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ECHL Orlando Solar Bears

Third Period Penalties Doom Orlando against Top Team in Eastern

March 2, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Orlando Solar Bears News Release


Orlando, FL - The Solar Bears battled the Eastern Conference-leading Reading Royals to a 3-3 tie after two periods of play, but penalty trouble doomed them to an 8-3 loss in front of 8,819 fans at the Amway Center on Saturday night.

An action packed first period saw the Solar Bears open up the scoring 5:45 into the game. C Ryan Cruthers took a pass from C Mathew Sisca and snapped a shot over the shoulder of G Riley Gill on the power play to give Orlando a 1-0 lead. The Solar Bears increased their advantage to 2-0 when Sisca turned and fired a pass to forward C.J. Severn, and Severyn redirected the puck into the cage at 8:33. Reading came storming right back in the middle portion of the period, starting when F Yannick Tifu got loose in the low slot, made a quick deke to his backhand, and beat G Zoltan Hetenyi at 9:41 of the period. The Royals knotted the game up at 2-2 exactly one minute later, when F Joel Champaign whipped a puck off the right post and into the net. Orlando regained their lead with 5:29 left in the frame, when F Michael Neal moved a pass to Sisca, who sent a one-touch pass to F Ryan Ginand on the right side. Ginand fired a one-timer off the pass to finish off a beautiful play and give the Solar Bears a 3-2 lead going into the first intermission.

Once again, the Royals evened up the contest. 11:11 into the second period, Tifu struck for his second goal of the night when he found a rebound during a delayed penalty and slammed it home. The Royals had an opportunity to take a lead with a penalty shot awarded to F David Marshall, but Hetenyi snagged the shot with his glove to keep it tied and the two sides finished 40 minutes of action locked in a 3-3 score.

The Royals came out hard in the third, breaking the tie game with a power play marker from D Brock Shelgren 1:44 into the period. Reading would go on to score four more times in the period, as F Ethan Cox scored less than a minute later and Tifu polished off his hat trick while F Stanislav Galiev scored twice on the power play for the final 8-3 score.

Three Stars: 1. Y. Tifu (REA); 2. S. Galiev (REA); 3. R. Gill (REA)

Power Plays: ORL: 1/2; REA: 4/6

Shots: ORL: 19; REA: 45

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