After three weeks from their last meeting, the Orlando Solar Bears and Greenville Swamp Rabbits are back again to faceoff in Greenville. In their recent game at Greenville, the Solar Bears destroyed the Swamp Rabbits with a score of 7-2. That was no lucky game for the Bears’, however, as they would go on to win six of their last seven games after crushing the Rabbits’. As of late, the two teams have been performing very well, as they’ve won three games so far of 2024, with the Rabbits’ winning three straight games. Greenville stands with a 24-9-1-0 record; Orlando is 19-10-1-1. Currently, the Rabbits’ stand strong with an 82% penalty kill, with the Bears’ having a much stronger 86% kill percentage. For their power plays, the Rabbits’ are Much more successful than the Bears’ with a 24% percentage, compared to an 18% for Orlando. Likewise, Orlando still has much more successful and powerful penalty-kill units, as they demonstrated in Greenville. But with Chris Harpur still on the Syracuse Crunch roster after getting called up by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Solar Bears will have their top defenseman absent from the d-lines. With player absences, Brett Kemp of Greenville was recently called up by AHL Manitoba for a PTO. So, the power play for the Rabbits’ has been slightly tweaked, with Nikita Pavlychev, Carter Souch and Josh McKechney taking on the large, top unit roles.
Keep An Eye On
Carter Souch, Swamp Rabbits
Souch still leads his team in points with 31, as he’s tallied up 13 goals and 18 assists after playing 34 games. He recorded five points in his last three games played; he tallied up four assists and a goal.
Josh McKechney, Swamp Rabbits
McKechney has been red-hot lately, scoring four goals in the last two home games. He scored two goals in both home games from this year (January 5-6).
Mitchell Hoelscher, Solar Bears
Hoelscher continues to lead his team in points with 27 from 12 goals and 15 assists tallied up after playing 29 games. The ECHL All-Star has tallied up three points of 2024.
