ECHL Desk · Solar Bears · Article 019 · By Cash Emerson Roper · October 30, 2026 · 10:50 PM ET

Condotta Did Everything but Sell Popcorn: Bears Fall 3-2 in Overtime on a Night Their Goalie Stood on His Head

Jacksonville 3, Orlando 2 (OT) — Friday, October 30, 2026 · Kia Center, Orlando

ORLANDO — The Orlando Solar Bears’ first win of the season was nine minutes and eleven seconds away. Then the defenseman who opened the night by dropping the gloves closed it by scoring his second goal of the game.

Jaden Condotta. Remember the name, because Orlando is going to be seeing it in its sleep. A fight at 2:41 of the first period. The tying goal on a power play at 10:49 of the third. The winner at 3:14 of overtime. Jacksonville 3, Orlando 2 — the Icemen’s first win of the season, delivered by the most complete one-man show the Kia Center will see all year.

The Bears (0-3-1) get their first standings point. Congratulations are not in order. A point for losing in overtime is hockey’s participation ribbon, and this team knows it deserved both.

The first period was a goaltenders’ duel so pure it should have been framed. Scott Ratzlaff was perfect — he had to be, twice — and Cameron Rowe matched him save for save, because apparently both of these winless teams had decided the first goal was worth the season. The only exception came 2:41 in: Orlando’s Connor Eddy and Condotta dropped the gloves, the Halloween crowd came out of its seat, and the tone for the night was set. Scoreless after one. Nobody blinked.

The second period was seventeen seconds old when Connor Kurth blew it open off feeds from Brennan Saulnier and Aaron Luchuk. Kurth was a menace all night — a game-high eight shots, the puck basically following him around asking for directions. Luchuk made it 2-0 at 6:28 from Zach Uens and Kobe Walker, and for one shining stretch the Bears looked like a team that had figured it out. Jesse Tucker cut it to 2-1 at 9:25, because nothing in Orlando sports is ever allowed to be simple.

Orlando protected the lead like pros for half the third. Then came the moment. Saulnier — delay of game — 10:21. Puck over the glass, the most avoidable penalty in the sport, taken while clinging to a one-goal lead. Twenty-eight seconds later, Condotta tied it. Jacksonville got five power plays on the night; the Bears gift-wrapped the fifth one, and it cashed. Ratzlaff slammed the door the rest of the way — save after highlight-reel save — and personally dragged his team to the point they carried into overtime.

And in overtime, because the hockey gods have a sense of humor and it is cruel: Condotta, again. 3:14, from Tucker and Bennett MacArthur. A fight, a tying goal, a winner. If he’d driven the Zamboni between periods, they’d have had to name the building after him.

From my seat — the breakdown

Scott Ratzlaff was hands down the best player on the ice tonight, and I’ll die on that hill. Thirty-three saves doesn’t begin to cover it. In the third period, with the season’s first win leaking away shift by shift, that kid stood on his head. Orlando did not lose because of its goaltending. Orlando got a point because of it.

Cameron Rowe was great at the other end, too — 32 saves, .941, credit where it’s due. This was as even a game as it gets: 36-34 in shots, two goaltenders dealing, and one defenseman playing like the night was personal.

The defense is real. Protecting a one-goal lead, Orlando held Jacksonville to eight third-period shots and played structured, honest hockey. This team can defend. Full stop.

The offense, though. Thirty-four shots sounds lovely until you watch them: one and done — rush, shot, everybody skate back. No rebounds. No second looks. No dirty dangles, no greasy net-front chaos, nothing sustained. And the power play: one chance all night, zero goals, while Jacksonville got five kicks at the can. You cannot win many games in this league playing offense like you’re apologizing for it. More chances. More traffic. More flow. And the foundation gives them time to find it: the goaltender and the defensemen are a real bright spot, playing the kind of hockey that travels in this league. Defense wins championships, and a goaltender standing on his head certainly helps. The offense is a few shifts away from really clicking — one greasy rebound goal, one bounce, and this team looks completely different.

The first win is still out there, and now it has a date: Tuesday, 10:30 AM, Atlanta at the Kia Center, the School Day Game — a few thousand elementary school kids screaming at an hour when most hockey players are still asleep. Honestly? Perfect. This team needs a little chaos. Halloween gave them a heartbreaker. Let’s see what a Tuesday-morning sugar rush does.

Scoring

1st period: No scoring.
2nd: ORL — Kurth (Saulnier, Luchuk) 0:17 · ORL — Luchuk (Uens, Walker) 6:28 · JAX — Tucker (Pietila) 9:25.
3rd: JAX — Condotta (Schleppe) 10:49, power play.
OT: JAX — Condotta (Tucker, MacArthur) 3:14.

By the numbers

Shots: Jacksonville 36, Orlando 34.
Goaltenders: Ratzlaff (ORL) 33 saves, .917 · Rowe (JAX) 32 saves, .941.
Power plays: Jacksonville 1-for-5 · Orlando 0-for-1.
Penalty minutes: Orlando 19, Jacksonville 11.
Multi-point nights: Condotta (JAX) 2 goals · Tucker (JAX) 1 goal, 1 assist · Luchuk (ORL) 1 goal, 1 assist.
Records: Orlando 0-3-1 · Jacksonville 1-2-2.
Next: Atlanta at Orlando, Tue Nov 3, 10:30 AM ET, Kia Center.

Sources

Scoring, shots, goaltending, power plays and penalties: official ECHL game summary, Jacksonville Icemen at Orlando Solar Bears, October 30, 2026 (ECHL.com). Eyewitness reporting: Front Office Blueprint, in the building.

Cash Emerson Roper hosts Front Office Blueprint, a daily sports-business show based in Orlando. His background is coaching and the building: head varsity baseball, football, and basketball coach, strength-and-conditioning work with college and pro athletes, and two seasons (2016–18) running game-night promotions for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays.

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