Monthly Archives: October 2010

Sled hockey team in running for $25,000 grant.

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Todd and Christie Jenkins, founders of the Inland Empire’s first sled hockey program, are hoping to receive a major financial boost. In an e-mail, they relayed the following:

The
Southern California Sled Hockey Association is currently in the running
for a Pepsi Refresh grant in the amount of $25,000. If we get the
grant, it will provide enough funds to purchase new sleds, sticks,
safety gear and ice time for the whole program for a full season. In
order to get the funding we have to be in the top ten by October 31st.

What we need people to do is vote via the Pepsi Refresh website. There are three ways to vote:

1) Log on to http://www.refresheverything.com/sledhockey
and click “Vote for this idea”. The first time someone votes, they will
be asked to fill out a quick form for a free account, just to verify
that this is a real person and not a “robot” making proxy votes. Pepsi
does not send spam, and there is a box to check to opt out of future
mailings. After that, we just need people to log on and vote once per
day.

2) Instead (or in addition), people
can send votes via text message. Text 102873 to 73774 (Pepsi) once per
day. There is no sign-up here, and again no spam.

3) On Facebook, go to http://apps.facebook.com/pepsirefresh and do a search for “sled hockey” (we are the only program that will come up). This, too, is no-sign-up and no-spam.

Nolan gets three-year, entry-level deal.

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Jordan Nolan, who skated with the Reign for the final two games of last season, has signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Kings.

The 21-year-old forward, a seventh-round pick by the Kings in the 2009 draft, is currently in the Manchester Monarchs’ American Hockey League training camp. Nolan (stats below) is the son of former NHL head coach Ted Nolan.

Hextall: Sending Jones to Ontario ‘would be the right thing to do.’

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The Reign’s goalie trio of Kellen Briggs, Mike Zacharias and Garrett Zemlak seems
likely to become a quartet soon.

When Kings goalie Erik Ersberg cleared waivers and was
assigned to AHL affiliate Manchester on Tuesday, Ersberg was poised to join
Jeff Zatkoff and rookie Martin Jones on the Monarchs’ roster.

There’s only room for two goalies, so I asked Kings
assistant general manager Ron Hextall about the situation. A former NHL goalie
himself, Hextall also serves as the Monarchs’ general manager.

“If everything goes as planned — we’ve got some things to
talk about — Erik would be (in Manchester), one of the young guys would be
there, and we’d be looking to assign one guy to Ontario. That’s the initial
plan,” he said.
Continue reading “Hextall: Sending Jones to Ontario ‘would be the right thing to do.’” »

Flames assign Rheault to AHL.

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Former Reign forward Jon Rheault is heading back to the American Hockey League after he was cut from the Calgary Flames’ training camp late Sunday. Rheault, who spent parts of his first two professional seasons with the Reign, had one goal and four penalty minutes in five preseason games with the Flames.

His reaction, from Monday’s Calgary Sun:

“It’s not a good feeling to be sent down, no matter from where,” said
Rheault, who played for four different minor-league teams last season.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of experience with that.”

Looking at the positives, Rheault has come a long way from Providence College and an uncertain hockey future.

“If you said to me five months ago that I’d be one of the last cuts
at an NHL camp, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “I can definitely
taste the NHL and see it.”

In other Reign alumni news, Geoff Walker is one of three players battling for six forward positions with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins, Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate.

Cut day for open-tryout invitees.

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Four days into training camp, Josh Newton, Gabriel Andre and Mike Thomson have been released from their open-tryout invitations, and Aaron Lewadniuk has been added to the roster.

The three open-tryout invitees had their moment in the sun. Thomson will probably try to continue his; the forward from La Habra said he had spoken with coaches in the Central Hockey League and the Southern Professional Hockey League in case the Reign tryout didn’t work out.

Five more players are expected to return to Ontario from AHL camps this week, which pushed the tryout players out of a spot as anticipated.

Lewadniuk arrives in camp; still waiting on Manchester quintet.

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Center Aaron Lewadniuk took part in his first ECHL practice Monday, after being released from his tryout with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and arriving in Ontario at noon. Lewadniuk was with the Moose for nine days, and scored a goal in an exhibition game against the University of Manitoba.

“It was a good experience,” Lewadniuk said. “The older guys took care of themselves real well – eating right in the mornings, really taking care of their bodies. Everything was real quick, a real eye-opener, seeing how fast it is in the next level.”

