ORLANDO, FLA – On Sunday, Orlando Solar Bears Head Coach and General Manager Drake Berehowsky brought up his team’s identity following an especially frustrating loss to South Carolina. He promised some tough love prior to Tuesday’s school day morning game against Jacksonville in hopes of eliciting a better effort.
Berehowsky’s players did deliver an improved effort, and it could not have come under any better circumstances.
Tyler Bird scored his first goal in an Solar Bears uniform and Hunter Fejes provided what proved to be the game-winning score as host Orlando (3-4-0-1) was able to get past the Icemen (1-5-2-0) by a final of 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 11,318 at the Amway Center. Goalie Clint Windsor, making his first start since being re-signed last weekend, made 32 saves to pick up his first win of the season.
Orlando goalie Clint Windsor (38, purple) denies a shot by Jacksonville’s James Phelan during Tuesday’s first period (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
The announced attendance, which was made up mostly of students from local schools, set a new franchise high for the Solar Bears since they joined the ECHL in 2012. What they saw was closer to what Berehowsky expects his troops to play like.
“I think we came out and played a better game. We skated and moved the puck better so for us that’s success. We’ve got to play within our structure and we’ve got to skate and tonight was a better example,” Berehowsky said. “We want to be a fast team that gets in on the forecheck. I still think we gave them too many opportunities and we’ve got to clean up our d(efensive) zones. That’s something that we’ll look at tomorrow and hopefully be able to get better at.”
With tons of noise coming from the stands, both teams benefitted from the energy. The pace of play was fast-paced from the opening faceoff with Windsor and Jacksonville’s Jeremy Helvig quickly becoming stars of the show between the pipes. The two in-state rivals took turns pressuring the other’s defense and quickly raising the shot totals.
The Solar Bears got on the board first and it came from a somewhat unlikely source. Defenseman Alex Kuqali forwarded the puck to Colby McAuley who sped off for the Jacksonville end of the ice. Once inside the Icemen’s defensive zone, he was able on the second try to push a drop pass to Bird who was following along on the rush. Bird took the feed and headed for the low area of the faceoff circle to Helvig’s left and fired a hard wrist shot that zipped its way just inside the near post for his first goal of the season.
Given the fact that Bird had been on the injured list from the start of the season until Monday, he was more than thrilled to be on the ice and be able to score.
Orlando’s Tyler Bird (7, left) celebrates his first goal in a Solar Bears uniform with teammate Trevor Olson during Tuesday’s game (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
“I’ve just been working at practice [and] waiting for my name to be called. I was excited to get out there,” Bird, who played for three different ECHL teams last year, said. “I was so pumped when I saw the red light go on. It just felt good to get it and kinda get the first one out of the way. [Now] I can just play and feel free out there so it was really exciting.”
After Jacksonville won the shot battle by a count of 13-11 in the opening frame, Orlando took control of the shot board in the second. The Solar Bears began to roll their offense with a sense of purpose but Helvig was not in the mood to give up another goal. Early in the period, he went into a full split to deny Peter Abbandonato off a quick cross-ice feed. It was just one of 21 shots that Helvig faced and none got by him.
At the other end of the ice, Windsor was busy showing the form that endeared him to Solar Bears fans last March. He was calm, cool and collected in stopping all 11 Icemen attempts on net during the middle stanza. It was a far calmer time that when he faced 20 shots in 22 minutes of relief work on Sunday.
“Sunday wasn’t Solar Bears hockey. That wasn’t anything that any of us were proud about,” Windsor said. “Obviously we wanted to come here today and work hard and get the win and that’s what we did. The guys played great tonight in front of me and it was definitely a team game.”
Orlando’s Colby McAuley (85, purple) and Jacksonville’s Garret Ross exchange blows during a second period fight (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
With both teams in search of an all-important win in a tightly contested affair, the proceedings took a physical turn late in the period when two incidents turned up the heat. The first was a fight between Orlando’s McAuley and Jacksonville’s Garret Ross that had the crowd roaring its approval. Then with less than a minute remaining before the second intermission, a scrum broke out right in front of Helvig. That brought a pair of roughing minors for the Solar Bears’ Jake Marchment and the Icemen’s Jacob Cederholm and a sign that things might get rougher in the third.
The game remained tight as the final frame opened. Orlando had an opportunity to double its lead with an early power play but Helvig (44 saves) turned away all five shots that came his way during the man advantage. Windsor continued to be perfect, taking away a golden opportunity for Jacksonville’s Brendan Warren just after the midpoint of the period to keep the Solar Bears in front.
The home team finally got a little bit of separation with just under six minutes left in regulation. The play started when Chris LeBlanc got the puck just inside his defensive blue line and lobbed it toward the Icemen side of the rink. It landed near the opposite blue line where Fejes caught up and raced in on a clean breakaway. He drove to the slot and lasered a shot past Helvig’s catching glove for his second of the season, bringing a deafening roar from the crowd.
With time running down, Jacksonville pushed hard to cut the lead in half. Head Coach Jason Christie pulled Helvig with 2:25 to go and it paid off when Nikita Korostelev rocketed a shot past Windsor with 35.7 seconds remaining. The Solar Bears were able to shut down the Icemen the rest of the way to secure the victory.
Solar Bears players celebrate their win over Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
One thing that everyone was in agreement about after the game was how enjoyable it was to play in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd.
“I think it’s awesome. I think it’s great that these kids came out – [for] a lot of them it might have been their first time at a hockey game and hopefully we got them hooked on it,” Berehowsky said. “It’s amazing what our office staff upstairs can do and it’s so much fun to play in front of a house like that.”
Added Bird, “It was awesome. The fans were great today. The kids were great today. It was probably the loudest game I’ve ever played in. I couldn’t hear myself on the ice sometimes.”
Now the Solar Bears face four straight games against Florida, three of them on the road starting Wednesday night in Estero. Asked what he expects to see, Windsor said he thinks he will see what he saw at the end of last season and in the playoffs.
“You know what you’re going to get with Florida. They’re a good hockey team and you’ve got to bring your A game. We’ll be ready for them,” he said. “It’s an exciting time and they’re one of our biggest rivals so we’ll be ready to play.”
Notes: Finald shots were 46-33 in favor of Orlando… Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play… Orlando’s perfect penalty kill brought its streak of games without allowing a power play score to five games… The 11,318 attendance broke the previous record of 11,075 set on March 19, 2016 against Adirondack.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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