Tag Archives: James McEwan

McEwan won’t debut tonight.

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James McEwan won’t make his debut tonight for the Reign. McEwan went from the non-roster “previous injury status” to 3-day injured reserve.

Adding him gives the Reign 24 players counting IR and the active roster, which sounds like a lot, but Karl Taylor said “we’re a little bit crowded, we’re not overly crowded,” and right now there’s room for everyone on the payroll and in the team apartments.

Kyle Kraemer (knee), Eric Doyle (upper-body), Chad Starling (lower-body) and Jon Francisco (lower-body) all remain on IR. Doyle, who was transferred from 3-day to 7-day IR, said he isn’t sure if his current upper-body injury is related to the last one. Starling was transferred from 7-day to 21-day IR and can be activated a week from Friday.

The Reign host the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7 p.m. at The Bank.

Monday practice notes.

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James McEwan was in the building Monday but hasn’t received doctor’s clearance to take part in practice yet. He looked to be in good shape and sounded like he’s in good spirits. Here’s a pretty detailed article out of his hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia, about McEwan’s rehab process.

It was a small group on the ice, as Karl Taylor gave about half the team an extra day of rest. Brett O’Malley, Kyle Kraemer, Jordan Morrison, C.J. Stretch, Chaz Johnson, Aaron Lewadniuk, Tim Kraus, Pat Bowen, Jordan Hill, Matt Delahey and Beau Erickson all practiced.

Plenty more in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin about McEwan, Bowen and tracking down a few alumni as always.

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.

Good news for James McEwan.

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Enforcer James McEwan, whose recovery from off-season surgery has prevented him from practicing with the Reign, is returning to Ontario this weekend.

In a telephone interview from British Columbia, McEwan said Thursday that he has been cleared to resume practicing and expects to rejoin the team after its two-game road trip to Utah this weekend.

“I’m in awesome shape,” McEwan said. “It’s just a matter of getting back, getting the systems down.”
Continue reading “Good news for James McEwan.” »

Injury updates.

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Good news for the Reign blue line came today, when Eric Doyle was cleared for full contact. The rookie had a goal, three points, and a plus-2 rating in four games before suffering a lower-body injury. The Reign went 2-1-1 with Doyle in the lineup and 0-6-0 without him.

The recovery process hasn’t been as fast for forward James McEwan, who still hasn’t received medical clearance to rejoin the lineup. The enforcer, who expected to return in late October following off-season wrist surgery, still hasn’t joined the team.

In case you missed today’s notebook, including items on new captain David Walker, the team’s seven-game losing streak, Kellen Briggs’ workload, and an alumni update, read it right here.

McEwan: ‘Unless they want the mutant look, my hand-modeling career is over.’

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James McEwan thought he merely had a season-ending injury when he broke his thumb in a fight in February. Improbably, it was worse.

As reported today’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin, the enforcer doesn’t expect to play his next game with the Reign until late October. The full story is a little confusing and more than a little gruesome.

Here are the highlights from the rest of our interview:
Continue reading “McEwan: ‘Unless they want the mutant look, my hand-modeling career is over.’” »

McEwan coming back for more.

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Popular enforcer James McEwan is returning to the Reign for 2010-11, the team announced Friday.

In his second pro season, the 6-foot, 187-pound forward won over fans and teammates with a willingness to drop gloves with anyone — even some of the league’s toughest heavyweights. He collected two goals and 80 penalty minutes in 27 games before being sidelined for the season with a broken thumb, which he suffered in a fight in February.

In his only full ECHL season, McEwan finished third in the league with 227 penalty minutes for the Phoenix Roadrunners in 2008-09. He also played four games for the AHL’s Worcester Sharks that season, collecting 10 penalty minutes.

More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

Francisco re-signs; qualifying offers sent.

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The Reign’s 2010-11 roster began to take shape Friday, when Jon Francisco was announced as the first signing of the new season and eight qualifying offers were mailed out.

Francisco, 29, is the only captain in team history and a valuable two-way center. In 72 games, he had 15 goals and 45 points – both down from the previous season (20 goals, 48 points), when Francisco appeared in 63 games.

“He’s been one of our core guys,” Reign coach Karl Taylor said. “He had a decent season last year. We’re going to expect more out of him next year, and I know he’ll expect more out of himself.”

Qualifying offers were tendered to a league-maximum eight players: James McEwan, Greg Hogeboom, Jon Rheault, Geoff Walker, Curtis Darling, Peter Lenes, Mike Zacharias and Chris Curran.

None of the qualified players have re-signed with the Reign. The qualifying offer remains open until August 1, or until it is accepted by the player, during which time he cannot be traded.

The Reign will retain each qualified player’s ECHL rights for next season, regardless of whether or not he returns. For example, Taylor does not expect Peter Lenes back after the forward recently signed in Austria. But if Lenes decides to return to the ECHL, “maybe we’ll keep him, or maybe we’ll (trade) his rights.”

The complete list of qualified ECHL players can be found here.

Reign announce season-ending roster.

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ECHL season-ending rosters were released today, the lists of up to 20 players from whom teams can qualify eight. The Reign’s season-ending roster included exactly 20:

Mike Egener, Chad Starling, Jon Francisco, Tim Kraus, Tony Voce, Peter Lenes, Curtis Darling, Chris Curran, Geoff Walker, Greg Hogeboom, David Walker, Sean O’Connor, Mike Zacharias, Jon Rheault, Dan Knapp, Luis Tremblay, Todd Jackson, Robert Pearce, Shawn Germain and James McEwan.

Of the players who finished 2009-10 on the Reign’s roster, five are missing:

• Defenseman Andrew Martens, who has signed in the Central Hockey League;

• Forwards C.J. Stretch and Jordan Nolan, who were playing on Amateur Tryout contracts, and therefore not eligible for the season-ending roster;
• Forward Michael Pelech and defenseman Colten Teubert, who were assigned to the Reign by the Kings.

In other words, the season-ending roster looks just as expected.

The next step in the process of whittling down who will be back next season is submitting qualifying offers.

Each team is entitled to qualify a maximum of eight players
from
the list of 20 by extending a qualifying offer no later than July 1. Of
the
eight qualified players, no more than four can be veterans (260 regular-season professional hockey games played as of the start of the 2010-11
season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. Teams are
not
required to extend a qualifying offer to players who sign a contract
prior
to July 1.

Reign announce protected list.

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There were no surprises on the Reign’s protected list, announced Wednesday:

Kellen Briggs, Dusty Collins, Chris Curran, Curtis Darling, Mike
Egener, Jon Francisco, Shawn Germain, Greg Hogeboom, Todd Jackson, Dan Knapp, Tim
Kraus, Peter Lenes, Andrew Martens, James McEwan, Sean O’Connor, Robert Pearce,
Jon Rheault, Chad Starling, Jason Tejchma, Luis Tremblay, Tony Voce, David
Walker, Geoff Walker, Mike Zacharias.
Continue reading “Reign announce protected list.” »