ORLANDO, FLA – In-season coaching changes always carry as much risk as they do reward. If the results of the Orlando Solar Bears first game after letting head coach Anthony Noreen go in favor of Drake Berehowsky are any indicator of things to come, the rewards could be big.
Ben Danford’s first Solar Bears goal was the game-winner on Thursday (Photo courtesy of G. Bassing & F. Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Johnny McInnis scored twice as part of a four goal third period barrage as the Solar Bears (6-5-1-0, 13 points) downed the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (3-4-2-0, 8 points) 7-4 in front of a School Day announced crowd of 5,037 at the Amway Center Thursday morning. Ben Danford and Denver Manderson also scored during the final frame fireworks.
“I thought the guys played really hard. We went through some adversity there but they came out on top, they grinded it out in the third and they were rewarded,” Berehowsky said following his first win as Orlando’s head coach since March 24, 2013. “They started going to the paint. They started taking the body. We were fortunate to get some bounces and we got the two points.”
The two points were very important but the fact that the win was just Orlando’s third at home this season was the bigger story. The way the Solar Bears went about it was almost as impressive as the team’s seven goal third period against Atlanta and another glimpse of what Central Florida’s squad is capable of.
With the energy of over 2,000 kids reverberating through the building, Orlando jumped on the Swamp Rabbits early. Just 1:42 into the first period, the rebound of a Manderson shot was tracked down by Brett Findlay. From below the goal line, Findlay put a pass on the stick blade of Joe Perry who laced a short-side shot past Greenville goalie Jeff Malcolm for his fifth goal of the season.
A little over six minutes later, the Solar Bears aggressive penalty killing units found some offensive dynamite. Patrick Watling and Cason Hohmann broke away on a two-on-one rush that ended with Hohmann slipping a backhander between Malcolm’s legs for his fourth score of the year and Orlando’s second tally in five shots.
Greenville got one of the two goals back at the 9:44 mark of the frame. It came when Justin DaSilva teed up a shot that beat Solar Bears netminder Ryan Massa low to the far side for his second goal of the season.
Orlando responded four minutes after DaSilva’s score thanks to a great individual effort by Eric Faille. Faille outfought a Swamp Rabbits defender for the puck and managed to get a shot off. It clanged off the post and hit the back of Malcolm before skidding across the goal line for Faille’s fourth of the year and a 3-1 Solar Bears lead.
The home team held that margin until the late stages of the second period when the adversity that Berehowsky referenced after the contest reared its ugly head. In the span of one minute and 21 seconds, Greenville scored twice as Bretton Cameron (3rd of season) dribbled a shot past Massa and Matt Prapavessis (1st) netted a shot with the goalie ous of position to even the score heading to the final stanza.
Things seemed to go from bad to worse in the third when Ahti Oksanen rocketed a shot from the face-off circle to Massa’s left into the back of the net for his second of the year (both against Orlando) and a 4-3 lead for the visitors. It could have been a back breaker but the Solar Bears regrouped and regained control of the contest.
At the 7:43 mark, Hohmann launched a shot from the blueline that Malcolm (46 saves) stopped but failed to control the rebound. McInnis used his speed to bust in and get to the puck first. He drilled a one-time shot home to knot the game at four with his second tally of the season.”I don’t like to think much. I just like to go,” McInnis said. “It’s just what we need right now – guys not thinking to much and being hockey players. If we can continue to crash the net and get to the paint, I think we’ll have success.”
With 6:27 left in regulation, the Solar Bears went back on top with a lot of the credit going to Danford. He started the play by blocking a shot in his own defensive end. The puck went to Manderson who immediately jetted toward the other end of the ice with Danford joining in to create an odd-man rush. Manderson dropped a pass over to Danford who picked the top corner over Malcolm’s left shoulder for his first goal as a Solar Bear and the eventual game-winner.
“I blocked a shot in the d(efensive) zone and then Mandy picked up the puck and made a nice play,” Danford said. “[On] the two-on-one, the defense was taking the pass away so I took a shot and there it was.”
Soon after the Solar Bears went on a power play and took just five seconds to score. Faille won the face-off back to Eric Baier at the point. Baier drilled the puck toward the net and McInnis got his stick on it and redirected the shot into the back of the net to extend the lead to two at6-4. Manderson finished off the scoring with an empty net tally with 33.7 seconds left for his fourth goal of the year.
Berehowsky, who went from being an associate coach with the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League back to Orlando in the space of about 48 hours, said that he thinks it will take a couple of games and a few more practices for the players to learn just how he wants them to play.
“We want to play an up-pace, high tempo game so that will take a couple of games to get used to,” he said. “I want to be hard on the forecheck, quick on the defense. There’s going to be a lot of battling and trying to seal guys up against the glass. It’ll take a few games for them to get adjusted to that as well.”
Beyond that, Berehowsky was simply happy and felt blessed to get another shot to take the Solar Bears to a Kelly Cup title.
“I’m so happy to be back. I’m fortunate that Joe (Haleski, Solar Bears owner) and Chris (Heller, Team President) brought me back,” he said. “Everyday I talk to my wife [and tell her] I feel so lucky and blessed.God looked after me this time and he brought me back here. We’re going to make a go of it and hopefully the city will be proud of us.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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