ORLANDO, FLA – On most days, a coach tries and usually finds some sliver of positive in a post game press conference following a loss. Doing so gives him something to build on while pointing out what went wrong. Sunday afternoon, Orlando Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky walked into the post game presser following his team’s game against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits and did not even try to find a silver lining.
Orlando forward Otto Somppi (black jersey) fires a shot that became his first professional goal during Sunday’s second period (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
Based on the Solar Bears effort, Berehowsky had little choice.
Led by a five-point effort from Michael Pelech, the visiting Swamp Rabbits (10-14-3-0) powered their way to a 7-4 victory over Orlando (11-9-2-0) in front of an announced crowd of 4,808 at the Amway Center. Brent Pedersen and Mathieu Foget led the Solar Bears with a goal and an assist each but it was of little consolation to the team’s bench boss.
“I didn’t think anybody played well. That’s it,” Berehowsky said following the Solar Bears’ fourth loss in their last six home contests. “We didn’t compete hard enough. I think we had some chances but we needed more and I thought we gave up too much as well.”
Coming off a road win against Atlanta on Friday, the Solar Bears sat at home on Saturday while Greenville finished its two game set in Estero against the Florida Everblades. Playing their third game in less than three days, most expected the Swamp Rabbits to be under the gun early and they were as Orlando pounded shot after shot on goalie Chris Nell.
It took the Solar Bears just nine seconds to head to a power play but it was Greenville that took advantage of the situation. Forty-eight seconds into the penalty kill, Chris Izmirlian set up Stephen Pierog for a one-time blast that beat Orlando goalie Corbin Boes for his sixth score of the season.
A little less than four minutes later, the Solar Bears evened the score thanks to one of the hottest sticks on the team. A Swamp Rabbits defensive zone turnover put the puck on the stick of defenseman Cody Donaghey. Donaghey wasted little time in ripping a shot from the left side faceoff circle that beat Nell for the blueliner’s fourth of the year – three of them coming in the last three games.
Just as Orlando did for most of Friday’s contest, the Swamp Rabbits made the best of few opportunities, taking the lead again on their fourth shot of the opening frame. It came off the stick of defenseman Chad Duchesne who lofted an off-balance floater that found its way through traffic and past Boes for his first goal of the 2018-19 season.
Orlando defenseman Oleg Sosunov (center)chases after the puck with Greenville’s Stephen Pierog during the third period on Sunday (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
The teams traded failed power play opportunities early in the second before the home team again knotted the score. At the 7:24 mark of the middle frame, Pedersen pushed into the neutral zone where it was collected by newcomer Otto Somppi. Somppi drove into the Greenville end and lasered the puck between Nell’s legs for his first professional goal.
For the 20-year old who was playing in just his second game of the season thanks in part to a training camp injury, getting on the ice felt good even if most of it was knocking the rust off.
“[In the] Friday game,I don’t think I had any legs and my timing was off,” Somppi said. “Today I felt a lot better.I had my skating under me so it was good.”
The game opened up midway through the period. It started when some offensive zone pressure by the Solar Bears led to a shot by Mitch Hults that Nell stopped. The rebound popped into the air, giving Foget time to race to the crease area and with position on a defender, he jammed the puck home for his sixth of the season and fifth as a Solar Bear.
“Tommer [Tayler Thompson] had a good effort down low and he poked it out to Hultsy and Hultsy tried to shoot it short side,” Foget said. “I kind of saw it go into the air and I just kind of tried to use my body and I started whacking at it and it finally went in.”
Foget’s tally seemed to reawaken the Swamp Rabbits who went on a run, scoring three straight before the period ended. The first came at the 12:40 mark when Johno May jammed the puck in from our of a scramble in the crease. The goal touched off ascrum that saw Orlando’s Oleg Sosunov square off against Greenville’s Pelech in a wrestling match while Solar Bears captain Mike Monfredo threw down with the Swamp Rabbits’ Jake Bolton.
The visitors took the lead for good with five minutes left before the second intermission. A steal by the Swamp Rabbits led to a blast by Thomas Ebbing that caught the top corner of the net for Ebbing’s fourth of the year. It also ended Boes’ afternoon as Berehowsky sent Hayden Stewart out to replace his fellow rookie between the pipes.
One minute and 17 seconds after Stewart entered, the first shot he faced came off a mini break-in by Austen Brassard who blasted a shot into the far side top corner for his 11th and a 5-3 Swamp Rabbits lead heading to the third.
Greenville took a carryover power play into the final frame and made the Solar Bears pay when May collected the rebound of a shot by Pelech and dragged it around Stewart to score his second of the afternoon to increase the lead to 6-3.
Pedersen cut the margin back to two during a power play, redirecting a shot by Michael Brodzinski home for his seventh of the season. Sixty-nine seconds later, Pelech intercepted an attempted pass by Stewart and slid it by the out-of-position netminder for his ninth of the season to complete the scoring with just over five minutes left in regulation.
After the game, Foget said the the effort that the Solar Bears put forth as a team was disappointing coming after Friday’s win against the Gladiators.
“It just wasn’t good enough. We all know that,” Foget said. “From the drop of the puck we weren’t ready. Everyone in the room knows we didn’t give it our all. I think maybe a positive was that we shot the puck a lot (the Solar Bears logged 39 shots on net) but other than that we all know deep down that it wasn’t good enough.”
Asked about how he was going to fix what went wrong, Berehowsky promised that something would be done quickly to get the players’ attention.
“Come to practice tomorrow [Monday] and you’ll see how,” he said.
Notes: Final shots were 39-25 in favor of the Solar Bears… Orlando went 1-for 5 on the power play while Greenville was 1-for-3… Listed at 6 feet, 9 inches, Sosunov became the tallest player to ever play in an ECHL game… Six different Swamp Rabbits (May, Brassard, Pelech, Ebbing, Duchesne and Izmirlian) recorded multi-point games… After the game, Berehowsky announced that Somppi was being recalled by Tampa to Syracuse, ending his two-game stay with a goal and an assist. It was also announced through the ECHL that forward Matt Schmalz had been traded to the Worcester Railers… Hults now has a three-game assist streak (3 assists)… The loss dropped Orlando’s home record to 5-6-0-0 so far this season… The game was a homecoming of sorts for Greenville assistant coach Kahlil Thomas. Thomas played for the SPHL Florida Seals in Kissimmee during the 2006-07 season before the franchise folded. He finished the year with the Jacksonville Barracudas before retiring after the 2007-08 season in Jacksonville… The Solar Bears are back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to Jacksonville to face the Icemen at the Veterans Memorial Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Orlando’s Jonne Tammela (center) tries to put a wraparound shot past Greenville goalie Chris Nell (Photo courtesy of Gary Bassing / Orlando Solar Bears)
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