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Bardaro agrees to terms with Solar Bears

Bardaro agrees to terms with Solar Bears

Tuesday, September 24th

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Solar Bears, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, announced forward Anthony Bardaro has agreed to terms on a contract for the 2024-25 season.

Bardaro will play his first season in the ECHL after seven seasons of professional hockey in Italy and France. The Delta, British Columbia native appeared in 33 games for Angers of Ligue Magnus (France) scoring 27 points (6g-21a) during the 2023-24 season.

The 32-year-old began his professional career with a splash, recording 56 points during the 2017-18 season and broke out in the playoffs with 23 points in 14 games to earn Most Valuable Player honors in the Alps Hockey League while with Asiago (Italy). The next season, Bardaro recorded a career-high 68 points (31g-37a) in 40 games and would be chosen to represent Italy at the IIHF World Championships in 2019.

Bardaro then joined top Italian Club HC Bolzano of the then Erste Bank Eishockey Liga for the 2019-20 season. After two seasons with Bolzano and two seasons with HC Pusteral (ICEHL), Bardaro elected to join Angers in France for the 2023-24 season. In total, the 32-year-old has played in 293 professional league games, scoring 280 points (123g-157a).

Prior to his professional career, Bardaro played four years at University of British Columbia leading the team in scoring in three consecutive seasons from 2014-17. In total, Bardaro tallied 102 points (36g-66a) in 110 games over four college seasons. He earned USports West Second Team All-Star honors following the 2016-17 season.

Bardaro’s junior hockey career spanned five seasons in the Western Hockey League from 2008-12, where he scored 190 points (90g-100a) in 266 regular-season games with Spokane and Prince Albert.