Weekly Reign Wrap-up: Two Losses to the Checkers
- Updated: March 22, 2017
After two losses last week against the Charlotte Checkers, the Ontario Reign finds itself slipping in the standings, and will need to put on a push as the playoffs approach. Losing 5-3 on Friday, March 17 and then 3-2 in overtime the following night, the Reign now reside in third place in the Pacific Division, at 30-18-10-0 (70 points), nine points behind the San Diego Gulls and 12 behind the playoff bound San Jose Barracuda. The Reign next plays at 6 p.m., Saturday, March 25 versus the San Antonio Rampage.
On Friday, Ontario took tied the game early in the third period at 3-3 only to have the Checkers pull away with two goals, including an empty-netter to take the win 5-3. T.J. Hensick got his 14th and 15th goal of the season and Michael Mersch tallied two assists in the loss. Goaltender Jack Campbell stopped 34 of 38 shots. The Reign finished the match 1-for-1 on the power play while the Checkers went 1-for-7. Yup, seven!
On Saturday, the Checkers would need an extra period to take the victory over the Reign. Whereas the Checkers had seven power plays on Friday, this night they had none. The second period belonged to Charlotte as they scored two goals, and the third belonged to Ontario, seeing goals by Sean Backman and Jonny Brodzinski, the latter getting his 25th of the season, a team lead. Vincent LoVerde got two assists on the night.
The overtime lasted a total of 31 seconds. Connor Brickley banked a shot off of goalie Jeff Zatcoff to give the Checkers its second straight victory over the Reign in as many nights.
Through the Reign Insider, coach Mike Stothers said, “I thought we played much better tonight. Guys battled hard and never gave up there by picking up a valuable point.”
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