DULUTH, GA – When a goalie has a dip in confidence, it can be the hardest thing in the world to get them mentally back in the right frame of mind. When they are going good, it seems like nothing can get by them. Sunday afternoon at the Infinite Energy Arena, Orlando Solar Bears rookie goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo proved that he is more than ready to go on a long hot streak.
Kaskisuo made 36 saves on the way to his fourth consecutive victory as the Solar Bears (14-7-2-0, 30 points) defeated the Atlanta Gladiators (10-12-2-1, 23 points) 4-1 in front of an announced crowd of 4,649. Eric Faille and Patrick Watling each collected a goal and an assist while rookie forward Tony Cameranesi had two helpers to lead Orlando’s offense.
Since November 28th, Kaskisuo has been stingy, giving up a total of nine goals in his last four starts. On the Solar Bears current road trip, the University of Minnesota-Duluth product is 3-0 with a 1.67 goals against average and a save percentage of .954 (103 saves on 108 shots faced).
During his current run, Kaskisuo has had plenty of help from his teammates. On Sunday, the assistance started early thanks to a power play. Less than a minute into the man advantage, Taylor Doherty sent a pass from the half boards back to rookie Nik Brouillard who blasted a shot past a screen created by Faille and into the net behind Atlanta goalie Matt Ginn. Cameranesi also picked up an assist on Brouillard’s third goal of the season.
The Solar Bears increased their lead to two at the 11:46 mark of the opening frame when Watling fired a pass to Faille who was cruising toward center ice. Faille outbattled Gladiators defender Jake Bolton to get himself a breakaway where he beat Ginn with a forehand shot between the goalie’s legs for his eighth tally of the year.
As his teammates were giving him goals, Kaskisuo was making sure that the host Gladiators were not finding any of their own. He was solid between the pipes, making 15 saves in the first period including one on Johnny Daniels late in the frame to keep the visitors up 2-0 at the intermission.
The Gladiators tempted fate through the early stages of the second period, taking two penalties that the Solar Bears failed to capitalize on. The third straight call – this one to Bolton at the 9:07 mark – proved to be the magic one for Orlando as Cameranesi put the puck on the stick blade of Watling who whistled a wrist shot past Ginn’s catching glove and under the crossbar for a power play tally and his seventh score of the season.
Less than two minutes after Watling’s goal, Brett Findlay put a shot on net that Ginn stopped but the rebound found Joe Perry who popped it in for his team-leading fourteenth goal of the season.
The game began to take on an ugly edge after the Findlay tally as the Gladiators and Solar Bears began trading big hits and fists. The first came at the 14:23 mark when Atlanta’s Patrick McCadden blasted Brouillard at the Orlando defensive blueline, drawing the attention of Brouillard’s teammate Chris Bradley who took on McCadden. Just shy of a minute later, Atlanta forward (and one time Solar Bear) Shane Bakker took a swing with his stick at Brenden Miller. Seconds later Perry and the Gladiators’ Drew Baker were throwing down in another high-spirited bout.
Through all of it, the Solar Bears defense was making sure that Kaskisuo had an easy go of things, limiting Atlanta to just eight shots in the middle frame. Kaskisuo was equal to each of the chances and took a shutout into the final stanza.
Kaskisuo lost what would have been his second whitewashing of the season when Brock Higgs netted the loose puck off an initial shot by Eric Neiley thirteen minutes into the third. For Higgs, it was his sixth of the season.
Tempers began to flare again two minutes later when Orlando’s Brock Montgomery wiped out Ben Marshall, causing a bit of a mele. Neiley challenged Montgomery to a dance while Bradley and Higgs dropped the gloves. All four players were sent to their locker rooms with Higgs and Neiley adding misconducts (Higgs’ was a game misconduct for instigating a fight in the final five minutes). Orlando’s Miller would join them thirty-nine seconds later when he picked up a slashing minor and a misconduct.
Atlanta was not able to gain any momentum from the fights, getting just five more shots on Kaskisuo before the final buzzer went.
With the win, Kaskisuo improved his record to 6-3-0-1 while dropping his goals against average to 2.98 and keeping his save percentage at .904 for the year-to-date. Ginn finished with 29 saves in suffering the loss. Orlando went 2-for-6 on the power play in the contest while Atlanta finished at 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
Notes: Orlando’s Denver Manderson played in his 100th game with the Solar Bears on Sunday… In five games against the Gladiators, the Solar Bears have connected for two power play tallies in four of them (9-27)… Orlando is off until Wednesday when they travel to Wheeling, West Virginia to take on the Nailers. Atlanta is next on the ice on Tuesday when it heads to Greenville to take on the Swamp Rabbits.
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