Results tagged “preseason” from Sporting an opinion

The ECHL announced that it has fined Reign left wing James McEwan an undisclosed amount as a result of his actions at the end of last Thursday's game in Las Vegas. McEwan was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing.

He is fined under Rule 29 Supplemental Discipline. Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the ECHL and the Professional Hockey Players' Association, player fines collected by the ECHL are given to the PHPA for its ECHL Player's Hardship Fund.

"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. 

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.

Jon Francisco and Greg Hogeboom scored goals, but the Reign were outplayed on special teams and had a hard time controlling the zone in a 5-2 loss to the Las Vegas Wranglers at Orleans Arena. Curtis Darling made 35 saves in goal.

More details in tomorrow's editions; the two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Friday at Center Ice Arena.

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 ...

David Walker is still commuting from Long Beach, which sounds insufferable until he tells you he's got XM satellite radio as company on the 100-mile round-trip drive. The defenseman, a veteran of four ECHL seasons and another in the Central Hockey League, called this year's team overall "the most talented I've been a part of."

And that's after less than a week, without the Reign having played a game. Here's what he had to say about the defense ...

Andrew Martens is somewhat of a focal point for the Reign defense -- as long as he's here, at least. Martens and P.J. Atherton were the team's top two offensive defensemen last season, so much so that each spent significant time in the American Hockey League but still ranked first and third, respectively, in scoring among Reign blueliners.

Atherton is now playing in Europe. There was no guarantee that Martens would be here either, after he began training camp in Manitoba with the Moose of the American Hockey League.

His thoughts on the group he found when he arrived in Ontario...

Plenty of tidbits didn't make it in to today's story about the Reign defense. I'll try to empty out the ol' notebook here, starting with Chad Starling ...

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.

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.