ORLANDO, FLA – Saturday night at the Amway Center was the final day of “Faith and Family Weekend” for the Orlando Solar Bears when they hosted the Gwinnett Gladiators. By the time the final horn sounded, the home fans faith in the team was 
restored and all of the families in attendance had plenty to talk about on the ride home.
For the second night in a row, Orlando made a stirring comeback and this time the effort was rewarded as the Solar Bears downed the Gladiators 5-3 in front of an electric announced crowd of 9,010. The win ended the Solar Bears’ home losing streak at six while keeping the team’s hopes for a big playoff push from taking a hit.
“It was a good character effort. Obviously it was another comeback. We never quit even with a short bench,” Solar Bears head coach Vince Williams said. “I’ve had a lot of proud moments as a coach and this is one of the prouder moments I’ve had.”
Williams had plenty to be proud of. Orlando (26-20-4-2, 58 points) saw its special teams produce three goals including a short-handed tally from Denver Manderson and a power play score from Max Nicastro that helped turn the tide. Goalie Joe Howe, who had a rough start to his time in the City Beautiful on Friday, came on in relief and stopped all 14 shots he faced to give the Solar Bears the chance to come back. Williams also had to be proud of how his team faced adversity and again took its game to another level to get back into the win column.
Much of the adversity the Solar Bears faced came in the form of a fight-marred game that saw two explosions occur in the second period. The results led to four Orlando players including starting goalie Garret Sparks being ejected while just two Gladiators hit the showers early.
From the outset, the game – which was broadcast locally – was much different than any the fans had seen all season. Special teams play dominated the opening frame with five-on-three power plays featured. Orlando took advantage of its second two-man advantage at the 12:58 mark of the frame when Jake Cepis fed the puck to defenseman Bryce Aneloski in the high slot. Aneloski, just back from a stint in the AHL, one-timed the pass past Gwinnett goalie Mark Guggenberger for the first tally of the night.
The Gladiators (17-33-3-2, 39 points) got their chance to play two men up late in the period and cashed it in when a shot from the outside hit forward Brenden Walker in front of Sparks. The puck bounced right to former Solar Bear Zach Yuen who deposited it into the open side of the net to tie the score. Just over a minute later on the continuation power play, J.P. Labardo converted the rebound of a Joe Stejskal drive to give Gwinnett the lead heading into the first intermission.
When Dyson Stevenson found the puck in a scramble in front of the Orlando net and scored 7:42 into the middle frame, things looked bleak for the home team. That was until the fun started.
At the 16:18 mark, Scott Tanski and Geoff Paukovich tangled in the Gwinnett end. As the game officials tried to restore order, Guggenberger fired the puck down the ice in Sparks’ direction. Sparks took exception and began calling for Guggenberger to engage him, taking off some of his equipment in the process. Knowing that Guggenberger was the Gladiators only healthy netminder, Stevenson decided to stand in and took Sparks on. Both Sparks and Stevenson were given game misconducts.
Less than a minute later, Brock Montgomery, who had tangled with Guggenberger on Friday, ran over the Gwinnett goalie and in the process sparked a second line brawl. By the time order was restored, Montgomery along with teammates Carl Nielsen and Alexandre Carrier were in the showers as was Gladiators defenseman Patrick MacGregor.
“It’s part of the game. Sometimes it happens,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of emotion in this game. There’s a lot at stake and a lot of pride involved.”
Howe, who had come into the contest seconds before, was now looking at facing an extended Gwinnett power play. He stood tall in the net and his teammates rewarded him when Cepis set up Manderson for his short-handed score that closed the gap to 3-2.
“It’s something you’ve always got to be ready for . You’re a professional and that’s what you get paid to do,” Howe said about entering the game cold. “It’s not a night off when you’re a backup. You’ve always got to be ready because you never know what can happen.”
After killing off another two-man disadvantage early in the third, the Solar Bears went back on the power play and tied the score. At the 4:52 mark, Johnny McInnis fed the puck to the front of the net where Nicastro was waiting to guide it past Guggenberger (37 saves). Then at the nine minute mark, Cepis (three assists) drew the Gwinnett goalie to him and passed back to Patrick Watling who fired the puck into the wide open net, giving Orlando the lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy. Brady Vail sealed the win with an empty net score in the final minute.
Even with the buzz over the wild second period, Cepis said he and his teammates were focused more on the long term goal than the fights.
“We’re not going to focus on any of that (fights). The bottom line is that we got the two points,” he said. “We did what we had to do and protected our ice at home, stood up for ourselves and got the two points. That’s all that matters.”
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