While the Orlando Solar Bears were struggling to get a strong footing throughout the season, their parent club, the Toronto Marlies, were dominating. Dominating to the tune of the best record in the AHL and an Eastern Conference Finals.
It was a season of victory for Toronto. The team fell short of the Calder Cup Final, but dominated the league. The work from Marlies general manager Kyle Dubas in assembling a young team and managing the roster for the Marlies and the Solar Bears paid off in a big run for the AHL team.
There was something of a cost though. That cost was the Orlando Solar Bears.
The frustration from the fan base and even from ownership was easy to sense around the Amway Center, particularly early in the year. The team was scrambling at times to get a full team on the ice. That was a reality rookie coach Anthony Noreen quickly had to learn to deal with. But without doubt, the constant call ups and roster moves knocked the Solar Bears back.
Dubas, who is in charge of the Solar Bears’ roster too, admitted fully that Toronto’s success may have come at Orlando’s expense. In his end-of-season press conference, he told the media in Toronto the Solar Bears sacrificed their season for the Marlies as he tried to create a minor league system that resembles baseball with more regular call ups and promotions.
“The Solar Bears have been incredible,” Dubas said. “The players have all been prepared to play. Anthony and John Snowden completely sacrificed the success of their own team. There were times when they could’ve said, ‘no, don’t bring this guy, we really need him this weekend,’ and I would’ve said, ‘okay, we’ll find somebody somewhere,’ and they never — they insisted that we take their players.”
The Solar Bears’ goal of making a third straight trip to the Kelly Cup Playoffs were snuffed pretty quickly as they struggled to string together wins in December and January. A late-season run was destined to fall short.
And for a minor league team in a non-traditional market, winning matters. It is something to sell to season ticket holders and get people through the door. Orlando did a good job recovering with some special promotions, but still saw a slight dip in attendance from last year.
The team certainly learned its lessons from that.
Anthony Noreen and the Solar Bears said after the season the experience of this season with the Marlies taught them a little bit more about how they need to build their roster to be better prepared for the trials of call ups and recalls. Expect the team to be more proactive searching out veterans to supplement the roster.
Both parties will surely work to be better and work better together so that both the Marlies and the Solar Bears are competing for hardware next summer.
The Solar Bears renewed their affiliation agreement with the Marlies and Maple Leafs for an additional two years. Clearly they did do some things well together.
Noreen spoke very highly of his relationship and communication lines with the Marlies throughout the season. He said he was always aware of when the roster adjustments were coming. Nothing caught him by surprise. Except for the challenges of dealing with that reality.
That would catch anyone by surprise and be something no team could prepare for without experience.
The Solar Bears have that experience now. As their offseason kicks into higher gear in June, they will begin their preparations to make October better for the 2017 season.
UCF gets previously retired football transfer
The concussion awareness going around the football world has taken its toll on participation numbers and made plenty of players wonder about their future. There have been a few instances of high profile young players in college and the pros retiring long before their careers seemed set to take off.
Christian Lezzer made that difficult decision at Boston College, walking away in 2014 after recording two tackles and suffering a concussion.
Now though, the linebacker has decided to return to the field, after learning more about the condition and assessing his own health. And he will suit up with the Knights next year.
Former Clearfield star and Boston College LB Christian Lezzer is headed to UCF to play again. @Ry_Bass pic.twitter.com/eEzMR2nQvY
— Sean Fitz (@seanfitz247) June 1, 2016
Report: Magic, Dwight Howard not interested in each other
The Orlando Magic and Dwight Howard have been tied together in free agency this summer through several reports. Lots of speculation has gone around about the team and its intent in free agency. A reunion does appeal to some people.
They were and are still just rumors though. As divisive and tantalizing as they might be.
The latest rumor though has Howard and the Magic not having that reunion at all. This rumor may have spun itself out.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders in a chat Monday said neither party is interested in coming together in free agency this summer:
I was told by both sides that a Orlando reunion is highly unlikely.
The Magic don’t want it and I am not sure Dwight does either. I know a lot of people keep saying Dwight would, but people in his life say no chance. He does not want the luggage that would come with that.
It certainly did seem like a long shot to begin with. Both parties left on somewhat bad terms. And fans were certainly not completely on board even with the thought of it.
