Solar Bears re-sign Taylor Cammarata

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Solar Bears have agreed to terms with forward Taylor Cammarata on an ECHL Standard Player Contract for the 2020-21 season. 

Cammarata, 25, was originally acquired by Orlando from the Idaho Steelheads on January 14 as part of a three-team trade with Idaho and the Maine Mariners, and produced 17 points (8g-9a) and six penalty minutes in 28 games with the Solar Bears. Cammarata led the Solar Bears with four game-winning goals, while Orlando went 10-4-1-0 (.700) in games in which he recorded at least a point. 

The 5-foot-7, 161-pound forward enters his fourth season of professional hockey, and has suited up in 173 career ECHL games with Orlando, Maine, Wichita, Norfolk and South Carolina, collecting 126 points (50g-76a) and 60 penalty minutes. Cammarata was also named MVP of the 2018 ECHL All-Star Classic in Indianapolis, posting seven points (5g-2a) in the 3-on-3 tournament. 

Prior to turning pro, played four seasons of college hockey at the University of Minnesota, where he was teammates with current Solar Bears defenseman Michael Brodzinski. In 149 career games for the Golden Gophers program, Cammarata generated 93 points (25g-68a) and 36 penalty minutes, while helping Minnesota to four consecutive Big Ten regular season championships, along with a Big Ten playoff championship in 2014-15 and an appearance in the Frozen Four title game in 2013-14. 

The native of Plymouth, Minnesota played two seasons of junior hockey for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League, where he recorded 162 points (65g-97a) and 55 penalty minutes in 119 games and was twice named to the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. As a rookie with the Black Hawks in 2011-12, Cammarata was named to the USHL All-Rookie and Second All-Star Teams, and he was also named the circuit’s Rookie of the Year while helping lead Waterloo reach the Clark Cup Final. The following season, Cammarata was named USA Hockey Junior Player of the Year, as he led the league with 38 goals and 93 points, and was named to the USHL First All-Star Team while receiving USHL Forward of the Year and USHL Player of the Year honors. 

Cammarata was a third-round selection (#76 overall) of the New York Islanders in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.