Tag Archives: Jon Francisco

Bakersfield 6, Reign 3.

Posted on by
2

Jon Francisco scored twice, and Jon Rheault added a short-handed goal, but the Reign lost in regulation for just the second time in the last 30 days.

A string of second-period penalties seemed to untrack the Reign as Bakersfield scored five unanswered goals. More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin, and check out Friday’s paper for a longer look at new defensemen Colten Teubert and Patrick Mullen.

Teubert (who was paired with David Walker) didn’t figure much into the final outcome. He saw some penalty-kill time, but decided to save his first earth-shaking hit for this weekend at The Bank. Mullen was paired with Chad Starling and figured into the scoring in the third period – for Bakersfield. He effectively sealed off the slot on a 2-on-1 breakaway, but accidentally deflected Adam Naglich’s centering pass between Curtis Darling’s legs.

Darling stopped 27 of 32 before giving way to Mike Zacharias (8-for-8) for the final 11:15.

Reign 3, Utah 1.

Posted on by
2

The Reign won their fifth straight game, but this one was different from the first four.

Curtis Darling stopped shots on the breakaway, on rebounds – “probably two or three pucks that should have been in the net,” said Karl Taylor – en route to a 28-save victory. The Reign also snuffed out the last four Utah power plays after giving up a backdoor goal early.

This one was a defensive gem – the Reign held an opponent under 30 shots for just the third time in February. Consider that Tony Voce got off four shots short-handed all by himself.

Jon Francisco, Mike Egener and Mike Howe scored goals. Because Las Vegas lost 6-4 to Stockton on Saturday, the Reign moved up to the seventh position in the National Conference standings.

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

Reign 6, Bakersfield 4.

Posted on by
2

The Reign came back from a 3-1 first-period deficit, and a negated goal in the third period, to beat the Pacific-Division leading Condors.

Sean O’Connor scored the game-winner with 2:41 left in the third period. Greg Hogeboom, Tony Voce, Tim Kraus and Jon Francisco also scored, and Mike Egener could have had a two-goal game if not for a disallowed goal with 12:23 left.

Goaltender Curtis Darling got his third win in as many days, stopping 19 of 23.

Robert Pearce had three assists and Michael Pelech and Mike Howe each collected a pair of assists.

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

Reign 5, Idaho 4, OT.

Posted on by
3

Who’d have thunk it?

After losing 7-0 in Bakersfield on Sunday, the Reign went out and won back-to-back games against the Idaho Steelheads, the best team in the conference. Greg Hogeboom’s power-play goal at 3:40 of overtime sealed the victory in a game that saw the Steelheads outshoot the Reign 47-25.

Sean O’Connor’s seventh goal of the season, with 4:19 left in the third period, tied the game at 4. Peter Lenes, Robert Pearce and Jon Francisco also scored for the Reign, who are now one point behind the Las Vegas Wranglers for the final National Conference playoff berth.

Nine different Reign players had one assist, and goaltender Curtis Darling stopped 40 of 45 shots. The Reign went 2-for-4 on the power play and held Idaho to one power play goal in four man-advantage shifts.

Reign 4, Idaho 1.

Posted on by
3

Greg Hogeboom, Michael Pelech, Peter Lenes and Jon Francisco scored goals – the latter going into an empty net with 21 seconds left – and Curtis Darling made 29 saves as the Reign defeated the top-ranked team in the National Conference.

More details in tomorrow’s editions, but here were the postgame thoughts of Karl Taylor and Andrew Martens …
Continue reading “Reign 4, Idaho 1.” »

Reign 5, Stockton 3.

Posted on by
3

First the good news.

The Reign power play came alive; officially they were 2-for-8 with the man advantage, but Tony Voce’s first goal came two seconds after a 5-on-4 shift expired.

The penalty kill was equally impressive, killing 4 of 5 – including a total of 1:37 while down two men late in the third period.

Todd Jackson came back into the lineup and was officially awarded two assists in his debut game. That could be changed upon review; Michael Pelech insisted that he did not touch the puck that Jackson deposited on the goal line in the first period, even though the goal was credited to Pelech, who followed Jackson’s shot to make sure it counted.

