Orlando Solar Bears fans woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning for the first day of training camp. The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL assigned four players to the Solar Bears in time for the start of camp including two faces that are very familiar to Solar Bears fans.
The first of those familiar faces belongs to 27-year-old goaltender, Clint Windsor. In 38 appearances with Orlando over the past two seasons, Windsor is 19-14-3 with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Windsor previously played for Brock University and played major junior hockey in the OHL for the Ottawa 67’s, Mississauga Steelheads, Saginaw Spirit, and Barrie Colts. Windsor signed a two year AHL contract with the Syracuse Crunch for the rest of the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 season back on March 26th of this year. There is no doubt that Orlando fans are thrilled to see Clint Windsor back between the pipes along with exciting rookie Michael Lackey.
Also returning to the City Beautiful is 22 year old forward Peter Abbandonato who spent some time with both Orlando and Syracuse in 2019-2020. Abbandonato tallied 25 points (9G-16A) along with 10 penalty minutes in 42 games between the Crunch and Solar Bears. Before turning pro, Abbandonato played his major junior hockey for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL and captured two QMJHL titles in 2016 and 2019, in addition to winning the Memorial Cup in 2019. Abbandonato’s best season was as an overage player in 2018-2019 when he posted 111 points to lead the league in scoring while receiving the Frank J Selke Trophy for being the league’s most sportsmanlike player. The Solar Bears will gladly add Abbandonato’s scoring touch back to the roster that looks set to exceed the struggling offense of 2019-2020.
23 year old rookie forward Nikita Pavlychev joins the Solar Bears after four years with the Penn State Nittany Lions. In 137 career games with Penn State, Pavlychev scored 70 points (36G-34A) and amassed 183 penalty minutes. Pavlychev gives Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara a run for his money, standing at an imposing 6’7” and 225 pounds. Pavlychev is a native of Yaroslavl, Russia, and was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pavlychev should provide Orlando with a huge net front presence, especially on the power play, an area in which Orlando lacked last season.
Finally, 23-year-old defenseman Devante Stephens will begin his fourth season of professional hockey with the Solar Bears. Last season, Stephens split time between Syracuse and the Cincinnati Cyclones when he was traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Stephens has played in 45 career AHL games between Syracuse and Rochester and 105 ECHL games with Cincinnati. In the AHL, Stephens has posted six assists and 24 penalty minutes to go with 8 goals, 26 assists, and 94 penalty minutes in the ECHL. Stephens played three seasons of major junior hockey with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL and was part of Kelowna’s 2014-2015 championship season. With the loss of Michael Brodzinski, the Solar Bears fill a void by adding the steady defenseman into the fold.
Things are certainly getting exciting around the Orlando Solar Bears as they look to get off to a quick start in 2020-2021. Adding the strong returning players in Windsor and Abbandonato along with rookies like Pavlychev and Stephens should give the Solar Bears faithful plenty of reason for excitement and optimism as training camp gets rolling.