Everblades and Solar Bears Return to Action in Orlando

ESTERO, Fla. – The Florida Everblades will return to action on Saturday, February 12 and Sunday, February 13 for two away games this week against the Orlando Solar Bears in Central Florida’s Amway Center. The puck drops Saturday at 7:00 pm and the teams will be back at it on Sunday at noon. 

ON ICE THIS WEEK

Saturday, February 12: Everblades at Solar Bears, Amway Center, 7:00 pmSunday, February 13: Everblades at Solar Bears, Amway Center, 12:00 pmRead about the Blades’ busy promotional schedule and great deals HERE.

NEWS AND NOTES

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Last week featured three games in three days against the Solar Bears and the Everblades came away with a 1-2 weekly record. The South Division rivals opened the series by splitting a pair of games in Orlando on Thursday and Friday, before the Solar Bears took a win at Hertz Arena on Saturday. On Thursday, the Blades were a 4-1 winner behind 42 saves from Parker Gahagen and two goals from John McCarron. Orlando claimed a 4-2 win on Friday and a 3-2 win on Saturday. Alex Aleardi led the Everblades with four points in the series, picking up a goal and three assists. 

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT: The Everblades will face the Orlando Solar Bears in the final two games of a five-game stretch in which the Blades do not face another opponent. The Solar Bears do have a Wednesday matchup scheduled at Jacksonville. The Solar Bears are the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. Entering the week, Orlando finds itself in fourth place in the ECHL South with a .573 points percentage and 47 total points. Riding a two-game winning streak into Wednesday’s Jacksonville game, the Solar Bears are 4-4-2-0 over their last 10 games, while carrying a 13-5-2-0 record at Amway Center.

THE SERIES: Orlando holds a 4-3 edge in seven meetings against the Everblades this season. Including the upcoming weekend series, six more meetings between the clubs await after that, with four contests slated for Hertz Arena. 

STREAK WATCH: Alex Aleardi and Dylan Vander Esch both bring four-game point streaks into the new week. Going back to a 6-5 overtime win in Greenville, both Aleardi and Vander Esch have logged three goals and three assists to pace the Blades. For Vander Esch during the streak, he followed up his first professional hat trick with an assist in each of the next three games.

SONG OF THE SOUTH: The Everblades (23-15-3-3) find themselves in third place in the ECHL South, sporting an Eastern Conference high 52 points and a points percentage – the metric used to determine and seed Kelly Cup Playoff participants - of .591. In the top-heavy south, Jacksonville (24-13-2-1, 51 pts) leads the way with a .638 mark, with Atlanta (24-16-2-1, .593, 51 pts) in second and Orlando (22-16-3-0, .573, 47 pts) in fourth. Jockeying for fifth place are Greenville (14-16-4-3, .473, 35 pts), Norfolk (15-21-2-2, .425, 34 pts) and South Carolina (15-22-4-0, .415, 34 pts).

THE CAPTAIN IS CLIMBING: Just a couple of weeks after setting new Everblades franchise records for points, Captain Everblade John McCarron is nearing another set of major milestones. With two goals last Thursday, McCarron raised his Everblade career goal total to 140 in the regular season and 158 in all games including playoffs. The captain is within five goals of Reggie Berg’s career regular-season mark of 145 and within six of Berg’s overall mark of 164.

FOUR HEADED MONSTER: The Everblades continue to have four players among the ECHL Top-10 scorers. Blake Winiecki continues to be tied for the ECHL lead with 46 points (20 G, 26 A), while Alex Aleardi comes in third with 43 points (21 G, 22 A). John McCarron (18 G, 24 A) is tied for fifth with 42 points, while Joe Pendenza (18 G, 22 A) is tied for ninth with 40 points. Aleardi and Winiecki rank second and third with 21 and 20 goals, respectively, right behind the league-best total of 22. McCarron is tied for the ECHL lead with four shorthanded goals.

AND SOME OTHER MONSTERS: Defenseman Xavier Bouchard is tied for the league lead with a plus-23 rating. Jake Jaremko is fourth among ECHL rookies with 33 points with 10 goals and 23 assists, which is tied for the lead among ECHL newcomers. Parker Gahagen is tied for ninth among ECHL goaltenders with a 2.50 GAA.

--

JOIN THE FUN

Become a member of the Florida Everblades family by securing a great seat location and big savings with a Blades 365 Membership!

Purchase a new Voucher 12 package that allows you to use 12 tickets in any quantity during the 2021-22 season to earn the exclusive benefits of being a Blades 365 Member! To view the Blades 365 Membership savings, benefits and options click HERE.

Everblades put the FUN in FUNdraising! There is no handling of money or tickets and no limit to the amount of money your group can make with the Everblades easy-to-run online Fundraiser! For more information, or to reserve a Fundraiser Night at an Everblades regular season home game, call or text (239) 948-7825.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Watch every Florida Everblades game on FloHockey.TV. Listen to the exciting game action on ESPN Southwest Florida on 770 AM, 98.1 FM, 104.3 FM and online at https://espnswfl.com. 

Stay up to date by following the Florida Everblades on Social Media with all the latest news, scores and promotions on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tiktok, and Twitter.

The Florida Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals.

###