Results tagged “Karl Taylor” from Sporting an opinion

It seemed to be the perfect recipe -- bring back the same leadership corps, the same coach, the same system, add some physical toughness and skilled forwards -- and you've got an Ontario Reign squad whose physical talents match their mental acumen.

The only problem, especially Friday, is that the mental toughness wasn't present.

"I think we did it to ourselves," said Jon Rheault, asked if the Las Vegas Wranglers had gotten under their skin in a 4-3 loss in the Reign's home opener. "We have to learn to control our emotions. The reactions to some of the calls we had - we got hit and then we'd spear someone - it's part of the game. We've got to be more mentally tough than that."

Karl Taylor said he prefers to start the season on the road. With five straight away from the Bank to start the season, his Reign squad got to find out why.

"Playing some games on the road probably made us a little closer as a group," goaltender Curtis Darling said. "We got to spend a little more time together. We had some highs and lows on the road that I think were exaggerated a little bit, but it gave us time to sort that stuff out early on in the season, so we can get all the kinks out and get rolling."

That's the good news.

The bad news is, there's still some kinks to sort out from a 2-3 start. The Reign met for an hour and a half Thursday, followed by an optional skate. Karl Taylor talks about the team's objectives in tomorrow's editions.

The Reign begin a stretch of 7 home games in 10 days tomorrow night against the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7:30 p.m.

Not much good news in Bakersfield (unless you're a big fan of penalty killing).

The Reign were outshot 38-15 and outscored 5-0 in their season opener against a Bakersfield team stacked with Ducks prospects. Justin Pogge, the parent club's number-three goalie, was perfect in stopping what few offensive chances the Reign could muster.

Curiously, the Reign went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill but had a little harder time stopping the Condors at even strength. Bakersfield used their speed to full effect, and scored twice on fast-breaks. Mike Zacharias got the call over Curtis Darling in net and played fairly well considering how much time the Reign spent in their own zone. "Most of the goals we didn't give him much chance on," Karl Taylor said.

More details in tomorrow's editions.

One more detail - Jon Francisco is the new (old?) captain. He was officially handed the "C" again, and Shawn Germain and David Walker donned "A"s.

Forwards Joel Irving, Tyler Mugford and Doug Spooner, and defenseman Cameron Cepek, became the Reign's final training camp cuts Wednesday when the opening-day roster was submitted to the ECHL.

Forwards Tony Voce (7-day), Todd Jackson (21-day) and Robert Pearce (21-day), and defenseman Dan Knapp (3-day), will begin the season on injured reserve.

Jon Francisco is no longer the Reign captain.

This isn't breaking news. It's been that way since the end of last season and it's a tradition in each year Karl Taylor has coached in the ECHL.

What is news is that, even with a returning captain and three alternates (Shawn Germain, David Walker and Chad Starling), the Reign are waiting to select their next "C."

"The turnover is so high, we wait and see what happens. We see how it shakes out," Taylor said. "Obviously we've got some guys back from last year who we trusted, but we've brought in some new guys that have experience and maybe they'll be part of the leadership group."

To choose the captain, the Reign players collectively get one vote, while Taylor gets another.

"It's a big decision, and we definitely don't want to rush it," Taylor said. "I'm never in a rush to pick the captaincy."

Neither is Francisco.

"Last year, I was very much honored to be a part of that close group of guys," he said. "But that's over. This is a new year."

"We have lots of guys that we feel are obviously better than them, that's why we released them," coach Karl Taylor said. "It's hard when you get released or you don't make a team, or you don't get picked for something, you feel like it's your own fault. There is some ownership there, but we have pretty high-level players in camp this year. 

As with any sport, the value of an ECHL preseason game lies less in getting a win as much as assessing the team's talent, deciding who to keep and who to cut.

"We'll try to get everybody in and if not, oh well. That's life," Reign coach Karl Taylor said.

In a way, this is an even more delicate exercise in the ECHL, with so much turnover from year to year (although the Reign have a particularly high retention rate -- 12 of the 30 players who appeared in a game last season are back). But for more than half of his 27 players, Karl Taylor has no frame of reference for how they'll execute for him in a game. On the other hand, there can be as much turnover during the ECHL season as the off-season because of AHL recalls, injuries, trades, and the occasional roster cut. Maybe none of the players on tonight's roster will make it through to the end of the season in Ontario.

That said, here they are:

Karl Taylor has never brought back as many as five players on one defense from one year to the next as an ECHL coach. "Hopefully they're the five good ones," he joked.

Back are Shawn Germain, Dan Knapp, David Walker, Chad Starling and Andrew Martens. Gone are Darren McMillan (IHL), P.J. Atherton (Europe) and Colten Teubert (WHL). In their place are newcomers Cameron Cepek, Brian Kilburg and Mike Egener. Their average height: 6-foot-3. Though it's possible that one or two would get cut before the regular-season opener, Taylor said he's open to keeping all eight on the roster.

He explains why, and describes what he sees in the group as a whole ...

Looks like ECHL.com is doing a series on its coaches called "Behind the Benches." It's neither long nor ground-breaking, but here's what they wrote about Karl Taylor.

The Reign, back on the ice Monday at Center Ice Arena for Day 3 of training camp, are starting to look ready for an actual game. In fact, two of them came to camp ready, Karl Taylor said.

"Dwight King and Mike Pelech have been in camp for several weeks now, so they're way ahead of everybody based on their skating, their energy and the fact they've been in training camp for so long," Taylor said. "A lot of our guys, this is their first camp and they're just trying to catch up."

Both forwards began the preseason with the Kings' American Hockey League affiliate, and came to Ontario when they failed to make the Manchester Monarchs' opening-day roster.

King, 20, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Kings in 2007 and signed his entry-level deal in May. Pelech, who turns 20 on Tuesday, was a sixth-round choice in 2009.

As for the rest of the group, Taylor said he might not have the luxury of letting all the players "on the bubble" play at least one preseason game before he begins making roster cuts. There are 27 in camp, and the active roster has to be down to 20 on opening day.

"I haven't really given it much thought," Taylor said. "We're waiting for people to fall out. You're starting to see a little bit of separation by day three or four. The old guys get their legs under them and start to catch up."

Maxime Frechette voluntarily became the first cut from the Reign's training camp over the weekend.

The 21-year-old defenseman from Sorel, Quebec came with some promise -- he was a fifth-round draft pick by Columbus in 2006 -- but also with a shoulder injury that caused him to miss significant parts of three of his last four seasons in the QMJHL. It only took three days to realize the shoulder wasn't up to the ECHL rigors, and Reign coach Karl Taylor said that Frechette was returning to Canada to enroll in college.

"He was nervous about getting hurt again; he didn't feel comfortable," Taylor said. "It's good that he came here, because it helped him make a good decision in the process and hopefully he has a great career in whatever he ventures into."

Twenty-six players remain in camp: two goaltenders, eight defensemen and 16 forwards. Injured forwards Robert Pearce and Joel Irving are still awaiting medical clearance to participate.