Beau Erickson is the lone cut as roster takes shape.

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 Calla

    Dylan Yeo-Travis Gawryletz
    Philippe Seydoux-Mike Montgomery
    Jeff MacPhee-August Aiken

This entry was posted in Ontario Reign/ECHL and tagged , , , , , by J.P. Hoornstra. Bookmark the permalink.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.