ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s been a rough start to the season for first-year coach Matt Macdonald and the Orlando Solar Bears.
They are last in the East Coast Hockey League standings.
What You Need To Know
The Solar Bears are in last place in the ECHL standings
Orlando’s first-year coach, Matt Macdonald, said he hopes to bring Kelly Cup experience to the Solar Bears
The Solar Bears’ next game is Friday against the Jacksonville Icemen
In order to turn around the team’s fortunes, the Solar Bears will rely on veterans such as Aaron Luchuk, Anthony Bardaro and Tyler Bird to overcome the adversity.
“With this leadership group that we have here and the guys we have involved and have been around, and even some of the new guys that are jumping in right away,” Solar Bears coach Matt Macdonald said. “Definitely makes it a lot easier (to) transition for us as a staff and making sure the message is clear.”
The groundwork for success this season was laid down in training camp. It started with the new head coach setting his expectations.
“The message has been very clear on what the expectations are here,” Macdonald said. “We have great leadership and guys that are bought in right away.”
Before coming to Orlando, MacDonald spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Bridgeport Islanders, which is the American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders.
As a player in 2008, he helped the Cincinnati Cyclones win the Kelly Cup, and he said he hopes his experiences translate in Orlando.
“You have your big picture, but a lot of it is making sure, day-to-day, we’re taking care of things to keep pushing each other,” Macdonald said. “It’s easy to come in here and just go with the flow, but we want to make sure we’re pushing everybody every day to take the next step.”