NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Carrying a three game point streak, the Orlando Solar Bears invaded the North Charleston Coliseum for the second time in two nights, looking for a sweep of their two-game set with the South Carolina Stingrays. Even though there is a difference in the standings, the Solar Bears expected a fight from their South division rivals – and did they ever get it.
Led by twin one goal and two assist nights from Ryan Dmowski and Justin Florek, the host Stingrays (18-29-6-0) earned a split of the weekend, defeating the visiting Solar Bears (27-22-4-0) 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 4,574. Goalie Ryan Bednard, playing in his 100th pro game, came up with 34 saves to pick up the victory for South Carolina.
Dylan Fitze had a goal and an assist to lead Orlando while Jake Transit scored the other Solar Bears tally. Netminder Brad Barone, who was playing in his 18th consecutive contest, made 20 saves in the game.
Unlike Friday’s tilt that went scoreless in the opening period, Saturday’s contest had an eventful first. The Stingrays opened up the scoring 8:33 in when Greg DiTomaso and Dmowski headed out on a two-on-one rush. Once in the Orlando end, Dmowski slid a pass under the stick of a defender to DiTomaso who buried the puck behind Barone for his second goal of the season.
Orlando answered back four minutes later. It began with a line rush featuring Tristin Langan, Joe Garreffa and Fitze with Langan skating the puck in along the boards. He fed a pass to Garreffa in the far faceoff circle, who in turn found Fitze alone in the slot. Fitze wasted little time in firing the puck past Bednard for his first goal since late January and his eighth tally of the year.
Late in the frame, South Carolina regained the lead for good on what can be described on a wacky play. It began with Connor Moore backhanding a pass to teammate Florek along the boards. Florek turned and flung the puck at the net, looking for a rebound that Stingrays captain Andrew Cherniwchan could get to. As the puck got to the crease both Barone and defenseman Michael Brodzinski went to play it. Instead of getting control, the biscuit slid away and before Brodzinski could save it, it slid across the goal line as Brodzinski (with some help from Cherniwchan) crashed into the post, knocking it off the peg. It was ruled a goal – Florek’s 16th – and a 2-1 Stingrays lead after one.
As far as the scoreboard was concerned, the second period was a much slower-paced stanza. There were three penalties and only one goal. The lone score came at the 9:08 mark of the period and it went to the home team. Florek won an offensive zone faceoff over toward the near side boards. Cherniwchan tapped the puck back to the point where Karl Boudrias took it in and fired a shot at the Solar Bears net. Somehow the puck took a skip or hit the stick of a defender, sending it over Barone’s left shoulder and into the cage. For Boudrias, it was his second goal of the season.More importantly, it gave South Carolina a 3-1 lead that held through into the second intermission.
The Stingrays two-goal cushion stayed solid through much of the final frame, thanks in part to the efforts of Bednard. In an effort to gain back some momentum, Solar Bears Head Coach Drake Berehowsky pulled Barone with four minutes left in regulation. The plan went sideways seconds later when Jade Miller and Dmowski forced a turnover at the Stingrays defensive blue line. They turned it into an odd-man rush with Dmowski putting the puck into the empty net for his 15th of the season and a 4-1 lead.
Orlando was able to crawl back within two at 4-2 when at 18:48, Transit redirected Andrew McLean’s point shot after it hit off of Fitze in the slot. For Transit, it was his fourth of the year. That was as close as the Solar Bears got as Lawton Courtnall added another empty netter for his 12th of the season with five seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The Solar Bears will have one more game to finish the weekend, stopping in Jacksonville for a 3 p.m. puck drop at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. They will then head home before going back north to face the Icemen again on Wednesday.
Notes: Final shots were 36-25 in favor of Orlando… The Solar Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Stingrays were 0-for-1… Orlando’s Brodzinski played in his 200th ECHL game on Saturday. It was also his 177th as a Solar Bear, putting him fourth on the all-time franchise for most games played… Langan’s assist on Fitze’s goal was the 81st of his career with the Solar Bears, tying him with Brodzinski for second place on the team’s all-time list, one behind Chris LeBlanc who had 82.
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