ORLANDO, FLA – With less than a minute to go in regulation, Saturday’s ECHL battle between the Jakcsonville Icemen and the Orlando Solar Bears seemed destined to go into overtime. It would have been fitting since the two squads were playing in their third consecutive meeting in three days with each side carrying a win into the rubber game of the set. They had banged, pounded, gouged, snarled at and taunted each other so none of the 8,782 fans at the Amway Center probably would have minded if some extra hockey came their way.
Then Colby McAuley stepped in and said enough.
McAuley converted a rebound for a goal with 51 seconds remaining in regulation to set off a celebration on the ice and the stands as the host Solar Bears (16-12-3-0) came away with a 3-2 victory over the Icemen (18-13-1-0). McAuley added two assists to his tally in support of goalie Corbin Boes who outdueled Jacksonville netminder Tanner Jaillet in a battle of spectacular saves.
“I was just in the middle of the slot, kind of waiting. [Trevor] Olson and [Mathieu] Foget were battling on the wall. Olson pulled out the puck and went to the net and shot it and I got the rebound,” McAuley, a San Jose prospect assigned to the Solar Bears, said about his game-winning score. “It’s a rivalry game, it’s a division game. Those points matter and we didn’t let them get any. I guess when I scored all the boys were just happy.”
Given the effort – or lack thereof – by Orlando in Friday night’s loss up in Jacksonville, the players needed to respond, especially on home ice where the Solar Bears have struggled at times. With the knowledge that the crowd was going to be large and being broadcast on local TV, this was an opportunity for the team to show off.
After the Solar Bears clanged the post behind Jaillet in the first minute of the opening period, the teams settled into a slow and steady standoff as both sides tried to see if the other had any energy after two rugged affairs the previous two days. That all changed at the 8:25 mark when Orlando got a spark from Matt Spencer.
Spencer had been up with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch since December 8th but returned to the City Beautiful Saturday morning. He jumped into a transitional rush with McAuley and was in position to take a drop pass and rip a shot into the far side top corner of the net for his fourth goal in a Solar Bears uniform.
“We had a good transition play from our neutral zone / defensive zone area. Our coaches both here in Orlando and at Syracuse, they stress getting up into the play so I did my best to skate up there,” Spencer said. “I called for the puck, had a good drop pass and tried to put a good, strong shot on net. I was glad it went in.”
A couple of minutes later, the Solar Bears went on their second power play of the period. Urged on by the coaches, the man advantage units went on a sustained and furious attack, forcing Jaillet to make five saves in a span of 45 seconds. At that point, Jacksonville captain Garet Hunt tangled with Orlando forward Jonne Tammela – a situation that saw Hunt receive 14 minutes in penalties to just two for Tammela.
Suddenly, Orlando was on a five-on-three advantage and had 1:16 to work with. The barrage on Jaillet continued for four more shots until Michael Brodzinski teed up a pass to Cody Donaghey who slammed a slapshot through a screen that rang off the inside of the post to the goalie’s left and in for the defenseman’s seventh lamp-lighter of the year.
“The message was to shoot the puck and we did it. We’re not a team that’s going to survive on getting twenty shots a night. We have to put more pucks at the net,” Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said about the aggressive attack. “We talked about it this morning and the guys agreed and they went out and executed tonight.”
With six minutes left in the stanza, the Solar Bears had 15 shots on net (they registered a total of 19 in Friday’s loss) and seemed raring for more. Before they could, the Icemen got on the board when Maxime Fortier fired a shot from the faceoff circle to Boes’ left off the netminder and in for his ninth goal of the season and second during the three-game set.
The emotions of the in-state rivalry nearly got the best of both sides at the end of the period. Out of the madness, the Solar Bears found themselves with a power play to start the second but Jaillet, coming off his first pro shutout the night before, held the fort.
It was just the beginning of a middle frame that featured the men behind the masks. Jaillet was peppered with 14 Orlando shots and stopped every one of them. One was a breakaway by Tammela. Another time he stoned Mitch Hults and McAuley on an odd-man rush. Then there was the save he made using his mask on a shot so hard that it knocked the mask loose.
At the other end, Boes was again not as busy as his counterpart but he was solid nonetheless. He turned away all six Icemen shots to maintain the Solar Bears 2-1 lead heading to the final frame.
“That’s his job – to save our bacon. He’s a good goalie and he’s finding his way in the league right now and he’s making some big saves for us for sure,” Berehowsky said about Boes. “We count on our goalies to make big saves when mistakes happen because mistakes happen – that’s why it’s called a game. I thought his effort was terrific.”
The two goalies continued their battle into the third period when Boes was forced to stare down the most exciting play in hockey. At the 7:16 mark, Jacksonville’s Kris Newbury got behind the Orlando defense with the puck. He was hooked from behind, giving referee Matt Menniti the choice of calling a penalty or awarding a penalty shot. Menniti chose the latter and Newbury beat Boes to the top corner for his twelfth goal of the season and a tie at 2-2.
Boes (22 saves) bounced back to make a couple of huge stops including denying an in close rebound off the stick of Jack Glover. Boes’ work laid the groundwork for McAuley to play the part of the hero in the dying seconds of regulation.
Boes, who collected his sixth win of the season, gave a lot of credit to his teammates for the victory.
“I think that was probably our most complete game of the season. You could see it. There were so many blocked shots. It was outstanding to see,” the rookie goalie said. “I’m sure that if a couple of those aren’t blocked that they have a good chance of going in. It shows the character of the team to bounce back after last night and play the way that Coach Drake wants us to play.”
As for Berehowsky, he was extremely happy with the way the team responded to Friday’s loss.
“First off, I loved our effort. That’s the best we’ve played in a long time, [especially] considering we had a three-in-three. Our work ethic was just second to none tonight,” he said. “I’m really proud of the guys for grinding it out. We only played with nine forwards and they really grinded it out and I’m so proud of them.”
With three games at home next week before the team heads out for a road trip that will see it consume much of January into early February, McAuley said that keeping the intensity and effort level from Saturday going is what the Solar Bears need to do.
“We know what it takes now. It’s not going to come easy the second half of the season,” McAuley said. “We’ve got to show up every night, put our work boots on and go.”
Notes: Final shots were 44-24 in favor of Orlando, the fifth time the Solar Bears have eclipsed 40 shots this season… The Solar Bears were 1-for-6 on the power play while the Icemen went 0-for-4… Orlando is now 4-2-0-0 this season against Jacksonville with six more meetings to come… With the win, the Solar Bears evened their home record at 8-8-0-0. They also are sporting a perfect 12-0 record when leading after two periods including a 6-0 mark at home… Jacksonville’s Jaillet finished the night with 41 saves… Orlando finished the month of December with a solid 7-5-1-0 record… The Solar Bears announced that in addition to Saturday’s televised contest, WKMG-TV News 6 (Orlando’s CBS affiliate) will broadcast the game on February 23rd against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits… The 2019 portion of the schedule begins on Wednesday, January 2nd at the Amway Center when the Swamp Rabbits come to town.
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