Results tagged “Tim Kraus” from Sporting an opinion

The Reign erased a 3-0 deficit on home ice, dominating every facet of the game except special teams. Jason Pitton scored 1:35 into the 4-on-4 overtime period, avenging the Thunder's 8-2 loss a night earlier at The Bank.

Stockton scored on its first three power plays of the game and finished 3-for-4 with the man advantage, where the Reign finished 0-for-7.

Tim Kraus, Mike Egener and Greg Hogeboom scored for the Reign (8-8-1-1) and the standings point left them four behind Bakersfield for first place in the Pacific Division. Dwight King, Geoff Walker, Tony Voce and Jon Francisco picked up the assists.

A close game for the first 65 minutes was anything but in the shootout, where Stephane Goulet, Dan Sexton and MacGregor Sharp scored on Curtis Darling to give the Bakersfield Condors a 4-3 win Wednesday.

Michael Pelech scored his first goal of the season, and Tony Voce and Peter Lenes also scored for the Reign, the latter coming short-handed. Darling stopped 31 of 34 shots in net.

The game began at 10:30 a.m., part of an annual Field Trip promotion at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena.

Neither the Reign (7-8-1) nor the Condors (9-6-0) had participated in a shootout or overtime game this season. Greg Hogeboom, Tim Kraus and Andrew Martens were foiled in the skills competition by Bakersfield goalie Timo Pielmeier, who stopped 25 of 28 shots prior to the shootout.

More details in tomorrow's editions of the Sun and Bulletin.

Tied 3-3 heading into the third period, the Reign put themselves short-handed one too many times to win their home opener.

With Tim Kraus in the box for tripping, Ned Lukacevic netted the game-winning goal with 6:14 left in the third period, lifting the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 4-3 victory before 8,067 at The Bank. It was the only power-play goal for the Wranglers in nine chances Friday, seven of which came in the final period.

Jon Rheault scored two goals and assisted on the third, Jon Francisco's first goal of the season. Curtis Darling got the start in net and stopped 31 of 35.

More notes and postgame quotes to come. If you went to the game, let me hear from you.

In case you missed it, here is my preview of the Reign's home opener tonight against Las Vegas as it appeared in the paper.

A few more notes about tonight's game:

• Reign C Tim Kraus is tied for fourth in the league with a team-leading six assists.
• Las Vegas' Robbie Bina is tied for the league lead among defensemen with six assists and six points.
• David Walker is tied for third among defensemen with five assists, and is tied for fifth with five points.
• Las Vegas' Mick Lawrence has a two-game point streak (1g-2a).
• The Wranglers' team bus features flat-panel TVs with DirecTV.

Finally, tomorrow's opponent, the Bakersfield Condors, will be wearing a unique tribute uniform tonight.

The only thing more perfect than the sunset over the Inland Empire on Friday was the Reign power play. The Reign (2-1) converted on all five of their power-play chances, and got goals from six different players, in a 7-1 blowout victory over the Stockton Thunder before 5,805 in Stockton Arena.

Tony Voce came off injured reserve to score two goals; Adam Henrich and Jon Rheault had a goal and two assists each; and Curtis Darling picked up his second victory of the season, stopping 30 of 31 shots. The Reign knocked out their opponent's starting goalie for the second straight game, sending Bryan Pitton to the home bench after one period and three goals. Andrew Perugini came on to stop 10 of 14 shots over the final two periods.

The Reign also proved adept down a man, successfully killing six of seven Thunder power plays. Stockton is 0-4 to start the season after eliminating the Reign in the first round of last season's playoffs.

Forward Greg Hogeboom scored his fourth goal of the season, and defensemen Shawn Germain and Andrew Martens scored their first for the Reign. Captain Jon Francisco added two assists, and Hogeboom, Peter Lenes, Dwight King, Tim Kraus and David Walker added one. The game also featured penalties assessed for five separate fights, two involving Reign enforcer James McEwan, and Michael Pelech, King and Walker in the others.

More details in tomorrow's editions and, in case you missed it, here is my feature about the Reign's captains and alternate captains this season that appeared in the paper Friday.

In a resounding response to their opening-night shutout loss, the Reign exploded for eight goals from five different players, and chased the Bakersfield Condors' starting goalie in an 8-2 win at Rabobank Arena.

Greg Hogeboom notched a hat trick and added an assist; Adam Henrich had two goals and an assist, Tim Kraus had four assists and Curtis Darling stopped 34-of-36 shots in his first appearance between the pipes. The Reign were outshot 36-24 but still chased Bakersfield starter Timo Pielmeier, who stopped just 12-of-19 shots.

Mike Egener scored on Justin Pogge, last night's starter, in the third period, and Peter Lenes and Jon Rheault also scored for the Reign (1-1).

A disciplined Reign squad needed only to kill three penalties, while taking advantage of 3-of-10 power-play opportunities in the win.

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:

Here are some quick hits from this morning's practice at Center Ice Arena. Look for more in tomorrow's editions ...

-- The returning players we spotted on the ice: Jon Francisco, Jon Rheault, Todd Jackson, Mike Howe, Tim Kraus, Doug Spooner, Chris Curran, Shawn Germain, Chad Starling, Andrew Martens and David Walker.

-- Twenty-three players were on the ice in total, including Curran, who doesn't look like he's been cleared for contact. Tony Voce, who spent the past two seasons in Europe following a promising start in the AHL, is also under contract but in an AHL camp. Geoff Walker is still in Manchester. Another three players were held out due to various injuries.

-- Generally speaking, the team is bigger and in better shape than it was a year ago. All the returning players seem physically trim; combine that with a few haircuts (notably Chad Starling, Shawn Germain and Doug Spooner), and this is a team that should be flying up and down the ice.

-- Huntington Beach native Cameron Cepek, a defenseman who was selected in the seventh round of the 2006 NHL draft by Montreal, was a late roster addition.

-- The team has a full day of off-ice events planned for Saturday, including some time at the beach and at the Kings' game against the Phoenix Coyotes.