ORLANDO, FLA – Yes, Saturday night’s Orlando Solar Bears game against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits got some extra exposure being on local television. And yes, there was plenty of extra incentive with it being the first game of Hockey Fights Cancer.
Turns out all they really needed was a little bit of Playfair and Somppi.
Rookie Jackson Playfair continued his hot streak with a pair of goals while fellow newbie Otto Somppi added two assists to the cause as the host Solar Bears (28-19-4-0) downed the Swamp Rabbits (18-32-3-2) 5-3 in front of an announced crowd of 7,393 at the very loud Amway Center. With the victory and a loss by Jacksonville to Norfolk, Orlando took sole possession of second place in the ECHL’s South division with 21 games remaining in the regular season.
Jackson Playfair (center) celebrates with his teammates the first of his first of two goals against Greenville Saturday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Playfair, who was playing in just his fourth game since joining the Solar Bears, has come out of the blocks firing and scoring. With his two tallies on Saturday, he now has four goals and two assists for six points as a professional and a four game point streak.
“It’s obviously nice. I couldn’t have expected any of this to be going the way it’s going,” Playfair said when asked about his scoring prowess. “I’ve been lucky [that] I’ve been playing with some great players. Otto coming back [to Orlando] has been big for our team. He makes the game easy. I think playing for as long as we have, if you can find some open areas he knows he can get you the puck so I’ve just been trying to listen to what he’s telling me and trying to get to the open areas and when I get it just try and shoot.”
Two days removed from a 7-6 overtime loss to Norfolk, the Solar Bears knew coming in that they would be playing in front of an emotionally charged audience who were honoring loved ones who had fought cancer. After being challenged by Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky at the team’s morning skate to work hard, feeding off the crowd added to the intensity level on the bench.
“We just wanted to go out there and perform in front of the fans, give them something to cheer for and just have some fun doing it,” team captain Mike Monfredo said about the boost the fans gave the players.
Once the TV cameras went live, so did the Orlando team. It took just 1:35 after the opening faceoff for the Solar Bears to score as Somppi won an offensive zone faceoff back to Playfair who blasted it from the circle to the left of Greenville goalie Garrett Bartus and in for his third of the season.
“There was an o[ffensive] zone draw and right before he went in, Otto kinda just pointed to where he wanted me to stand,” Playfair said. “I think I’ve been playing hockey for twenty-some years and I don’t think I’ve ever scored from that spot but he just pointed there and said ‘It’s going to be coming there’. Right off the draw, he brought it back. It was just a slow rolling puck and I was going to catch and shoot but I thought I’d just step into it and see where it went and luckily it snuck by and went in.”
Orlando’s Jackson Playfair (41, right) tangles with Greenville’s Chad Duchesne during Saturday’s first period (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The Swamp Rabbits, who have played well against the Solar Bears all season, answered just past the midpoint of the opening frame. Chad Duchesne keyed the play with a shot from the point that Thomas Ebbing delfected in mid-air, sending it past Orlando goalie Martin Ouellette for his 10th of the season.
The second period was a penalty fest, mostly whistled against the visiting Swamp Rabbits. Orlando had no less than five man advantage opportunities in the frame but failed to connect.
The Solar Bears did manage to find the back of the net in between a couple of those power plays. At the 6:11 mark, defenseman Zach Frye was down low and got a shot off on a wrap around. He filtered into the slot and grabbed the puck again, this time finding some space to score his second since joining the Orlando team from the AHL San Jose Barracuda.
“We were on a power play so we got good zone entry. Me and Kalky [Corey Kalk] kinda played a touch pass behind the net,” Frye said. “They just let me walk to the slot there and I took a shot. The puck was bouncing and I just tried to find a hole and it found the back of the net.”
Less than a minute later, Orlando was back on the man advantage but this time the Swamp Rabbits bit their hosts with a short-handed tally. It came off the stick of Brendan Harms, who took a pass from Michael Pelech and broke in alone on Ouellette. Harms was able to flip the puck past Ouellette’s glove hand for his 10th of the season. It was the final goal of the stanza as the teams headed to the third even at 2-2.
