NORFOLK, VA – Playing with a depleted roster, the Orlando Solar Bears faced off against the Norfolk Admirals Thursday night in the first of two games at the Norfolk Scope. For a while, the Solar Bears hung in but a lack of offense cost them in the end.
Daniel Brickley and Chris Ordoobodi each tallied a goal and an assist while goalie Beck Warm denied 23 of 24 shots as the host Admirals (4-2-0-0) posted a 3-1 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1,949. The win kept Norfolk in the top slot in the ECHL’s South division.
Michael Brodzinski had the lone goal for Orlando on a first period power play, the fourth consecutive the Solar Bears have had at least one man advantage score. Goalie Brad Barone, making his first start since being signed just before the start of the season, made 26 saves on 29 Norfolk shots to give his teammates a fighting chance.
With COVID-19 issues decimating the lineups for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks and the AHL’s Barracudas, all but one of the players sent east to Orlando were recalled over the previous five days. It left Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowski scrambling to fill a vacancy in net – which he did by signing Alex Dubeau on Tuesday – and adding defenseman Andrew McLean from the SPHL’s Knoxville Ice Bears to give himself five blueliners. Rookie forward Luke Boka was also forced into action for the first time to provide the Solar Bears with three full forward lines.
The first meeting between the two divisional foes since February 23, 2020 (pre-pandemic) started off quietly with the only animosity exhibited in a scrum between Orlando’s Jackson Keane and Norfolk’s Chase Lang that led to matching roughing calls. Less than a minute after the penalties, the Admirals took an early lead. Ordoobodi found some room in the Solar Bears end and fired away at Barone. The goalie made the save but the rebound bounded over to the halfboards. Brickley found the loose puck and sent it toward the cage, where it hit an Orlando defenseman and snuck past Barone for Brickley’s third goal of the very early season.
Barone started to stabilize things following the goal, letting his teammates find their way. It eventually led to a power play and a tying goal. Norfolk’s Sam Thibault took a penalty at the 14:39 mark and on the ensuing faceoff, the Solar Bears controlled the puck. Brodzinski and Aaron Luchuk played catch before Luchuk teed up a pass that Brodzinski one-timed past Warm for his first of the year to make it 1-1. Krystof Hrabik, the lone San Jose asigned player still in the Orlando lineup, picked up the secondary assist.
As the middle frame opened, the Admirals again flexed their offensive muscled. They dominated play for much of the first twelve-plus minutes in the period. Norfolk peppered Barone with ten shots but the Orlando netminder was equal to the task. The eleventh shot by the home team, however, proved to be a killer.
Alex Berardelli did much of the work as he and linemates Brickley and Ordoobodi. Buzzed around the Orlando defensive end. Eventually Ordoobodi had an opportunity to shoot and beat Barone for his first ever ECHL goal at the 12:36 mark to put the Admirals in front 2-1, a lead that they would not give up.
Early in the third period, Norfolk put the final dagger into its opponent. Just 1:02 in, Lang put what appeared to be a relatively innocent shot on net. It managed to find its way between Barone’s legs and across the line for Lang’s fourth tally of the season and a two-goal cushion at 3-1. That was more than enough for Warm, who fended off a 13-shot barrage by the Solar Bears in the final twenty minutes to record his third win in four outings.
The two teams will meet again Friday night at the Scope with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m.
Notes: Final shots were 29-24 in favor of Norfolk… The Solar Bears were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Admirals went 0-for-3. Orlando’s penalty killers are 11-for-12 through four games and the man advantage units are 6-for-17… Brodzinski, Luchuk and Hrabik all extended their point streaks to four games.
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