Just 24 hours later, the stage is set for round two in Alberta, as coach Marco Sturm’s Ontario Reign look to rebound from Saturday’s defeat to the Wranglers.
As highlighted in yesterday’s preview, it was anticipated that the 12:30 PM start time — the earliest of the season for Ontario — could affect their performance. Unfortunately, the Reign came out rather flat, allowing the home team to capitalize quickly. Scoring twice within the first five minutes, Ontario was largely forced to chase the game for the rest of the afternoon.
During his postgame media scrum, Sturm mentioned that his team “were just not ready to go, and unfortunately, it cost us.”
Additionally, captain Joe Hicketts exited in the second period due to an apparent injury. If long-term, it would be a huge blow to Ontario’s Calder Cup hopes.
“All of them [defenseman] have to step up.” Sturm added. “It sucks to lose a guy like Joe [Hicketts], but it also gives another guy, or another two guys a chance to play.”
Fortunately for Ontario, they have a pair of defensemen scheduled to be ready for next weekend in San Jose. Angus Booth is expected to return from injury and Kings prospect Otto Salin, who signed an entry-level contract earlier this week, is likely to make his AHL debut during the same trip. For now, Sturm will most likely have Luke Rowe draw back in and then further re-assess the situation with his defensive pairings once the team resumes practice in Southern California.
First-year pro Kaleb Lawrence had his second AHL fight on Saturday, dropping the gloves with Calgary’s Parker Bell. Lawrence is still on the hunt for another goal or assist, having gone pointless since November 29, when he scored against Texas.
Reign goaltender Jacob Ingham is expected to get the start on Sunday. In his last outing, Ingham made 24 saves on 28 shots in a 5-4 victory, and will look to build on his recent success.
Sturm is expected to maintain the same forward line, but as previously noted, adjustments will be necessary on the backend.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. WRANGLERS
Should there be any key changes during warmups, alignment below will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Chromiak
Lee – Studnicka – Fagemo
Jamsen – Pinelli – Ward
Element – Lawrence – Doty
Jones – Cecconi
Walsh – Millar
Dvorak – Rowe
Ingham
Copley
Other roster options include: (F) Singleton and (D) Hicketts
Injured: (D) Booth, Krygier and (G) Portillo
Puck drop is scheduled for 12:00 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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Lead photo by Megan Sanders
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