The Reign were automatically in the playoffs … for a month.

But, if you caught my earlier blog post (which I didn’t yesterday morning), you might have caught that they are no longer a shoo-in.

On Jan. 23, the ECHL announced that if the fifth-place team in the West Division has a greater winning percentage than the fourth-place team in the Pacific Division, the fifth-place team in the West will become the fourth seed in the Pacific. The Reign play in the four-team Pacific Division, so after Fresno folded they were in – until this announcement.

They *could* still miss the playoffs, but they’re still in good shape, and the rest of this story is accurate.

Thanks to head coach Karl Taylor for pointing this out first, and please accept my apologies if you read the headline and made playoff-party plans for this weekend.

Throw a party anyway.