On 6th ECHL team, goalie keeps moving
Moments after a midweek morning practice, Rob Madore stepped off the ice at the RDV Sportsplex Ice Den and was struck with a verbal slap shot.
Not surprisingly, the Orlando Solar Bears goaltender on his sixth ECHL team handled it but not without slight uncertainty.
“Chicago, South Carolina, Flo . . . Evansville, Florida [pause, followed by a brief sigh], uh, Cincinnati and here, I think,’’ Madore said. You are correct, sir. “Pretty good, heh? That’s like a brain game. If I do that every day, I’ll have my memory when I’m 85.’’
Madore was pleased with himself, which is how the Solar Bears view their well-traveled goalie. As Orlando (1-0-0-0, two points) prepares to host the Norfolk Admirals twice this week, including at 7 tonight at Amway Center, Madore is getting acclimated to his new surroundings.
“You never stop learning,’’ said Madore, 27. “You learn every place you go. It’s an interesting world in minor pro sports. A lot of times, we don’t control where we go.
“I’ve been very fortunate to land in some good spots, such as this.’’
Madore (5-11, 188 pounds) has a 2.72 goals-against average in 118 career ECHL games and played a careerhigh 46 games with the Cincinnati Cyclones last season.
He arrived in Orlando after first-year coach Anthony Noreen received recommendations from Shane Clifford, goalie coach of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, and Pete Aubry, developmental goalie coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. Noreen coached the Phantoms, a junior hockey team in Ohio, before the Solar Bears hired him in June.
“Both told me, ‘This is your guy. He’s your type of personality. He’s your type of competitor, and he’s an excellent goalie,’ ’’ Noreen said. “‘I think I got the job, and Rob and I spoke the next day.’’
Said Clifford: “I think he could be an NHL goalie. At the end of the day, his teammates are going to know that, ‘We have the best goalie in the league, and let’s go win some games.’ ’’
Madore saved 23 shots in the Solar Bears’ seasonopening 6-3 victory against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday night. The two-time University of Vermont Player of the Year’s time in the ECHL began during the 2011-12 season with the defunct Chicago Express.
Madore’s time in the league has been interrupted only by brief forays in the American Hockey League with the Charlotte Checkers twice and the San Antonio Rampage. The Toronto Marlies are the Solar Bears’ AHL affiliate.
Solar Bears defenseman Max Nicastro played with Madore nearly a decade ago with the Chicago Steel juniors team.
“He is the same quick, shifty goalie that he has always been,’’ Nicastro said.
Clifford runs a goaltender school in Pittsburgh, Madore’s hometown, and began
coaching the Solar Bears netminder when he was 16. Clifford said Madore’s athleticism in net compares favorably to another one of his students, the Penguins’ Marc-André Fleury.
“He is as fast as that,’’ Clifford said. “I don’t think people realize when you say athletic, how quick he is. When you watch him react to a puck, he is explosive fast.’’
Madore has been a goalie for as long as he can remember, since his father started playing in an adult league.
“My dad stuck me in the net; I was probably 2 or 3,’’ Madore said. “I guess he needed someone ugly to put in the net and shoot at. “I was that guy.’’ Madore is that guy now for the Solar Bears, just like he has been for several ECHL teams.