The Orlando Solar Bears are used to traveling north for ECHL road games. But lacing up the skates in Maine? That will be a first.
The surging Solar Bears (7-3-1-0, 15 points) will take on the Maine Mariners, a first-year ECHL team, tonight in Portland, Maine, as Orlando continues a five-game road trip that also will take it to Manchester, N.H., and Worcester, Mass.
But first things first.
The Solar Bears will look to extend their seven-game point streak against a Mariners squad that doesn’t look like a team playing its inaugural season.
The Mariners (5-5-0-1, 11 points) have won three straight, earning seven points in their past four games, and sit fifth in the Eastern Conference’s North Division. Since losing their first three games, the New York Rangers’ affiliate has gone 5-2-0-1.
But the Mariners are without their top goal scorer, Alex Kile (7 goals), who was loaned to the AHL’s Utica Comets last week. His departure leaves Terrence Wallin as the Mariners’ top goal scorer with three.
The Solar Bears also are riding a three-game winning streak after their 5-3 win over South Carolina on Saturday behind a combined eight points from forwards Brady Shaw (3 goals, 1 assist) and Troy Bourke (1 goal, 3 assists). Orlando has picked up 13 points in its past seven games, going 6-0-1-0 in that stretch. Offense has been the key, as the Solar Bears have recorded at least three goals in each of those six victories, outscoring their opponents 28-12 in the process.
Extending their point and win streaks tonight also will give Drake Berehowsky his 100th victory as coach of the Solar Bears.
A win could move Orlando into a first-place tie atop the South Division with Norfolk, which plays at Greenville Thursday night. Jacksonville, meanwhile, is just one point behind Norfolk and would take over sole possession of first with a win tonight against Florida, regardless of how the Solar Bears do.
Tonight’s game, which starts at 7, is the only regular-season meeting scheduled between the teams.
The Solar Bears are scheduled to face the Manchester Monarchs on Friday before capping their road trip with games Saturday and Sunday against the Worcester Railers. Orlando is set to return home Nov. 21 to host South Carolina at 7 p.m.
Bourke earns honor
Solar Bears forward Troy Bourke has been selected as the Inglasco/ECHL Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 5-11.
Bourke scored three goals and added five assists for eight points in two games last week.
Bourke has been on an offensive tear since his Oct. 31 arrival from the Syracuse Crunch, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate. The 24-year-old has registered at least one point in each of his four games with Orlando, recording 12 points on three goals and a team-high nine assists.
Bourke, a third-round selection of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, is the first Solar Bears’ player to earn the honor since Eric Faille during the 2016-17 season.
