Martin Jones to Manchester, Reign trade for Erickson

Well that didn’t take long.

One day before the Reign’s third game of the season, they lost a goaltender to the American Hockey League. The Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, recalled Martin Jones in advance of a three-games-in-three-nights weekend series.

Wasting no time finding a reinforcement, the Reign acquired goaltender Beau Erickson from the South Carolina Stingrays on Thursday. The 24-year-old has played 29 ECHL games, and another in the AHL, over the last two seasons.

On the surface it seems like Jones will only be in Manchester this weekend, but that won’t be known for certain until Monday.

Erickson was deemed the odd man out on a Stingrays squad that had three goalies and was set to open its season tonight.

More about the upcoming game in Stockton, and Karl Taylor’s thoughts on using his goalies, in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

Reign merchandise: It’s all limited edition.

A Reign fan brought to my attention yesterday the (total) lack of merchandise on the team’s official website.

Doing some digging, I learned that the URL www.ontarioreignstore.com came and went after one year, taking with it some appealing gear that was available for viewing and purchasing, around the world, all in one stop. The decision to discontinue the online store was handed down by majority owner AEG.
Continue reading “Reign merchandise: It’s all limited edition.” »

Reign deal for defenseman Pat Bowen.

The Reign acquired the depth defenseman coach Karl Taylor was seeking Monday, getting rookie Pat Bowen from the Gwinnett Gladiators for future considerations.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound defenseman played the last of his four seasons at Merrimack College in 2009-10, when he served as team captain and posted career highs of 18 assists, 19 points and 54 penalty minutes in 37 games. In 124 career games with the Warriors, Bowen recorded 43 points (four goals, 39 assists) and 146 penalty minutes.

“He’s a first-year guy, supposed to be a leadership type kid,” Taylor said. “The Gwinnett coach, Jeff Pyle, really likes the kid and spoke highly of him. I think he can come in and add some depth. Hopefully he turns out to be a diamond in the rough.”

Bowen isn’t likely to play Friday in Stockton because it will be 72 hours before he is added to the roster. Taylor said that Bowen must fly from Atlanta to Boston (he is a native of Marshfield, Mass.) then drive to Ontario. The team bus leaves Thursday for Stockton.

Reign 5, Stockton 4, OT.

Chaz Johnson’s wrist shot past Tyson Sexsmith at 3:53 of overtime lifted the Reign to a 5-4 win before 5,769 at Stockton Arena.

Jeff Corey, Aaron Lewadniuk, Eric Doyle and Jon Francisco scored goals in regulation for the Reign (2-0-0), who got 26 saves from goaltender Martin Jones in his professional debut. Jordan Morrison and Matt Delahey each had two assists.

Stockton (0-1-1) surrendered leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 despite a 27-save effort from Sexsmith, who was playing his second game in as many nights.

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

Reign 6, Stockton 3.

Six different players scored goals, and Kellen Briggs made 24 saves, as the Reign won their season opener before 6,117 at Stockton Arena.

The Reign didn’t give the Thunder fans much to cheer about — they scored five goals before the Thunder scored one. Shawn Collymore, Jeff Corey, Kyle Kraemer, Matt Delahey, Chaz Johnson and Aaron Lewadniuk scored the goals. Lewadniuk and Kraemer finished with a goal and an assist. Morrison and Kraus had two assists apiece. David Walker and Luke Beaverson engaged in separate fights with Stockton’s Jesse Gimblett. (Beaverson won his; Walker scored the final knockdown but only after Gimblett won the hit count).

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

Season-opening roster notes.

Tallying up the roster for the season preview, only six players are coming back from last season (Jon Francisco, Tim Kraus, David Walker, Chad Starling, C.J. Stretch and James McEwan). McEwan is starting the season on injured reserve, so you won’t see much of him for a little while; Stretch only played one game last season, so he isn’t especially familiar to fans yet.

So where are the familiar, non-retired names of seasons past?
Continue reading “Season-opening roster notes.” »

Zemlak traded to Kalamazoo, Lombardi cut.

The Reign’s roster is set, and Kellen Briggs and Martin Jones are the goalies.

Goaltender Garrett Zemlak and forward Daniel Lombardi were not on the Reign’s opening-day roster submitted to the ECHL today, giving the Reign 20 players in advance of Friday’s regular-season opener in Stockton. Zemlak was traded to the Kalamazoo Wings for future considerations, and Lombardi was released from his pro tryout.

Here’s what Karl Taylor had to say about the goalie scenario:
Continue reading “Zemlak traded to Kalamazoo, Lombardi cut.” »

And then there were three.

The Reign traded goalie Mike Zacharias to the Idaho Steelheads for future considerations Tuesday, leaving only Kellen Briggs and Garrett Zemlak to compete for the vacant goalie spot alongside Kings prospect Martin Jones.

The 25-year-old Zacharias spent his first professional
season with the Reign last year, appearing in 24 games and finishing
the season 10-6-3 with an .894 save percentage and a goals-against
average of 3.28. Zacharias lost the No. 1 mantle to Curtis Darling early
in the season, saw more ice time late in the season and was
instrumental in the Reign’s late playoff push, but was on the bench
again to start the season-ending series in Las Vegas.

In Idaho, Zacharias figures to split time with Dallas Stars prospect Tyler Beskorowany. The Steelheads, a Stars affiliate, released a pair of goalies on Tuesday, Tim Haun and Michael-Lee Teslak. Their online training camp roster also included goalies Billy Blase and Doug Melvin as of Tuesday afternoon.