Ontario Reign 2017/2018

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign @ontarioreign posted;

Reign Name Brett Sutter Team Captain for 2017-18 Season...

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Joseph Zakrzewski‏ @JoeyZRadio posted;

Good morning! @ontarioreign off to San Antonio to open the season tomorrow night. 5 PT puck drop vs. @sarampage.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign‏ @ontarioreign posted;

We have a roster! Check out our 2017 Opening Night roster heading into tomorrow night's game at San Antonio....

Reign Announce 2017 Opening Night Roster
Oct 6, 2017

Forwards:
Brett Sutter-C, Matt Luff, Matt Schmalz, Spencer Watson, Keegan Iverson, Philippe Maillet, T.J. Hensick, Bokondji Imama, Mike Amadio, Andrew Crescenzi-A, Jamie Devane, Sam Herr, Michael Mersch-A, Matt Marcinew, Justin Auger-A
Defensemen:
Matt Roy, Kevin Gravel-A, Zac Leslie, Alex Lintuniemi, Sean Walker, Stepan Falkovsky
Goaltenders:
Jack Campbell
Cal Petersen
Jeff Zatkoff

The 2017-18 season opens on Saturday, October 7 against the San Antonio Rampage at 5:00 PT at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Follow along with the action LIVE at OntarioReign.com!

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Jim Alexander | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise wrote;

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE REIGN

• Forwards T.J. Hensick, Brett Sutter, Mike Amadio, Andrew Crescenzi, Sam Herr, Michael Mersch and Justin Auger are back, as are defensemen Kevin Gravel and Zac Leslie. Paul LaDue would have been also but was called up by the Kings Thursday when Alec Martinez went on injured reserve.

• Sutter, the son of former Kings coach Darryl Sutter, will replace Vincent LoVerde (now in Toronto) as captain. Auger, Mersch, Crescenzi and Gravel will rotate in the two alternate captain spots.

• Right wing Matt Luff is a 20-year-old making a case to stay rather than be sent back to juniors. Luff, who scored 25 goals in 45 games at Hamilton (OHL) last season, had a goal in two games with the Kings this exhibition season and three in three exhibitions with Ontario.

• Others worth watching: Right wing Spencer Watson, a seventh-round pick in 2014; collegians Sean Walker (defenseman from Bowling Green State) and Matt Marcinew (forward from Denver, last year’s NCAA champion) and forward Boko Imama, who transitioned from fighter to scorer in his final year of juniors and scored 41 goals for Saint John in the QMJHL.

• After two weekends on the road the Reign opens at home Oct. 20 against Bakersfield. Of the team’s 34 home games, only eight are on weeknights (seven Wednesdays and a Monday).

PUBLISHED: October 5, 2017

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Jim Alexander | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise wrote;