Though Lewadniuk thought he made a favorable impression, he wasn’t surprised to get cut after Manitoba received an influx of players from the Vancouver Canucks’ camp.

“They had a lot of guys under contract,” he said. “I kind of expected it. I knew from the get-go I was probably going to come here. I’m glad I got to stay as long as I did, had a real good experience and see what it was like at that level.”

The five players cut from the Manchester Monarchs’ camp had not arrived in time for practice. A couple more notes:

Continue reading “Lewadniuk arrives in camp; still waiting on Manchester quintet.” »

Five returning to Reign.

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Forwards Pierre-Andre Bureau, C.J. Stretch and Kyle Kraemer, and defenseman Eric Doyle and Reggie Traccitto have been cut from the Manchester Monarchs’ training camp. All five signed with the Reign this summer and are presumably on their way (or already in) Ontario.

They will join the three goalies and 15 skaters already in the Reign’s camp to bring the total number of training campers to 23.

Sunday practice notes.

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No earth-shattering news, and no new players, at Sunday’s practice at Riverside Ice Town.

The only unusual sight was that the Reign were down to 14 skaters by the end of practice. Josh Newton, a Riverside resident in camp on a tryout, suffered a recurrence of the left groin injury that he incurred late in Saturday’s practice, and was off the ice after 20 minutes. Even though Newton said he expects to be back on the ice tomorrow, that’s some seriously bad luck in your one practice with a pro team in your home town.

A couple more notes …

Continue reading “Sunday practice notes.” »

Notes on practice, tryout players, Rheault.

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Back from the Reign’s afternoon practice at Center Ice Arena, where there were some fairly tired hockey players.

Taylor said the players were on exercise bikes for an hour prior to the practice. “The guys were tired when we got here. We went really hard.” In spite of that, Taylor said, “the guys had lots of pace, lots of energy. I really like what we did. We got our systems started. Lots of work to do, then just decided we needed to shut it down.”

The goalies got more work today than on Friday, as Garrett Zemlak, Mike Zacharias and Kellen Briggs faced plenty of point-blank, one-on-one chances toward the end of practice. “It shows them that we care,” coach Karl Taylor said, “and it’s also to help them.”

I caught up with the three open-tryout invitees — Josh Newton, Gabriel Andre and Mike Thomson — and will have a story about them in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

There were no new players in practice today — just the same 15 skaters and three goalies as yesterday — as all the absent signed players lived to see another day in American Hockey League camps.

Meanwhile up in Edmonton, Jon Rheault scored for the Calgary Flames in a 5-1 win over the Oilers. Rheault started the game on a line with former Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans, which if anything means the Calgary staff is serious about possibly keeping him on as a fourth-line winger.

Hold on to those Jon Rheault memories. He won’t be making any new ones here this season.

A brief note on the whereabouts of Chris Curran.

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The Reign opened training camp Friday and, for the first time, Chris Curran wasn’t there.

When healthy, he was one of the most consistent players in the Reign’s brief existence.

“When healthy” is the crucial phrase there — were it not for injuries that ultimately ended his professional hockey career, Curran would probably be in Ontario right now.

The 27-year-old was an agitating forward who built his game on blocking shots, winning puck battles and make punishing body checks. Some of that was lost after he broke his femur crashing into the end boards in the final game of the 2008-09 regular season.

“It was a really tough mental battle; coming back from something traumatic was a battle itself,” he said in a telephone interview from his hometown of Mississauga, Ontario. “The way that I play, I put everything into it – block shots, play the body, do anything for the team. This year after my femur break I didn’t feel quite like myself.”

Curran played the entire year with screws in his femur, which he had surgery to remove at the end of the season. He also endured bone chips in his right leg and ankle, the result of blocking a shot. Then during a March series in Alaska, Curran broke his nose after taking a high stick to the face, which required surgery and a full visor for the remainder of the season.

“I tried to have (surgery) done when I was awake,” he said. “That didn’t go well. So I went under on a Thursday (March 18) prior to a three-in-three weekend series and played the next three days.”

The season was so physically challenging that Curran said he is still home resting before he decides what’s next in life. The only plans he’s made are to stay in the area of Missisauga and Toronto, which is 17 miles east.

Curran has no regrets.

“I truly do feel satisfied with my hockey career and it ending in Ontario,” he said. “I had an awesome experience, great fans, met a lot of good people. I’ve accepted it. I have to look after my body now.”