After a disappointing loss Wednesday night, Marco Sturm’s Ontario Reign will aim for a big win against the first-place Colorado Eagles. The two teams are preparing for a back-to-back set this weekend at Toyota Arena, playing a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday afternoon that carry significant playoff implications.
Thus far, the Reign have struggled against coach Aaron Schneekloth’s Eagles squad this season, holding a 1-4 record, which includes getting swept out of Colorado about a month ago.
Furthermore, Ontario will be short-handed heading into today’s game, as forward Kings prospects Franky Pinelli, Angus Booth, and Erik Portillo all remain sidelined.
Pinelli exited Wednesday’s game in the second period with an unspecific upper-body injury. Sturm’s only postgame update was, “not sure how bad it is, hopefully it’s not too bad.” He skated yesterday with Booth in a session that was not part of the team’s full practice.
With Pinelli out, it should be a good opportunity for first-year pro Kaleb Lawrence to slot back into the lineup and get some consistent playing time. He’s expected to center the fourth line. In net, look for Pheonix Copley to get the start once again for Ontario. He was solid last time out, surrendering one goal on 25 shots in a 3-0 loss.
Former Reign captain and two-time AHL MVP, TJ Tynan, will make his second return to SoCal following his departure last summer. Like a typical Tynan season, he has posted eight goals and 37 assists.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. EAGLES
Should there be any key changes during warmups, alignment below will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Chromiak
Lee – Studnicka – Fagemo
Jamsen – Olson – Ward
Element – Lawrence – Doty
Hicketts – Cecconi
Jones – Walsh
Dvorak – Millar
Copley
Ingham
Other roster options include: (F) Singleton and (D) Walsh
Injured: (D) Booth, Krygier and (G) Portillo
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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