21 season, a season that was unlike anyone has seen before. Goalie Clint Windsor had an uncharacteristic off-night for the second straight day, making 19 saves on 23 shots in 42:44 of playing time before being relieved by Michael Lackey following Jacksonville’s fourth goal of the contest.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Solar Bears, who had their playoff fate in their own hands entering Thursday’s pivotal game with South Carolina. In what amounted to two straight elimination round contests on back-to-back evenings, Orlando was outscored 11-3 and gave up unanswered goal runs of six by the Stingrays and four by the Icemen. Instead of still having a chance on the final day of the regular season, Orlando and its fans are wondering how things ended up with the Solar Bears on the outside looking in.
The opening period was a good one, filled with pace, shots on net and great goaltending. The fans got into the game early on when at the 4:03 mark, Orlando’s Dmitry Semykin and Jacksonville’s Jacob Friend dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe in a very enertaining fight at center ice. From there, it was the netminders, Keyser and Windsor, who put on a show with save after save that kept the scoreboard clean. By the time the buzzer to end the period sounded, there were still no goals on the board.
The scoreless tie lasted all of 14 seconds into the middle frame. Working with 17 seconds of power play time carried over from the first, the Icemen went to work and it quickly paid off. Elmer made the key play, a pass from below the goal like to the top of the crease where Bradford got it and with no Orlando defender challenging him, got Windsor on his knees and tucked around the big goaltender for his 11th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, the lead doubled when Szmatula took the puck into the faceoff circle to Windsor’s left and fired top corner on the far side. The puck whizzed past the Solar Bears netminder for Szmatula’s 22nd to make it 2-0 and there was still almost 18 minutes left in the frame.
Orlando’s Dmitry Semykin (purple) and Jacksonville’s Jacob Friend had a heavyweight battle in Friday night’s contest (PHN photo by Trina Kirk)
It almost became a three-goal game not too long after when Windsor found himself under siege. He was forced to make back-to-back high quality stops and appeared to be injured but soldiered on between the pipes. Windsor was also a big part of the killing off of a five-on-three Jacksonville man advantage that lasted 1:43 in playing time.
Keyser was just as clutch at the other end of the ice. He continued to keep his scoresheet clean, facing down four Solar Bears shots in a span of 35 seconds at the tail end of another Orlando man advantage. At the end of two periods, Keyser was a perfect 25-for-25 and the Icemen had a 2-0 lead going to the third.
At the start of the final frame, the Icemen went on another two-goal splurge to put the game out of reach. A Solar Bears penalty 23 seconds in put Jacksonville on the power play and it was costly for the visitors. A turnover led to a two-on-none break-in right down the slot. Szmatula drew Windsor to his side of the ice before dropping a diagonal pass to Girduckis who ripped it home before the goalie could get across for his 12th of the season. Then less than a minute later, Bradford sent a pass off the halfboards to the slot where Ara Nazarian stuck his stick out and redirected the feed into the back of the cage for Nazarian’s 25th. At that point, Jacksonville had a commanding 4-0 lead and all looked hopeless for the Solar Bears. The push was the end of the night for Windsor, who for the second night in a row, was replaced by Lackey.
Garreffa tried to spark his team by tallying his 13th goal of the year off a feed from J.J. Piccinich. Garreffa had the chance to pick his spot and went high glove side to break up Keyser’s bid for a shutout.
The 4-1 Jacksonville lead held until just past the midpoint of the period. It came when during the end of a penalty kill, Brenden Miller, after initially being knocked to his knees, got back up and broke in. He was able to slip the puck between Lackey’s legs for Miller’s ninth of the year and the final goal of the game.
From there, Keyser and his friends had things under control. Orlando logged a mere two shots on net in the final 9:18 of the frame as Jacksonville completed its task of exacting revenge on the Solar Bears.
Both teams will finish their seasons on Saturday. Orlando will be at the Amway Center to face the Florida Everblades at 7 p.m. while Jacksonville travels to North Charleston to meet South Carolina at 6:05 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photojournalist at trina.kirk@prohockeynews.com
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