Wednesday was more a day of ecstasy than agony at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
When Reign coach Jason Christie submitted his first roster to the ECHL, Dustin Carlson, August Aiken and Jeff MacPhee were on it. All three were in training camp on tryout contracts, longshots to get an ECHL deal, but by virtue of some combination of luck and skill, they were among the chosen few. MacPhee called it “probably one of my proudest moments in hockey.”
The lone cut was Beau Erickson as head coach Jason Christie decided to keep three goalies for now — Kings prospect J-F Berube (who took part in his first practice), Jase Weslosky and Carlson.
Erickson, who appeared in 29 games for the Reign last season, didn’t have a bad camp. The 25-year-old allowed only one goal in 30 minutes in his only preseason action Sunday in Las Vegas. His glove was plenty sharp in practice, so what gave? More on that in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.
A couple more notes:
- Defenseman Iain McPhee was held out of practice today with the upper-body injury he sustained Tuesday, and remains day-to-day. Christie thinks McPhee will be ready for the regular-season opener Friday.
- Berube’s start to camp was delayed because of off-season hip surgery, but he said after practice that this is the best he’s felt since before the surgery. Christie has said repeatedly that Berube will get the bulk of the playing time, but with three back-to-back games in the next four weekends, Weslosky and/or Carlson figure to get a look soon. Plenty more from Berube in tomorrow’s notebook.
- Carlson hasn’t been a backup since his freshman season at Ohio State (2007-08) and Weslosky said he’s never backed up in his career.
- The forward lines and defense pairs:
Geoff Irwin-Francois Brisebois-Derek Couture
J.D. Watt-C.J. Stretch/Jordan Morrison-Shayne Neigum
Chris Cloud-Bill Bagron-Brady CallaDylan Yeo-Travis Gawryletz
Philippe Seydoux-Mike Montgomery
Jeff MacPhee-August Aiken