ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Solar Bears, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, announced forward Anthony Bardaro has agreed to terms on an ECHL Standard Player Contract for the 2024-25 season.
Bardaro, 32, will play his first season in the ECHL after seven seasons of professional hockey in Italy and France. The Delta, British Columbia native appeared in 33 games for Angers of Ligue Magnus (France) scoring 27 points (6g-21a) during the 2023-24 season.
The 5-foot-10, 181-pound forward began his professional career with a splash, recording 56 points during the 2017-18 season and broke out in the playoffs with 23 points in 14 games to earn Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors in the Alps Hockey League while with Asiago (Italy). The next season, Bardaro would record a career-high 68 points (31g-37a) in 40 games and would be chosen to represent Italy at the IIHF World Championships in 2019.
Bardaro would then join top Italian Club HC Bolzano of the then Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) now ICE Hockey League (ICEHL), for the 2019-20 season. After two seasons with Bolzano and two seasons with HC Pusteral (ICEHL), Bardaro elected to join Angers in France for the 2023-24 season. In total, the 32-year-old has played in 293 professional league games, scoring 280 points (123g-157a).
Prior to his professional career, Bardaro played four years at University of British Columbia (USports) leading the team in scoring in three consecutive seasons from 2014-2017. In total, Bardaro tallied 102 points (36g-66a) in 110 games over four college seasons. He earned USports West Second Team All-Star honors following the 2016-17 season.
Bardaro’s junior hockey career spanned five seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 2008-2012, where he scored 190 points (90g-100a) in 266 regular season games with Spokane and Prince Albert.
Solar Bears 2024 Preseason Roster:
Forwards: Tyler Bird, Alex Frye, Brayden Low, Spencer Kersten, Tanner Schachle, Aaron Luchuk, Ryan Mahshie, Kohei Sato, Jesse Jacques, Jarrett Lee, Carson Focht, Thomas Belgarde, Anthony Bardaro
Defensemen: Chandler Romeo, Robbie Stucker, Avery Winslow, Matt Stief, Ben Carroll, Wyatt Wilson, Jimmy Mazza
Goaltenders: Alexis Gravel
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