ORLANDO, FLA – The last time the Orlando Solar Bears saw the sheet of ice at the Amway Center was when they skated off of it on Friday,April 12th. That came after the Solar Bears evened their first round series against South Carolina with a 3-2 win. Since then, Orlando has been on the road, sweeping three games in North Charleston to dispatch the Stingrays and taking one of two from the Florida Everblades at Hertz Arena in Estero.
Now, finally, it is their turn to defend their own den.
Solar Bears forward Troy Bourke waits his turn during drills Monday morning at the Amway Center
Central Florida’s version of road warriors begin a stretch of three games on home ice Tuesday night as the best-of-seven ECHL South Division finals shift to Orlando for games 3, 4 and 5. With the series against the Everblades tied at one victory apiece, the 2-3-2 format will give the Solar Bears the opportunity to take control and even close out the series should Orlando come away with wins in all three games in front of their fans.
“It’s never easy going into their barn and winning games on the road but I think we did a really good job of playing our game. I don’t think anyone in this locker room is satisfied with what we’ve done so far – I mean we haven’t won anything,” Solar Bears forward Hunter Fejes said about last weekend’s split against Florida. “We’ve got to win four games first in order to make it to the next round so winning one is just one step closer to that. I think it’s huge that we have these next three games at home and we’ve got to make sure that we take advantage of it. I think we’ve got to get our crowd into it early and make sure that these games on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday that we have as many people here as possible so that they [Florida] feel overwhelmed and we put them on their heels.”
The Solar Bears had a chance to win both games down in southwest Florida. After winning Friday’s series opener 2-1 in overtime on a goal by Colby McAuley, Orlando staged a third period comeback on Saturday to send Game 2 to extra time before losing on a goal by the Everblades’ Tommy Thompson 12:08 into the first overtime.
What made Saturday’s erasure of a two-goal deficit by the Solar Bears remarkable was how they did it. Coming into the series, Florida had been a dominant third period team, outscoring Jacksonville 9-3 over the six games the two teams played in the first round. On Saturday, Orlando took it to the Everblades, outshooting the top team in the Eastern Conference 12-4 (and 28-11 over the final forty minutes of regulation) and outscoring the home team 2-0. In the first two contests, the Solar Bears have a 3-0 goal advantage and a 21-14 lead on the shot board in two third periods of play.
“They [Florida] have a great team and we came out and we were fortunate [to tie the game] but we weren’t fortunate enough to get the win,” Orlando Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky said. “Our guys are always going to work hard and that’s one thing I will guarantee. I was proud of their effort. It’s just too bad [that we lost]. The game is about details and if you slip up once and they capitalized on it.”
Forward Brent Pedersen (blue, center) scored the game-tying goal against Florida Saturday night.
Forward Brent Pedersen played a big part in the comeback, scoring the game-tying goal on Saturday off of a pretty feed from Alex Schoenborn. Asked about what sparked the final frame performance, he said that the team’s lack of execution in the first two periods fueled the resolve that led to the third period effort.
“I think that mainly we didn’t have the first two periods that we wanted. We were working hard the first two periods but we weren’t playing exactly the way we wanted to,” Pedersen said. “There were some things that we needed to fix up and do better and going into the third down two, we were hungry to come back. We knew that coming home for three games that we needed that game. Unfortunately we didn’t finish it off in overtime but it was just one bad bounce. Coming into this stretch at home, we should hopefully be able to build on off that third period and that overtime we had and hopefully have a good stretch here.”
One thing that certainly does not need fixing is the goaltending of Solar Bears netminder Connor Ingram. Following up on his sterling effort in the first round against South Carolina, Ingram has been consistently solid once again. In the first two contests against the Everblades, Ingram faced 62 shots on net and stopped 58 of them. On Saturday, saw nine shots in the twelve minutes of overtime and turned away all but the final one.
Asked about his matchup with Florida’s Callum Booth, who himself has allowed just four goals in two games while fending off 66 of 70 Orlando shots, Ingram suggested that he is enjoying every bit of the playoff atmosphere.
Solar Bears players go through drills with assistant coach Eric Baier during Monday’s practice.
“It’s fun. That’s what the playoffs are all about. You tend to see more games that are low scoring and little action and things like that,” Ingram said. “It’s been wide open at the same time. There’s [been] lots of chances at both ends. It’s fun hockey to watch right now.”
Part of Ingram’s success is related to the play of his teammates in front of him. All of the defensemen are going to great lengths to up their games, allowing Ingram to do his thing between the pipes.
“It’s been great. They’re working really hard. They’re making my job pretty easy. I haven’t had to do too much so far so I like that,” Ingram said. “I think it’s part of the time being the playoffs. You buckle down, you settle in. You’ve got guys back there like [Alexander] Kuqali, [Kevin] Lohan and [Mike] Monfredo – guys who that’s their main job. They might classify themselves as stay-at-home defensemen and they’re doing a great job doing it.”
Another key factor has been the contributions coming from the top to the bottom of the lineup. Whether they are a veteran or a rookie, ECHL contracted player or affiliation assigned, Berehowsky has seen everyone step up at one point or another.
“I think with our team, we’ve tried to be deep enough where we don’t have a line one, two or three. We’ve got ten great forwards and we’ve got six great D (defensemen) playing and two great goalies,” Berehowsky said. “It’s nice when everybody’s contributing and in the playoffs you need that. You need your secondary goal scorers to score, you need everyone to defend hard and for the most part I think we’re doing that right now.”
Not a lot of things have gone wrong for the Solar Bears so far this post-season. Still, when they have like they did on Saturday, the response has been encouraging. According to Pedersen, it is a sign of how good things are in the locker room and the closeness of the team.
“I think we’ve got a very close group in there [locker room] so any time that we encounter some adversity like we had in Florida down two, we can come together, work a little bit harder and fight our way back,” Pedersen said.
Rookie forward Dylan Fitze (green) focuses on the puck during Monday’s practice.
With the first two games being nailbiters, Fejes was asked if the pattern will continue. Fejes, never one to shy away from telling it like it is, suggested that the fans should strap in because this is only the beginning.
“This is going to be a stressful series for every single game. They hate us, we hate them. I’ve said that before and everyone in the locker room knows it and I think a lot of the fans they understand this rivalry between us so is it’s not going to get any easier from here on out,” Fejes explained. “It’s just going to get more exciting and each game is going to mean even more.”
The biggest thing at this point will be how the Solar Bears defend the Amway Center against their arch-rival. For Berehowsky it will be all about his team doing what it has to in order to reward its fans with the most important thing: wins.
“We love playing in the Amway. We love our fans,” Berehowsky said. “We don’t want to put on a show. We just want to play our game – chip away and hopefully come out with a win.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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