A familiar face could be in net tonight for the Orlando Solar Bears as they take on the Florida Everblades in a renewal of their Sunshine Cup series.
Garret Sparks is returning to Solar Bears purple.
The Toronto Maple Leafs assigned the former Solar Bears goalie back to the ECHL on Tuesday to get some extra starts with Antoine Bibeau playing well and the Maple Leafs going through some major changes thanks to a nine-player trade executed Tuesday.
Marlies have reassigned goalie Garret Sparks to ECHL Orlando. Likely to get some extra starts. Bibeau has won 11 of last 12
— Kyle Cicerella (@KyleTheReporter) February 9, 2016
Sparks gave up six goals each in his last two starts, including Saturday against the Manitoba Moose. But that has not been representative of his season. Sparks has gone 10-3-3 with a 2.49 goals against average.
It has been a weird season for Sparks. Early on, the Maple Leafs were struggling to get goalies healthy and able to play and called Sparks up to the Maple Leafs. Sparks was 3-1-0-1 in five starts for the Maple Leafs, including a 3-0 shutout in his first NHL start, the first Maple Leafs goalie to record a shutout in his first game.
The Solar Bears were not immune to the injuries within the system. It seemed like Rob Madore and Ryan Massa were splitting weekends in Toronto, leaving Orlando with one goalie and an emergency backup picked up off the street (not literally).
Now with everyone healthy, Sparks has been squeezed somewhat out of the rotation and the Marlies and Maple Leafs obviously want to keep him playing. And the Solar Bears now will have three goalies to manage including Sparks.
Sparks has had a good run with the Solar Bears in the past though.
From 2013-15, Sparks appeared in 46 games with a 25-13-3 with a 2.45 goals against average and a 93.2 save percentage. He added six shutouts in his career.
He was the primary goaltender in the 2015 Playoffs for the Solar Bears in their six-game series loss to the Everblades.
Not that goalkeeping has been a problem for the team. Despite not being in the top-20 goalies, both Rob Madore and Ryan Massa have had some extremely strong moments in net for the Solar Bears. Both have gotten call ups to the Marlies and looked strong in their stints in the AHL.
But now there is a clear backlog and the Marlies are trying to make sure their top prospects still get playing time as they sort through it. Sparks will likely get playing time initially for the Solar Bears either Wednesday and almost certainly in one or two of the games this weekend against Atlanta (Friday and Saturday) or Elmira (Sunday) at the Amway Center.
He will certainly get a hero’s welcome home when he does get his first start at the Amway Center.