The other goals were more clear-cut — Voce scored twice, Jon Francisco and Sean O’Connor scored once, and Curtis Darling stopped 29 of 32 on less than 24 hours’ rest.

Now the bad news: James McEwan was taken to a hospital after his first-period fight with Stockton’s James Bates. McEwan injured his hand in the fight and did not return to the game.

Prior to the game, defenseman Mike Egener went on three-day injured reserve with what Karl Taylor called a “lower body injury,” and was replaced on the blue line by Brian Kilburg. Taylor said there is no timetable yet for Egener to return from Friday’s injury, but 3-day IR certainly leaves more room for optimism than the 7- or 21-day IR.

Peter Lenes, who has not scored a goal since Dec. 12, was scratched for the first time all season in order to make room for Jackson.

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

Friday’s postgame thoughts.

Posted on by
1

It’s the old maxim for teams on a losing streak: If they knew what they were doing wrong, they’d have fixed it by now.

If the Reign knew why they were only 1-2-1 to start their five-game homestand …

“I don’t know right now,” captain Jon Francisco said. “I’d like to pinpoint it as well. We’ve just got to make the simple plays, work through it, figure out what’s going on here and get that drive and determination that we’re sick of losing. It’s playoff time for us. We have to have that mindset.”
Continue reading “Friday’s postgame thoughts.” »

Friday’s postgame thoughts.

Posted on by
2
The consensus opinion (both Karl Taylor and Jon Francisco volunteered it after the game) was that the Reign were lucky to get a point Friday. Even though they led the Alaska Aces for all but the game’s final 6:23, the 0-for-8 power play success rate stuck out like a sore thumb.

Speaking of the power play, Francisco said that “we’re working on some new stuff. It’s coming around. We’re getting shots to the net. I had two backdoor chances that I didn’t bury. That’s on me — I know that. I’ll be better tomorrow.”

Continue reading “Friday’s postgame thoughts.” »

Las Vegas 5, Reign 1.

Posted on by
1

The Reign’s winning streak was short-lived.


A day after snapping their franchise-record, seven-game losing streak, the Reign fell to the Las Vegas Wranglers, 5-1 at Orleans Arena. Jon Francisco scored the only goal for the Reign with 2:06 left in the third period.

The Reign (14-18-3-2) started well, outshooting the Wranglers (16-14-3-1) in the first period by a 19-6 margin. But they could not score, thanks to a near-perfect effort by goalie Michael Ouzas (41 saves).

Ned Lukacevic and Jason Hazelwood scored two goals apiece, and Mick Lawrence scored once, as the Wranglers rattled off five unanswered goals over the final two periods. Curtis Darling stopped 26 of 31 shots before he was pulled for Mike Zacharias with 9:51 left in the game. Zacharias stopped all 10 shots he faced.

The Reign don’t play again until Wednesday night, when they host the Bakersfield Condors at The Bank. 

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

Las Vegas 4, Reign 2.

Posted on by
3

Surprise starter Mike Zacharias gave up goals on the first two shots he faced, and the Reign never caught up to Las Vegas in their first game in a week.


Neither team had played since they squared off against each other seven days earlier at Orleans Arena, but Zacharias was the rustiest man on the ice. He had not played since posting the win Dec. 6 against Victoria, a span of 20 days, and allowed goals to Kyle Hagel and Francis Lemieux in a span of 3:58 to start the game.

The Reign settled down considerably after that, and finished with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal. Jon Francisco scored his fifth goal of the season, the Reign’s lone power-play goal in seven chances, at 4:45 of the second period to make it 2-1.

Mick Lawrence answered at 7:14, sending a blistering slapshot in the slot past Zacharias to push the lead back to 3-1. But the Reign took a 3-2 deficit into the third period after Francisco fed Robert Pearce for a breakaway goal at 8:53. 

Lemieux, playing his first season in the ECHL after four years spent in the AHL, got his second goal of the game with 2:29 left in the third. Zacharias was pulled for the extra attacker late, but had to go back in when Pearce crashed into Las Vegas goalie Michael Ouzas (32 saves) with 50 seconds left.

Goaltender Curtis Darling wasn’t on the bench tonight; Dennis Cook served as the emergency backup. We’ll see what the situation looks like tomorrow when the Reign host the Bakersfield Condors at 5 p.m. at The Bank.