Plenty of goaltending depth for Reign

ONTARIO — It’s no small irony. Last spring the Ontario Reign ran out of goaltenders in what turned out to be the final game of a playoff run.
Heading into this season’s opener, Saturday night in San Antonio, Ontario has a surplus.
Jack Campbell, 25, is the incumbent, after 52 starts with 31 victories and a 2.52 goals-against average in 2016-17. Cal Petersen, 22, is the rookie, with 23 wins and a 2.22 goals-against in 40 games at Notre Dame last season. Both are highly regarded prospects by the Kings, and both will need to play.
Jeff Zatkoff, 30, is the third guy, a veteran who has played 48 NHL games and has a Stanley Cup ring (from 2015-16 in Pittsburgh), but was sent down by the Kings last season and played just eight games in the AHL. It is a development league, and Zatkoff, a member of the original ECHL Reign in 2008-09, probably doesn’t have much more developing to do. Thus, the odds are that barring emergency he won’t play much.
So how exactly does Reign coach Mike Stothers play this?
“It’s hard to say how it’s going to play out, but both guys (Campbell and Petersen) are going to play,” he said. “Both guys are worthy of playing. They both had outstanding training camps. They both played exceptionally well in exhibitions.
“We’re not going to have a situation (like last season) where Soupy (Campbell) played 30-plus games in a row. The year before, Boods (Peter Budaj) played 30 plus games in a row. We’ve got some depth in the organization now. There’s a lot of games and the opportunity will be there for both of them.”
He indicated he probably will not have a strict rotation. Maybe a loose one, contingent on past performance, or if a game is in or near a player’s hometown. (In other words, when the Reign plays the Iowa Wild next week in Des Moines, expect Petersen, the pride of Waterloo, Iowa, to play.)
Then again, the unforeseen has become commonplace with goaltending and the Kings organization.
In 2014-15, when the Kings’ AHL affiliate was in Manchester and won the Calder Cup, J.F. Berube and Patrik Bartosak were the goalies. Berube, another former ECHL Reign player, handled most of the work, but Bartosak stepped in when Berube was hurt in the playoffs.
The next fall, Berube was gone to the Islanders on waivers, and the Czech-born Bartosak was expected to start in Ontario but was suspended following a domestic violence charge that led to his departure from the country. Budaj — a veteran signed to a professional tryout agreement — stepped in, winning 42 games and the Baz Bastien Award as the AHL’s best goalie and getting the Reign to the conference finals.
Last year, you may recall, Jonathan Quick suffered a groin injury in the Kings’ opener in San Jose. Budaj was recalled to L.A. Campbell, obtained from the Dallas organization that summer, shut out San Diego on opening night and quickly became The Man.
So now you have two guys accustomed to playing regularly. How do they handle sharing?
“All I can control is playing good when I get called to go play,” said Campbell, diplomatically (and smartly, since Stothers was still within earshot). “That’s all Cal and I are focused on. It should work out fine.”
Petersen was in net for all of Notre Dame’s games last season, but the Irish only played 40. The Reign will play 68 in the regular season.
“In a pro season there’s plenty of games to go around for everybody,” Petersen said. “As long as we can elevate our game and both play as well as we can any time we’re in the net and give our team a chance to win, that’s a good thing.”
Petersen was originally a fifth-round pick by Buffalo in 2013, but spurned the Sabres and became a free agent by not signing within the four years after his draft. The Kings appealed to him, he said, largely because of goaltending coaches Bill Ranford with the Kings and Dusty Imoo with the Reign. “That was the tipping point for me, their history of developing NHL goalies,” he said last week.
By signing Petersen and using a third-round pick on 18-year-old junior goalie Matthew Villalta, the Kings replenished their goalie depth this summer at the younger end.
Where this leaves Zatkoff, who is on the back end of a two-year, $1.8 million contract he signed with the Kings in 2016, remains to be seen. For now, he is with the team.
He played in 13 games in L.A. last season and eight in Ontario. And he was supposed to start that Game 5 of the best-of-five first round series with San Diego last May, after Campbell hurt his knee the night before in Game 4, but Zatkoff injured his right knee sliding across the crease in warmups and had to be helped off the ice.
Campbell eventually played after the team doctor arrived “to help me out with something,” he said. But he could barely move to his right, he said. And by the time he was able to get into the game, little-used rookie Jack Flinn had given up three goals in the first 11:40 in what turned out to be a 4-1 Gulls victory that ended the Reign’s season.
In other words, emergencies happen. And depth is good.

PUBLISHED: October 5, 2017

 

[regulate]

Marcinew and Schmalz scratched, did not make the trip to Texas. The Reign are carrying 15 forwards and only 6 dmen for the moment, although as soon as Amart is activated, another D man will come back down (LaDue or MacDermid).

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Highlights Reign at Rampage 10-07-17...

hyttps://t.co/QDFJ33Qo4n?amp=1

 

[Rekingsfan17]

JOEY ZAKRZEWSKI - Ontario Reign Insider wrote;
OCTOBER 7, 2017

BUS TEXTS WITH STOTHERS

This edition of Bus Texts with Stothers comes from San Antonio, where the Reign fall to the San Antonio Rampage 2-1 to open the 2017-18 season. Forward Michale Mersch picked up the lone tally midway through the second period and goaltender Jack Campbell provided 30 saves.

ORI: You stressed “preparation” this week and in the pregame skate today. Were the Reign simply ill-prepared/caught off guard by the Rampage tonight, especially in the opening period?
Head Coach Mike Stothers: Caught off guard by what?? The fact we didn’t move our feet? The fact that we refused to put pucks behind their D? The fact that we wanted to play every direction, but North? Took until the third period to borrow a compass from a Boy Scout, but then it was too late.

