Ontario Reign Poised To Play For Kelly Cup
- Updated: May 25, 2015
(Photo via Twitter User @OntarioReignBC)
Reign players by their bench
What’s a loyal Kings fan to do when there’s no Kings playoff hockey to watch? Go down to the Honda Center to watch the Ducks Hawks Western Conference Finals? Hardly. The only thing I can think of that’s more depressing than that would be to watch either one of those teams play for the Stanley Cup.
We drive down to Ontario to see our siblings play in their Western Conference finals of course! Our NHL team may have missed the cut this season but our AHL team (the Manchester Monarchs) are winning their Eastern Conference Finals and our ECHL team the Ontario Reign are currently battling the San Jose Sharks affiliate Allen Americans for the honor of playing for the Kelly Cup.
Gasper Kopitar
It’s a little like an episode an episode of Sliders; an alternate reality that’s similar to the NHL but just a little different. For example – it feels really weird to be cheering for a guy with the name Couture on his back. Especially in a game in which a Sharks affiliate is playing. (Oddly San Jose Sharks player Logan Couture and Reign player Derek Couture are not related.) It’s always nice to see a Kopitar out on the ice; Anze Kopitar‘s younger brother Gasper Kopitar plays the number 26. There’s a King; D. J. King is the older brother of our number 74 Dwight King (who also played for the Reign during the 2009-2010 season before heading up the AHL and eventually winning two Stanley Cups with the Kings.) There’s no ice crew but there is a dance crew who act more like cheerleaders than anything. There’s no shortage of Kings jerseys in the stands, and if you squint hard enough it’s like there are Kings players on the ice. (Future Kings players; close enough.)
Thursday night the Reign didn’t put up the greatest fight in the first period, going on three penalty kills but relinquished no goals. They scored the first of the evening on a power play, gave up the next but didn’t lose faith. The next three were ours; the second almost resulted in a fight and the next did. Technically that goal didn’t count; instead of scoring the Reign got a penalty for goaltender interference. Kitsyn didn’t disappoint; 13 for the Reign made a gorgeous play to elevate the puck straight over the American’s left shoulder into the back of the net. An empty net goal with 52.2 seconds left sealed the evening; 4-1 Reign.
Saturday night saw a completely different game. It took both teams the whole first period to warm up again, but the Reign went up 1-0 with 30 seconds left in the first with a stunning blast from the point by Matt Register tipped in by David Rutherford. The second period saw a flurry of Reign goals; D. J. King put them up 2-0 and less than 15 seconds later Nolan Juiseth-White scored on a breakaway. A power play goal by Garry Nunn had the Reign up 4-0 with over half the game to go. From that point on Allen completely lost their composure (see Sharks, round 1, 2014) and there were more penalties than anything else. Case and point: the Reign scored their fifth goal (and ultimately final goal) on a full 2 minute 5 on 3 play. A game misconduct, a 5 minute major for boarding and a slew of minor penalties finished out the third period; goalie Joe Cannata picked up the first star of the game for a 31 save shutout.
With the win, Ontario went up in the series 3-1 and played Sunday the 24th and lost 6-2. They are just one win away from the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time in club history!
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