Monarchs bounce back with a win over the Solar Bears

The Manchester Monarchs took on the Orlando Solar Bears on Saturday in the second game of a three game series. Michael Houser started in net for the Monarch opposed by Rob Madore for the Solar Bears. The Monarchs came out of the gate pushing the pace early. 

The Monarchs tested Madore early in the first, but he proved to be up to the test of the chances. But the Solar Bears battled back and started to gain more and more opportunities on Houser and the Monarchs goal. Like Madore, Houser made the saves that kept the game tied.

Houser came up huge on a slot opportunity by the Solar Bears Johnny McInnis, that keep the scored tied at 0. With just over five minutes to go in the period Matt Fornataro put the Monarchs up, assisted by Michael Boivin and Yann Sauve. The first period ended with the Monarchs leading 1-0 and the shots 11 to 9 for the Monarchs.

The Monarchs came back out for the second period looking to add to their lead and solve Madore. It was more of the of the same from the first, each team continued to trade chances and battle. The Monarchs continued to pound the net, but Madore continued to shut down their chances.

Both defenses were forced to be sharp as both teams started to hang players at the blue line. The Monarchs continued to pound Madore and the Solar Bears defense, but still couldn’t find the back of the net. The Monarchs scored again this time off the stick of Mark Anthoine, assisted by Matt Mackenzie and Alex Lintuniemi.

The second period ended with the Monarchs leading 2-0 and the shots 22 to 13 for the Monarchs. The Monarchs came back out for the third period looking to hang on to their lead. They continued to pound Madore and break through the Solar Bears defense with their shots.

They continued to trade chances, but both goalies continued to keep the score the same. Mark Anthoine stole the puck in the Solar Bears end and slipped it past Madore to give the Monarchs the 3-0 lead. After that the Solar Bears took over, they started to pound Houser with chance after chance.

The Monarchs were stunned by the Solar Bears recent found tenacity, but Houser was up to the test. Derek Arnold took a high sticking penalty that gave the Solar Bears the man advantage. The Solar Bears capitialized on the power play on a goal from Brenden Miller, Patrick Watling and Jack Roswald.

But that was as close as the Solar Bears would get, the Monarchs hung onto win 3-1. The final shots were 33 to 27 in favor of the Monarchs. Third star Michael Houser, he made 27 saves in the victory.

Second star Matt Fornataro, he started the Monarchs scoring with a back door goal on Madore. First star Matt Anthoine, he scored twice to give the Monarchs the victory over the Solar Bears. The rubber match between these two teams will be Sunday afternoon.