ORLANDO, FLA – Heading into Thursday night, the Orlando Solar Bears needed just seven points in their last six games to secure a second straight trip o the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs. Standing in their way were the South Carolina Stingrays, a foe which had won 24 of its last 25 contests. Although the Stingrays stayed hot, it was the Solar Bears who had the biggest gain by game’s end.
Jake Suter scored in the 15th round of the shootout to give South Carolina (43-19-1-6, 93 points) a 2-1 victory over Orlando in front of an announced crowd of 5,197 at the Amway Center. The Solar Bears (35-23-5-4, 79 points) – thanks to a loss by the Greenville Road Warriors – did however pull within four points of locking up a post-season berth.
“It was a hard hockey game. I thought it was a ver hard hockey game. We put a game plan in place and we executed it to do what we wanted to do,” Orlando head coach Vince Williams said. “It was certainly a man’s game, a heavy game. I have no issue with the way we played tonight.”
The fact that South Carolina outscored Orlando 6-5 i the skills competition did not do justice to the night-long battle between the netminders. The Solar Bears’ Garret Sparks and the Stingrays’ Jeff Jakaitis put on a show worthy of a playoff tilt, combining for 71 saves on 73 shots faced thru 65 minutes of play.
It also did not properly tell the tale of how the host Solar Bears fought off the loss on three occasions in the shootout, getting clutch scores by Marshall Everson, Scott Tanski and Max Nicastro to keep the game going.
Rob Ricci scored the lone goal of the first two periods late in the opening frame. The key play was a pass from below the goal line by Rob Bellamy to Ricci who had worked his way into the slot. Bellamy’s pass was true and Ricci’s shot easily beat Sparks.
That score was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect clash between two of the ECHL’s best players between the pipes.
“Jefff’s obviously been a successful goalie in this league for a number of years and that’s not by accident,” Sparks said about his counterpart. “It’s always fun to go head-to-head with somebody you know you’re going to have to bring your best against.”
Brady Vail pulled the Solar Bears even 1:35 into the third, taking a loose puck and putting a wrist shot over Jakaitis’ shoulder. The score seemed to wake up the Stingrays who dominated the frame, outshooting Orlando 22-6.
In the shotout, the Stingrays’ Wayne Simpson and Andrew Rowe and the Solar Bears’ Brett Findlay and Johnny McInnis had things knotted at two. Caleb Herbert scored in round four, forcing Orlando’s Everson into his clutch score in round five to keep the game alive.
Round 11 saw Drew MacKenzie beat Sparks to put South Carolina ahead only to have Tanski score. In round 13, Michal Cajkovsky found the back of the net but Nicastro put a backhander between Hakaitis’ legs to extend the shooutout again.
Finally in round 15, Suter was able to slide the puck under Sparks (42 saves). Orlando’s Carl Nielsen had a chance to tie the score again but Jakaitis (29 saves) made the stop to end it.
Sparks said that although getting the help from Gwinnett which beat Greenville Thursday was great, the Solar Bears have no intentions of backing into the playoffs.
“We’re not going to go out and let up on any of these teams because we cold run into any of these teams at any point (in the playoffs),” he said. “We want to be a tough team to beat even if we get into the playoffs back door. We’re going to be one of the teams that you need to get thru.”
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