ORLANDO, FLA – When the Orlando Solar Bears took to the ice at the Amway Center Friday night, there were several faces that were familiar but had not been seen in quite some time. While all of them were welcome sights, it was two who stood out that were vital to the success of the team on this night.
Orlando goalie Ryan Massa (center) registered his second shutout in three starts Friday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Led by a 42-save performance by goalie Ryan Massa and buoyed by the return of head coach Drake Berehowsky to the bench, the Solar Bears (30-20-6-3, 69 points) shut out the visiting Utah Grizzlies (28-25-5-2, 63 points) 3-0 in front of an announced crowd of 7,047. Austin Block, Patrick Watling and Eric Faille scored the goals for Orlando but it was seeing Massa between the pipes and Berehowsky running things that seemed to provide an extra boost – a boost that the team hopes will carry it to the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
“We’re such a close knit group. You can see that everybody cares about each other. I think the focus should be on them and not on me,” Berehowsky, who had been missing since suffering an undisclosed medical emergency on February 21st, said. “I think that they realize that we’re in a battle for a playoff spot and we’re just going to keep playing hard for each other no matter what happens.”
Massa, who was felled by an injury during the first period of the Solar Bears game on February 26th, showed that he was more than ready to return to the lineup. From the opening face-off to the final horn, he was locked in. His performance, especially during the third period when the Grizzlies launched 21 shots his way, was vintage Massa as he stood on his head to guarantee that Orlando came away with two points.
Like everyone in the building, he was happy that both he and his coach were back and drew a direct correlation between the two points.
“[For] myself, coming back from a couple of weeks with an injury, the guys did a great job [of] keeping things simple for me to get back into it,” the second-year netminder said. “It reflected with Drake behind the bench tonight. Everyone was happy to get him back. He’s been working really hard and taking good care of himself. To have him back on the bench was great and it showed through the entire team’s performance tonight.”
All the goals that Massa would need from his teammates came in a span of three minutes and 46 seconds early in the opening frame. The first score, which would turn out to be the eventual game winning tally, came off the stick of Block 3:01 into the contest. Block started the play by driving into the Utah end and making a beeline toward goalie Ryan Faragher. He was thwarted on the play and drifted off to the goalie’s right as Tony Cameranesi – who was just one of the returning faces in the lineup – followed up and put a shot on net that Faragher stopped. The rebound went dead right to Block who was able to slide it home from a difficult angle for his 11th goal of the season.
“I think the puck had eyes to be honest,” Block said. “It was just a weird play. Cammer came down [and it was a] great shot by him. I was just kind of drifting back, the puck found me and I just put it on net. I didn’t really know where it was going to be going but luckily it went in.”
Putting pucks on net and crashing for rebounds was the theme for the Solar Bears as their second score also came off of second and third chances. At the 6:47 mark, Denver Manderson, who was playing in his first game since mid-January, put a shot on Faragher that the goalie stopped. The rebound came out in front where Block swooped in and got off a second try that once again was denied. The bounce off the netminder’s pads on the Block shot sprang in the direction of Watling who buried it for his 12th of the season.
With a two-goal pad, Massa turned up his focus. He robbed Utah’s Eric Higby with a brilliant glove save on a short-handed bid to keep the Grizzlies off the board on the way to an eleven save opening period.
The second frame was a lesson in futility for both offenses as Massa and Faragher settled in for a good old-fashioned netminders’ duel. The Grizzlies goalie started things off with a big glove save on Faille and continued through a perfect stanza by stopping all nine shots he faced. Massa was just a bit busier as he saw ten Utah shots and stopped them all.
The visitors upped their intensity in the final period, storming out of the locker room intent on solving Massa. As the shots piled up,the Orlando goalie seemed to get better and better with every opportunity he faced.
Overlapping penalties late in the period had both team a man down and with some open ice there for the taking, Faille put the game out of reach. Taking a feed, Faille rocketed up the wing to Faragher’s left and quickly darted into the face-off circle. Once there, he cut for the net and with the goalie following him, slid a shot between Faragher’s legs for his 21st goal.
Desperate to avoid the shutout, Utah again pushed back against the Orlando defense. With two minutes left in regulation, three Grizzlies were sniffing around Massa’s crease, whacking away at the puck. Massa calmly and cooly withstood the onslaught. A final Utah power play in the closing 1:17 was mere child’s play for the goalie and his defensive corps as they killed it off to seal Massa’s second perfect sheet in his last three starts.
When asked about Massa’s performance, Block gushed about what Massa as well as Kasimir Kaskisuo mean to the success of the team.
“What is there to say? He [Massa] spoke with his performance. He’s our backbone – him and Kas [Kaskisuo]. It’s [number one goalie] kind of up for grabs,” Block said. “When he posts a shutout like that, he makes it easy on us. He makes all the saves he should and many that he shouldn’t. He’s a huge asset – the biggest asset on our team.”
Notes: Massa now has a shutout streak of 157:56 dating back to February 17th going. He also crossed the 2,000-save mark as a professional… Faille played in his 100th game as a memeber of the Solar Bears on Friday, joining Manderson (117) and Brenden Miller (103) in hitting triple digits this season… Ty Stanton (assigned by Toronto on Monday) and Taylor Doherty (released by AHL Providence on Friday) both earned assists in their returns on Faille’s goal… Justin Buzzeo, who was acquired in a trade with Atlanta on Wednesday that sent Alex Gacek to the Gladiators, played in his first game with the Solar Bears… Faragher made 23 saves in a losing effort for Utah… The visit by the Grizzlies to Orlando was their first since January of 2014.They are now 1-2-1-0 at the Amway Center… The teams will conclude their two-game set Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
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