King comes through again.

Dwight King scored the lone goal in the Manchester Monarchs’ 1-0 win over the Hershey Bears in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals. The former Reign forward contributing the game-winning assist in overtime a night earlier. The series is now even at 2-2.

King scored at 9:11 of the second period when, according to the Monarchs’ Web site …

Andrei Loktionov collected a loose puck in the right wing corner. The center circled around the bottom of the face-off circle and found left wing Bud Holloway in the high slot, which set up a one-timer that was blasted toward Hershey netminder Michal Neuvirth. Acting as a screen in front of the net, King got a piece of the floating puck and redirected it into the back of the net to put the Monarchs up 1-0.

King’s assist lifts Monarchs.

Dwight King has been a productive contributor to the Manchester Monarchs’ run through the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. The former Reign forward has one goal and six assists through 13 games, but his biggest point came Monday night in overtime of Game 3 against the Hershey Bears.

King set up Justin Azevedo’s overtime goal to provide a 3-2 Monarchs win over the Bears, who had won 10 of 11 playoff games prior to Monday. According to the Monarchs’ team Web site,

Azevedo
entered the offensive zone along the left wing and skated
toward the top of the face-off circle.  He dropped a pass back to a
trailing
left wing Dwight King at the top of the left circle.  King shuffled the
puck
with his stick, evaded a defender and fed a pass toward the net. 
Azevedo drove
to the net, picked up King’s pass and buried the puck past Hershey
netminder Michal Neuvirth.

The two teams meet again tonight in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final series, with Hershey leading 2-1.

Cincinnati completes comeback from down 3-0.

From the anything-is-possible department, the Cincinnati Cyclones have reached the Kelly Cup Finals.

By beating the visiting Reading Royals 1-0 on Wednesday, the Cyclones became the first team in the 22-year history of
the ECHL to win a seven-game series after trailing 3 games to 0. Barret Ehgoetz scored the game’s only goal at 13:48 of the first period, and Robert Mayer made 25 saves for the shutout.

Cincinnati will play Idaho for the Kelly Cup beginning Friday in Boise, Idaho.

Kelly Cup Finals: It’s Idaho versus …

… to be announced. Still.

The Idaho Steelheads defeated the Stockton Thunder, 7-5, to win the best-of-seven National Conference Finals four games to two. The top-seeded Steelheads will make their third Kelly Cup Finals appearance, having won in their two previous trips (2004 and 2007).

Not long ago, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Idaho would play the Reading Royals, after the Royals took a three games to none lead in the American Conference finals. But the Cincinnati Cyclones won their third straight game while facing elimination, 6-3 on Tuesday against the visiting Royals.

Game 7 is tomorrow night in Cincinnati.

Feel free to chime in here if you watched either game online.

Rheault’s season is over; big day in Kelly Cup playoffs.

Jon Rheault’s long and winding season finally came to an end Monday night in Hamilton, Ontario, where the Abbotsford Heat were eliminated from the AHL Calder Cup playoffs by the Hamilton Bulldogs. Rheault and the Heat were stymied by Hamilton goalie Curtis Sanford, who made 30 saves in a 4-0 Bulldogs victory.
Continue reading “Rheault’s season is over; big day in Kelly Cup playoffs.” »

Monarchs win, reach conference finals.

The Manchester Monarchs won Game 6 of their AHL Calder Cup semifinal series on Friday, beating the Worcester Sharks 2-1 in overtime thanks to a Viatcheslav Voynov goal 1:55 into the extra frame. Former Reign forward Bud Holloway got the secondary assist on the winning goal, extending his point streak to 10 games.

Manchester will not have home-ice advantage when they begin play against the Hershey Bears, a Washington Capitals affiliate, in the Eastern Conference Finals next Wednesday.

Also, check out this feature about Holloway posted today on the Kings’ Web site.

Rheault draws notice from Calgary … newspaper.

Jon Rheault still hasn’t gotten a haircut, and people fans of the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford (B.C.) Heat are taking notice.

Writes Kristen Odland in the Calgary Herald:

While he’s been memorable on the Abbotsford Heat scoresheet during
their second-round American Hockey League playoff series against the
Hamilton Bulldogs, Rheault’s flowing locks are the town’s real
conversation-starter.

During Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss in Game 3 of
the North Division best-of-seven final series at the Abbotsford
Entertainment and Sports Centre, the publicity of his hockey hair
reached a new level.

“It’s getting a little bit out of control,”
said the 23-year-old former East Coast Hockey Leaguer, who hasn’t had a
hair cut since July 1 and is growing it long to raise funds to fight
cancer. “(Tuesday) night, I was glancing up at the scoreboard during one
of the timeouts and I saw a sign that said, ‘We love No. 85. We love
your hair.’ I thought that was kind of funny.

Rheault’s six postseason goals lead the Heat, who trail the Hamilton Bulldogs in their best-of-seven AHL semifinal series 2 games to 1 heading into tonight’s Game 4.

ECHL playoffs: Stockton wins a thriller.

It took four hours, 15 minutes and three overtimes, but Ryan Constant finally gave 3,441 in attendance at Stockton Arena what they were waiting for Wednesday.

Constant’s goal 36 seconds into the third overtime gave the Stockton Thunder a 1-0 win over the Idaho Steelheads and averted a three games to none deficit for the Thunder – a virtual death sentence in a best-of-seven series. The goal came with five seconds remaining in a power play that began late in the second overtime.

Thunder goalie Bryan Pitton made 49 saves in a marathon shutout. The Steelheads put 18 shots on goal in the second overtime alone, thanks in part to a pair of power plays, while Stockton never managed more than 11 shots in any of the 20-minute stanzas. Idaho goalie Richard Bachman stopped 35 of 36 shots.

Monarchs win 1-0, take 3-2 lead.

Former Reign forward Bud Holloway scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory for the Manchester Monarchs on Wednesday, lifting the Kings’ AHL affiliate to a three games to two lead in the best-of-seven series.

Holloway’s seven playoff goals rank second in the AHL. The right wing scored at 13:11 of the first period. Former Reign forward Dwight King did not tally a point.