Tag Archives: Dusty Collins

Reign 3, Utah 2, OT.

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It’s beginning to sound like a melodic broken record, but the Reign pulled out a close win on the road Saturday night.

Jeff Corey’s goal at 1:34 of overtime lifted the Reign to victory in a physically charged game in Utah. Back-to-back wins over the Grizzlies have given the Reign an 8-11-0-1 record, matching Bakersfield in the Pacific Division standings with 17 points. Because the Condors have a game in hand, the Reign can technically say they’re out of last place for the first time since Nov. 13.

Corey’s goal was his team-leading eighth of the season. He took a long pass from David Walker and fired it past Andrew Engelage for his second game-winning goal of the season. Walker’s assist was his second of the game and his team-leading 11th on the year.

Aaron Lewadniuk’s sixth goal of the season, during a first-period power play, opened the scoring midway through the first period. Dusty Collins made it 2-0 in the middle period with his second goal this season.

Utah answered with goals from Matt Clarke and Nick Tuzzolino, the latter coming with 5:00 left in the third period.

Starting his 18th consecutive game, Kellen Briggs made 37 saves on a night that saw Utah outshoot the Reign 39-24. The teams combined for nearly as many penalty minutes (60) as shots (63), including a second-period fight between Michael Pelech and Utah’s Marcus Carroll. Ten of the game’s 24 penalties were for roughing, including a pair that were charged to former Reign defenseman Brian Kilburg.

The Reign are unbeaten in five road games in November and December, and all five wins have been by a single goal. Their home record during that span is 1-7, with only a shootout win against the Las Vegas Wranglers in the win column.

The lineup looked the same for the third straight night but that could change against the Wranglers on Wednesday, especially if James McEwan (among others) is cleared to play and gets the nod to make his season debut from coach Karl Taylor.

A trade, a win, and a couple notes that won’t make tomorrow’s paper.

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The Reign gutted out a 2-1 shootout win against Las Vegas that ended their losing streak at three, and ended their season-long home losing streak at 6. For those of you who attended the game and have never seen a Reign home victory before, that thing where the players gather around The Dragon at center ice and raise their sticks to the crowd? It’s been standard post-victory protocol for three years now.

Dusty Collins and Shawn Collymore scored goals in the shootout, Kellen Briggs made a total of 40 saves – including one on a last-second breakaway – and the Reign were a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill, including a pair of 5-on-3s.

They did all this despite the absence of Jon Francisco, Chad Starling, Chaz Johnson and Pierre-Andre Bureau – who was traded to the Stockton Thunder for future considerations prior to the game.

Here are a few notes that won’t appear in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin:

Continue reading “A trade, a win, and a couple notes that won’t make tomorrow’s paper.” »

Reign 2, Alaska 1.

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Power-play goals by center Dusty Collins and defenseman David Walker gave the Reign a 2-1 win Sunday, completing three-game road sweep of the Alaska Aces.

Collins, playing his fifth game of the ECHL season, scored his first goal of the season 44 seconds into the middle period. Since returning from the American Hockey League, the veteran has a goal and four assists.

Walker added an insurance goal at 16:50, the first of the season for the team captain. That proved crucial when Aces winger Wes Goldie scored with 40 seconds left in the game to provide the final score.

Goaltender Kellen Briggs started all three games of the series in goal and stopped 30 of 31 shots. Defenseman Eric Doyle had two assists in his third game back from an upper-body injury, giving him six points (goal, five assists) in seven games this season. Jeff Corey and Jordan Morrison also had assists.

The Reign (5-6-0-1) went 2-for-4 on the power play and killed all three man-advantage shifts for the Aces (7-4-1-0), who entered the series with the best record in the Western Conference.

The Reign return home for a six-game homestand beginning Friday against the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Reign 4, Alaska 3.

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The Reign have a modest winning streak going, and this time they didn’t need overtime.

Jeff Corey scored two more goals, giving him three in the first two
games of the three-game series, and lifting the Reign to their second
win over the Alaska Aces in as many days. Corey scored once on the power
play, once short-handed, and Lane Caffaro and Jon Francisco also scored
for the Reign (4-6-0-1).

Kellen Briggs, who had 37 saves in an overtime win Friday, stopped 31 of 34 shots in net. Center Dusty Collins
had three assists and defenseman David Walker had two helpers for the
Reign, who can finish off the three-game sweep today at Sullivan Arena.

Alaska (7-3-1-0) pulled ahead 2-1 at 12:35 of the middle period on Wes Goldie’s second goal of the game, but Caffaro’s power-play goal at 17:08 tied the game at 2.

Corey, who has quite a history of success at Sullivan, leads the team with six goals and 10 points in 11 games. Defenseman Eric Doyle picked up an assist in his first action after missing five games with an upper-body injury. He was activated from IR, and center C.J. Stretch took his place, prior to the game.

