NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – There was a time in the early stages of the existence of the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears that playing on the road was a perilous thing. Sure, the Solar Bears were outstanding in protecting their home ice at the Amway Center but away from the friendly confines, well that was a different story.
These days, however, getting on a bus and leaving the sunshine of Central Florida is no longer something to be afraid of. In fact, it has become one of the Solar Bears greatest strengths.
Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, with a berth in the ECHL’s South Division finals in the offing, Orlando put together a third consecutive solid outing on enemy ice, handing the South Carolina Stingrays their fourth straight loss in the form of a 5-2 final in front of an announced crowd of 3,252. With the victory, the Solar Bears dispatched the Stingrays in five games to head to the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs against the winner of the Jacksonville – Florida series that will see a game six on Monday in Estero.
Once again, Hunter Fejes was the feature act, netting two goals and an assist. He had plenty of help as Jonne Tammela notched a goal and two helpers, Troy Bourke had another highlight reel goal and Tayler Thompson lit the fire with a score to put the Solar Bears up to stay. Add in a fifth straight outstanding performance in net by Connor Ingram, who made 28 saves, and the blueprint for success was completed to perfection.
With full knowledge that the Stingrays would probably come with an all out assault in order to attempt to force a game 6, the Solar Bears were the ones who hit early. Just 4:43 into the opening period, Thompson, who has had a knack for scoring first goals, did so for the third time in the series and the second in as many nights. Tammela ignited the play by forcing a turnover at his defensive blueline, sending Thompson and Fejes away on an odd-man rush. Using Fejes to draw the defender with a potential pass, Thompson skated down the slot and whipped a wrist shot past the stick side of South Carolina netminder Parker Milner for his third goal of the series and a lead that Orlando would never relinquish.
Less than a minute later, South Carolina had an opportunity to turn the tables when the Solar Bears’ Otto Somppi, who was reassigned to the team by the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier in the day, was tagged for a double minor for high sticking. Orlando did a masterful job of not letting the Stingrays get set up or see an open shooting lane, allowing the home team just one shot on Ingram during the power play.
Midway through the period, the Solar Bears went on their first man advantage of the night and the power play, which had been anemic at best during the first four games, struck quickly. Just 41 seconds into the advantage, Michael Brodzinski lined up a bullet from the blueline that Fejes redirected up and over Milner for his third of the series and a 2-0 lead for the visitors.
While the scoring was going on at the other end, Ingram was absolutely perfect, stopping everything that came his way in the opening stanza. He recorded his ninth perfect period of the series by turning away all ten Stingrays shots to send Orlando to the first intermission up by two.
South Carolina, seeing its season in danger, rose to the occasion at the start of the second frame. Right off the opening faceoff, the Stingrays raced into the Solar Bears defensive zone with Cam Askew carrying the puck in. Askew threaded a pass to Kevin McKernan who took it and made a beeline for the net, eventually putting a backhander past Ingram for his first goal of the post-season to trim the margin to 2-1.
The Stingrays came close to evening things up at the seven minute mark when Matt Nuttle got loose and drove the slot. He made a move and fired a shot that eluded Ingram’s left pad but the puck was met by the unforgiving metal of the goalpost and stayed out of the cage.
The Solar Bears extended their lead back to two at the 9:25 mark of the frame with yet another special teams tally. Playing on the power play, Bourke and Colby McAuley moved the puck through center ice with McAuley toting it into the Stingrays end of the ice. Bourke found a seam between defenders. McAuley sent the disc back and Bourke went in on Milner. Hitting the base of the faceoff circle to the goalie’s right, Bourke spun to his left and in one motion tucked a backhander past Milner’s left pad for his first post-season score and the visitors’ second power play goal of the game.
South Carolina did answer back at the 16:59 mark when during a power play and with a delayed penalty coming on the Solar Bears, Stephane Legault made a pretty cross-ice pass to Grant Besse who buried a shot into the open side of the cage for his second of the series to make it 3-2.
Just over two minutes later, Orlando got that one back. Fejes had the puck in the South Carolina end and made a smart pass to his right where Tammela was standing all alone in the circle to the left of the goal. Tammela one-timed the feed, blasting it past a diving Milner for his first of the playoffs and a 4-2 cushion that the Solar Bears took to the final frame.
With twenty minutes standing between them and a second consecutive trip to the second round, the Solar Bears opened the third period on the offensive, popping for the first five shots of the frame before a penalty to Somppi put a momentary stop to the push. Momentary was the key word because after allowing one attempt by the Stingrays that Ingram stopped, Orlando had the next three chances as Tammela, Thompson and Chris LeBlanc all had break-ins that Milner (25 saves) came up huge on.
Ingram was pushed to make back-to-back saves on Besse and Ryker Killins in a span of a second 7:25 in, a sequence that put a severe damper in the hopes of the home fans. From that point on, the Solar Bears went into lock down mode defensively, holding the Stingrays to a mere three recorded shots on net in the final 12:35 of regulation.
With time slipping away, South Carolina Head Coach Spiros Anastas pulled Milner with 3:28 remaining in regulation, desperately looking for a goal that would tighten things up. Instead he saw a turnover at his team’s offensive blueline turn into a breakout for Fejes who sailed the puck into the yawning cage for his second of the night to seal the Stingrays’ fate and start a celebration for Solar Bears fans who had made the trip north as well as those back at home watching.
Once again, South Carolina’s Milner played well enough to win but just as he had last season, he came up against a hot goalie. Ingram finished the series with four straight wins after a tough luck loss in game one, recording a 1.64 goals against average (1 goal allowed in nine games) and a sterling save percentage of .947.
Now the Solar Bears wait to see whether they will face their old nemesis, the Florida Everblades, or their newest rival, the Jacksonville Icemen. Florida gained control of the best-of-seven series with a win Saturday night and take a 3-2 lead back home to southwest Florida for Game 6 on Monday. Should a deciding Game 7 be needed, it will be played on Wednesday.
Notes: Final shots were even at 30-30… The Solar Bears went 2-for-5 on the power play while the Stingrays were 1-for-7… The win ran Orlando’s record on the road against South Carolina to a perfect 5-0 and an overall mark of 8-1 in two playoff series against the Stingrays… The Solar Bears outscored the Stingrays 16-10 in the series and Saturday’s five goals matched the franchise high for goals in a single playoff game… With his two goals and an assist on Saturday, Fejes now has four goals and one assist in three games since returning to the Solar Bears… Bourke’s tally extended his point streak to four games (1 goal, 3 assists), equaling Chris Crane’s franchise-leading longest streak that was set between April 22nd and 26th of 2017 (1 goal, 5 assists)… Thompson (2 goals), Tammela (1 goal, 3 assists) and McAuley (1 goal, 1 assist) each extended their personal point streaks to two games.
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