NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Heading into Sunday’s rematch with the South Carolina Stingrays, Orlando Solar Bears forward Canon Pieper was still very green when it comes to playing professional hockey. Having played 47 games in the SPHL during the 2019-20 season and just six so far in the ECHL – two with Iowa and four with Orlando – this year, the second year pro was probably closer to rookie status.
On Sunday however, Pieper’s stock which was pretty good so far in Solar Bears country, rose even further.
Pieper scored two goals, bringing his season total to three, leading a pack of five Solar Bears with multi-point games as Orlando (5-4-1-0) beat South Carolina (5-3-0-0) by a final of 6-3 in front of an announced crowd of 2,570 at the North Charleston Coliseum. Aaron Luchuk, Tyler Bird and Michael Brodzinski each added a goal to the cause.
The scoring outburst, which was a high-water mark for the season to date, assisted goalie Brad Barone who won his third game in four starts during the week. In those contests, Barone stopped 127 out of 137 shots he faced.
Coming off of Saturday night’s loss in which the Stingrays scored three times in the first period, Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky could have been pardoned if he was having flashbacks. Just like the night before, his team took an early penalty and South Carolina cashed in. Late in the man advantage, Victor Hadfield (grandson of New York Rangers and later the Pittsburgh Penguins legend Vic Hadfield), sent Nate Pionk and Alex Brink out on a two-on-one break. Pionk drew the defender to his side and fed Brink who beat Barone to the glove side for his first professional goal at the 5:11 mark.
Unlike Saturday, the Solar Bears didn’t let South Carolina extend the margin. At the 6:30 mark, Bird sent Luchuk away on a break in that led to Luchuk putting the puck through Stingrays netminder Ryan Bednard’s legs for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Five minutes later, Steenn Pasichnuk redirected a shot by Chad Duchesne from the faceoff circle through traffic and past Bednard for his second, giving Orlando a 2-1 lead.
That lead lasted all of 3:49 before the home team had its answer. The scoring play was keyed by a shot from the wing by Patrick Holway. The angle was such that Barone made the initial save but could not control the rebound. The puck skidded past some traffic to an uncovered Carter Cowlthorp in the slot. Cowlthorp took control and fired it into the back of the net for his first professional goal and a 2-2 tie after one frame.
The temperature on the ice began to get hotter as the second period started. Just 3:23 in, a very spirited fight kicked up between Orlando’s Luke Boka and South Carolina’s Jordan Subban. Both landed some big blows that had the crowd entertained – and there was more to come later.
There was only one goal scored in the middle frame and it belonged to the visitors. Just shy of the midway point, the Solar Bears put some sustained pressure on the Stingrays defense. The puck eventually worked its way to Pieper who was in the corner to Bedard’s left. The defense left him enough room to edge his way above the goal line with an angle to shoot at the cage. Pieper’s shot took a weird carom off of a skate and shot over Bedard’s right shoulder for Pieper’s second of the season. It gave Orlando a 3-2 lead, a lead it would not relinquish.
The Solar Bears started the third with nine seconds of carryover power play time and used it to set up their fourth goal of the afternoon. They set up in their offensive zone where Brodzinski fed a pass from the point to Luchuk on the opposite side of the slot. Luchuk in turn passed to Bird on the backside for a wide open shot into the net for Bird’s fifth in five games.
Four minutes later, Brodzinski put the puck on the stick of Pieper with room to advance. Pieper drifted into the circle to Bedard’s right and beat the netminder with a wicked wrister glove side for his second of the day and third of the season. It put Orlando up 5-2 and a rout began to progress.
Sixty-two ticks after Pieper’s tally, Solar Bears defenseman (and San Jose assigned player) Montana Onyebuchi was slammed into the boards by South Carolina’s Brink. Onyebuchi dusted himself off and challenged Brink. Brink was more than willing and the pair dropped the gloves.
Onyebuchi was not done. Shortly after returning to the ice following his fighting major, he crunched Stingrays captain Andrew Cherniwchan. That drew the attention of Jade Miller, who invited Onyebuchi to engage in the third fight of the game and second within eight minutes.
Soon after during a sequence of four-on-four action, the Stingrays closed the gap when Hadfield converted the rebound of a shot by Lawton Courtnall. The goal was Hadfield’s second of the season and made the score 5-3 with five minutes remaining. Brodzinski removed any doubt as to the final outcome when he dialed up long distance, sending the puck the length of the ice and in for his second of the year with just under 38 seconds remaining to close the boxscore.
The Solar Bears will conclude their current five-game road trip with another stop in Estero to face the Florida Everblades on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 36 to 31 in favor of the Stingrays… Orlando went 0-for-1 with the power play while South Carolina went 1-for-2… Luchuk’s now 10-game point streak (8 goals, 10 assists) has him either at or tied for the top spot in goals, assists and points so far this season… Bird’s five goals in five games run tied him for most goals during the week with Maine’s Lewis Zerter-Gossage who had five goals (and one assist) in the Mariner’s 8-7 loss to Trois-Rivieres on Friday.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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