ORI: There were several rushes/plays that were not connecting. Just early season chemistry that needs to be sorted out?
Stothers: Just need to be ready to play right from the start. Took too long to get our feet moving. You can’t make plays standing still. We will get back to work this week with some good practices.

ORI: That was my next thought. How big are these next couple practices before Iowa and Chicago on Friday and Saturday?
Stothers: Practice is crucial this time of year, especially with the roster turnover and youth in our lineup.

 

[USE Fi]

Lines from last game:

Mersch-Hensick-Luff
Maillet-Amadio-Auger
Herr-Sutter-Watson
Imama-Crescenzi-Devane

Lintuniemi-Gravel
Leslie-Roy
Falkovsky-Walker

Campbell-Petersen

 

[regulate]

Imama's turnover in the neutral zone contributed to the Rampage 1st goal (Lintuniemi let his man get behind him too creating the 2 on 1), and Imama completely lost his his man on the Rampage 2nd goal leaving Campbell out to dry. Terrible effort by the Reign. As Stuts said they were not skating until late in the game. Devane brings nothing to this team except his fists.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Imama's turnover in the neutral zone contributed to the Rampage 1st goal (Lintuniemi let his man get behind him too creating the 2 on 1), and Imama completely lost his his man on the Rampage 2nd goal leaving Campbell out to dry. Terrible effort by the Reign. As Stuts said they were not skating until late in the game. Devane brings nothing to this team except his fists.

I'm sure Imama will have a bit of a learning curve coming from the Q to the A but from what I've read in interviews with him he is going to work his butt off to be successful on the Reign. The kid is a winner and he will figure it out. In one interview I read he was wanting to pattern his game after Milan Lucic and Wayne Simmonds..... I hope he reaches that goal for sure! He will be soon be a fan favorite.

 

[regulate]

Reign meet the players event last night. The Ontario Reign have the largest season seat holder base in the entire AHL. Had a few moments to talk with Amadio. Kid will be an NHLer.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Joey Zakrzewski‏ @ReignInsider wrote;

Fun Note: @CalPetersen40 will make his pro debut tomorrow night in front of family & friends vs. @IAWild. #homecoming.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Careful out there, Cal. Somewhere, some Sabres fans have your voodoo doll ready.

 

[jfont]

Go see Cal!

Go see Cal!

Go see Cal!

 

[Crunchrulz]

Patience with Imama. He is playing with and against skaters the same size or bigger and with the same skill level or higher every shift for the first time in a couple of years. We should not expect him to be the prototypical NHL level power forward his first year out of juniors.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign‏@ontarioreign wrote;

Welp, that’s all she wrote for this one folks. #Reign fall 0-3 to the @IAWild
7:31 PM - 13 Oct 2017

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign Retweeted;
Joey Zakrzewski‏ @ReignInsider Oct 14

Matt Marcinew and Keegan Iverson make pro debuts for @ontarioreign tonight.

Also;
http://www.ontarioreign.com/news/detail/reign-receive-ladue-from-kings

Reign Receive LaDue from Kings

Oct 14, 2017
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have assigned defenseman Paul LaDue to the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League.


LaDue, 25, has not skated in a game with the Kings or Reign yet this season. Last season, the Grand Forks, North Dakota, native spit time between the Reign and Kings, having dressed in 22 NHL contest, picking up eight assists. In 38 games with the Reign, he added six goals and 12 assists for 18 points.

https://twitter.com/ReignInsider

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign‏@ontarioreign wrote;

Oct 14
That’s a wrap from Chicago. The Reign lose a tough one 5-2....

Your Ontario Reign head back west to a pair of home games next weekend seeking their 1st win of the season at CBBA. See you there!

 

[Rekingsfan17]

Ontario Reign@ontarioreign wrote;

Forward Justin Auger Receives First-Ever NHL Recall

Oct 17, 2017
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have recalled forward Justin Auger from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, Kings Vice President and General Manager Rob Blake announced today.
The 23-year-old Auger (born May 14, 1994) is a 6-6, 232-pound native of Kitchener, Ontario who has appeared in three games this season for Ontario, going scoreless with four penalty minutes. This marks his first career NHL recall.
Selected in the fourth-round (103rd overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Auger has appeared in 202 career AHL games with Ontario and Manchester, posting 85 points (43-42=85), a plus-30 rating and 178 penalty minutes. He played in all 19 games during Manchester’s 2015 Calder Cup Championship run, where he recorded two points (1-1=2) and eight penalty minutes.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

LA Kings have assigned Jonny Brodzinski to the AHL

by LA Kings PR @LAKingsPR / LAKings.com

The LA Kings have assigned forward Jonny Brodzinski to the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, Kings Vice President and General Manager Rob Blake announced today.

