ORLANDO, FLA – It has been said by many a coach that “you play like you practice”, meaning that if you work hard in preparation for a game, the outcome is usually positive. On the other hand, if you do not put in the effort preparing, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Thursday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Solar Bears apparently did not have a good morning skate prior to taking on the Norfolk Admirals – and it cost them a point in the standings.
Eric Roy’s goal 1:19 into overtime provided the final margin as the visiting Admirals (22-25-4-3) stole a point by defeating the host Solar Bears (27-19-4-0) 7-6 in front of an announced crowd of 4,136. Trevor Olson led Orlando with two goals while Otto Somppi made his return to the City Beautiful after a recall to AHL Syracuse in December a good one with a goal and an assist in first game back.
Orlando captain Mike Monfredo (right) and Norfolk captain Domenic Alberga have a discussion during Thursday night’s game (Photocourtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“It’s a carryover. We didn’t have a very good morning skate and we tried to reel it in,” Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said following his team’s first loss of any kind at home since January 5th. “We came out [and] we didn’t have a very good start. We tried to battle but it just wasn’t enough.”
To say that Orlando’s start to the contest was bad would be an understatement. Just 29 seconds into the game, Norfolk opened the scoring when Domenic Alberga fed former Solar Bears Darik Angeli in the slot and Angeli beat goalie Martin Ouellette to the top corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season. The secondary helper on the score went to Chris Crane, another former Solar Bear.
The Admirals bumped their lead to two at the 3:00 mark of the opening period when just after killing a penalty, Norfolk’s Matt McMorrow sprang Jake Wood for a breakaway. Wood got Ouellette to commit and beat the netminder between the legs for his 11th – giving the visitors two goals on only two shots on the Orlando net. It nearly went to a three goal margin when Alberga looked to have Ouellette dead to rights but the Solar Bears goalie made a brilliant diving glove save.
Seemingly spurred on by Ouellette’s spectacular stop, Orlando got on the board thanks to a pretty passing play. Tayler Thompson (3 assists in the game) fed the puck back to the point to Zach Frye. Frye then sent it down to Corey Kalk who was heading toward the front of the net. The pass was a little behind him but the rookie took it while skating backward and instantly turned his entire body so that he was heading forward. The move gave him just enough room to drag the puck around Norfolk goalie Ty Reichenbach and tuck it in for his 9th goal of the year and fifth in his last three games.
The Solar Bears continued to press and thought they had tied the score when Thompson played the puck with his skate toward his stick blade while being knocked to the ice in front of Reichenbach. The puck slid into the net but referee Alexander Ross immediately waived off the score, having seen the kicking motion but not whether the disc had hit Thompson’s stick or not.
Orlando’s Tayler Thompson (on ice) and Corey Kalk celebrate what they thought was a game-tying goal during the first period Thursday night. Unfortunately the score was disallowed by the game officials (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“He said it was kicked in,” Berehowsky said when asked what Ross’ explaination had been.
Late in the frame, Norfolk cashed in on a man advantage situation. Kelly Klima sent the puck back to the point for defenseman Don Olivieri. Olivieri found a shooting lane and blasted a slap shot the beat a screened Ouellette to the short side for Olivieri’s 7th of the year.
Seconds later, a penalty to rookie Dylan Fitze for roughing a Norfolk player who was slow in getting off of Ouellette inside the Orlando net put the home team down a man again. This time it was a positive as Olson forced a turnover broke away all alone. He cut to the front of the net and outwaited Reichenbach, flipping a shot over the prone netminder for his 9th of the season to cut the margin to 3-2 after one.
“The gut tried to dump it in and I just took the wall away and ended up having a breakaway,” Olson said. “It was kind of hard to settle the puck down but I finally got it.”
After five goals and some progressively fraying tempers in the opening stanza, the second period was pretty tame. Orlando outshot Norfolk 14-7 in the period but Ouellette and Reichenbach were seemingly dialed back in after a tough first twenty minutes.
