Tag Archives: Lane Caffaro

Reign 4, Utah 3.

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There’s no place like home, but there’s been no place better for the Reign than the road.

A 4-3 win over the Utah Grizzlies on Friday at the E-Center was the Reign’s fourth straight win away from The Bank. Goals by Aaron Lewadniuk, Chaz Johnson, Michael Pelech (short-handed) and Lane Caffaro ended the Reign’s losing skid at 2, and toppled the best team in the Western Conference.

The Reign played with the same lineup as they did in Wednesday’s 5-4 loss to the Bakersfield Condors. Defenseman Pat Bowen played his second straight game in favor of Eric Doyle and Matt Delahey; Chad Starling (lower-body injury) is still on IR. Forwards Kyle Kraemer (knee) and Jon Francisco (lower-body) remained out, and center Tim Kraus was scratched again.

Kellen Briggs made his 17th straight start and stopped 31 of 34.

Pelech also had an assist, as did Luke Beaverson, Brett O’Malley and Jordan Hill.

The two teams meet again at 6 p.m. tonight. More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

Reign 4, Alaska 3.

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The Reign have a modest winning streak going, and this time they didn’t need overtime.

Jeff Corey scored two more goals, giving him three in the first two
games of the three-game series, and lifting the Reign to their second
win over the Alaska Aces in as many days. Corey scored once on the power
play, once short-handed, and Lane Caffaro and Jon Francisco also scored
for the Reign (4-6-0-1).

Kellen Briggs, who had 37 saves in an overtime win Friday, stopped 31 of 34 shots in net. Center Dusty Collins
had three assists and defenseman David Walker had two helpers for the
Reign, who can finish off the three-game sweep today at Sullivan Arena.

Alaska (7-3-1-0) pulled ahead 2-1 at 12:35 of the middle period on Wes Goldie’s second goal of the game, but Caffaro’s power-play goal at 17:08 tied the game at 2.

Corey, who has quite a history of success at Sullivan, leads the team with six goals and 10 points in 11 games. Defenseman Eric Doyle picked up an assist in his first action after missing five games with an upper-body injury. He was activated from IR, and center C.J. Stretch took his place, prior to the game.

Catching up with the new guys.

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Defenseman Lane Caffaro and goalie Beau Erickson made their Reign debuts in Victoria last week. Both were last-minute acquisitions – Caffaro when defenseman Pat Bowen couldn’t travel to Canada because he didn’t have a passport, and Erickson when Martin Jones was summoned to the American Hockey League.

And both validated their presence in Ontario with a strong debut performance on short notice.
Continue reading “Catching up with the new guys.” »

Victoria 6, Reign 3.

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The Reign seem to have left their mojo in California.

Friday’s 6-3 loss to the Victoria Salmon Kings was their second straight in the three-game series in British Columbia. The Reign (2-3-0-1) got goals from Luke Beaverson, Jordan Morrison and C.J. Stretch, but four Victoria goals in an eight-minute span of the second period put the Reign in a 5-1 hole from which they couldn’t dig out.

Goaltender Kellen Briggs started and allowed three goals on 15 shots, including the first two in the Salmon Kings’ second-period outburst. Making his Reign debut, Beau Erickson was summoned from the bench at 2:45 of the middle period, and proceeded to stop 19 of 22 shots in relief.

The Reign coudln’t convert any of their five power-play chances, and are now 1-for-12 with the man advantage in two games in Victoria. Six different players scored goals for the Salmon Kings (4-2-0) and eight different players had an assist; only former Reign defenseman P.J. Atherton had two.

Stretch, playing on a line with Morrison and Chaz Johnson, assisted on Morrison’s goal with 2:03 left in the first period. The Reign didn’t score again until Beaverson’s rocket from the point with 2:45 left in the second (Shawn Collymore and Lane Caffaro got the assists), but by then it was 5-2.

Johnson had the lone assist on Stretch’s first goal of the season, and the second of his pro career, at 1:21 of the third. Caffaro might have had the best stastical night — he finished a plus-2 on a night when only one other Reign player (defenseman Chad Starling) had above an even rating.

The two teams play again tomorrow night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Center.

Victoria 5, Reign 2.

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The Reign had their chances in Victoria, but not nearly as many as the Salmon Kings.

The Salmon Kings led by scores of 2-0 after one period, and 3-1 after two, before Shawn Collymore’s second goal of the season drew the Reign within 3-2 at 1:24 of the third period.

But that was as close as they would get. Chad Painchaud’s second goal of the game made it 4-2 at 6:15, and Milan Gajic closed the scoring at 12:16 of the third period.

Kellen Briggs stopped 29 of 34 shots in a game in which the Reign were outshot 34-27 despite having seven power plays to the Salmon Kings’ three.

Kyle Kraemer’s power play goal at 14:25 of the second period got the Reign on the board against goaltender David Shantz, who stopped 25 of 27.

Center Tim Kraus and defenseman Lane Caffaro, acquired Monday from the Idaho Steelheads, had assists on both goals.

Reign add another defenseman.

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Lane Caffaro is the newest member of the Reign. The 26-year-old defenseman was acquired today from the Idaho Steelheads for future considerations.

Caffaro has played in 25 AHL games and 32 ECHL games in his pro career, beginning with a four-game stint in 2008-09 with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Penguins following his four-year career at Union College (Schenectady, NY). In two games this season, he has no points and seven penalty minutes for the Steelheads.

The plan Monday was for Caffaro to drive to Ontario from Boise, then fly with the Reign to Victoria, British Columbia, for a three-game series beginning Wednesday against the Salmon Kings.

Defenseman Eric Doyle was injured and didn’t take part in practice, and Brett O’Malley was wearing the red jersey reserved for non-contact players. Defenseman Pat Bowen, acquired last week from Greenville, was healthy and set to go into the lineup but won’t be able to play in Victoria due to a passport issue.

The specific issue? He doesn’t have one.

Jordan Morrison was skating with Jeff Corey and Jon Francisco, and Pierre-Andre Bureau took Morrison’s place on the line with Shawn Collymore and Chaz Johnson. New goaltender Beau Erickson – who was available for both ends of the weekend series against the Stockton Thunder was nearly perfect in an end-of-practice shootout drill, allowing only a goal to Tim Kraus. Johnson, Chad Starling, Collymore and Matt Delahey put shots past Kellen Briggs.

Much, much more in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin, including comments from the ECHL’s Director of Officiating on Saturday’s goal that wasn’t.