The 24-year-old Brodzinski (born June 19, 1993) is a 6-1, 217-pound native of Ham Lake, Minn., who has gone scoreless in three games this season with the Kings.
Selected in the fifth-round (148th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Brodzinski appeared in six games last season, including making his NHL debut on March 25 vs. NY Rangers. He has tallied two points (0-2=2), a plus-2 rating and two penalty minutes in nine career NHL games....

 

[regulate]

I just got back from the Ontario Reign Future's forecast public forum. A little background, this is held for Reign season seat holders and the majority of the fans are not necessarily knowledgeable about the prospects, etc. The attendance was fairly sparse, maybe a 100 people (it was competing with game 3 of the NLCS), and your average Reign fan probably doesn't follow hockey so much to want to know what's going on, they go to be entertained and enjoy the fights, action. The panel consisted of Stothers, Stoll and Futa. Joey Z had the panel address a lot of generic prepared questions about player development which was quasi interesting but really stuff I've heard many times before and that took almost an hour.
When it was opened to public questions I asked about Austin Wagner and what the plan is for him this year. Wagner will continue to rehab his major shoulder injury in LA, then he will be sent back to the Regina Pats for his overager year. He would have been at ONT this season except for the injury. Futa described him as the fastest skater in the Canadian Hockey League. Stated it didn't make sense to start him off as a pro so far into the season and burn a year off his contract, and and additional fact was Regina is hosting Memorial Cup this year, so he will have a chance to play in that tournament. I also asked about Vilardi. He stated Vilardi is chomping a the bit to start playing, but it was best to be 100% healthy before going back to juniors, and joked that Warren Rychel, head coach of the Windsor Spirtfires is on the phone everyday inquiring about when he will be ready to go. Also stated Vilardi was not ready to play in the NHL this season.
The best part of this is you get a chance to go up and talk to Stothers, Stoll and Futa after the formal presentation. Unfortunately, while you want to ask a thousand questions, other people want to talk with Futa for five minutes about their kid playing local hockey or stories of hockey back in the 60's and 70's etc. So while I was biting my tongue and the minutes were ticking by (they had to leave soon, long drive), I was able to have a few minutes to get some quality feedback. Futa was very forthcoming and surprisingly open. He stated Vilardi is going to be a star in the NHL, someone they had very high on their list, a very competitive Kopitar like player. I asked why he fell so far to #11. He said they always had him very high on the list and that he was the MVP of the Memorial Cup, didn't think it had anything to do with his injury (why he fell), just the fact other teams had different priorities in the draft. Said that in the past the reason the kids didn't rotate like they are doing now was because of Sutter (he also praised Lombardi and Sutter publicly who he gave credit from creating the development staff, camp etc they use today) who wanted veteran players he could trust.
I asked about rights to Prokhorkin and Kubalik. He confirmed Kings still have rights, that they initially got Prokhorkin to come over, but then his dad took money in Russia for him to play so he had to go back. Stated the issue with both players is they aren't willing to do two-way deals, they want the one way contract. Spoke highly of Fantenberg who was in the same situation, told him he knew he was an NHL player, but that they needed him to sign a two-way in case he needed some seasoning in ONT (which Fantenberg agreed, the rest is history). He agreed there is a lot to like about Amadio's game, that he agreed he'll be an NHLer. I'll probably remember as time goes on anything else pertinent that was said, so if you have any questions I'll try and let you know if it was covered.

 

[King'sPawn]

Amazing, regulate. Thank you!

 

[goosh]

Regulate, that's awesome. Much appreciated.

I think it's the right move to send Wagner back for his overage year. He'd be behind the learning curve in Ontario this season and it'd waste a year of his ELC.

 

[Fat Elvis]

Great post Regulate. Always am impressed with most of the hockey players, coaches and front office folks in that they love hockey. They can talk hockey when ever and where ever with who ever. Futa seems like a class act and I'm very happy to have him part of LA's staff.