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.
]]>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.
]]>Here is the story that appeared in today's Daily Bulletin recapping the Reign's 4-3 shootout loss Wednesday in Bakersfield. And here is the game story from the Bakersfield Californian.
Looking ahead, the Reign face a very refreshed Stockton Thunder squad Friday at The Bank. The Thunder will have four days off since their last contest, a 3-1 loss to Idaho that completed a Steelhead sweep in Stockton. The Thunder haven't won in their last six; here was the reaction piece in Monday's Stockton Record.
The Reign are 1-2 against the Thunder this season, including a 7-1 blowout and a 3-0 loss in Stockton; and most recently, a 3-2 loss at The Bank on Nov. 4.
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.
]]>The Reign (7-8-0) were outshot 51-18 by a Victoria Salmon Kings squad (3-10-0) clearly changed since getting swept out of Citizens Business Bank Arena last week. The line of Andy Brandt, Scott Howes and Adam Taylor accounted for three of the four goals on Curtis Darling, who made 47 saves -- often enough to win two games for the Reign.
Not too many Reign highlights in this one; they won't play again until Wednesday in Bakersfield.
]]>Jon Landry, Tim Kraus, Tony Voce and Dwight King scored for the Reign (7-7), who kept pace with the victorious Bakersfield Condors in the Pacific Division with the victory. Kraus and Voce each added a pair of assists, and goaltender Curtis Darling stopped 33 of 35 shots in his fifth straight start.
The Reign played for the first time without their leading goal-scorer, Jon Rheault, who signed a PTO with the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins. Kraus' goal was his first of the season to go along with 11 assists. Landry's goal -- his second of the season -- was the Reign's only power-play strike in six chances. King's third goal of the season found an empty net with 8 seconds left in the third period.
Check out the game story in the Victoria Times-Colonist.
]]>"It was a back-door slide across [to Reign forward Tony Voce] and I reached back and felt it in my glove. I think he [Voce] thought he had a goal. He came up to me afterwards and said it was a great save."]]>
It seemed to be a mere matter of time for Rheault, who had been enjoying a standout season with a team-leading nine goals and 15 points in 13 games. The 23-year-old played 24 games with the Manchester Monarchs last season, notching two goals and five points in his only prior AHL experience. Rheault played for Providence College from 2004-08. His nine goals tied for second in the ECHL, and his 15 points tied for ninth.
The Providence Bruins visit the Syracuse Crunch tonight, and Rheault is in the lineup.
]]>The set-up: It's 5:02 into the Reign's game against the Alaska Aces. Greg Hogeboom is driving the Alaska net. Turek, a defenseman for Alaska, makes contact with Hogeboom and both end up on the ice. Turek takes a much longer time to get up, and slowly makes his way toward the Alaska penalty box.
Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News takes it from here ...
]]> Turek figured something was amiss when he sat in the penalty box late Sunday afternoon in Ontario, Calif., and couldn't track the puck as his Alaska Aces played the Ontario Reign. The problem wasn't that Turek's view was distorted by the plexiglass. He was looking through glassy eyes because he suffered a concussion on the play that landed him in the box for tripping."Everything was jittery and in slow motion,'' the Aces defenseman recalled. "I knew something wasn't right when I couldn't follow the puck.''
Turek, a second-year pro, said he struggled with his equilibrium later in the period and dry heaved in the locker room during the first intermission. He was finished for the game, and now he is out indefinitely, which means he will sit out this weekend's home series against the Bakersfield Condors.
Curtis Darling was stuck with the hard-luck loss, making 21 saves on 23 shots for the Reign (6-7-0). Dirk Southern and Andy Brandt scored for Victoria, which won just its second game of the season in 11 games.
More details in tomorrow's editions.
]]>"The biggest learning experience for me last year was playing on a nightly basis, not just on weekends like in college," he said.]]>A close second in the life lesson department was to keep an eye on his vehicle. On the morning of April 1, Zatkoff awoke to find that his 2005 Escalade was missing from its parking space outside his apartment.