Sizing up Sullivan.

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This weekend’s three-game series between the Reign and Alaska Aces is a homecoming of sorts for defenseman Luke Beaverson, who called Sullivan Arena home during his four-year career at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

Sullivan is notable for being the only rink in the ECHL’s Western Conference (it’s also believed to be the only pro rink in North America) with Olympic dimensions. Unlike the 85-by-200-foot playing surface used by most North American teams (including the Reign), an Olympic rink is 98 feet wide.

“Every time you think you’re running out of room, you’ve got an extra five feet, Beaverson said. “Defensively and offensively, that can be an advantage if you’re driving wide on a guy, and a D-man like me who’s been used to playing on an NHL-sized rink, got an extra five feet wide.

“The guy can beat you wide. There’s a lot of extra room out there. The corners are deeper. It’s just a little different.”
Continue reading “Sizing up Sullivan.” »

Dusty Collins’ new number, new mask for Briggs, injury update.

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Three notes from today’s morning skate:

1. Dusty Collins will wear number 14 tonight, the same number he wore the last time he donned a Reign uniform. Nobody had the number this season, so it was a good fit all around.

2. Kellen Briggs was wearing a new mask today and has another on the way.

Technically, his mask was an old one, a royal-blue-and-white design with lions that he wore last year as a member of the Dresden Eislöwen (Ice Lions). His old, plain white mask has been sent to a designer to have some color added – Reign colors, to be specific. That’s all Briggs was willing to give away about the design. “It’s a surprise,” he said.

If memory serves, Briggs would become the first goalie in the Reign’s brief history with team-specific colors on his mask.

3. Eric Doyle was back on the ice in a red (non-contact jersey). That’s a good sign of progress for the defenseman, who had a goal and two assists in four games.

Dusty Collins returns to Ontario.

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Dusty Collins walked down a familiar hallway today (save the
2010 ECHL All-Star logo painted on the wall) inside Citizens Business Bank
Arena. Chad Starling, Tim Kraus and David Walker were the first to greet him, each
with a look of pleasant surprise.

Like the rest of Ontario, they had not seen Collins in the
building since Dec. 2008, when the center played his last game in a Reign
uniform. Collins went to the American Hockey League and didn’t return until
today, when the San Antonio Rampage had to make room for an influx of forwards
and returned Collins to the Reign.
Continue reading “Dusty Collins returns to Ontario.” »

Morrison, Jones coming to Reign.

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Jordan Morrison and Martin Jones are coming to the Reign.

Morrison, a forward, was cut from his training-camp tryout with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs while Jones, a goalie, was assigned by the Kings as expected. It’s unknown if they will go straight to Stockton in advance of Friday’s game against the Thunder, or come to Ontario and suit up Saturday against the Thunder – or if either player will be even ready in time for either game.

Regardless, Morrison and Jones will soon bring the number of bodies in camp to 23. Only 20 can dress for each game, but Reign coach Karl Taylor said that one player is nursing an undisclosed injury and another is still awaiting clearance to play.

More about the two preseason games in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

It also means that veteran center Dusty Collins and rookie defenseman Jordan Hill passed their AHL tryouts in San Antonio and Manchester, respectively. The Reign retain the ECHL rights to both players and both will come to Ontario if dropped by their respective teams.

Update from the AHL.

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Tomorrow is an important day in the American Hockey League, as teams must submit their rosters by midnight (i.e., one minute after 11:59 p.m. Thursday).

Unlike the NHL, where opening-day rosters were submitted today, there is no league-mandated limit on the number of players an AHL team can keep. However, teams are constrained by their internal budgets, ability to provide housing, lockers and travel, just like the ECHL.

Two Reign players signed to ECHL contracts remain on the Manchester Monarchs’ camp roster: forward Jordan Morrison and defenseman Jordan Hill. The Monarchs have 26 players in camp, and a team spokesperson said another round of cuts are likely tomorrow.

Center Dusty Collins, who re-signed with the Reign this summer, is also in an AHL camp with the San Antonio Rampage. So are 29 other players; no idea when their next round of cuts will come, but count on having some idea where he will start the season by Friday.

Meanwhile, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., former Reign forward Geoff Walker is one of six players on the bubble for one of the AHL Penguins’ final “two or three” forward positions. Penguins coach John Hynes told the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader that Walker might also play center — always a good sign when a coach is willing to try a position switch just to keep a player on his roster. Walker didn’t play any center the last two seasons with the Reign.

Keep in mind also that the Reign can still receive compensation from the Wheeling Nailers in exchange for Walker’s ECHL rights. Reign coach Karl Taylor said that the more games Walker plays in Wheeling, the better player(s) he can receive in return.

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.” »