WHO: Florida Everblades vs. Orlando Solar BearsWHERE: Amway Center (Orlando, FL)WHEN: Saturday, February 12, at 7:00 pmBROADCAST: 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 athttps://espnswfl.com.
ESTERO, Fla. – After being idle for a week, the Florida Everblades return to action for the first of two away games Saturday and Sunday against the Orlando Solar Bears in Central Florida’s Amway Center. These are the final two games of a five-game stretch in which the Blades have not faced another opponent.THE OPPONENT: The Solar Bears are the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. Orlando finds itself in fourth place in the ECHL South with a .583 points percentage and 49 total points. Riding a three-game winning streak, the Solar Bears are 5-3-2-0 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, with four contests slated for Hertz Arena.LAST TIME OUT: The Florida Everblades struck first, but the Orlando Solar Bears scored three third-period goals as the Blades came up on the short end of a 3-2 decision in front of a spirited crowd of 6,940 Southwest Florida faithful last Saturday night at Hertz Arena. After a scoreless first period, Levko Koper gave the Blades a 1-0 lead at 12:05 of the middle stanza, the only tally by either team before the second intermission. Following three third-period goals by the Solar Bears, John McCarron closed out the scoring with a marker in the game’s final minute.HERE COMES THE CAPTAIN!: 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 and another last Saturday, McCarron raised his Everblade career goal total to 141 in the regular season and 159 in all games including playoffs. The captain is within four goals of Reggie Berg’s career regular-season mark of 145 and within five of Berg’s overall mark of 164.FOUR HEADED MONSTER: The Everblades continue to have three players among the ECHL Top-10 scorers. Blake Winiecki continues to rank second in the ECHL with 46 points (20 G, 26 A), while John McCarron (19 G, 24 A) is sixth with 43 points. Alex Aleardi comes in seventh with 42 points (21 G, 21 A) while Joe Pendenza (17 G, 23 A) is right outside the Top-10 tied for 11th 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 fourth in the league with a plus-23 rating. Jake Jaremko is tied for fifth among ECHL rookies with 33 points with 10 goals and 23 assists, with his helpers tied for third among ECHL newcomers. Parker Gahagen is seventh among ECHL goaltenders with a 2.50 GAA.
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The Florida Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals.
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