Tag Archives: Jeff Zatkoff

News and notes from Alaska.

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There was plenty of ECHL news coming out of Alaska today, but not from the visitor’s locker room.

Reign head coach Karl Taylor did not make any roster moves prior to the ECHL trade deadline at noon. That means, as unlikely as it might have seemed as little as three weeks ago, nobody’s getting traded. Any roster change for the Reign will result from injuries, AHL call-ups, amateur or free-agent signings, or junior players being assigned by the Kings.

Any player who signs a pro contract must appear in at least five regular-season games to be included on the Reign’s playoff roster. Amateurs aren’t bound by the same rule.

The Alaska Aces made one deadline deal in advance of tonight’s game against the Reign, trading defenseman Derick Martin to the Elmira Jackals for left wing Jarret Konkle.

The Aces also made headlines in the Anchorage Daily News by announcing they will be forced to host games 40 miles away from their home arena in first round of the playoffs. A look at the ECHL standings reveals that this isn’t likely to impact the Reign, who are probably in the running for one of the National Conference’s final three playoff positions along with the Aces.

Also worth noting: The AHL’s Manchester Monarchs were left down a goalie for tonight’s game when Jonathan Bernier was recalled by the Kings. But the Monarchs signed former Bakersfield Condors goaltender Josh Johnson – and neither of the Reign’s two goalies – to back up Jeff Zatkoff.

Manchester announces clearing-day roster.

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Geoff Walker and Jon Rheault could very well spend the rest of the season in Ontario rather than Manchester, N.H.

Neither forward was listed on the Manchester Monarchs’ clear day roster released Thursday, meaning that neither will play for the Monarchs this season unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension. AHL teams may also add signed junior players, or players on amateur tryout contracts, after their respective junior or college seasons are complete.

Walker and Rheault started the season with the Reign but were recalled to Manchester in late November, then came back to Ontario on March 5. Forward Dwight King, who began the season with the Reign but has been in Manchester since December, was listed on the roster.

The complete list –

Goaltenders (2): Jonathan Bernier and Jeff Zatkoff.

Defensemen (7): Drew Bagnall, Andrew Campbell, Thomas Hickey (injured), Alec Martinez, Patrick Mullen (injured), Joe Piskula and Viatcheslav Voynov.

Forwards (13): Justin Azevedo, Marc-Andre Cliche, Corey Elkins, Gabe Gauthier, Bud Holloway, Dwight King, Trevor Lewis, Andrei Loktionov (injured), David Meckler, Juraj Mikus, Oscar Moller, Kevin Westgarth and John Zeiler

In Residence (4): Shawn Bates (F), Tom Cavanagh (F), David Kolomatis (D) and Doug Nolan (D).

Bakersfield 1, Reign 0, end first period.

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The Reign are leading this game in both scoring chances and mistakes, but the only goal is by Bakersfield defenseman Bruce Graham, a power-play goal 2:06 into the opening frame.

Both goalies have gotten lucky on a pair of nervous moments. At the 11:15 mark, Jeff Zatkoff came out of his net to play a puck, backhanded it behind the net with the Condors’ Mike Wirll closing in. Wirll got to the puck first and backhanded it between the circles, but no one was there to put it home into an empty net. Geoff Walker thought he had a goal when he rang a wrister off the crossbar at 14:17, but the linesman immediately ruled it no goal. This could easily be a 2-1 game.

The Reign finished with 13 shots on goal to the Condors’ 4, the best of which was a Colten Teubert gem after he made a nifty 1-on-1 move on the Bakersfield defender. Who knew he had the hands?