JACKSONVILLE, FLA – On the heels of a solid 4-1 victory over the Jacksonville Icemen on Tuesday, the Orlando Solar Bears had their sights set on sweeping the home-and-home set with their new in-state rivals at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena Wednesday night. Unfortunately for them, the Solar Bears just could not seal the deal.
Jimmy Lodge scored his second goal of the game with 1:27 remaining in overtime to give the host Icemen (3-9-1-0, 7 points) a hard fought 4-3 win over Orlando (4-8-3-0, 11 points) in front of an announced pre-holiday crowd of 4,463. The loss overshadowed yet another big Orlando comeback as the Solar Bears erased a three-goal deficit to send the contest to an extra period.
J.J. Piccinich, J.C. Campagna and Max Novak had the goals for Orlando while goalie Mackenzie Skapski made 37 saves in suffering the tough luck loss.
Looking for revenge following Tuesday’s defeat at the Amway Center, Jacksonville tried to take control of the game early via a much more physical game than it had played the day before. The hard hitting led to an early first period bout between Orlando’s Sam Jardine and Jacksonville’s Cameron Critchlow that ended with Critchlow picking up an extra minor penalty for charging.
Skapski and Icemen netminder Colton Phinney matched save for save over the opening eight minutes of play before Jacksonville gave its fans something to celebrate. It came at the 8:44 mark when just after Critchlow’spenalty ended, Scott Savage drove into the Orlando defensive zone and nailed a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Skapski cleanly. For Savage, Â it was his second of the season – the first having come back on October 14th when he scored the first goal in history of the Jacksonville Icemen against the Solar Bears.
Skapski stayed busy for most of the opening frame and kept Orlando in the contest. The Icemen did find a second first period tally when Brendan Collier deflected a screened shot by Christopher Dienes between the goalie’s legs. The puck squirted through and slid across the goal line for Collier’s first professional goal and a 2-0 lead that the home team took into the first intermission.
Lodge was the recipient of some luck just over two minutes into the middle frame. Icemen captain Garet Hunt took control of the puck along the boards and flung it in the direction of the net. It somehow found its way through Skapski’s equipment to the backside of the play where Lodge was there to bang it home for his second tally of the young season.
Down by three and looking for something to spark them, the Solar Bears found an answer a little over a minute later in the person of Piccinich. He was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on a failed clearing attempt by the Icemen, taking the puck and firing it past Phinney for his fifth of the season. It was also Piccinich’s third goal in as many contests against Jacksonville.
The teams battled to a stalemate for much of the rest of the second stanza with both goalies making the saves they had to make. Then with a little under three minutes left before the break, the Solar Bears pulled within one. Playing off an odd-man rush, Martins Dzierkals put a shot on net that Phinney stopped. The rebound kicked out to Campagna who buried it for his fourth of the season and first as a member of the Orlando roster.
Jacksonville thought it had restored its two-goal lead when the puck was jammed into the Orlando net early in the third. The Icemen’s joy, and that of their fans, was short-lived as referee Liam Sewell waived off the score, indicating he had lost sight of the puck and had blown the play dead before the disc crossed the line.
Given a second chance, the Solar Bears were handed a gift when Dienes caught Piccinich up high with his stick, drawing a good deal of blood and a double minor. Orlando took advantage when a shot by Josh Winquist created a rebound that Novak cashed in for his fifth of the season. The power play tally evened the score at three.
Not too long later, Jacksonville’s Emerson Clark created a short-handed chance that Skapski had to be sharp on. On the ensuing counter attack, Piccinich nearly put the Solar Bears in front when he got a shot past Phinneyonly to have it ring the goal post and stay out.
The game remained deadlocked through the remainder of regulation, forcing the teams to play an extra period for the second time in three meetings. Skapski stood tall, denying Dylan Blujus and Dajon Mingo to keep the game going. Orlando had a couple of chances on Phinney (28 saves) but the netminder was equal to the task. Finally, with time ticking down and a shootout looming, Tyson Fawcett set up Lodge, who had drifted into the slot. He took the pass between the hash marks and lasered a shot past Skapski’s blocker glove to give the Icemen their second win on home ice and their first against their rivals from Central Florida.
Notes: For the second timein as many nights, Jacksonville outshot Orlando, this time by a final count of 41-31… The Solar Bears finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play while the Icemen went 0-for-3… Winquist picked up two assists to pass the 100 assist mark as a professional. He also set a new ECHL Solar Bears mark for consecutive games with at least one helper at 8 games. He broke the previous mark of seven games set by Eric Faille a season ago… The Solar Bears will have Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday off before hosting the South Carolina Stingrays for a pair of contests on Saturday night at 7 p.m.and Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
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