ESTERO, FLA – One of them has been putting up points every time he hits the ice. The other had just returned from a two-month long stint in the American Hockey League. Together they put on a show that was worthy of a look-see by the entire country.
And they did it in one of the most hostile arenas for an ECHL road team to play in.
Brent Pedersen made his return from Manitoba a special one, tying the franchise record for points in a single game, and Otto Somppi chipped in with two goals including a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight reel score as the Orlando Solar Bears (31-19-4-0) slammed the Florida Everblades (37-15-5-0) 7-2 in front of an announced crowd of 5,590 Friday night at the Hertz Arena in Estero. Troy Bourke (1 goal, 2 assists), Trevor Olson (goal, assist) and Dylan Fitze (goal, assist) all added multi-point games as the team from Central Florida pounded its rival from the Southwest Gulf Coast for the second straight contest.
Admittedly, the host Everblades were without a number of key members of its lineup including big scorers Joe Cox and John McCarron. In fact, Florida was so short-handed that it called on former Everblade and Estero-area resident Ernie Hartlieb to suit up for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Still, the performance by the Solar Bears was one that fans will long remember because of Orlando’s own roster issues and a myriad of changes that came following Wednesday’s meeting between the two teams in the City Beautiful.
What might have been expected to be a rough and physical affair after the Solar Bears 6-2 victory on home ice two days prior turned out to be a defensive struggle during the first period. The host Everblades put a lot of heat on Orlando netminder Clint Windsor, who was making just his second start since joining the team in mid-January. Windsor withstood the barrage, making 13 saves in the opening frame including a ten-bell stop on Nathan Perkovich, while Everblades goalie Jamie Phillips was solid as well, making 11 stops of his own.
The Solar Bears had some carryover power play time to start the second period but did not score. The man advantage did however set a tone that led to a big stanza for the visitors.
It all started 3:22 into the middle frame. Mike Monfredo and Tayler Thompson worked the puck along the boards. Eventually the puck ended up with Somppi and the Finnish rookie went to work. As he skated behind the net, he scooped the puck up with his stick blade and swung it around the side of the net. He caught Phillips by surprise, tucking the disc into the top corner over the goalie’s shoulder for his fifth of the season and blowing up social media feeds with the highlight.
Orlando’s lead moved to two at the 13:10 mark of the frame when Pedersen, who had been the second leading scorer on the team when he was loaned to the Moose on December 13th, knocked home the rebound of a shot by Olson for his eighth goal with the Solar Bears.
In the final minute of the period, the Solar Bears went on the power play and again it was Pedersen who struck gold. This time he was in the right place in front of the Florida net to redirect a shot by Mathieu Foget past Phillips for his second of the night and ninth of the year. Coming with 8.3 ticks left on the clock, it gave Orlando a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead after two periods.
Never ones to shy away from a challenge, the Everblades got on the board early in the third period. Working with a five-on-three man advantage, Florida’s Shane Walsh put a shot on net that squeezed between Windsor’s legs. As it lay in the crease, Michael Neville got there first and slid it home for his tenth of the season and second in as many contests.
The Solar Bears got that one back just over two minutes later. Bourke ripped a shot that snuck through Phillips’ legs and came to a stop in the blue paint. Fitze won the race to the loose puck and banged it home for his tenth of the season and a 4-1 Orlando lead.
Somppi returned to the score sheet a little bit before the midpoint of the final twenty minutes. Playing on a power play, Fitze fired a pass from behind the net to Somppi who was hanging out in the faceoff circle. The Tampa Bay prospect wasted little time in firing the puck just under the crossbar for his second of the night and sixth in just seven games played with the Solar Bears.
Hartlieb, the 39 year old veteran whose number hangs in the rafters at the Hertz, was in the right place to take a pass from Perkovich and fire a shot past Windsor’s blocker glove for his first goal since the 2012-13 season. It pulled the Everblades within 5-2 but that was as close as Florida would get.
Olson continued his hot streak at the 16:37 mark when he cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Bourke for his 14th and the team’s third man-advantage tally of the game. Bourke finished the scoring in the final minute when after he made a pass to Matthew Spencer, Spencer’s shot was blocked back to him. Bourke collected the disc and potted a backhander into the back of the net for his seventh in a Solar Bears uniform.
Windsor finished the night with 29 saves in upping his record to 2-0 while Phillips stopped 21 in suffering the loss. The two teams will return to Orlando for a third meeting in four days on Saturday night at the Amway Center. The Solar Bears will celebrate Military Appreciation Night during the contest, which starts at 7 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 31-28 in favor of Florida… The Solar Bears went 3-for-6 on the power play, setting a season high for man advantage goals scored this season, while the Everblades finished 2-for-6… Pedersen joined Max Novak, Josh Winquist and Michael Neal as just the fourth Solar Bears player to post five points in an ECHL game… With his two goals, Somppi moved his consecutive games with at least a point streak to seven games (6 goals, 5 assists)… Olson also extended his point streak to seven games (7 goals, 4 assists) as well as matching the team’s games with a goal run at five consecutive contests. He joins Ryan Cruthers and Brenden Miller – who now plays for the Everblades – atop that list… In transaction news, goalie Martin Ouellette was recalled by the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch while the Crunch sent Bourke to Orlando. As mentioned, Pedersen was returned by Manitoba, which still has Solar Bears forward Hunter Fejes on its roster. Finally, forward Liam Bilton, who played in one game for Orlando, was traded to the Everblades for future considerations.
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