Bear Bites: Week of Jan. 11, 2021

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Solar Bears dig into a busy weekend with three games in three days, starting on Friday, Dec. 15 when the team heads up to Jacksonville to face the Icemen before returning to the comforts of home for a pair of games against the Florida Everblades. 

THIS WEEK’S GAMES: 

• Friday, Jan. 15 at Jacksonville Icemen at 7 p.m. 
• Saturday, Jan. 16 vs. Florida Everblades at 7 p.m. 
• Sunday, Jan. 17 vs. Florida Everblades at 3 p.m. – VyStar Credit Union Solar Bears Sunday 

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SEASON RECORD: 5-4-0-0 LAST WEEK’S RECORD: 1-1-0-0 

ACTIVE LEADERS: TOP SCORER: Ryan Lohin and Aaron Luchuk – 7 points MOST GOALS: Ryan Lohin – 5 goals MOST ASSISTS: Aaron Luchuk – 5 assists PIM LEADER: Ben Thomson – 19 PIM PLUS-MINUS LEADER: Alexander Kuqali – +6 

LAST WEEK’S GAMES: 

Friday, Jan. 8 vs. Florida: 4-3 W The Solar Bears were bolstered by the return of Ryan Lohin from Lightning training camp, as the forward continued his torrid goal-scoring by adding his team-leading fifth of the season, and Peter Abbandonato scored twice. Clint Windsor made 27 saves for the win. 

Saturday, Jan. 9 at Jacksonville: 4-1 L The Icemen scored three second-period goals, while Orlando got a late goal in regulation from J.J. Piccinich as Orlando suffered its first loss of the season to Jacksonville. 

BEARS IN THE NHL: 

With NHL training camps opening earlier this month, a handful of former Solar Bears players remain on major league training camp rosters; earlier today the Tampa Bay Lightning assigned forward Jimmy Huntington and defensemen Alex Green and Dmitry Semykin to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, while goaltender Spencer Martin has been placed on waivers with the intent of being assigned to Syracuse and goaltender Christopher Gibson has been waived. 

BITES: 

• Drake Berehowsky is poised to coach his 350th game behind the Solar Bears bench this Saturday when the team hosts Florida; his 348 games coached and 165 wins are the most of any Solar Bears head coach in team history, and has posted a lifetime record of 165-146-37 (.527), and has also guided the team to its only two postseason series victories
• Orlando has posted an 8-6-1-0 record at Jacksonville over the last three seasons 
• Orlando is 3-0-0-0 when scoring first 
• The Solar Bears are 4-0-0-0 when leading after two periods 
• Clint Windsor (1,211 saves) needs only two saves to pass John Curry (1,212) for sole possession of third on the team’s all-time saves list; Garret Sparks ranks second with 1,451 and Ryan Massa holds the first-place mark with 2,360 
• Mark Auk has continued to produce since he was claimed off waivers from Rapid City last week; the defenseman has three assists in his first two games with Orlando, and he has a running streak of five assists over his last four ECHL games 
• Orlando announced the signing of forward Dylan Sadowy on Sunday; Sadowy tied for the longest goal-scoring streak in the ECHL last season with 11 goals in eight games from Oct. 19-Nov. 10 with the Kalamazoo Wings 
• Aaron Luchuk has a home-ice assist streak of four games (5a) dating back to Orlando’s home opener on Dec. 29 
• Chris LeBlanc needs only two more points for 100 in his career with the Solar Bears (36g-62a) – he has played 181 career games with Orlando, the most among any forward in team history; his next three goals will give him 39 in his Solar Bears career to move past Brett Findlay for third on the team’s career goals list 
• Peter Abbandonato, Alexander Kuqali, Tristin Langan, Aaron Luchuk and Patrick McNally are the only players to have played in every single game for Orlando this season 

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