ORLANDO, FLA – Saturday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Solar Bears celebrated the start of the franchise’s tenth season in the ECHL. The crowd was loud, the play was fast and there was the usual animosity between two divisional rivals.
Most importantly, at the end of the night, the home team skated away with win number one.
Kevin Lohan, Aaron Luchuk and Krystof Hrabik provided the scoring while goalie Zach Emond made 27 saves for his first professional win as the host Solar Bears (1-0-0-0) beat the Atlanta Gladiators (0-1-0-0) 3-1 in front of 8,123 hockey-thirsty fans. Jake McGrew made his initial game in an Orlando jersey memorable, picking up three assists.
After a year of muddling through COVID-19 protocols, it was fitting that Orlando was able to mark the anniversary with more than 8,000 fans who were more than ready to cheer like crazy. From the start of the pregame video with clips from the various openings over the years, the energy was off the charts.
That energy rose when the Solar Bears netted the first goal of the night 2:58 into the opening frame. Working the puck around the perimeter in the Atlanta defensive zone, it came to McGrew who turned to take a shot. The puck was deflected to Kyle Topping at the base of the faceoff circle to the left of Gladiators goalie Tyler Parks. Topping saw Lohan on the back side and slid a cross-ice pass to the Solar Bears captain who tucked it behind Parks to make it 1-0.
Orlando held the lead until the later stages of the period when Atlanta struck. Gladiators captain and ECHL veteran Derek Nesbitt chased down a dump-in deep in the Orlando end and fired it back to the point to Tim Davison. Davison fed the puck to teammate Xavier Bernard who fired on net. Emond made the initial save but the rebound got loose in the low slot where Nesbitt claimed it and past Emond to even the score at 1-1.
That ended up being the only scoring in the first twenty minutes, which turned out to be a tale of two parts. In the first 14:37 of play, Atlanta outshot Orlando 7-1 with the lone Solar Bears chance being Lohan’s tally. In the final 4:42, which was preceded by Nesbitt’s score, the home team outshot the visitors 5-0.
Early in the second period, the Gladiators were hit with a pair of overlapping penalties – the second for too many men on the ice – which gave the Solar Bears 19 seconds of five-on-three advantage time. Orlando needed 17 of those 19 ticks to go back in front of good. Topping won the offensive zone draw and the Bears patiently worked it around looking for a clear shooting lane. Michael Brodzinski eventually dropped a feed down to the base of the faceoff circle where Luchuk, who has made a living in that spot, nailed a one-time blast that beat Parks who was trying to get there in time but didn’t. Luchuk’s tally game Orlando a 2-1 lead, a lead they would not relinquish.
A lot of the credit for the Solar Bears staying in front for the last 35 minutes of the contest belonged to Emond. Emond, who was assigned to Orlando by San Jose as part of a group that included McGrew, was making his first pro start after coming out of the Quebec Major Junior league. He did not seem the least nervous between the pipes, showing a quick glove hand, solid positioning and being able to read plays that required him to come out of the crease. One of his best came when a clearing attempt up the boards took a bad bounce, leaving the puck on the stick of Atlanta’s Tyler Kobryn alone in front of the cage. Emond calmly followed Kobryn across the crease and shut down the shot attempt, drawing thunderous applause from the home crowd.
The Gladiators tried to take control of the contest in the final frame, outshooting the Solar Bears 8-2 over the initial 10:13 of the period. A pair of penalties aided the cause but Emond with some help from his friends was able to keep the door shut.
Orlando put the game away with less than four minutes to go with its second power play goal of the night. Coming down the wing, Topping made a cross-ice pass to Luckuk who immediately sent the puck to McGrew in the high slot. McGrew winged a shot to the net where Hrabik redirected it home to put the Solar Bears up 3-1.
Things got a bit testy down the stretch when Atlanta’ Cody Sylvester and Orlando’s Topping earned double minors but the game finished without any more skirmishes and the Solar Bears skated off with the win.
Both teams are off until Friday, October 29th when the Solar Bears visit the Gladiators in Duluth, GA.
Game Notes: Final shots were 28-26 in favor of Atlanta… The Gladiators went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Solar Bears finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage… The victory was the 197th for Drake Berehowsky as Head Coach and General Manager of the Solar Bears… Orlando is now 5-5-0-0 in home/season openers at the Amway Center… Nesbitt’s tally was his 190th ECHL regular season goal and 488th point in 551 games. He also has 17 goals and 37 points in 54 postseason contests.
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