After an eleven year hiatus, The Orlando Solar Bears are back, finding new life in the East Coast Hockey League and a new home in the Amway Center.
In their previous life, Orlando had played from 1995-2001 in the International Hockey league, winning the Turner Cup in 2001, the last year played by the IHL. The Solar Bears will act as a feeder team to the American Hockey League’s Houston Aeros and the Minnesota Wild of the NHL once this year’s lockout ends.
The home opener was played Saturday night in in front of an unbelievably loud sellout crowd that supplied a tremendous stream of energy from the first faceoff until the last goal. The Solar Bears were able to pull out a late 4-3 victory against the Florida Everblades in what came down to be an excruciating shootout, improving their record on the season to 2-1-1. The revitalized team is off to an impressive start, considering the Everblades are the reigning ECHL champions and the team just embarked upon their first season together. The entire season, in fact, has been played against the Everblades so far, as the Solar Bears had just returned home from a road trip in which they went 1-1-1 against Florida.
Early on in the season the Solar Bears have a few names on the leaderboards of the ECHL, with goalie second in total points.
In a season that extends from October through late March, the Solar Bears will play 70 games, 36 of which are scheduled at home. The next game will be played Wednesday night at 7 PM against the South Carolina Stingrays, who have dropped two and won two this young season. Olar Bear
