Rheault, King head to Manchester.

Good news for Jon Rheault and Dwight King is bad news for the Reign, who learned that two of their top offensive weapons are heading to the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs.

Rheault scored the Reign’s only goal during a two-game sweep at the hands of the Victoria Salmon Kings last weekend. For the season, the right wing has a team-leading 10 goals in 15 games, despite spending nearly two weeks with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

King, a fourth-round pick by the Kings in 2007, hasn’t appeared in a regular-season AHL game in this, his first professional season. In 20 games for the Reign, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound forward had four goals and nine points.

Stockton 4, Reign 3, overtime.

The Reign erased a 3-0 deficit on home ice, dominating every facet of the game except special teams. Jason Pitton scored 1:35 into the 4-on-4 overtime period, avenging the Thunder’s 8-2 loss a night earlier at The Bank.

Stockton scored on its first three power plays of the game and finished 3-for-4 with the man advantage, where the Reign finished 0-for-7.

Tim Kraus, Mike Egener and Greg Hogeboom scored for the Reign (8-8-1-1) and the standings point left them four behind Bakersfield for first place in the Pacific Division. Dwight King, Geoff Walker, Tony Voce and Jon Francisco picked up the assists.

Reign 8, Stockton 2.

Peter Lenes scored twice, Greg Hogeboom, Dwight King, Geoff Walker, Mike Howe, David Walker and Michael Pelech added one apiece, and the Reign matched a franchise record with eight goals.

Jon Francisco and Geoff Walker had two assists apiece, and David Walker (who engaged in two fights) fell one assist shy of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

The two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Bank. More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Geoff Walker assigned to Reign, etc.

Just got done filing tomorrow’s notebook about Dwight King and Michael Pelech when an astute reader (thanks, Kevin) pointed out this, just posted on the Manchester Monarchs’ Web site:

Monarchs Assign Walker To Ontario

MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs, the primary affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, have assigned forward Geoff Walker to the ECHL’s Ontario Reign, Monarchs Director of Hockey Operations Hubie McDonough announced today.

Walker, 21, appeared in two games with the Monarchs and recorded zero points and two penalty minutes. He led the Reign with 48 points (21-27=48) during the 2008-09 season. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island spent three seasons (2005-08) with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Prince Edward Island Rocket. Walker registered 196 points (83-113=196) and 213 penalty minutes in 168 games with the Rocket.

Also, be sure to check out tomorrow’s editions for an in-depth look at King and Pelech, the two Kings prospects in town this year.

Reign 3, Bakersfield 0.

Mike Zacharias stopped 33 shots and the Reign snapped a three-game losing streak with their first win at The Bank.

Adam Henrich and Dwight King scored on deflections off long shots by defensemen, and Jon Rheault scored into an empty net in the final seconds.

The route to victory was similar to the Reign’s method of last season: They were outshot (33-24) but limited their opponent’s Grade-A scoring chances, while working hard for their own. Karl Taylor said after the game that the team is still searching for its identity, but Saturday appeared to be a step in the right direction.

The Reign’s postgame jersey auction fetched $27,000 for the Frontier Project. Shawn Germain ($2,150) sold for the highest.

More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Reign 7, Stockton 1.

The only thing more perfect than the sunset over the Inland Empire on Friday was the Reign power play. The Reign (2-1) converted on all five of their power-play chances, and got goals from six different players, in a 7-1 blowout victory over the Stockton Thunder before 5,805 in Stockton Arena.

Tony Voce came off injured reserve to score two goals; Adam Henrich and Jon Rheault had a goal and two assists each; and Curtis Darling picked up his second victory of the season, stopping 30 of 31 shots. The Reign knocked out their opponent’s starting goalie for the second straight game, sending Bryan Pitton to the home bench after one period and three goals. Andrew Perugini came on to stop 10 of 14 shots over the final two periods.

The Reign also proved adept down a man, successfully killing six of seven Thunder power plays. Stockton is 0-4 to start the season after eliminating the Reign in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

Forward Greg Hogeboom scored his fourth goal of the season, and defensemen Shawn Germain and Andrew Martens scored their first for the Reign. Captain Jon Francisco added two assists, and Hogeboom, Peter Lenes, Dwight King, Tim Kraus and David Walker added one. The game also featured penalties assessed for five separate fights, two involving Reign enforcer James McEwan, and Michael Pelech, King and Walker in the others.

More details in tomorrow’s editions and, in case you missed it, here is my feature about the Reign’s captains and alternate captains this season that appeared in the paper Friday.

Reign 4, Las Vegas 3, shootout.

Chad Starling scored the only goal in the shootout, and Mike Howe, Greg Hogeboom, Jon Rheault and Dwight King scored in regulation for the Reign at Center Ice Arena.

The game was back-and-forth, and the Reign showed more aggression (and discipline) than they did a night before in a 5-2 loss in Las Vegas.

Mike Zacharias made 28 saves in regulation and was perfect in overtime and the shootout.

For the second straight year, the Reign finished the preseason 1-1, winning their home game and losing on the road. More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Reign at Las Vegas, 7 p.m. tonight. Update.

As with any sport, the value of an ECHL preseason game lies less in getting a win as much as assessing the team’s talent, deciding who to keep and who to cut.

“We’ll try to get everybody in and if not, oh well. That’s life,” Reign coach Karl Taylor said.

In a way, this is an even more delicate exercise in the ECHL, with so much turnover from year to year (although the Reign have a particularly high retention rate — 12 of the 30 players who appeared in a game last season are back). But for more than half of his 27 players, Karl Taylor has no frame of reference for how they’ll execute for him in a game. On the other hand, there can be as much turnover during the ECHL season as the off-season because of AHL recalls, injuries, trades, and the occasional roster cut. Maybe none of the players on tonight’s roster will make it through to the end of the season in Ontario.

That said, here they are:
Continue reading “Reign at Las Vegas, 7 p.m. tonight. Update.” »

Reign: Training camp, Day 3.

The Reign, back on the ice Monday at Center Ice Arena for Day 3 of training camp, are starting to look ready for an actual game. In fact, two of them came to camp ready, Karl Taylor said.

“Dwight King and Mike Pelech have been in camp for several weeks now, so they’re way ahead of everybody based on their skating, their energy and the fact they’ve been in training camp for so long,” Taylor said. “A lot of our guys, this is their first camp and they’re just trying to catch up.”

Both forwards began the preseason with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, and came to Ontario when they failed to make the Manchester Monarchs’ opening-day roster.

King, 20, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Kings in 2007 and signed his entry-level deal in May. Pelech, who turns 20 on Tuesday, was a sixth-round choice in 2009.

As for the rest of the group, Taylor said he might not have the luxury of letting all the players “on the bubble” play at least one preseason game before he begins making roster cuts. There are 27 in camp, and the active roster has to be down to 20 on opening day.

“I haven’t really given it much thought,” Taylor said. “We’re waiting for people to fall out. You’re starting to see a little bit of separation by day three or four. The old guys get their legs under them and start to catch up.”