ORLANDO, FLA – As a developmental league, the ECHL has a track record of outstanding goalies who have gone on to become stars in the NHL (Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Quick, a graduate of the Reading Royals, comes to mind right away). Saturday night at the Amway Center, two very good goalies put on a show in round three of what has become an epic man-to-man-battle.
Orlando goalie Rob Madore thwarts a shot attempt by South Carolina’s Colin Mulvey (Photo courtesy of F. Medina & G. Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears)
Rookie netminder Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves to out-duel “veteran” goalie Rob Madore who also had 32 saves as the South Carolina Stingrays squeezed past the Orlando Solar Bears 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 6,062. The victory allowed the Stingrays (10-6-1-1, 22 points) to leapfrog over both the Solar Bears (8-5-1-3, 20 points) and Atlanta into second place in the ECHL’s South division.
“They’ve faced each other three times and both have been phenomenal,” Orlando head coach Anthony Noreen said after the contest. “I thought Rob was really good again tonight. I thought their goaltender was really good again tonight. It’s similar to what you see at the next level and beyond.”
The first two times the teams met up in North Charleston, both games went to a shootout tied at 1-1. Adding in Saturday’s final, Vanecek – who was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 2014 draft – has allowed three goals in 190 minutes of regulation/overtime play against Orlando for a goals against average of 0.95. Madore, an undrafted player with now 128 ECHL games under his belt, has given up four goals in the same amount of time against the Stingrays for a 1.26 goals against average.
“In all three games, both teams have come out and played really well and limited chances and created some,” Madore said about his battles with Vanecek. “I think it’s just a matter of making sure to limit the rebounds we’re giving up and trying to stay away from giving up any soft goals. I think he’s done a great job of that. He’s very calm and composed.”
Despite having to travel back from Duluth, Georgia after facing the Gladiators Friday night, it was the host Solar Bears who had the early jump in their stride. With the defense taking opportunities to join in numerous forrays, Orlando quickly piled up a large shot advantage. Vanecek was up to the challenge except for one shot that came off the stick of blueliner Eric Baier that rang the post and stayed out. At the other end, Madore was not as busy but he was rock solid, matching his counterpart save for save including a pad save on sniper David Pacan.
After killing a penalty late in the opening period, the Stingrays were able to pin the Solar Bears in their defensive zone. The pressure led to defenseman Joey Leach feeding a pass to forward Paul Rodrigues alone in the high slot. Rodrigues took the feed and whistled a shot past Madore with 31.8 seconds left before the intermission. For Rodrigues, it was his first goal of the 2015-2016 campaign.
The Solar Bears continued to attempt to force the issue in the middle frame but again Vanecek stayed calm. The goalie’s confidence showed when he stared down Orlando’s leading goal scorer Eric Faille on a break-in early in the stanza. Down the other end, Madore was holding up his end of the deal, keeping the Stingrays at bay as they began to create more scoring chances.
South Carolina extended its lead to two at the 14:25 mark when Rodrigues fed the puck back to the point where Leach fired at the net. The disc managed to elude several players in front and sail into the top corner of the net on Madore’s glove side for his third goal of the season.
Needing a spark, the Solar Bears got just what the doctor ordered in the final minute of the period. T.J. Foster, last week’s ECHL Player of the Week, took the puck from Baier and proceeded to fly up the ice. As he drove deep into the South Carolina end, he saw Vanecek not squaring up to him against the near-side post. With very little angle left, Foster fired for the top corner just over the goalie’s right shoulder to light the goal light for his seventh of the season. Madore also received an assist, his second of the season.
Trailing by just one, Orlando faced a determined Stingrays squad at the start of the final frame. Madore had to be on his game, swatting away a Brett Cameron shot that fell behind him in the crease and a few minutes later fending off Louis Belisle’s attempt to score.
While the Solar Bears goalie was standing on his head, Vanecek was just as tough at the other end. Playing a solid technical game, Vanecek easily handled everything Orlando threw at him because he never seemed to be out of position at any time.
Vanecek’s teammates rewarded him by hemming the Solar Bears in their defensive end for an extended period late in regulation. Madore was forced to stay in his net until there was less than a minute to go. As it turned out, even having an extra attacker on the ice could not help Orlando solve South Carolina’s netminder, running out of time before it could find the equalizer.
Asked how he might go about beating a goalie of Vanecek’s talents, Madore said that there is no one sure way to beat a netminder who is playing this well.
“There are a lot of really good goalies. Being able to see it from going from an NHL camp to an AHL camp, you see that there’s not a lot of difference between the goalies at the [different] levels and he’s another one of those [goalies],” Madore said. “There’s a lot of really good goalies in the ECHL. I don’t think there’s one particular way to beat a guy. You just have to go out and throw your best out there and hopefully a few go in.”
The Solar Bears and Stingrays will complete their set of games Monday night at the Amway Center. Game time is set for 7 pm.
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