The disappointment and frustration was palpable during the last week of the Orlando Solar Bears’ nearly February-long homestand. The Kalamazoo Wings had caught the Solar Bears in the standings and had found all the breaks to sweep the final weekend series.
Kalamazoo scored a goal with just less than 90 seconds left in regulation, forcing Orlando into scramble mode and a 6-on-5 goal with two seconds left just to force overtime. That one point — the only one recorded in the three-game set — may prove to be important in the long run. Or giving up that late goal may prove too costly.
The Solar Bears are in the midst of making up ground after struggling through much of December and failing to accumulate wins. They are six points behind the Elmira Jackals for the final Playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but have three teams standing between them and that spot — the Kalamazoo Wings, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits and Wheeling Nailers. The good news is the Solar Bears have four games in hand on Elmira.
Still, the margin for error is very very small for the Solar Bears.
“They’re all must win,” coach Anthony Noreen said following Saturday’s loss to Kalamazoo. “We’re treating them all like playoff games. That’s the way we’re looking at them. We treated this one like a playoff game. We’ll do that again Monday. No matter what happens Monday, we’ll get out on the road and do the same thing again.”
And the schedule will add to the difficult task ahead.
Orlando recorded only 15 points in the last 15 games, 14 of which were at home. The team gained some ground in the standings, but not nearly enough for what the schedule has coming up.
The Solar Bears will play their next six games on the road — three this weekend in Manchester against the Manchester Monarchs, the second best team in the Eastern Conference, and three next weekend against the Brampton Beast, the worst team in the Eastern Conference. Orlando has just seven home games left this season and will end the year with five of the team’s final seven games against the division-leading Florida Everblades.
Whatever opportunities are left for the Solar Bears, they have to take advantage of.
Orlando has dealt with roster moves throughout the season. Captain Eric Baier is on loan with Stockton of the AHL and there is no sense of when he might return to the Solar Bears. The team played with five total defenders on the roster last weekend, but got James Martin back on the roster. Of course, that cost the team Eric Faille, sent back up to Toronto this weekend after a strong performance last weekend against Kalamazoo.
The Solar Bears’ ever-shifting roster has been something the team has had to handle throughout the year. The dual goal of the Solar Bears to prepare players for the Marlies and the AHL parent club and win games at the ECHL has been a difficult one to balance at times.
Orlando has a lot to manage and a very small margin for error and few easy opportunities to make that playoff push.
“We’re running out of time,” Rylan Schwartz said. “We’ve got to take advantage of these teams. [Kalamazoo is] one point behind us, maybe passed us after the game [Saturday]. We’ve got to beat these teams and we have a road trip coming up. It’s going to take a full team effort. We need everybody on that ice going.”
The Solar Bears have to play their best game and best hockey of the season to have a chance at this. Orlando is teetering on the edge of falling completely out of the Playoff race entirely.
This does not mean of course that the Solar Bears are done playing hard. They have a lot of reasons to play hard even if the postseason is beyond reach — every game is an audition for a minor-league team.
But if the Playoffs remain a goal, the Solar Bears have to pick up wins and points. Each loss is a missed opportunity with the margin for error so razor thin.
