Solar Bears goalie
Solar Bears goalie has allowed one goal in opening two games
Cal Heeter has allowed just one goal in two games, setting the pace as Orlando takes a 2-0 lead into tonight’s Game 3 of its ECHL playoff series against South Carolina.
In his only NHL game four years ago for the Philadelphia Flyers, Cal Heeter allowed five pucks to elude him and reach its intended target.
The Carolina Hurricanes took full advantage.
“I try to forget a lot of that game,’’ Heeter said. “That’s probably why I only played one, because I didn’t have a very good performance. I wish it would have went differently. Who’s to say I’ll ever make it back there?’’
Heeter, 29, was near the end of his second professional hockey season then. Now he is much more seasoned and far from the same player with the Orlando Solar Bears, as the South Carolina Stingrays are finding out in their ECHL South Division semifinal series.
The Solar Bears lead 2-0 in the best-of-seven matchup heading into Game 3 at 7 tonight at Amway Center.
“A lot of people thought we didn’t have a chance, but this group believed in each other, believed we could play with this team,’’ Orlando coach Drake Berehowsky said.
In what figured to be a lowscoring series, Heeter — supported by strong defensive play in front of him — has been nearly impenetrable. He has yielded one goal in 60 chances in two road games
against a franchise that reached the 2017 Kelly Cup Finals and was one of four ECHL teams this season with at least 100 points.
The Solar Bears finished with 15 fewer regular-season victories against the Stingrays and the league’s Goaltender of the Year, Parker Milner. Don’t bother asking Heeter or his teammates whether that matters now.
“Confidence for goalies is a huge thing,’’ said Solar Bears forward Chris Crane, who played with Heeter for two seasons at Ohio State. “He’s coming on. His angles are good. He’s attacking pucks.’’
Heeter has played for 10 pro teams. Nearly all in North America were in the American Hockey League and ECHL. The St. Louis native who played junior hockey in Texas spent two seasons with a team in Croatia and one for a club in Hamburg, Germany, appropriately nicknamed the Freezers.
So far, Heeter’s coldblooded play has stymied the Stingrays.
“We’ve limited their chances,’’ Heeter (6-4, 195) said. “A lot of those were pretty routine saves that are easy as long as you control the puck back to the corner or suck them up. They’re definitely not getting a ton of Grade A scoring chances.’’
The Solar Bears’ 2-0 victory in Game 1 gave Heeter as many postseason shutouts as he had in the regular season. From October until early April, Heeter’s results, a 19-15-4-2 record with a 2.74 goals-against average, were solid.
Now they are stellar as the Solar Bears pursue their first postseason-series victory since joining the ECHL in 2012.
Orlando won the first two games and squandered a 3-1 series lead in a firstround playoff series last year before the Florida Everblades advanced.
Crane said uneven play in goal contributed to the change in direction that series took. Heeter and backup Mackenzie Skapski, both in their first seasons with the Solar Bears, are different.
“In my opinion, he should be in the AHL,’’ Crane said of a league one step beneath the NHL.
Said Skapski: “He’s playing the exact same way he’s played all year.’’
That’s soothing for Berehowsky.
After a practice this week, the coach sat in his office at RDV Sportsplex with stubble on his face and determination in his eyes not to overlook the Stingrays when they are down.
He said he has not said much to Heeter.
“I leave goalies alone,’’ Berehowsky said. “We don’t want to get too much into their heads, because there’s a lot of pressure already.’’
Heeter seems to be handling it just fine.