After squandering yet another power play early in the final frame, the Solar Bears made up for it with two tallies in a span of 16 seconds. The first one came at 5:55 when Somppi got the puck behind the Greenville net after a good forecheck by Tayler Thompson and Playfair went to the slot. Somppi made a perfect pass and Playfair made a perfect shot, going under the crossbar for his second of the night and fourth of the season.
Right after the ensuing faceoff, Orlando was right back in the Greenville end of the ice. Trevor Olson ended up with the puck over along the boards to Bartus’ left and did what all good goal scorers do – sailed it at the net. Despite the bad angle, it somehow found its way through Bartus for Olson’s 11th of the year.
Up 4-2, the Solar Bears thought that the Swamp Rabbits might roll over but true to their form, the visitors answered back. It came during a power play that occurred less than a minute after Olson’s score when Kamerin Nault sent a slap pass to the slot where Johno May changed its direction. The puck zipped passed a surprised Ouellette for May’s 20th goal of the season.
Not to be outdone, the Solar Bears got their two goal lead back quickly. Again an offensive zone faceoff was the key as Mathieu Foget won it cleanly back to Monfredo. The defenseman-turned-forward took advantage and nailed a hard slap shot that navigated its way past some traffic in front and past Bartus. For Monfredo, it was his 7th of the season.
“The puck came to me and I closed my eyes and hoped for the best and got pretty lucky that it went in,” Monfredo said. “[The first thing I thought was there was] no way I scored that but when I saw everybody coming to me, I realized it and was just excited to get one.”
Orlando goalie Martin Ouellette made 21 saves to record his 17th victory of the season on Saturday (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
From there, Ouellette (21 saves) and Bartus (33 saves) held the other side at bay, bringing the game to a conclusion with the Solar Bears on top.
Berehowsky, who had made a point of bringing up the poor morning skate on Thursday, was pleased with Saturday’s warm-up practice and how his team played.
“I thought we came out and we had a good start. They’re a good team,” Berehowsky said. “They battled back and we had to pull it out in the third.”
As for the atmosphere of Hockey Fights Cancer, Berehowsky applauded the fans for having the team’s back.
“Our crowd and our fans are the best. When they come out and they have emotion, we feed off of that,” he said. “It’s a special night with what we’re trying to support and we just to make sure the community knows that we really stand behind it and [that] we want to be a part of this community.”
Frye said that the weekend and what it stands for is as important to the players and the team as it is to the fans.
“There was a lot of emotion, especially with the Hockey Fights Cancer [event]. It’s important to us and the hockey community in general,” he said. “It’s a big event for everyone across the hockey world. There was a lot of emotion but we kind of tried to keep it [team’s emotions] in check and just play our hearts out.”
The two teams will complete the Hockey Fights Cancer weekend with a rematch on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Amway Center. Prior to the contest, the Solar Bears will host a Relay for Life lap around the building that starts with a ceremony at 11:45 a.m. followed by the lap at 12:15 p.m. as well as other ceremonies during the game.
Orlando’s Otto Somppi (85, right) clashes with Greenville’s Thomas Ebbing along the boards during Saturday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“Myself personally, I have some family members that have been affected [by cancer]. I think everybody somewhere down the line has been affected,” Playfair said. “Games like this mean a little bit more. I think they mean a little bit more to everybody and when you’re playing for a cause like that. Whether it’s in a game or going to a charity event or something along those lines, it hits close to home and it does give you an extra boost.”
Notes: Final shots were 38-24 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 0-for-7 on the power play while the Swamp Rabbits finished 1-for-3… The Solar Bears have earned at least a point in seven straight home games dating back to January 6th (6-0-1-0)… The win gave Orlando a 3-2-1-0 series lead over Greenville this season… Personal point streaks were extended by Playfair, Somppi (four games), Kalk (four games), Olson (four games), Frye (four games), Thompson (three games) and Cody Donaghey (three games)…The Solar Bears wore special Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys that were auctioned off following the game to benefit the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute… Orlando goalie Martin Ouellette’s jersey sported the name of long time season ticket member Ann O’Brien who passed away from brain cancer on February 5th.
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