ECHL Orlando Solar Bears

Cruthers Extends Goal Streak to Four Games in Orlando Loss

January 26, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Orlando Solar Bears News Release


North Charleston, SC - Solar Bears Captain C Ryan Cruthers extended his goal streak to four games, notching his 100th ECHL goal in the process, but Orlando fell 9-3 to the South Carolina Stingrays at the North Charleston Coliseum on Saturday night.

For the second straight game, Orlando was able to knock home the first goal of the contest. Towards the tail-end a power play, D Ryan Blair held a puck at the blue line and found C Ryan Cruthers, who skated in unobstructed along the right side of the slot and snapped a shot into the top right corner of the net at 8:59, giving the Solar Bears a 1-0 lead.

Only 30 seconds into the second frame, South Carolina evened the score up at 1-1. A shot from F Robby Dee was stopped was G Patrick Killeen, but it trickled through his pads and F Hunter Bishop tapped the puck over the line to even up the score. At 11:43, South Carolina tool the lead when a cross-crease pass from D Scooter Vaughn bounced off the skates of F Chris Langkow and into the back of the net. Just 26 seconds after that, Dee put the Stingrays ahead 3-1 when he one-timed a shot off a pass from Bishop, and D Colby Cohen finished the second period scoring by blasting home a power play goal from the blue line with 1.2 seconds remaining in the frame as the Stingrays led 4-1 after two.

The two teams traded goals at the start of the third period, with Dee notching his second of the night at 3:03 and F Michael Neal answering for the Solar Bears with a great individual effort, stick-handling through three players and putting the puck in the top corner of the net to answer 54 seconds later. Vaughn then struck at 7:16 to put South Carolina ahead 6-2, with C Mathew Sisca answering for Orlando once again less than a minute later. The Solar Bears were then issued a rash of penalty calls at 10:59 of the period, leading to a 5-on-3 goal and two 5-on-4 markers for South Carolina as they skated away with the win.

Three Stars: 1. H. Bishop (SC); 2. T. McNeely (SC); 3. C. Cohen (SC)

Power Plays: ORL: 1/4; SC: 4/7

Shots: ORL: 27; SC: 31

Notes:

G Patrick Killeen started his first game as a Solar Bear tonight... C Ryan Cruthers has a four-game goal streak, the longest such streak for a Solar Bear this season. His first period goal was also his 100th ECHL marker... RW Chris Lawrence was not dressed tonight, and is questionable for tomorrow's game... The Solar Bears saw their four-game winning streak come to a close tonight. It was their longest winning streak of the year... Orlando plays one more road game in South Carolina tomorrow afternoon and then will play 13 of their next 14 games at home...

Get Tickets:

Orlando hits the road for one more game and returns to the Amway Center on Wednesday, January 30, for a 7:00 p.m. game against the Greenville Road Warriors. Good seats are still available. Visit www.OrlandoSolarBearsHockey.com.

The Orlando Solar Bears, the ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Minnesota Wild and AHL's Houston Aeros, play all of their home games at the 2012 Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal Sports Facility of the Year, the Amway Center.

Individual tickets for all regular season home games are on sale beginning as low as $15. To purchase your tickets, please visit www.OrlandoSolarBearsHockey.com or the Amway Center Box Office.

Check out the Orlando Solar Bears Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 26, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central