Season ends in Manchester.

The Manchester Monarchs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Kings and Reign, saw their season end Saturday in an overtime heartbreaker.

Ryan Potulny wristed a shot past a screened Jeff Zatkoff at 3:07 of overtime, giving the Binghamton Senators the 6-5 win in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series. Manchester came back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-1, and took a brief 5-4 lead on a goal by Dwight King at 10:19 of the third period.

But Binghamton’s Erik Condra scored with 1:45 left in the third period to tie the game at 5. Potulny’s overtime goal was his fifth point of the game, including four assists.

Zatkoff relieved Martin Jones after Condra’s first goal of the game, 56 seconds into the second period. Jordan Hill had an assist and finished plus-1 — much better statistically than center Brayden Schenn, The Hockey News‘ No. 1 overall prospect, who was held scoreless and finished minus-5 matched against the line of Potulny, Colin Greening and Ryan Keller (two goals).

King and Bud Holloway both finished with a goal and an assist. Jordan Nolan also had an assist. Jones stopped 13 of 16 shots, while Zatkoff stopped 20 of 23.

It was the first Game 7 played at home in the franchise’s 10-year history.

Johnson released by Manchester.

An update from the AHL, where the number of Reign players on playoff rosters dropped by one Tuesday.

The Manchester Monarchs released Chaz Johnson just two days before their first-round series with the Binghamton Senators — Johnson’s last AHL employer — was scheduled to begin. Johnson appeared in four games with the Monarchs, skating as a bottom-six right wing, collecting two penalty minutes and no points in four games.

Still dotting AHL rosters are Dwight King, Bud Holloway, Jordan Nolan, Patrick Mullen, Jordan Hill, Martin Jones and Jeff Zatkoff (Manchester); Beau Erickson (Peoria); Geoff Walker (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton); Andrew Martens (Lake Erie) and Colten Teubert (Oklahoma City).

Including Jon Rheault, who ended the season with the Abbotsford Heat (who didn’t make the Calder Cup playoffs), that’s 12 former Reign players who ended the regular season at the next level.

Nolan gets three-year, entry-level deal.

Jordan Nolan, who skated with the Reign for the final two games of last season, has signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Kings.

The 21-year-old forward, a seventh-round pick by the Kings in the 2009 draft, is currently in the Manchester Monarchs’ American Hockey League training camp. Nolan (stats below) is the son of former NHL head coach Ted Nolan.

What’s next for Nolan, Pelech?

Three players who ended last season with the Reign will skate with the Kings when NHL training camps open Saturday. One, Colten Teubert, won’t do much more than skate on his own as he recovers from a scaphoid fracture.

The other two, Jordan Nolan and Michael Pelech, have quite a bit at stake.
Continue reading “What’s next for Nolan, Pelech?” »

Reign past, present and future at Kings rookie camp.

Colten Teubert, Michael Pelech, Jordan Nolan, Dwight
King, Patrick Mullen and Garrett Zemlak are among the names confirmed
for the Kings’ rookie camp, Sept. 11-13.

On-ice practice sessions on Sunday, Sept. 12 and Monday, Sept. 13 at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo (map) are
open to the public at no charge, while the on-ice practice sessions for
Saturday, Sept. 11 requires a ticket for the LA Kings Hockey Fest ’10
event, which takes place that same day.

The camp will conclude with two rookie games against Phoenix at
Jobing.com Arena. The first game is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 6
p.m. while the second game is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept., 15 at 2
p.m. Both games are free and open to the public.

The complete roster:

Continue reading “Reign past, present and future at Kings rookie camp.” »

Reign announce season-ending roster.

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.

AHL playoffs update.

A brief update from the American Hockey League playoffs, where a pair of former Reign players are competing for two different teams:

Winger Jon Rheault, playing his first Calder Cup playoff game, assisted on the first goal by the Abbotsford Heat in a 3-2 victory over the Rochester Americans on Thursday.

Center Dusty Collins and the Manitoba Moose were shut out by the Hamilton Bulldogs, 2-0, in the first game of their best-of-seven series Thursday.

Several former Reign will make their AHL postseason debuts on Friday when the Manchester Monarchs visit the Portland Pirates. Jeff Zatkoff, Jordan Nolan, Patrick Mullen, Bud Holloway and Dwight King are all on the Monarchs’ playoff roster.

Nolan lands in Manchester.

Jordan Nolan has been signed to an amateur tryout contract by the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate.

The 20-year-old played in three games with the Ontario Reign, tallying two points (goal, assist) and four penalty minutes. Nolan will wear No. 39 for the Monarchs.

Nolan, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound power forward, was selected by the Kings in the seventh round (186th overall) of the 2009 entry draft.

Reign pack their bags, Voce calls it a career.

When the Reign packed up their equipment and left The Bank one last time on Monday, the moment meant a little more to Tony Voce, who announced that Saturday’s game in Las Vegas was the last of his professional career.

The 29-year-old forward is moving back to Philadelphia to be with his wife and family. He said he wasn’t the same after the knee injury that cost him a month of the season in November and December.

“I was hurt most of the year,” he said. “Once it was done, it’s done.”
Continue reading “Reign pack their bags, Voce calls it a career.” »

Reign 7, Las Vegas 1.

Looking more relaxed than they had all season, the Reign exploded for seven goals, and got a 27-save effort from Mike Zacharias. However high of a note they could go out on, one day after missing the playoffs, the Reign found it.

It was a particularly good night for Chad Starling, Colten Teubert, Jordan Nolan and C.J. Stretch, each of whom scored his first goal of the season. Greg Hogeboom scored his team-leading 32nd, Geoff Walker scored his 7th and Mike Egener his 11th.

Tim Kraus picked up three assists and Walker added two helpers. Teubert and Starling both finished plus-4 and the Reign killed all five short-handed situations.

Jon Rheault – who would have been playing his eighth game in 10 days – was held out, as was Peter Lenes, who was ineligible to come off IR. Dan Knapp stepped in for Luis Tremblay on defense.

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