Hockey Comes To Orlando
By Mark Okern
Ahhh, Orlando. The location of sandy beaches, crazy temperatures, and annoying Disney fanatics running around dressed like…well, Disney fanatics. Welcome to the home of the new Wild ECHL affiliate, the Orlando Solar Bears.
The Solar Bears are an expansion team. This is not simply a reboot of the old franchise; the organization is entirely new top to bottom.
The short version of how this works is that the Solar Bears will be the minor league affiliate to the Houston Aeros, which are the AHL affiliate for the Wild. The Aeros can move players up and down to and from Orlando just as the Wild does the same with Houston.
Wild.com has a great listing of former ECHL players who have taken the ice in a Wild sweater, and you’ll find familiar names like Brunette, Kassian, Peters, and Johnson on the page.