SWAMP RABBITS DROP FINAL GAME OF WEEKEND

(ORLANDO, Fla.) -  Brent Pedersen potted two goals and Kolby Hay made 36 saves, but the Orlando Solar Bears gained early separation and pulled away from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits with a 6-3 win on Sunday afternoon. Another loss in a “four-point” game slashes the Swamp Rabbits elimination number to 10 with 15 games remaining, and puts them 1-5-0-0 through six of their recent seven-game road swing.

Orlando jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back. Reece Newkirk started his eventual three-point night with his only goal at 5:27, transitioning into the Swamp Rabbits zone with a wrist shot just over the blue line that beat Kolby Hay’s glove, putting Orlando up 1-0 (Tyler Bird and Tyson Feist assisted). Over five minutes later, Ara Nazarian got by his defender in the corner of the Swamp Rabbits zone, barreled to the net, and potted his second goal of the weekend past Hay to double the lead to 2-0 with 9:19 left in the frame (Spencer Kersten and Reece Newkirk assisted).

Brent Pedersen gave the Swamp Rabbits some life early in the second, but Orlando woke up and established control shortly after. Pedersen’s first of two came during a delayed penalty call from the net front, where he blasted a Bryce Brodzinski rebound past Jon Gillies in the Solar Bears net, halving the deficit to 2-1 at 5:45 of the second (Brodzinski and Austin Saint assisted). Moments later, Alex Frye rebuilt the breathing room for the Solar Bears. Despite whiffing on his chance in the slot, Frye recovered the puck and fired a backhander that beat Hay, expanding the Orlando lead to 3-1 at 8:41 (Anthony Bardaro and Kris Myllari assisted). Jake Chiasson made it a 4-1 Solar Bears advantage with 5:45 left in the second, completing a sequence starting with a Chris Harpur “Hail Mary” from deep in his own zone to Newkirk, who deferred to him slashing towards the net.

After an early fight that saw Tate Singleton and Reece Newkirk draw game misconducts, Brent Pedersen gave the Swamp Rabbits some life, halving the deficit again. With 5:42 gone by in the third, Pedersen rifled a shot past Gillies after he inadvertently batted a bouncing puck from Austin Saint right to him, cutting the score to 4-2 Orlando (Saint and Max Coyle assisted). Once more, the Solar Bears found an answer to keep the gap at three in Jack Adams, who slammed a Chiasson pass from behind the net in point-blank range to balloon the score to 5-2 with 6:24 left (Chiasson and Aaron Luchuk assisted). Ben Poisson tried to start a late rally with a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the left that beat Gillies glove to bring the score to 5-3 with 2:40 to go, but Tyler Bird ended any hope of a comeback with an empty netter with 76 seconds remaining to power the Solar Bears to a 6-3 win.

Kolby Hay staved off 36 of 41 shots in suffering the defeat, back-to-back games with 36+ saves in net (1-3-1-0).

The Swamp Rabbits conclude their seven-game road swing with the finale on Wednesday, March 12^th, against the in-state rival South Carolina Stingrays. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. EST at North Charleston Coliseum.

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About the Greenville Swamp Rabbits …
Acquired by Spire Sports + Entertainment (SS+E) in 2020, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey team have been providing family friendly, live entertainment at Bon Secours Wellness Arena since 2010. Formerly the Greenville Road Warriors, the Swamp Rabbits are the highest-level professional minor league franchise in South Carolina. The Swamp Rabbits are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL's LA Kings and the AHL's Ontario Reign. Greenville is a member of the ECHL, Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League.