ORLANDO, FLA – Last weekend, Alexei Lipanov was playing in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs with the Kitchner Rangers as they bowed out of the post season. Tuesday night, he was sitting in the locker room of the Orlando Solar Bears, who were about to play the Jacksonville Icemen in a game with plenty of playoff implications.
And he played a pretty big part in a monumental win.
New Orlando Solar Bears forward Alexei Lipanov (black jersey) celebrates his first professional goal Tuesday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Lipanov scored his first professional goal on his first shot as a Solar Bear to help Orlando (39-25-4-1, 83 points) to a 2-0 shutout over Jacksonville (36-30-2-2, 76 points) in front of an announced crowd 4,443 at the Amway Center. Troy Bourke netted the other tally for the Solar Bears who locked up second place in the ECHL’s South Division and home ice in the first round of the 2019 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs that begin next week.
“I actually just came [to Orlando] two days ago [and had] just a quick practice yesterday and a warmup [morning skate] here today,” the 19-year old who was a third round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017 said about his whirlwind 48 hours. “It’s unbelievable scoring in my first game [getting] my first pro hockey goal. Yeah, I was pretty happy. It’s cool actually.”
Lipanov was not the only story in the contest. Goalie Connor Ingram, who was replaced early in a game last Friday, continued to show that he is getting acclimated to the ECHL. He stopped all 30 Icemen shots he faced to record his first shutout with the Solar Bears and seventh overall this season after registering six for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.
Both Ingram and Lipanov were getting their first taste of the in-state rivalry between the two franchises that are separated by a two hour drive. Adding to the spice in the contest was the fact that Jacksonville trailed Orlando by just three points for the second seed in the division.
The Solar Bears and Icemen went back and forth through much of the first period of the game, trading stretches of pressure that immediately put Ingram and Jacksonville goalie Angus Redmond in the spotlight. Ingram was forced to show his quick glove hand early on when he robbed Hayden Shaw from point blank range.
Orlando got on the board first just 5:39 into the opening frame. After taking a feed from Chris LeBlanc, Colby McAuley turned in the corner to the right of Redmond and saw Bourke cruisnig in the slot. McAuley found a passing lane and hit Bourke with a pass that set up the Tampa prospect for a wicked shot that screamed its way into the top corner of the net for Bourke’s 11th of the season.
Things stayed that way until the 13:15 mark when the Solar Bears took advantage of a five-on-three power play. Although they did not actually score on the two man advantage, the build up of pressure led to a score. LeBlanc got the puck in the faceoff circle to the right of the net along the half boards. As he did that, Lipanov did what all good goal scorers do – he went to the open spot near the far post. LeBlanc threaded a feed through a gaping crease in the defense to Lipanov who whacked it home for his first goal on his first shot in a Solar Bears uniform.
“I just saw an open spot and Blanckie [LeBlanc] just passed to me and I scored,” Lipanov said. “It was a great pass.”
Solar Bears goalie Connor Ingram stopped all 30 shots to record his first ECHL shutout Tuesday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
From there, the game belonged to Ingram. Since last Friday’s contest, he has been dialed in, allowing just two goals in each of his next two starts against South Carolina and Greenville before shutting down Jacksonville. Tuesday night, Ingram’s glove was quick as lightning and his positioning was rock solid.
Asked about what changed from last Friday to the last three games, Ingram said that nothing had really changed as far as he was concerned. He added that he understood why Solar Bears Head Coach Drake Berehowsky did what he did on Friday.
“I think some days the bounces go your way and some days the bounces won’t. Every dog has its day I always say,” Ingram said. “On Friday night, it [being pulled] was after two goals and there was forty minutes left [so] you never know what could have happened there. I understood what he [Berehowsky] was doing. He made a decision to give the team a spark and he relayed that message on to me too. Ever since then it’s been good. It’s good to play hockey again.”
Up by two with twenty minutes left, the Solar Bears expected the Icemen to come hard. They tried but Orlando was in lock down mode at that point, holding Jacksonville to just three registered shots in the final frame.
The effort in front of Ingram by his teammates recently has certainly been noticed by the netminder.
“My job is getting easier. We’ll take that,” Ingram said. “That’s just settling in. I don’t know if its tough for them having a different guy back there [because] you change your mindset but it’s been good since I’ve been back for sure.”
For his part, Berehowsky said that he thinks that Ingram is finally getting into a rhythm, which for the Solar Bears is a good thing.
“I think he’s a great goalie. He just had to get into his rhythm. He’s been up and down and moved around and he’s getting into his rhythm now,” Berehowsky said. “It was tough to have to pull him [last Friday] but at the same time it’s a team first attitude. He didn’t have a big lip about it or anything. He understood and that’s what makes him a great pro. He’s found his rhythm now and hopefully he’ll keep it going.”
Orlando’s Shaquille Merasty (right) exchanges words with Jacksonville’s David Broll during Tuesday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
As for Lipanov, he admitted to some nerves and that leaving Kitchner was difficult but he is ready to move on and do his job – playing hockey.
“I was a little bit nervous today before the game. It’s my first game. It’s a new team, new guys, new coaching staff,” Lipanov said. “My billets’ [player housing with local families] was amazing. The people were great and I just want to say thank you. I was almost crying to be honest [because] it was like my second family. But it’s life, you just keep going. This is my job, playing hockey.”
The Solar Bears return to the ice on Thursday night when they host the Atlanta Gladiators at the Amway Center at 7 p.m.
Orlando’s Mitch Hults (25,black) sets a screen in front of Jacksonville’s Cody Fowlie (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Notes: Final shots were 39-30 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 1-for-7 on the power play while the Icemen were 0-for-5… With the shutout, Ingram became the third Solar Bears netminder to blank an opponent this season (Martin Ouellette and Corbin Boes had the other two)… Both Bourke and LeBlanc extended their personal point streaks to four games… The contest was the 250th ECHL regular season home game for Orlando since joining the league in 2012. The team’s record in those games is 131-88-15-16… The Solar Bears announced that the first two playoff games in the first round will be played at the Amway Center on Wednesday, April 10th and Friday, April 12th.
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