ORLANDO, FL – Caught in a two game home losing streak, the Orlando Solar Bears badly needed a win Thursday night against the expansion Worcester Railers. Not only did they get it, they may have finally found their identity in the process.
Orlando rookie forward Martins Dzierkals (center) led the Solar Bears to a win Thursday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Led by Martins Dzierkals who tallied a goal and an assist, Orlando (22-23-5-1, 50 points) doubled up on the visiting Railers (21-21-4-2, 48 points) 4-2 in front of an announced crowd of 4,579 at the Amway Center. Tayler Thompson, Kristian Pospisil and Joe Perry each scored once while goalie Cal Heeter stopped 29 shots in an effort that again reminded fans of the potential that the Solar Bears possess.
“When we play within our structure and system, we can use our speed. When we don’t play our system and structure, it’s tough to build speed,” Orlando head coach and general manager Drake Berehowsky said. “We want to chip to areas, we want to dump pucks, we want to get in on the forecheck and that all takes speed. We have that [but] we just have to be consistently doing it.”
Speed was the name of the game as both teams opened up taking the puck up and down the ice against each other. It only took the Solar Bears 4:31 to get on the board thanks to Thompson. The mid season acquisition was in the right place at the right time to cash in the rebound of a shot by Hunter Fejes for his fifth goal of the season.
“I saw [the puck] go up to the point and I just tried to get in front of the net in the soft spot there,” Thompson said. “Feej [Fejes} threw it toward the net and it was one of those ones that was kind of right place, right time.They say go to the net and good things are going to happen so that was one of those things.”
The energy that Thompson’s score created was short lived as Worcester answered back two and a half minutes later. It came on a great individual effort when Woody Hudson grabbed the puck at center ice and muscled through a Solar Bears defender to get space. Once inside the Orlando end, Hudson rifled a shot between Heeter’s legs for his 16th goal of the season and a tie score.
Orlando took the lead for good late in the opening frame when the Latvian lightning bolt, Dzierkals, struck at both ends of the ice. He started the sequence by blocking a shot in his defensive end broke out on a two-on-one rush with Perry. Seeing the defenseman playing the pass, Dzierkals did what he does best by ripping a shot past the left ear of Worcester goalie Eamon McAdam on the short side for his eleventh score of the year.
“My defenseman [assignment] made a shot. I went on him, I blocked the shot and the puck luckily bounced in front of me and I was two-on-one with Perry,” Dzierkals said. “I’m always trying to look for the pass but this time it was taken away so I had to shoot and luckily it went in.”
Orlando’sTayler Thompson celebrates his first period goal during Thursday’s win (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
After taking a 22-10 shot advantage through one period, the Solar Bears wanted more and it came quickly in the second. Just 2:38 into the middle frame, Josh Winquist teed up a one-time blast for Pospisil from the high slot that zipped past McAdam’s right pad for his tenth of the year. Less than a minute later, Perry was in his office in the low slot and cleaned up the rebound of his own shot for goal number eleven of the 2017-18 season and a commanding 4-1 lead. After the goal was scored, McAdam lost his cool and earned himself a game misconduct as he was being pulled in favor of one time Solar Bears netminder Mitch Gillam.
The teams went back and forth for quite a while as Gillam and Heeter settled into a decent goalie battle. The quiet on the scoresheet was broken at the 14:27 mark when T.J.Syner netted his fourth of the year on a quick wraparound that beat Heeter to his left.
Heeter made a couple of stops early in the third to keep the Railers from getting any closer. As time wore on, tempers began to flare when Pospisil and Worcester’s Connor Doherty tangled with a little over five minutes left. The banging continued until the final buzzer when both teams exchanged words, giving promising for a rough and tumble final two games of the weekend set.
Asked about the identity of the Solar Bears as a speed team, Dzierkals agreed, adding that they are still learning how to put it all together.
“I think we’re a speed team,” he said. “We’re a hard working team that is learning to not make mistakes like less turnovers, just putting the pucks deep and putting them on the net.”
Thompson concurred about the style that Orlando used on Thursday night to beat the fast Railers, adding that the Solar Bears added physical play took Worcester out of its game.
“They’re a fast team and when we came out we matched it,” Thompson said. “We were physical with them and I think that slowed them up a bit. Everyone knows we’re a good hockey team. We just have to do it every night. We’re going to be real dangerous. We have a great team here and if we can do it consistently, we’re a team to be reckoned with.”
Notes: The Solar Bears outshot the Railers 42-31, marking the third straight game Orlando hit the 40-shot mark… Orlando was 0-for-2 on the power play while Worcester went 0-for-3… With the win, Berehowsky passed Vince Williams for most wins by a Solar Bears head coach in the ECHL. Berehowsky’s record stands at 81-81-22 (.500)… With his assist, Fejes extended his assist streak to four games (5 assists)… Dzierkals has become the Solar Bears good luck charm. When he scores a goal, Orlando is 10-0-0-0. When the Ogre, Latvia native picks up more than one point in a contest, the Solar Bears are 5-0-0-0… Former Solar Bear Milos Bubela is playing for Team Slovakia at the Winter Olympics in South Korea…The two teams will meet again on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center.
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