Sporting an opinion

Tony Voce, Jon Rheault, Dwight King and Robert Pearce scored goals, and Reign goalie Curtis Darling outshone former Reign goalie John Murray, stopping 33 of 36 in his second start in as many nights.

Said Karl Taylor, "we gutted it out."

"We weren't perfect," the coach said. "That was a hard game for us to win. Every time we got a two-goal lead, (Victoria) pushed back. They're trying really hard to get off this slide. We were very fortunate. I never felt safe. We were very happy to get that win and get out of Dodge."

Continue reading "Reign 4, Victoria 3." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kyle Calder, a Los Angeles King last season, has reported for duty with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. The Bakersfield Californian has the story, here's the relevant excerpt:

"They (the Ducks) wanted me to come here and be around their younger guys," Calder, 30, said of how he wound up in Bakersfield, two steps below the NHL in a normal season, "and I think it's a good situation. It's a good atmosphere around here."

Obviously, Calder would prefer to be playing for the Ducks, and that may well happen down the road.

"The No. 1 thing is coming down here, getting in shape and make sure I'm game ready if anything happens," Calder said. "I want to come to work, work hard and see what happens."

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you've ever found yourself shouting this phrase at a hockey game, it's either because:

a) You're blind and hard of hearing, or
b) It's because there's little more than one minute left in the period, and you know the announcer is going to announce "there's one minute left in the period!" CBBA's Reign announcer, Jeff Pope does a very diligent job of this, and for acknolwedging the crowd's "thank you" in response.

I mention this because longtime Edmonton Journal hockey writer Jim Matheson addresses this phrase's very existence in the game here. Scroll down a bit for his answer to a reader's question.

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As reported elsewhere today, the Ducks signed ex-King Kyle Calder and assigned him to Bakersfield, where the Reign (2-2) are headed for a game at 7 p.m. tonight against the Condors (3-2). No word yet on whether or not Calder will be in the lineup.

Some more notes:

• The Reign lead the league on the power play at 44.4 percent (8-for-18).
• Ontario's Greg Hogeboom has four goals and six points in his last three games.
• Bakersfield rookie defenseman Stu Bickel had a career-high two assists on Saturday at Victoria.
• Condors left wing Dan Sexton is second among ECHL rookies with seven points (3g-4a).
• According to the Bakersfield Californian, the Condors will roll out some different lines than the Reign saw during their opening weekend.
• The Reign won't have to face goaltender Justin Pogge, who shut them out on opening night. He's in Anaheim while Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere rehabs a strained groin, while Timo Pielmeier gets the start in net. Pielmeier allowed seven goals on 19 Reign shots in the Reign's 8-2 win Oct. 17

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The ECHL announced today that teams donated more than $3.4 million to charitable and non-profit organizations during the 2008-09 season, including over $1.7 in monetary contributions. The Reign contributed more than $323,740 to that figure.

The financial contributions are in addition to the thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions throughout the year.

The total includes over $450,000 for cancer awareness and prevention, raising the total raised through "Pink" events the last three seasons to more than $1.2 million. The Reign held their "Pink at the Rink" night on February 7.

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Herbert Atienza at Loma Linda Children's Hospital:

Legends of the National Hockey League (NHL) will face off on the ice this week with local amateurs in a friendly game of hockey to raise money for Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.

Continue reading "Pro/am charity hockey game in Riverside." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yes, says research done by the Edmonton Journal and Vancouver researcher Will Lockwood, published earlier this week in the journal. Check it out here.

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your Ducks highlights: A Scott Niedermayer secondary assist and J-S Giguere not getting pulled from his start early despite allowing 4 goals on 11 shots in the first period. Ryan Getzlaf was held scoreless. Yeah, not the best representation you could have asked for.

A full box score is here
Highlights will soon be up here: http://www.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you're planning on going to tonight's Kings-Ducks game at Honda Center at 5 p.m., you might not want to take the 57 Freeway South. It's blocked off completely in both directions in the Diamond Bar area. Your other best option is to take the 15 Freeway south to the 91 West, then catch the 57 South in Anaheim. Also, the 71 Freeway through Chino Hills and Chino is now open.

Continue reading "Fires affecting tonight's Kings-Ducks game." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He's going to the AHL camp in Iowa City for the time being, probably not so much to work out any kinks as to save salary-cap room. The Ducks can finally breathe now, with about $2 million to spare under the $56.7 million cap ceiling. How long will they want to keep Ryan in Iowa City may depend on how well the remaining 16 forwards in camp perform.

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This theory has about as much substance to it as a Honda Center hot dog, but the New York Post floats the idea that Brian Burke is interested in signing 39-year-old winger Brendan Shanahan.

Continue reading "Shanahan to Ducks?" »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Randy Carlyle keeps saying he doesn't like shootouts, but I think his players are starting to disagree.

Continue reading "Ducks 3, Sharks 2 (SO)" »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At an ice rink somewhere in Southern California, Scott Niedermayer, Jeff Friesen and Travis Green are skating together, so says the LA Times. Is this the biggest Ducks news of the year?

Continue reading "Scott Niedermayer, Patrice Bergeron and a weird feeling." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just when you thought you had the Ducks figured out, a 6-5 overtime loss to the Coyotes at home.

Continue reading "Strange happenings at Honda Center." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Emptying out the notebook from today's practice ...

Continue reading "Randy Carlyle on the Phoenix Coyotes" »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Thursday there was a video tribute on the Honda Center bigscreen to Jacques Plante, the legendary goalkeeper of the 1960's and 70's who pioneered the use of a goalie's mask and was the first to roam out of the crease to play pucks. Taking a page from Plante, Dallas 'keeper Marty Turco more than handed it to the Ducks on Monday night.

Continue reading "Subtle irony at the Honda Center." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday's win over the Phoenix Coyotes (on the road!) was a game the Ducks should have won. Breaking the power-play slump and getting into a bunch of fights were mere bonuses.

Continue reading "Baby steps." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Ducks recorded their 41st consecutive sellout at Honda Center on Thursday night. But I swear the place was 90 percent full. Entire rows were missing. Maybe they bought their tickets before Halloween and still had a stomachache from eating all of last night's candy.

Continue reading "On sellouts, Mathieu Schneider, and a gutsy call." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's probably the message behind this 2-day break the team is taking from the ice.

Continue reading "Forget the Ducks' first 13 games. Just forget 'em." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Ducks have extended a contest to name their rivalry with the Kings.

Continue reading "Don't call it the freeway series." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's what Randy Carlyle said after the Ducks' 6-3 win over the Red Wings, when I asked him if he felt the Ducks' offensive problems were relieved at all by the 6-goal outburst.

Continue reading ""It's just one game."" »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Teemu Selanne's body language said more than words could. As the sold-out Honda Center crowd chanted "one more year" to him and Scott Niedermayer before the game, the temporarily ex-Duck pushed his hands downward – the "quiet, leave me alone with my Stanley Cup" motion.

Continue reading "Selanne and Niedermayer: An update." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Turns out you can't believe everything you read in print.

Continue reading "How much do the Ducks miss Teemu Selanne?" »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Season 3 of "The New NHL" began over the weekend. If only they had treated it like the season premiere of a TV show.

Continue reading "A weekend so loud, you couldn't hear a puck drop." »

Posted by J.P. Hoornstra at 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)