Quick, how many Reign defensemen who played Wednesday were on the team to start the season?
Continue reading “The turnover on defense (pun intended).” »
The turnover on defense (pun intended).
Reply
Tag Archives: Alan Dorich
Bakersfield 4, Reign 1.
The line of ex-NHLer Kyle Calder, and ex-AHLers Bobby Robins and Joel Broda, combined for two goals and five assists on a night that saw the start time pushed back nearly half an hour because the Condors’ team bus was late to The Bank.
Kyle Kraemer scored the Reign’s only goal at 5:14 of the second period.
Newcomer Alan Dorich saw regular ice time early on a pairing with Luke Beaverson and shot a puck off the end boards that led directly to Kraemer’s goal. Not a bad debut.
But the Reign as a team didn’t get shots to the net with consistency until the third period, when they outshot the Condors 13-10. Prior to that they had only eight shots on net – including two in the second period – to Bakersfield’s 17.
Kellen Briggs stopped 23 shots but let in a pair of uncharacteristically easy goals, while former NHL goalie Josh Tordjman stopped 20 on the other end for Bakersfield.
The eight-place Reign fell six points behind the seventh-place Condors in the Western Conference standings. Bakersfield has handed the Reign two straight losses by the same score; the teams play again tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
The Reign went 0-for-5 on the power play, including 0-for-3 in the third period, to extend their stretch of futility with the man advantage to 2-for-40 in their last seven games.
“We’re working hard, we just have to get the puck in the net,” Kraemer said. “I’m confident, and so are the guys in the locker room, that we can get out of this funk.”
More from Kraemer and coach Karl Taylor in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.
Dorich set to debut tonight.
Al Dorich will make his Reign debut tonight, wearing Tim Kraus’ (and Jon Rheault’s) old number 12 on the blue line.
The 24-year-old rookie, acquired Thursday from the Gwinnett Gladiators for future considerations, will wear his fifth different uniform of the young season. The Orland Park, Illinois native almost made bouncing around sound easy.
“That’s the way it is in pro hockey,” Dorich said. “I’m just happy to be here in Ontario
now. I don’t think you ever get used to it. You have to find your niche
somewhere, hopefully it’s here. It’s been interesting the whole way
through here in this process, but you learn with each step you go.”
Even though Dorich has been living out of a suitcase since the season began, he said finding playing time wasn’t a problem in Wheeling (where he played two games), Kalamazoo (three) or Gwinnett (one). He would have played two games in Gwinnett if the Gladiators’ game Tuesday had not been canceled when a puck got caught in the Zamboni prior to the game.
Coach Karl Taylor doesn’t believe that Dorich’s frequent presence on the transactions wire reflects his ability – or the lack thereof.
“It’s more reflective of different rosters than him,” Taylor said. “Dusty (Collins) played with
him at Northern Michigan, said he’s a great kid, a defensive defenseman.”
Playing Dorich means that Chad Starling will have to wait at least another day to come off injured reserve.
Taylor said he would have preferred to add an offensive-minded defenseman to a team that’s struggling to score, “but the market bears what it bears.”
“There isn’t a power-play guy out
there,” Taylor said. “We only have five healthy guys. We were happy to get Alan, don’t
get me wrong, but we were looking for more of a power-play guy.”
Instead, the Reign get a defense-first blueliner who has scored two goals – both in junior – since he first suited up for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers as a 17-year-old in 2003-04.
“I’m a defensive player,” Dorich said. “As far as strengths, one-on-one defensive play,
penalty kill – I love playing the penalty kill. That’s where
I make my money, my bread and butter, the thing I enjoy the most,
probably.”
Reign add defenseman Dorich.
Alan Dorich became the third defenseman acquired at midseason by the Reign on Thursday.
The rookie comes to Ontario from the Gwinnett Gladiators – likely in exchange for “future considerations,” though that’s not confirmed – and the Reign will become his fourth ECHL team in a season that is barely two months old.
The 24-year-old has already played two games for the Wheeling Nailers, three for the Kalamazoo Wings and one for the Gladiators, collecting one assist in Wheeling along the way. The Reign will be his fifth team overall this season; Dorich was cut in training camp by the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves.
Dorich had no goals, 17 assists and 200 penalty minutes from 2006-10 at Northern Michigan University, suggesting he is a defense-minded blueliner. Prior to college, Dorich played three seasons for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers, where he was teammates with current Kings Davis Drewiske and Trevor Lewis, and New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo. The Buccaneers won the Clark Cup in 2006.
No word yet on when Dorich will arrive, or if he will be able to play tomorrow against the Bakersfield Condors. Eric Doyle (upper body) is on injured reserve and didn’t take part in practice. Neither did defenseman Chad Starling (lower body), who worked out off the ice and is eligible to be activated off IR tomorrow. Reign coach Karl Taylor said Starling is questionable.
Before acquiring Dorich, Taylor said he would be comfortable playing with five defenseman if needed, which was the case in Saturday’s 4-1 loss in Bakersfield.
“We played a pretty good game Saturday,” Taylor said. “Obviously we lost and we’re disappointed with the result. We’ve got to climb out of our hole. We played a real competitive game. We had four or five fights in the game. We stood up for ourselves, we had some good chances.
“That’s been the focus this week. We’ve done a lot of power-play work, a lot of scoring drills. We need to create more offense and score more. That’s what we’re trying to fix. We feel if we score more, we can probably win four or five more games than we have.”