Reign opening-day roster

Print it out and put it on your wall!

  • 2 Chad Starling (D)
  • 5 Shawn Germain (D)
  • 6 Darren McMillan (D)
  • 7 Todd Jackson (LW)
  • 9 Itan Chavira (RW) (3-Day IR)
  • 10 Ryan MacGregor (LW)
  • 11 Chris Curran (LW)
  • 13 Jon Francisco (C)
  • 14 Dusty Collins (C)
  • 18 Tim Kraus (C)
  • 19 Brad Mehalko (RW)
  • 20 Geoff Walker (RW)
  • 21 Ryan Bowness (RW)
  • 22 Dan Knapp (D)
  • 24 Mike Howe (RW)
  • 27 David Walker (D)
  • 31 John Murray (G)
  • 36 Jeff Zatkoff (G)
  • 55 Andrew Martens (D)
  • 34 Kellen Briggs (G) (30-Day IR)
  • 44 Ryan Card (D) (7-Day IR)

Kraus, Jackson, Murray also Reign in contracts.

Three more Reign contracts to announce:

Center Tim Kraus (stats here) a Garden Grove guy, scored twice in the preseason.

Goaltender John Murray for a moment there looked like he might be squeezed out of a job when the Reign traded for Kellen Briggs, but Briggs got hurt in the final preseason game and was subsequently placed on the 30-day IR. That makes Murray the backup and Jeff Zatkoff the starter.

LW Todd Jackson (stats here) is a three-year ECHL veteran with some AHL experience.
Continue reading “Kraus, Jackson, Murray also Reign in contracts.” »

Itan Chavira makes the Reign.

It became official at 3 p.m. today: Itan Chavira, a 20-year-old from Upland who has been playing ice hockey full-time for two years, became an official member of the Ontario Reign after he signed his first professional contract this morning.

“It’s just a dream come true, playing in my hometown,” Chavira said.

More in tomorrow’s editions.

Reign win, 5-4, and have their first hero.

Words cannot do justice to Itan Chavira’s goal in the shootout, but I’ll try in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Bulletin. He and Andrew Martens scored in the shootout, John Murray only allowed one shootout goal, and the final Condors shot hit the post to seal it.

Chavira pointed to the crowd after his shootout goal, and they responded with a ton of love.

More to come tomorrow morning.

Condors 4, Reign 2, end of second period.

With just a few seconds left on a 5-on-3 power play, Bakersfield scored 46 seconds into the period to make it 3-2. With 8:54 left, Bakersfield defenseman Chris Kaufman scored when it seemed he was the only one on the ice who saw the puck, with Reign goalie John Murray leaving the glove side of the net wide open.

There were more fisticuffs than sweet plays in the middle period, but somehow no 5-minute fighting penalties were assessed. The first punches were thrown at 9:05, between the Reign’s Dusty Collins and Bakersfield’s Scott Balan, which brought out the first chants of “Let’s Go Reign!”

The Reign have their work cut out for them in the third. More to come.

Reign 2, Condors 2, end of 1st period.

The Reign got off to an ugly start, allowing the game’s first two goals and not managing a shot until 6:12 into the game (a slapshot by Upland’s Itan Chavira).

Then Andrew Martens beat former Kings goalie Yutaka Fukufuji not once, but twice, on the power play. Martens’ first came at 3:52, his second at 2:00.

The Reign have been prone to the penalty box, hit with four minors in the first period alone. But they’ve looked good killing the penalties, including a 5-on-3 that yielded one shot on goal (by my count).

The Zamboni is circling the Center Ice Arena floor. More to come after the second period is in the books.