Since it was April Fool's Day, he assumed he was the victim of a prank. Zatkoff pressed all of his teammates, but none 'fessed up. Turns out the car was really stolen, and Zatkoff reported it to the police.
The 26-year-old started three games in three days and was 3-0-0 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.34 and a save percentage of .955 to help Ontario improve to 6-6-0 and move into a tie for first place in the Pacific Division with 12 points.
Darling turned aside 24 of 25 shots in a 4-1 win against Victoria on Nov. 6 and had 33 saves in a 4-3 win against the Salmon Kings on Nov. 7 before stopping all 28 shots he faced in a 3-0 win against Alaska on Nov. 8.
He is 5-2-0 and leads the league with 211 saves while he is tied for the league lead with five wins and one shutout. He is fourth in the ECHL with 451 minutes and sixth with a goals-against average of 2.40.
Darling has played in the ECHL each of his first four seasons and is 36-44-9 with four shutouts, a goals-against average of 3.35 and a save percentage of .904 in 94 games for Charlotte, Ontario, Reading and Wheeling. He has also played in the American Hockey League where he has not allowed a goal while making 16 saves in two games with Manchester and Syracuse.
And -- just in case you missed it -- go read the story from this morning's editions about the friendly competition between Darling and Mike Zacharias.
]]>A physical game, and Jack Bauer himself -- Kiefer Sutherland -- was in the building. No terrorist attacks, though. More details in tomorrow's editions.
]]>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."
]]> The Reign aren't totally out yet. They have to play the Alaska Aces (6-3-1), winners of two straight one-goal games over Stockton, at 5 p.m. Sunday, and will rest up rather than skate in the morning.King added a clutch blocked shot while the Reign killed off a 5-on-3 power play for the second straight night. Ontario's PK unit, which entered the game ranked fifth in the ECHL, finished 9-for-10.
Darling had to stand on his head at times; even he couldn't remember how many times he stopped Olivier Latendresse during a frantic sequence of rebounds and putbacks midway through the second period (it was four by my count).
"It was a little bit of both (skill and luck)," he said. "Bounces go both ways -- we've scored a couple on ourselves this year, and we hit a couple posts tonight."
Rheault's short-handed goal was the second for the Reign this season. It was almost more of a 4-on-4 goal; a Victoria player broke his stick on a one-timer from just inside the Reign blue line, allowing Shawn Germain to break out 2-on-2 with Rheault, who snapped home a rebound off Germain's one-timer with 59.1 seconds left before the first intermission.
Voce had a busy game early and a quiet one late. In addition to scoring the game's first goal, he was sent to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct for some comment(s) made to an official, setting up the Salmon Kings' lone 5-on-3 power play in the middle period.
"It's a very undisciplined play, and (Voce) knows that," Taylor said. "As a team we can't be making those. Shane (Warschaw) is trying his best. There's lots of calls both ways, good, bad, whatever, the ref's doing the best job he can. We just have to deal with it and shut our mouths."
Voce didn't finish the game on the ice or on the bench -- more details on that in tomorrow's editions.
Victoria falls to 1-10-0, further into ECHL oblivion, with a remarkable two points to show for its first 10 games. I asked Murray -- who was applauded during pregame introductions -- about his new team before the game.
"Victoria's a great town; we're just waiting to find one thing to push us out there," he said. "Try to get us going on a streak. Right now we're struggling a bit. We need to find our identity. Once we get one, we'll get a few, then things will figure themselves out."
]]>"What I think is going to be worse than the crowd is if I go behind the net to play a puck, and somebody says, like Geoff Walker calls for the puck, I'm going to instinctively go to pass it to him," Murray said. "I think that might be the difference. They know my weak spots. I know where they're shooting. It's going to be a crapshoot."
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