It looked like both netminders would have clean sheets heading into the intermission but the Solar Bears found some puck luck in the final minute. Thompson started the sequence with a pass back to Frye at the point. He made a move to create space and fired a shot at the net. Somppi, who was in front, appeared to get a piece of it, redirecting it off the crossbar. The puck dropped into the crease where Somppi swept it home for his second goal as a Solar Bear in three games played over two reassignments.
“We had just gotten the shot off the faceoff, there was a rebound and I got it,” Somppi said.
The third period was one that both goalies would probably want to forget. It started with Klima, the Tampa-born son of former NHL star Petr Klima, took a pass from Connor Hurley and sped past the Orlando defense and beat Ouellette glove side for his 13th goal of the season.
Orlando’s Alex Schoenborn (right) and Norfolk’s Connor Hurley line up for a faceoff during Thursday night’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Down again in the game, Orlando responded with its quick strike capabilities, netting two in a span of 22 seconds to take its first lead. A failed clearing attempt by the Admirals led to the puck ending up on Olson’s stick in the slot. He quickly measured the situation and whistled a shot into the back of the net for his second of the game and 10th of the season. Before the goal announcement had gotten partially done, Somppi sent Jackson Playfair on a rush that culminated with a shot that sailed by Reichenbach’s blocker for the rookie’s second goal of the season at 9:45.
Norfolk returned the stunning turnabout a little under two minutes later when Angeli intercepted a Solar Bears clearing attempt, setting up a two-on-one with Crane. Angeli waited for the right moment and slid a pass to his fellow Ohio State Buckeye and Crane finished it with a top corner snipe for his 15th of the season to knot the score at 5-5.
With 3:41 left in regulation, Klima bagged his second of the contest and 14th of the season to put the Admirals back in front. Olivieri had started the sequence by feeding Hurley who in turn sent it to Klima. Klima skated into the faceoff circle to Ouellette’s left and laced a shot over the goalie’s shoulder to light the lamp.
With time running down, Berehowsky pulled Ouellette (26 saves) for an extra attacker. Just as the goalie got to the bench, Thompson grabbed a rebound of a shot by Cody Donaghey and sent it back to Michael Brodzinski at the point. Brodzinski fed it back to Donaghey who unleashed a wicked blast that went far side top corner before Reichenbach could react for the blueliner’s 11th of the season and a tie game with 1:40 to go before overtime.
Orlando goalie Martin Ouellette (left) makes one of his 26 saves as Norfolk’s Luke Nogard (yellow) and the Solar Bears’s Otto Somppi look on (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
In the extra period, the Solar Bears got two shots in Reichenbach (37 saves) but failed to find the mark. Soon after the Admirals ended the contest when off a transition rush, Klima fed Alberga who in turn sent the puck to Roy. Roy had plenty of room to close and whip a shot past a screened Ouellette for his 4th of the season and the game winner.
Olson, one of the many rookies on the Orlando roster, agreed with his coach about the morning skate being a harbinger of slow starts but he did see a positive that came out of the loss.
“I think it has a lot to do with our morning skates. We show up and do the work but we’re not doing it very hard and that transitions into our starts as you’ve seen. I think we need to address that and make sure we’re pushing ourselves in the morning,” he said. “But as far as team wise, like I said, I thought we were a resilient group tonight but we just didn’t get the result.”
Notes: Final shots were 43-33 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play, their fourth straight contest without a man advantage score, while the Admirals finished 1-for-6… Orlando’s Thompson collected three assists, giving him back-to-back three point outings… With his goal and assist, Somppi now has two goals and two assists in his three outings with Orlando… Olson (three games), Frye (three games), and Playfair (three games) all extended personal point streaks… Orlando is off on Friday before hosting Greenville on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon for Hockey Fights Cancer weekend. Saturday’s game will be televised by WKMG-TV News 6 in the Orlando market while Sunday will feature a Relay for Life lap around the Amway Center, a between periods survivors lap of the ice, Chuck-A-Puck with proceeds going to American Cancer Society and a special luminaria ceremony. A portion of on-line ticket sales using a special code for Sunday’s contest will go to “Ann’s Army” in memory of late season ticket member Ann O’Brien. Game time on Saturday is 7 p.m. with Sunday’s set for 1:30 p.m.
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