Ontario’s road trip rolls on tonight with a stop in San Jose; a game that marks their final away matchup until December 12. Following this one, the Reign are set to play seven straight at home.
Coming off a split in their two-game set at Calgary earlier this week, coach Andrew Lord and his squad has practically lived out of suitcases lately, playing eight of their last ten games on the road. They’ve gone an even 4-4 in those contests, setting up tonight as a pivotal performance that could them on the positive side of the ledger.
As if the grind of constant travel hasn’t been enough, Ontario now has a much bigger concern. Kings prospect Erik Portillo left Wednesday’s game with an apparent injury, prompting veteran Pheonix Copley to take over for the remainder of the night. Despite the team later recalling Isaiah Saville from ECHL Greenville, Copley is expected to serve as the starter in San Jose. Lord’s group is then off until next Friday, so they’ll have some time to sort things out in the coming days. For now, Portillo’s status remains day-to-day.
Saville is no stranger to this Reign group. He was with the club during training camp and then opened the season on the AHL roster before being loaned to LA’s ECHL affiliate once Copley was reacquired from Tampa Bay.
On the bright side, the batch of Kings hopefuls that make up the bulk of Ontario’s roster delivered in Calgary. Kenny Connors, Jared Wright, and Koehn Ziemmer all found the back of the net on Tuesday, with Connors and Wright also chipping in assists for good measure. Additionally, Connors had an assist on Jakub Dvorak’s goal Wednesday night. The latter is just 20 years old and remains the youngest player on this year’s Reign roster.
Directly in front of Lord and the Reign tonight are a San Jose club they’re pretty familiar with at this point. Ontario has seen a lot of their NoCal foe over the past month, with the teams meeting up for three games between late October and early November. Over that stretch, the Reign went 2-1 against the Barracuda.
Perhaps the only real unknown when it comes to the lineup is, will Otto Salin draw back in? After getting quite a bit of playing time in the early part of Ontario’s 2025-26 campaign, the Finnish born defender has often been a healthy scratch since Angus Booth returned from injury.
Up front, Lord has gone with a fairly static lineup of late, and we’re not expecting any significant changes among his group of forwards. Connors continues to shine in his first pro season and remains a player to watch. It’s not just the points; he gives a full 200-ft effort and had proven to be a real handful for the opposition. Meanwhile, Akil Thomas is quietly heating up. Along with scoring in Ontario’s last game, he has now recorded points in four of the team’s past five games.
Speaking of streaks, Ontario is 5-0 when coming off a loss this season. Can they keep that going in San Jose tonight?
What You May Have Missed
Kings Of The Podcast, Ep. 235 with Andrew Lord, New Reign Head Coach LINK
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Barracuda
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Ward – Thomas – Chromiak
Lee – Gawdin – Guttman
Pinelli – Connors – Wright
Jamsen – Hughes – Ziemmer
Hicketts – Bolduc
Kirsanov – Burroughs
Dvorak – Booth
Copley (starter)
Portillo
Likely scratches: (F) Isogai and (D) Millar, Salin
Injured: Brown, Doty, Lawrence (month-to-month), Parker-Jones
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 6:00 pm Pacific Time and will be streamed via FloSports. Additionally, a Reign radio feed is available here.
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