ORLANDO, FLA – During the first two games of his first full professional season, Jack Rodewald was one of the hardest workers on the Orlando Solar Bears roster. That work led to picking up three points, all on assists. Saturday night, that total doubled in a hurry.
Rookie Jack Rodewald scored his first professional goal Saturday night (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Rodewald netted his first professional goal and added three assists as the Solar Bears (3-0-0-0, 6 points) remained unbeaten with a 6-3 victory over the Norfolk Admirals. The win, highlighted by two goals and two assists by Brady Vail and two more tallies from Brett Findlay, was Orlando’s third straight by the exact same score.
“He’s (Rodewald) probably been our most consistent player from start to finish. There are guys who have to score in order to be impact [players]. Jack Rodewald can go twenty games without getting a point [and] he’s still one of out most effective players,” Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen said about Rodewald. “He makes an impact every shift he’s out there. He’s been really good for us.”
Rodewald and linemates Findlay and Patrick Watling (two assists) stole the show on Saturday as the Solar Bears continued their display of firepower. In three games, Winnipeg native Rodewald has seven points (one goal and six assists) to go with five points from Findlay (four of his being goals), six from Watling (one goal, five assists) and eight points from Vail (three goals, five assists).
They are just the tip of the iceberg as almost every Orlando player has a least one point over the initial three contests. For Rodewald and the other rookies, keeping the momentum going is the goal.
“Consistency is definitely something I want to work on this year,” Rodewald said. “To really get a few points and have a little breakout with my linemate Findlay tonight, it felt really nice.”
With rookie netminder Ryan Massa making his first professional start, the Solar Bears wanted to repeat their fast start from opening night. Rodewald got things going 5:22 into the opening frame, beating Norfolk goalie Ty Rimmer between the legs after a pretty give-and-go passing play with Watling. It was the lone score of the frame thanks to Massa who looked much calmer and cooler than a rookie would be expected to be.
“I thought he (Massa) was excellent. I thought he looked composed. First pro start [and] Saturday night at home, [he] very easily could have looked rattled or shaky,” Noreen said. “I don’t think at any point during that game there was not a calm bone in his body. I thought he made it look pretty easy.”
The Admirals (1-4-0-0, 2 points) quieted the 5,818 fans at the Amway Center less than a minute into the second when Greg Chase popped home the rebound of a Josh Currie shot. The score stayed tied for quite a while, allowing the tension on the ice to build into hostility which led to Orlando’s Chris Clapperton and Norfolk’s Marc-Olivier Roy dropping the gloves.
Goalie Ryan Massa (left) fends off a Norfolk player on the way to his first pro win (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Less than a minute later, an Orlando penalty put the home team on the penalty kill – a place the Solar Bears are more than comfortable being in. Thirteen seconds into the kill, Vail and Eric Faille broke out on an odd-man rush that culminated in Faille beating Rimmer for his third goal in five periods and the team’s fourth short-handed tally in three games.
Another give-and-go early in the final period saw Rodewald feed Findlay who ripped a shot over Rimmer’s glove side shoulder to extend Orlando’s lead to 3-1. Currie slowed the home team’s momentum by beating Massa three minutes later to bring the Admirals back within striking range.
Needing a lift, the Solar Bears got it from Palm City, Florida native Vail. at the 7:54 mark, he took a pass from Watling and lasered a shot inside the post to Rimmer’s left to restore the two-goal margin. Then just a handful of seconds after a power play had expired, Rodewald set Vail up for a tally that opened the lead up to three scores.
With the outcome seemingly decided, the game took a turn toward the wild side with both sides looking to send messages. Two mental lapses within 44 seconds left the Solar Bears two men short and Norfolk capitalized when Currie took a feed from Steven Whitney and put the puck past Massa to trim the lead to 5-3. All that was left for the Admirals was to pull Rimmer (27 saves) but as it had on Thursday, the strategy failed when Findlay deposited the puck into the empty net for his second of the night.
Massa, who finished with 38 saves, was thrilled with picking up his first pro win and very appreciative of the goal support his teammates gave him.
“It was a lot of fun. We’ve got a great group of guys and they certainly put the puck in the net for me tonight,” he said. “It was a great way to get my feet wet in front of a great home crowd.”
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