Bakersfield 3, Reign 2.

After playing “absolutely horrendous” hockey for two periods, in the words of coach Karl Taylor, the Reign staged a comeback but ultimately fell short before 7,365 at The Bank.

Greg Hogeboom and Tony Voce scored power-play goals. Curtis Darling returned to the net (after getting hung up at the airport a day earlier) and stopped 31 of 34 shots.

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

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. 

A couple notes for the weekend.

1. Defenseman Andrew Martens was playing forward last night for the Reign in Idaho, skating on a line with Mike Howe, Michael Pelech and sometimes James McEwan. This isn’t a new development; Martens did the same last year for the Reign when injuries hit particularly hard, and Karl Taylor recently joked that Martens did so well at forward it was hard to move him back to the blue line. He took the place of winger Chris Curran, who was placed on 3-day injured reserve prior to the game, a move that will keep Curran out of Friday’s rematch in Boise. We’re not sure if Curran has been set back at all in his recovery from a broken leg, or if it’s something else, but will try to update when the team returns Monday.


2. Greg Hogeboom and Peter Lenes continue to be the main men responsible for picking up the scoring slack with Tony Voce injured, and Jon Rheault and Dwight King in Manchester. Hogeboom has at least one goal in every game this month, including a hat trick on Dec. 2, for a total of six goals and two assists in four games. The rookie Lenes is clearly adjusting to the ECHL level, with four goals and two assists in December, as well as the only goal in Wednesday’s shootout. His shootout technique was predictably fast and furious, finished not by anything fancy but a simple forehand that Rejean Beauchemin didn’t see coming. Beauchemin, who is second in the ECHL with a 2.43 goals-against average, had not lost in a shootout this season.

3. The Reign will wear specially-designed L.A. Kings affiliate jerseys Friday and Saturday in Idaho. It might seem weird to debut it on the road, but it might equally seem unfair that the Steelheads wore specially-designed Dallas Stars affiliate jerseys on Wednesday.

Curran article, and a few quotes that didn’t make the paper.

In case you missed it, Chris Curran’s comeback is complete: http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_13898271

Only twice as a reporter have I seen a player leave a hockey rink in a stretcher. One was Curran, the other was James Wisniewski in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. Wisniewski suffered a lung contusion but only missed one game. So I asked Karl Taylor if it was the worst injury he had seen as a coach; turns out he once had a player nearly swallow his tongue and die … never mind.

Here’s what else Taylor had to say about Curran:
Continue reading “Curran article, and a few quotes that didn’t make the paper.” »

Reign: Voce to injured reserve

Tony Voce, the Reign’s second-leading goal scorer, has been placed on 7-day injured reserve in advance of the team’s two-game series in Victoria. The winger was held out of practice earlier this week with an injury, replaced in Monday’s skate by Chris Curran on a line with Jon Francisco and Greg Hogeboom.

Curran, who has not played a game this season as he recovers from a leg fracture, is close to making his debut and could spell Voce on Friday and Saturday against the Salmon Kings.

Stockton 4, Reign 3, overtime.

The Reign erased a 3-0 deficit on home ice, dominating every facet of the game except special teams. Jason Pitton scored 1:35 into the 4-on-4 overtime period, avenging the Thunder’s 8-2 loss a night earlier at The Bank.

Stockton scored on its first three power plays of the game and finished 3-for-4 with the man advantage, where the Reign finished 0-for-7.

Tim Kraus, Mike Egener and Greg Hogeboom scored for the Reign (8-8-1-1) and the standings point left them four behind Bakersfield for first place in the Pacific Division. Dwight King, Geoff Walker, Tony Voce and Jon Francisco picked up the assists.

Bakersfield 4, Reign 3, shootout.

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.

Reign 3, Alaska 0.

Jon Rheault recorded a goal and an assist, Tony Voce scored a power-play goal and Curtis Darling — playing his third game in as many days — recorded a 28-save shutout.

A physical game, and Jack Bauer himself — Kiefer Sutherland — was in the building. No terrorist attacks, though. More details in tomorrow’s editions.

Reign 7, Stockton 1.

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.

Reign make final cuts, set opening-day roster

Forwards Joel Irving, Tyler Mugford and Doug Spooner, and defenseman Cameron Cepek, became the Reign’s final training camp cuts Wednesday when the opening-day roster was submitted to the ECHL

Forwards Tony Voce (7-day), Todd Jackson (21-day) and Robert Pearce (21-day), and defenseman Dan Knapp (3-day), will begin the season on injured reserve.
Continue reading “Reign make final cuts, set opening-day roster” »