ORLANDO, FLA – The ECHL regular season is 72 games long and is filled with ups and downs, peaks and valleys, good times and bad. Finding positive points – even in a loss – is a sure fire way for a coach to keep stressing the good while getting his players to remain focused on maintaining the systems and getting back onto the right track.
Orlando’s Tony Cameranesi (12, white) follows the puck while battling a Greenville defender Saturday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Saturday evening at the Amway Center, Orlando Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky found himself in the position of highlighting the silver lining that came out after his team fell to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (17-12-2-0, 36 points) by a final of 4-3 in a shootout before an announced crowd of 4,683. The loss, which extended the Solar Bears’ winless streak to three games, left Orlando with a 17-10-4-1 record and in second place in the South division as the calendar turns from 2016 to 2017.
“I thought we played well. I thought we played a good game. They’re a good team and it went back and forth,” Berehowsky said. “We managed to get a point and I liked the way we played tonight. We got pucks in deep, we had a lot of chances to score and just unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”
Looking to avenge Friday night’s overtime loss to the Swamp Rabbits, Orlando had things going its way in the early going. The Solar Bears opened the scoring 6:06 into the opening period when Denver Manderson drove down the wing to Malcolm’s left and centered a pass to the slot where Joe Perry collected it and put a shot through the goalie’s legs. Malcolm slowed it down but the momentum carried it across the goal line for Perry’s team-leading 18th goal of the season.
“I didn’t even know that it went in,” Perry said about the score. “It was a great play by Mandy just to get it to me in the middle there. I was just trying to get the puck on net [because] it was a tough pass to handle so I just did the best I could with it and tried to get it on net and luckily it squeaked through.”
Life got even better for the Solar Bears a little over three minutes later. Austin Block – who collected two assists in the contest – got the puck to Perry who tried to drive toward the Swamp Rabbits net. The puck slid into an open spot in the slot where defenseman Brenden Miller swooped in and put a shot into the top corner of the net on Malcolm’s stick side for his third of the year and second in as many games.
Penalties bit Orlando just past the midpoint of the period and allowed Greenville to get back into the game. With Manderson already in the penalty box, Miller was hit for a slashing penalty that gave the Swamp Rabbits a two-man advantage for a minute and 49 seconds. The Solar Bears trio of Eric Faille, Trevor Ludwig and Chris Bradley killed a lot of the time but with the clock running down, Angelo Miceli put the puck on the stick of Joe Houk who snapped a wrist shot though traffic that beat Orlando goalie Ryan Massa for Houk’s fifth of the season at the 12:53 mark.
The score stayed 2-1 in favor of the home team into the middle frame when Greenville was able to even things up. At the 8:22 mark of the frame, Brandon Alderson busted through the faceoff circle to Massa’s left. He looked up and fired a hard pass across the crease to Tommy Thompson who was alone at the backside post. Thompson was able to bang the puck home before Massa could get across to block it for his seventh of the year.
As the period wound down, tempers flared when Orlando’s Taylor Doherty slammed Greenville’s Matt Johnson into the boards. Swamp Rabbits captain Bretton Cameron immediately jumped in to challenge Doherty and away went the gloves. With less than a minute left before the intermission, Cameron and Doherty were sent to their respective locker rooms but as the linesman was escorting Doherty off, Paul Zanette followed the pair to the gate, challenging Doherty to continue the mele. For his troubles, Zanette was given a ten-minute misconduct.
Losing Doherty for seven minutes put a strain on the Solar Bears lineup as Ben Danford and Trevor Ludwig had already left the game with injuries, leaving Orlando with a short bench. Still, they managed to keep the game tied heading to the third.
“They’ve shown a lot of resilience all year. They’ve been short, they’ve had to play ten games in 19 nights. These guys work hard,” Berehowsky said of his team. “I’m so proud of them and they should be proud of themselves.”
The hockey gods seemed to be smiling down on the Solar Bears as the final stanza began. Referee Andy Howard, who had yet to give Orlando a power play to that point, whistled both Matt Prapavessis and Justin DaSilva off in quick succession, allowing the Solar Bears to have a two-man advantage. Mired in a long drought, Orlando’s power play finally connected when Miller set up Faille for a one-time bomb that screamed past Malcolm for Faille’s fourteenth of the season and a 3-2 lead.
Playing with the lead once again, Massa and his teammates dug in with the intention of holding their margin. Massa was coming up with save after save, continually frustrating the Rabbits.
It seemed like Orlando had things in hand as the clock wound inside of a minute left in regulation. Greenville pulled Malcolm (37 saves) for an extra attacker.The strategy worked when out of a mad scramble in front, Houk managed to poke the puck past Massa with 41.9 ticks left for his second of the game and tying the score at 3-3.
As the game went into overtime, Orlando went for the kill, dominating the three-on-three play. Malcolm was called on to make several key saves including one on Eric Baier. Massa was not as busy but did have a scary moment when a drive caught him on the right side of the mask, sending down to the ice and silencing the crowd. Massa (41 saves) eventually got up and stayed in the game.
With neither team scoring in overtime, the contest headed to a shootout. Tony Cameranesi gave Orlando and edge in the second round when he slid a shot through Malcolm’s legs and off the inside of the post for a score. Alderson matched that by making a series of stick moves before drawing to his backhand and lifting the puck over Massa. In the decisive third round, Patrick Watling failed on his attempt before Zanette went five-hole and off the inside of Massa’s right pad for the game winner.
Faille, who is tied with Manderson for the team points lead, said that as frustrating as the two games against Grenville were, the Solar Bears need to put it behind them quickly as they will host North division leader Manchester on Tuesday.
“You’ve got to wipe the sheet clean and play the next game as if nothing happened the day before,” he said. “[They were] two tough losses against a division opponent which could bite us in the long run. We need to focus on getting the [next] two points coming up.”
Notes: Manderson’s assist on Faille’s goal was his 100th point as a member of the Solar Bears… Four of the seven meetings between Orlando and Greenville so far this season have gone to either overtime or a shootout before a winner was decided… With the goal, Faille extended his points streak to four games.
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