ORLANDO, FLA – With close to half of its roster consisting of players in their first or second years in professional hockey, the Orlando Solar Bears are having to watch many of their guys grow up on the ice. Sometimes they play as if they have plenty to learn but when they play with confidence and without fear, one can see the promise that lays ahead of them.
Orlando goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo and defenseman Jon Jutzi surround South Carolina forward Patrick Gaul during Saturday’s game (Photo courtesy of G. Bassing & F. Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Saturday night at the Amway Center, rookie goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo made 24 saves to earn his first professional shutout and defenseman Jon Jutzi’s first goal in the pro ranks was the game-winner as Orlando (5-4-1-0, 11 points) blanked the South Carolina Stingrays (4-5-1-0, 9 points) 3-0 in front of an announced crowd of 5,266. The win, coming off of Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Stingrays, was a perfect shot in the arm for a team needing to turn its fortunes around on its home ice.
It was an even bigger positive shot for Kaskisuo, who had yet to earn a win let alone show why the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted him in their system, to the hockey fans of Central Florida in person.
“Tonight I felt [the] most like myself out there and felt really confident going in. The big difference I feel like was Piero Greco, the [Toronto] Marlies goalie coach is down here,” Kaskisuo said. “We worked hard, worked smart the last couple of days and he kind of put me back on track with what I need to do. I felt like myself out there. I could play with (to) my strengths and make the game easier for myself.”
Unlike the start to Thursday’s contest, it was South Carolina that came out of the locker room looking to run the Solar Bears out of their own rink. The Stingrays pushed the tempo and created some great chances for themselves in the first eight minutes of the opening period.
The best of those scoring opportunities came when a stretch pass found Patrick Gaul speeding through a seam for a clean break in. He attempted to get the young Orlando netminder to bite on a move and rifled a shot for the top corner to Kaskisuo’s glove side but Orlando’s goalie came up with one of his best saves of the night.
“In that situation, I just read the play well and got out of my crease and challenged him,” Kaskisuo said. “I got my line, got my depth and when he shot it was, just like the way we were working with Greco here, tracking the puck all the way and tracking it into my glove.”
Knowing that Kaskisuo had their backs allowed the Solar Bears to open up their offense in the back half of the first period. They were able to close the gap in shots on net but were not able to put one past South Carolina starter Adam Carlson, sending the teams to the intermission in a scoreless tie.
The deadlock beyond the midpoint of the second period as both Kaskisuo and Carlson were dialed in – that is until Jutzi stepped in.
Orlando moved the puck into the Stingrays defensive zone and started buzzing around Carlson. Eventually Johnny McInnis sent a pass back to the blue line where Jutzi took it and drifted to the middle of the ice. Seeing a mass of bodies in front of the net, Jutzi smartly let go with a hard wrist shot that navigated its way through the screen and into the top corner of the net on Carlson’s glove hand side.
“It was a bit of a scramble in front and the puck popped out to me. I just tried to lay a little fake so I could get it by the first guy and tried to miss everyone and it found its way through,” the Minnesota State University – Mankato graduate said. “It was a great job by the guys in front. They gave the goalie pretty much no chance. It was nice to get the first one.”
While that was going on, the Solar Bears defense was beginning to clamp down on South Carolina’s offense. After allowing thirteen shots in the opening frame, Orlando gave up only seven in the middle frame with Kaskisuo fending off every one of them.
“Kas (Kaskisuo) was the key early and then I thought our team defense and our commitment to five guys [kicked in]. If you look at how many shots from the blue line they took that went wide, the reason those went wide was because our guys were there with their bodies in the shooting lanes sacrificing,”Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen said.
Orlando carried the momentum into the final stanza, flipping the script from the game’s opening minutes. The Solar Bears took the game to the Stingrays, forcing Carlson to make save after save to keep his team within reach. At the 12:45 mark, Orlando rookie defenseman Nikolas Brouillard tangled with South Carolina’s Domenic Monardo with Monardo being tabbed for an extra penalty. On the ensuing power play, Carlson (28 saves) made a pad save on Brett Findlay’s drive from up top but Joe Perry was there to deposit the rebound in the back of the net for his fourth of the season and a two-goal cushion with 6:49 remaining. Jutzi also picked up an assist on the score to give him a two point night.
All that was left was to secure the shutout for Kaskisuo and the Solar Bears defense had no intention of giving up a score. They held the Stingrays to just four shots on net in the final twenty minutes and allowing their goalie to see everything coming his way. Tony Cameranesi finished off the scoring with an empty net goal with 6.8 seconds remaining to close the scoresheet.
When asked about what changed between last Saturday when Kaskisuo allowed five goals to Atlanta and this week, Noreen gave credit to both his netminder and Greco.
“Obviously the credit is always going to go to the player but above that, Piero Greco comes in and spends time with our two goaltenders the last two days here and it’s no surprise that Kasimir comes out as the best player on the ice tonight,” Noreen said. “We owe a lot of credit to Piero and obviously the Maple Leafs and Marlies organization for having him come down here and the commitment that they show to our group here.”
Notes: Prior to the game, ECHL Vice-President of Hockey Operations presented the 2015-16 Ryan Birmingham Memorial award to the family of linesman Camden Nuckols. The award is given annually to honor an on-ice official for his contributions and dedication to the league officiating staff as voted by the officials themselves. Nuckols, who lived in the Orlando area and worked many Solar Bears games at the Amway Center, passed away from an illness last November…The two teams will play the rubber game of the three-game set Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. In a schedule twist, it will be the final time South Carolina will visit Orlando unless the teams meet in the playoffs. The Solar Bears will go to North Charleston for two games on March 31st and April 2nd.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @phnsingleaedit or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.