“Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa.”
It’s been a long while, but coach Marco Sturm’s Ontario Reign will be playing in the Hawkeye State for the first time since 2019-20. Similar to their series in Texas earlier this week, the SoCal club is now preparing for a back-to-back in Iowa — where they’ll see at least one familiar face (more on that in a moment).
Earlier this season, the Reign and Wild split a pair of games at Toyota Arena. In game one of that series, goaltender Pheonix Copley had a rough night, allowing three goals on 15 shots before getting the hook to start the middle frame. Coincidentally, this is exactly what happened against Texas just a few nights ago, with the numbers matching his performance to a tee. Despite his rocky outing vsm the Stars, Copley returned to the crease on Wednesday, and had himself a nice bounce back, allowing just one goal on 31 shots in a 4-1 win.
Turning back to Iowa, Graeme Clarke, brother of Brandt, lit the lamp twice on Copley in that aforementioned first period. Graeme has been on a heater dating back to last month, tallying two goals and eight assists in eight games played. Furthermore, in his last game vs the Manitoba Moose, Graeme posted a trio of points, having two goals and an assist. Copley will now be looking to slow things down tonight against the opposition wearing green and gold.
Tonight marks the first time Ontario will face former Kings prospect — a mainstay on the Reign for several seasons before he was traded to the Wild last month. Since arriving in Minnesota, he has recorded one assist in six games.
Overall, Sturm has placed an emphasis on special teams lately. Last time out, his special teams groups delivered, going 1-for-2 on the man advantage, and holding the AHL’s second-best power play to an 0-for-7 night. While impressive, the Reign would obviously like to not be on the penalty kill seven times in a game.
Martin Chromiak recorded an assist vs. Wild back in January. More recently, he has two points (1G, 1A) over his last three games,
It could be a big weekend for Reign hockey. With the Eagles just four points ahead of them for first place in the Pacific Division, and Colorado also playing a back-to-back set against Tucson, Ontario would ideally like to come out of the weekend with at least two points gained in the standings.
Sturm will seemingly run out the same lineup as he did in both games against Texas. Goaltender Jacob Ingham is likely to start in between the pipes at some point this weekend. After getting recalled, Ingham was immediately thrust into action when Copley was pulled Tuesday night vs the Stars. He played well too, stopping all 11 shots faced over the final 40 minutes of play.
Like Ingham, first-year pro Kaleb Lawrence should be a strong option to possibly draw back into the lineup. If not tonight, then possibly tomorrow. Lawrence has not played since Mar. 11 in Tucson.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. WILD
Malott – Pinelli – Fagemo
Lee – Studnicka – Ward
Hudon – Gawdin – Chromiak
Element – Jamsen – Doty
Hicketts- Cecconi
Jones – Millar
Dvorak – Walsh
Copley
Ingham
Other roster options include: (F) Lawrence, Olson and (D) Rowe
Injured: (D) Booth, Krygier and (G) Portillo
Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 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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