Reign Weekly Wrap-up: Team Rebounds With Two Victories
- Updated: December 5, 2016
The Ontario Reign has turned it around, at least during last week, pulling off two victories, with a 4-1 win verses the Tucson Roadrunners Friday and a 3-2 victory against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday. The 8-5-4-0 Reign will next play the familiar Tucson Roadrunners in two consecutive matches, Wednesday, December 7 and Friday, December 9, both games away. With 20 points, the Reign sit in fifth place, three points out of last, and four points behind leaders Stockton Heat in the close-matched Pacific Division.
On Friday, outshooting the Roadrunners 35-25, the Reign’s offense came to life, with goals from four different players: Brett Sutter (3) Michael Latta (1) T.J. Hensick (7) and Justin Auger (5). Joel Lowry also had two assists, which were his first two points of the season. Goalie Jack Campbell made 24 saves on 25 shots.
Reign coach Mike Stothers was impressed with his team play. Through the Ontario Reign Insider Lindsay Czarneki, Stothers said, “I thought it was a great game. I thought it was probably one the best we’ve played from start to finish.”
This game’s final minute of play was filled with heated emotion, physicality and 44 minutes of penalties. Of the fights, Stothers said through the Insider, “We’ll deal with whatever they want to dish out. We’ll stay on our feet; we’ll battle hard. We’ll take care of each other. That’s what we do. We’re warriors.”
The Saturday game was a closer match, the Reign notching the first two goals, the Checkers scoring the next two, with the winning goal coming from Reign Brett Sutter with 34 seconds to play in the third. With a goal and an assist, Jonny Brodzinski leads the team in scoring: 6 goals and 9 assists. Goalie Jack Campbell had 23 saves, improving his record to 5-2-1-1.
The first period goal by T.J. Hensick signaled the onslaught of hundreds of teddy bears, a gift giving campaign called “Teddy Bear Toss” presented by Smart Solar Power.
Of the victory, following a tough previous week of play, coach Stothers said,
“I felt pretty good about the way we were playing. I don’t think it was quite as good of a game as last night, but I thought it was good. There were more positives than negatives. That’s what winning does for ya. It’s a great feeling. It’s good for them. They worked hard. They deserved it. After being that low after a couple of losses they dug in, they worked hard. They rectified the situation and now we get ready to go on the road again.”
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