Monthly Archives: March 2010

Las Vegas 4, Reign 3, shootout.

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Another night, another shootout.

This time, Las Vegas got the only goal and walked away with the victory.

For the second night in a row, Karl Taylor switched goaltenders, pulling Curtis Darling in favor of Mike Zacharias for the skills competition. Zacharias stopped four of five shooters, but it wasn’t enough. Joel Gistedt, who replaced an injured Michael Ouzas in the third period, stopped all five Reign shooters to seal the victory.

Jon Rheault scored for the second straight night and Tim Kraus and Sean O’Connor also had goals for the Reign. Mick Lawrence, Adam Miller and Chris Neiszner scored for the Wranglers. Ned Lukacevic had the only goal in the shootout.

Darling stopped 28 of 31 in regulation.

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

Reign 4, Las Vegas 3, shootout.

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Jon Rheault had a goal, an assist and a shootout goal as the Reign returned the favor for the Wranglers’ shootout win Friday.

They returned the favor in the penalty-minutes column, too. A night after totaling 48 PIM on 24 infractions, the two teams upped it to 56 minutes on Saturday.

But the most memorable call in another wild game was made by Reign coach Karl Taylor, who pulled starter Curtis Darling in favor of Mike Zacharias to start the shootout. All Zacharias did was stop all five shooters he faced, allowing Rheault’s shootout goal to stand up and give the Reign the win.

The Reign (25-25-3-5, 58 points) now lead Las Vegas (25-25-4-3, 57 points) by a point for the seventh and final playoff position in the National Conference standings. The rubber match is set for 5 p.m. tomorrow at The Bank.

Zacharias had not played since a 15-minute relief appearance on Feb. 14. Taylor called it a “very difficult” decision, one based on a “gut feeling.”

Geoff Walker and David Walker scored in regulation for the Reign, who for the second straight night couldn’t hold an early lead. Goals by Adam Miller and Chris Neiszner wiped out the Reign’s 2-0 lead by scoring 76 seconds apart in the third period.

Geoff Walker then scored with 1:39 left in regulation to give Ontario a 3-2 lead, but Vegas’ Jerry Pollastrone scored with 18.5 seconds left to send it to overtime.

Darling made 26 saves in regulation, but Zacharias was credited with the victory, his fifth of the season and first since Jan. 23.

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

Rheault, Walker on their return.

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Jon Rheault and Geoff Walker practiced in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday morning, boarded a flight bound for Las Vegas at 1 p.m. Eastern time, then jetted to their new/old home in Ontario, California.

After Thursday’s whirlwind came another on Friday in the form of a 7-6 shootout loss to the Wranglers.

“It’s tough because you don’t want to disrupt things that have been going well. They went on a six-game winning streak, then we came in,” Rheault said. “I feel like we played well, but we didn’t win, and it kind of sits pretty hard with you when you see your team doing so well, you want to help them but you come and you lose.”
Continue reading “Rheault, Walker on their return.” »

Las Vegas 7, Reign 6, shootout.

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This game could be summed up in one word: Crazy.

It ended in the 12th round of the shootout when Jerry Pollastrone scored on Curtis Darling, and Tony Voce missed on the other end, ending the Reign’s team-record-tying win streak at six.

The Reign gained a point in the standings but gave up two, leaving both teams tied for the seventh and final playoff position in the National Conference standings. Technically, the Wranglers are in seventh place by virtue of the higher winning percentage.

It was only possible because of Vegas’ four goals in the third period, which negated a 5-2 lead by the Reign and sent the game to overtime.

Continue reading “Las Vegas 7, Reign 6, shootout.” »

Rheault, Walker are back.

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The Manchester Monarchs are sending forwards Geoff Walker and Jon Rheault back to the Reign.

The 22-year-old Walker has recorded five goals, 14
points and 55 penalty minutes in 37 games with the Monarchs
this season. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound winger picked up a goal and seven
points in 10 games with the Reign after co-leading the team with 48 points last season.

Rheault, 23, has appeared in 35 games with the Monarchs this season, notching three goals and six points. His 16 points (10 goals) through the season’s first 15 games were among the early-season ECHL league leaders. Rheault also appeared with the AHL’ Providence Bruins this season, going scoreless in four games.

Both will be expected to help the offense of a team that ranks last in the ECHL in goals scored (157).

Darling named ECHL goaltender of the week.

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After Curtis Darling won his sixth straight game Sunday, Reign head coach Karl Taylor said that the goaltender is “in the zone.” Now he has the accolades to prove it.

On Tuesday, Darling was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending Sunday, after he was the runner-up in voting for the previous week’s award. Darling went 3-0-0 with 76 saves, a goals-against average of 1.33 and a save percentage of .950. He allowed only four goals to Utah in back-to-back wins on Feb. 26 and 27 before stopping all 20 shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the season in a 2-0 win against Bakersfield on Feb. 28.

By winning six straight, Darling has improved to .500 (20-20-6) this season with three shutouts, a 2.76 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 47 games this season with Ontario. Darling leads the ECHL with 2,779 minutes played and 1,331 saves. His 20 wins ties him for second in the ECHL and his .912 save percentage ranks third.