
It’s almost as if the Reign and Kings are pushing each other to see which team can stay hotter the longest. After picking up a 4-1 victory over San Diego on Friday, coach Marco Sturm and his Ontario club have earned points in 10 straight games, with nine wins and just a single loss in a shootout. And going back even further, the Reign have just one regulation loss in their past 18 games (16-1-1).
On Saturday night, they’ll welcome perhaps their second biggest rival, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. After being largely dominated by the Pacific Division’s newest team over the past few years — and eliminated from the playoffs by them last year — Sturm’s squad has answers for the Palm Desert based team more recently. Ontario beat them three times last month on scores of 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3. That stretch even included a back-to-back home-and-home series just before Christmas.
As for tonight’s game, Sturm will be getting back two key players at forward. As noted in a few other articles recently, Andre Lee has rejoined the Reign to create a roster spot for Trevor Lewis in LA. Meanwhile, Charles Hudon is back in town after skating with Team Canada at the just completed Spengler Cup.
The Reign did not hold a morning skate today, after hosting San Diego last night. Thus, the lineup below is more of an educated guess based upon how Sturm used Lee the last time he was with Ontario.
During the second intermission of tonight's @ontarioreign game on AHL TV @FloHockey…
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— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) January 4, 2025
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. FIREBIRDS
If there are any key changes during pregame warm-ups, this article will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Malott
Lee – Studnicka – Fagemo
Chromiak – Pinelli – Ward
Element – Lawrence – Madden
Hicketts – Millar
Jones – Walsh
Booth – Rowe
Portillo
Copley
Other roster options include: (F) Doty, Jamsen, Singleton and (D) Krygier
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on FloHockey. An audio only feed is also available on the ESPN LA app.
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