The Reign will play the Stockton Thunder tomorrow and Saturday, a rematch of last season’s first-round playoff series that saw the Reign fall in seven games.

One look at the standings tells you which team is off to the better start, but Stockton coach Matt Thomas offered the Stockton Record one reason why his team is 0-3.

“I made a mistake,” Thomas said. “On the first night (of the preseason), a lot of the players I needed to make decisions on didn’t show me anything, so I really wanted to get a better look at those guys.

“But there were a few I knew weren’t going to make the team in that second game and I should have just sat some of them out. … I was waiting to see, but waiting to see might have cost us.”

A total of 10 players are back from the Thunder’s 2009 playoff roster: Four forwards (Craig Valette, James Bates, Judd Blackwater, Garet Hunt), four defensemen (Matt O’Dette, Daryl Marcoux, Ryan Constant, Jordan Bendfield) and goalies Bryan Pitton and Andrew Perugini.