NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Life in the ECHL’s South division can be tough. Every team seems to have the ability to beat the others on any given night. Sometimes one team can have another’s number, seemingly being able to beat the other in a variety of ways time after time after time.
Right now, it looks like the Orlando Solar Bears have the South Carolina Stingrays number.
Rookie Martins Dzierkals scored the game winning goal and added an assist while goalie Cal Heeter won his fifth straight decision with 25 saves as the Solar Bears (8-9-3-0, 19 points) slipped past the Stingrays (10-4-2-1, 23 points) 4-2 in front of an announced Saturday night crowd of 2,860 at the North Charleston Coliseum. Veteran Darryl Bootland, Kristian Pospisil and Max Novak had the other scores for Orlando, which won its second straight game in as many nights.
Heeter, who was named the CCM/ECHL Goalie of the Week for his play during the week of Thanksgiving, personally owns the South Carolina team at this early point in the season. He is now 3-0 against the Stingrays, shutting down the very capable offense of the Low Country’s hockey team to the tune of just two goals per game.
Everyone in the arena knew that Heeter was going to have a good night when he began with a big sliding save on an attempt by Patrick Megannety early in the first period. It would be the first of nine opening stanza saves for the Orlando netminder.
The one shot that got past him came midway through the frame. Taylor Cammarata started the sequence by leaving the puck behind the Solar Bears net for Joe Devin. Devin looked up to see Dylan Margonari lurking in front and slipped a perfect pass that Margonari drove past Heeter’s blocker glove for his fourth goal of the season.
At the other end of the ice, Stingrays netminder Jeff Jakaitis was having a good night,fending off all eight of Orlando’s shots in the first. The Solar Bears finally found a way to beat the veteran goalie when at the 5:07 mark of the second, Tayler Thompson set up Pospisil who fired a wrist shot between Jakaitis’ legs for his fourth goal of the season, the first since October 21st against Allen before suffering an injury the next day.
Heeter bailed out defenseman Sean Zimmerman when he stoned Devin after a defensive zone turnover a couple of minutes later. Soon after, Zimmerman took a penalty and the Stingrays made him pay when Frankie Simonelli gave the puck to Kelly Zajac at the top of the right circle and Zajac wired a shot into the top right corner of the net. For Zajac, it was his third of the season and a 2-1 lead for the home team.
Late in the frame, the Solar Bears had two consecutive chances on the power play. Although they did not score on the first opportunity, the Solar Bears did cash in on the second. Defenseman Sam Jardine ended up with the puck and fired it at the South Carolina net where Bootland, his teammate on last season’s Kelly Cup champion Colorado team, was trying to create a screen. The wily veteran had his stick on the ice where it redirected Jardine’s drive into the net for his first goal with Orlando.
It looked like the teams would be tied heading to the second intermission but Dzierkalshad other ideas. With less than a minute left, he picked the pocket of a Stingrays players in the South Carolina defensive zone and walked in all alone. He froze Jakaitis with a move before sliding a backhander to the goalie’s glove side for his sixth of the season and the second in as many nights.
Playing with the lead going into the third period, the Solar Bears tightened up their defense in front of Heeter and the goalie did the rest. Heeter made sure that he was in position to make every save he had to make, frustrating the South Carolina offense in the process. Even a mid-period penalty to Adam Phillips was no problem as Orlando’s penalty killers led by Heeter easily killed off the disadvantage.
South Carolina pulled Jakaitis (20 saves) with about ninety seconds left in an attempt to use the advantage to tie the score. The idea backfired when Dzierkals got the puck to Novak who sank it into the empty net for his team-leading seventh goal of the season with 57.8 seconds left in regulation to seal the win.
Notes: South Carolina outshot Orlando 27-24 in the game… Both team’s power plays had limited success as each side went 1-for-4 in the contest… Dzierkals’ game winner was his second of the season… One of the linesmen in the game was Max Nicastro. During his playing days, Nicastro spent time with both the Stingrays and the Solar Bears… Orlamdo will finish its weekend triple with a game against the Atlanta Gladiators Sunday afternoon at the Infinite Energy Arena. Gametime is set for 2 p.m.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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