Results tagged “Mike Zacharias” from Sporting an opinion

A back-and-forth third period decided an otherwise sluggish game, with Chris Neiszner deflecting a loose puck past Mike Zacharias with 9:21 remaining for the game-winner.

David Walker scored short-handed for the Reign's only goal and Zacharias, making his second start in as many nights, stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Even though the Reign finished their home-opening weekend 1-2, the mood after the game was fairly upbeat. The Reign matched Las Vegas' energy for 60 minutes despite playing three games in three nights.

More details in tomorrow's editions.

Mike Zacharias stopped 33 shots and the Reign snapped a three-game losing streak with their first win at The Bank.

Adam Henrich and Dwight King scored on deflections off long shots by defensemen, and Jon Rheault scored into an empty net in the final seconds.

The route to victory was similar to the Reign's method of last season: They were outshot (33-24) but limited their opponent's Grade-A scoring chances, while working hard for their own. Karl Taylor said after the game that the team is still searching for its identity, but Saturday appeared to be a step in the right direction.

The Reign's postgame jersey auction fetched $27,000 for the Frontier Project. Shawn Germain ($2,150) sold for the highest.

More details in tomorrow's editions.

On a night full of penalties and short on 5-on-5 play, the Reign's special teams were rather ordinary.

The Bakersfield Condors scored five power-play goals en route to an 8-3 win Wednesday at Rabobank Arena.

The Reign's power play, which entered the game converting at a blistering 8-for-18 rate, took a step backward, going just 1-for-11.

Greg Hogeboom, Peter Lenes and Jon Rheault scored for the Reign, the latter coming 1:29 into the second period to erase a 3-1 deficit and tie the game at 3.

The Condors ended goaltender Mike Zacharias' night early by scoring four goals in less than 26 minutes on the Reign starter.

More details in tomorrow's editions.

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.

Chad Starling scored the only goal in the shootout, and Mike Howe, Greg Hogeboom, Jon Rheault and Dwight King scored in regulation for the Reign at Center Ice Arena.

The game was back-and-forth, and the Reign showed more aggression (and discipline) than they did a night before in a 5-2 loss in Las Vegas.

Mike Zacharias made 28 saves in regulation and was perfect in overtime and the shootout.

For the second straight year, the Reign finished the preseason 1-1, winning their home game and losing on the road. More details in tomorrow's editions.

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:

Just a reminder that Reign training camp starts today at 10:30 a.m. with a free, open-to-the-public practice at Center Ice Arena in Ontario. Geoff Walker is still in Manchester, N.H. with the Kings' AHL affiliate; here are the other players under contract that are expected to attend:

Forwards:
Jon Rheault
Doug Spooner
Todd Jackson
Tim Kraus
Jon Francisco
Dan Leslie
Robert Pearce
Brian Matte
Tyler Mugford
Peter Lenes
Joel Irving
James McEwan
Tony Voce
Mike Howe
Chris Curran*

Defensemen:
Chad Starling
David Walker
Shawn Germain
Brian Kilburg
Dan Knapp
Andrew Martens
Cameron Cepek
Maxime Frechette

Goaltenders:
Mike Zacharias
Curtis Darling

*Curran is still recovering from the leg injury he sustained at the end of last season. Last we heard, he is expected to be at the practice, but not participating in all aspects.

Update (9 a.m.): Geoff Walker has signed an AHL contract with Manchester. The right wing is likely to start the season with the Monarchs and, although he might be back in Ontario at some point during the season, he'd probably prefer to make his next move up to the NHL.

Also, Manchester has assigned left wing Dwight King and forward Michael Pelech to the Reign, and released Mike Egener, Lenes, McEwan, Mugford, Pearce and Zacharias from their tryouts.

Pelech, a 6-3, 206-pound center, recently completed a four-year career in the Ontario Hockey League. He recorded 51 goals and 170 points in 249 games between Missisauga, Kitchener and St. Michael's. Last season in Missisauga, he had 19 goals and 65 points in 68 games. Pelech was chosen in the sixth round of the June entry draft by the Kings.

King, a 6-3, 220-pound center, just finished his junior career with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Saskatchewan native [stats here] was nearly a point-a-game player his final two seasons in Lethbridge, finishing with 25 goals and 60 points in 64 games in 2008-09. The Kings selected him in the fourth round of the June draft.

10:15 a.m. update: The ECHL has officially reviewed all the training camp rosters from its member teams, so the above roster should be accurate. Mike Egener isn't on it, and Voce, Frechette, Cepek and Darling are the additions. We'll update a bit later on.P