Las Vegas 5, Reign 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 2, Reign 1.

A pair of goals by the Wranglers, on back-to-back power plays in the second period, staked Las Vegas to a 2-0 lead before Michael Pelech halved the lead on a one-timer from the faceoff dot minutes later.

And that was it. No furious rally, not a lot of near misses, just the Reign’s seventh loss in a row before 4,072 at the Bank. Curtis Darling stopped 13 of 15. More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Bulletin.

Las Vegas 4, Reign 2.

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.

Wranglers, Frank fined for pregame spat.

It’s hard to tell who was the guilty party just by reading this summary, from the Las Vegas Sun, of the Reign’s game against the Las Vegas Wranglers on Dec. 19:

So when the Reign started chirping during pregame warmups, the Wranglers chirped back.

When the Reign started pushing, the Wranglers pushed back.

But once the puck dropped at the Orleans Arena, it was the Wranglers who set the tone.

“We wanted to respond before the game started,” Wranglers defenseman Chris Frank said.

In the judgment of the ECHL, it was Frank and his Las Vegas teammates.

Both were fined separately for violating rule 86.6, which reads: “During the pre-game warm-up (which shall not exceed sixteen (16) minutes in duration) and before the commencement of play in any period, each team shall confine its activity to its own end of the rink.”

The league did not release the exact amount each would be fined.

View from the other bench: Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Wranglers are in flux, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal


[Head coach Ryan] Mougenel has little choice but to hope his current players contribute more because his paltry payroll prevents him from making significant moves.

“We have the lowest payroll in the ECHL,” he said.

ECHL teams are allowed a weekly salary cap of $11,800, not including players on injured reserve. Mougenel said he’s “operating nowhere near $11,800.”

“It’s tough,” he said. “Alaska has five or six guys on IR and their cap is like $16,000. Ours is $10,300 with IR.”

A higher payroll doesn’t seem likely because team ownership is in flux. The franchise is in the process of being sold, Mougenel said.

Charles Davenport, the team’s principal owner since its inception in Las Vegas in 2003, recently sold his share to co-owner Jonathan Fleisig, who also owns the Bakersfield (Calif.) Condors.

With attendance at the Orleans Arena down more than 20 percent from four years ago — from 5,075 to 3,945 per game — and corporate sponsorships also down during the recession, Fleisig appears intent on keeping his expenses in Las Vegas as low as possible.


The local hockey team is only one of many local institutions to suffer during the recession in a city built on tourism. In fact, it might be among the smallest. Check out this article in the L.A. Times from September for some perspective.

Las Vegas 2, Reign 1.

Todd Jackson returned to the Reign lineup and scored Ontario’s only goal, but the Reign lost 2-1 to the Las Vegas Wranglers at Orleans Arena on Saturday night.


Jackson could do nothing about the eventual game-winning goal by the Wranglers — he was in the penalty box for tripping at 4:48 of the third period when Shay Stephenson scored to put Las Vegas up 2-0. It was the only power-play goal in nine man-advantage shifts for Las Vegas. The Reign also survived a 40-second long, 5-on-3 penalty kill in the first period.

With 4:15 left in the third period, Jackson halved the Wranglers’ lead with his first goal of the season, taking a pass from Chris Curran, taking advantage of a Michael Pelech screen and firing past Michael Ouzas. It was Jackson’s sixth game of the season and his first since Dec. 11 in Idaho.

Friday night in Ontario, the Reign also fell behind 2-0 early in the third period but were able to come back and tie; they never got the second goal Saturday, even after Curtis Darling (30 saves) was pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute. Ouzas stopped 22 of 23 for the Wranglers (10-14-2-1), who still trail the Reign (13-13-2-1) by six points for second place in the Pacific Division standings.

Reign forward Tony Voce missed his 11th straight game with a strained MCL, and defenseman David Walker did not play a night after suffering a scary head injury.

The Reign have a week off before facing the Wranglers in Las Vegas again on Dec. 26. 

Reign 3, Las Vegas 2, shootout.

Three defensemen — Shawn Germain, Chad Starling and Jon Landry — scored in the shootout, with Germain scoring on the first shootout attempt of his career. Jon Francisco and Greg Hogeboom scored in regulation, the latter coming with 3:14 left in the third period to send the game to overtime tied at 2.


Curtis Darling made 26 saves, and stopped Las Vegas’ Jason Krischuk immediately following Germain’s goal to seal the victory after six shootout rounds. 

There were more fighting majors than goals, with Mike Egener’s quick, one-sided bout with Vegas’ John Schwarz the highlight for the Reign. Earlier Reign captain Jon Francisco got into a rare fight of his own, which resulted in six stitches to close a wound on his upper lip. But the fight served a greater purpose, sparking yet another Reign comeback, this one from a 2-0 deficit.

More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Las Vegas 2, Reign 1.

A back-and-forth third period decided an otherwise sluggish game, with Chris Neiszner deflecting a loose puck past Mike Zacharias with 9:21 remaining for the game-winner.

David Walker scored short-handed for the Reign’s only goal and Zacharias, making his second start in as many nights, stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Even though the Reign finished their home-opening weekend 1-2, the mood after the game was fairly upbeat. The Reign matched Las Vegas’ energy for 60 minutes despite playing three games in three nights.

More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Las Vegas 4, Reign 3: reaction.

It seemed to be the perfect recipe — bring back the same leadership corps, the same coach, the same system, add some physical toughness and skilled forwards — and you’ve got an Ontario Reign squad whose physical talents match their mental acumen.

The only problem, especially Friday, is that the mental toughness wasn’t present.

“I think we did it to ourselves,” said Jon Rheault, asked if the Las Vegas Wranglers had gotten under their skin in a 4-3 loss in the Reign’s home opener. “We have to learn to control our emotions. The reactions to some of the calls we had – we got hit and then we’d spear someone – it’s part of the game. We’ve got to be more mentally tough than that.”
Continue reading “Las Vegas 4, Reign 3: reaction.” »

Las Vegas 4, Reign 3.

Tied 3-3 heading into the third period, the Reign put themselves short-handed one too many times to win their home opener.

With Tim Kraus in the box for tripping, Ned Lukacevic netted the game-winning goal with 6:14 left in the third period, lifting the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 4-3 victory before 8,067 at The Bank. It was the only power-play goal for the Wranglers in nine chances Friday, seven of which came in the final period.

Jon Rheault scored two goals and assisted on the third, Jon Francisco’s first goal of the season. Curtis Darling got the start in net and stopped 31 of 35.

More notes and postgame quotes to come. If you went to the game, let me hear from you.