Peter Lenes scored twice, Greg Hogeboom, Dwight King, Geoff Walker, Mike Howe, David Walker and Michael Pelech added one apiece, and the Reign matched a franchise record with eight goals.
Jon Francisco and Geoff Walker had two assists apiece, and David Walker (who engaged in two fights) fell one assist shy of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
The two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Bank. More details in tomorrow’s editions.
A close game for the first 65 minutes was anything but in the shootout, where Stephane Goulet, Dan Sexton and MacGregor Sharp scored on Curtis Darling to give the Bakersfield Condors a 4-3 win Wednesday.
Michael Pelech scored his first goal of the season, and Tony Voce and Peter Lenes also scored for the Reign, the latter coming short-handed. Darling stopped 31 of 34 shots in net.
The game began at 10:30 a.m., part of an annual Field Trip promotion at Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena.
Neither the Reign (7-8-1) nor the Condors (9-6-0) had participated in a shootout or overtime game this season. Greg Hogeboom, Tim Kraus and Andrew Martens were foiled in the skills competition by Bakersfield goalie Timo Pielmeier, who stopped 25 of 28 shots prior to the shootout.
More details in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Bulletin.
On a night full of penalties and short on 5-on-5 play, the Reign’s special teams were rather ordinary.
The Bakersfield Condors scored five power-play goals en route to an 8-3 win Wednesday at Rabobank Arena.
The Reign’s power play, which entered the game converting at a blistering 8-for-18 rate, took a step backward, going just 1-for-11.
Greg Hogeboom, Peter Lenes and Jon Rheault scored for the Reign, the latter coming 1:29 into the second period to erase a 3-1 deficit and tie the game at 3.
The Condors ended goaltender Mike Zacharias’ night early by scoring four goals in less than 26 minutes on the Reign starter.
More details in tomorrow’s editions.
The only thing more perfect than the sunset over the Inland Empire on Friday was the Reign power play. The Reign (2-1) converted on all five of their power-play chances, and got goals from six different players, in a 7-1 blowout victory over the Stockton Thunder before 5,805 in Stockton Arena.
Tony Voce came off injured reserve to score two goals; Adam Henrich and Jon Rheault had a goal and two assists each; and Curtis Darling picked up his second victory of the season, stopping 30 of 31 shots. The Reign knocked out their opponent’s starting goalie for the second straight game, sending Bryan Pitton to the home bench after one period and three goals. Andrew Perugini came on to stop 10 of 14 shots over the final two periods.
The Reign also proved adept down a man, successfully killing six of seven Thunder power plays. Stockton is 0-4 to start the season after eliminating the Reign in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
Forward Greg Hogeboom scored his fourth goal of the season, and defensemen Shawn Germain and Andrew Martens scored their first for the Reign. Captain Jon Francisco added two assists, and Hogeboom, Peter Lenes, Dwight King, Tim Kraus and David Walker added one. The game also featured penalties assessed for five separate fights, two involving Reign enforcer James McEwan, and Michael Pelech, King and Walker in the others.
More details in tomorrow’s editions and, in case you missed it, here is my feature about the Reign’s captains and alternate captains this season that appeared in the paper Friday.
In a resounding response to their opening-night shutout loss, the Reign exploded for eight goals from five different players, and chased the Bakersfield Condors’ starting goalie in an 8-2 win at Rabobank Arena.
Greg Hogeboom notched a hat trick and added an assist; Adam Henrich had two goals and an assist, Tim Kraus had four assists and Curtis Darling stopped 34-of-36 shots in his first appearance between the pipes. The Reign were outshot 36-24 but still chased Bakersfield starter Timo Pielmeier, who stopped just 12-of-19 shots.
Mike Egener scored on Justin Pogge, last night’s starter, in the third period, and Peter Lenes and Jon Rheault also scored for the Reign (1-1).
A disciplined Reign squad needed only to kill three penalties, while taking advantage of 3-of-10 power-play opportunities in the win.
More details in tomorrow’s editions.
As with any sport, the value of an ECHL preseason game lies less in getting a win as much as assessing the team’s talent, deciding who to keep and who to cut.
“We’ll try to get everybody in and if not, oh well. That’s life,” Reign coach Karl Taylor said.
In a way, this is an even more delicate exercise in the ECHL, with so much turnover from year to year (although the Reign have a particularly high retention rate — 12 of the 30 players who appeared in a game last season are back). But for more than half of his 27 players, Karl Taylor has no frame of reference for how they’ll execute for him in a game. On the other hand, there can be as much turnover during the ECHL season as the off-season because of AHL recalls, injuries, trades, and the occasional roster cut. Maybe none of the players on tonight’s roster will make it through to the end of the season in Ontario.
That said, here they are:
Continue reading “Reign at Las Vegas, 7 p.m. tonight. Update.” »
Just a reminder that Reign training camp starts today at 10:30 a.m. with a free, open-to-the-public practice at Center Ice Arena in Ontario. Geoff Walker is still in Manchester, N.H. with the Kings’ AHL affiliate; here are the other players under contract that are expected to attend:
Forwards:
Jon Rheault
Doug Spooner
Todd Jackson
Tim Kraus
Jon Francisco
Dan Leslie
Robert Pearce
Brian Matte
Tyler Mugford
Peter Lenes
Joel Irving
James McEwan
Tony Voce
Mike Howe
Chris Curran*
Defensemen:
Chad Starling
David Walker
Shawn Germain
Brian Kilburg
Dan Knapp
Andrew Martens
Cameron Cepek
Maxime Frechette
Goaltenders:
Mike Zacharias
Curtis Darling
*Curran is still recovering from the leg injury he sustained at the end of last season. Last we heard, he is expected to be at the practice, but not participating in all aspects.
Update (9 a.m.): Geoff Walker has signed an AHL contract with Manchester. The right wing is likely to start the season with the Monarchs and, although he might be back in Ontario at some point during the season, he’d probably prefer to make his next move up to the NHL.
Also, Manchester has assigned left wing Dwight King and forward Michael Pelech to the Reign, and released Mike Egener, Lenes, McEwan, Mugford, Pearce and Zacharias from their tryouts.
Pelech, a 6-3, 206-pound center, recently completed a four-year career in the Ontario Hockey League. He recorded 51 goals and 170 points in 249 games between Missisauga, Kitchener and St. Michael’s. Last season in Missisauga, he had 19 goals and 65 points in 68 games. Pelech was chosen in the sixth round of the June entry draft by the Kings.
King, a 6-3, 220-pound center, just finished his junior career with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Saskatchewan native [stats here] was nearly a point-a-game player his final two seasons in Lethbridge, finishing with 25 goals and 60 points in 64 games in 2008-09. The Kings selected him in the fourth round of the June draft.
10:15 a.m. update: The ECHL has officially reviewed all the training camp rosters from its member teams, so the above roster should be accurate. Mike Egener isn’t on it, and Voce, Frechette, Cepek and Darling are the additions. We’ll update a bit later on.P