Earning a split in Colorado last weekend could be a start in the right direction after Ontario were swept by Coachella Valley the weekend prior. Next up, the Reign will now play four different opponents over their next four contests, beginning with a visit to face the Silver Knights in Henderson on Wednesday night.
The two clubs have already met up three times this season. Ontario won two of those contests, including an 8-3 affair at Toyota Arena earlier this month. Pheonix Copley was in net that night, evening his season record against Henderson after dropping a 5-1 contest to open the season series in late October. Most likely, he’ll get the nod again tonight.
Rounding out the remainder of the lineup, coach Marco Sturm will be getting back one of his key pieces from last year’s playoff run — big forward Andre Lee.
Officially, he was reassigned to Ontario on Saturday. However, he did not play in Colorado, so tomorrow marks his official return to the Reign lineup for the first time since the team was eliminated by the Firebirds on May 19. In eight Calder Cup playoff games, the 6-foot-6 winger recorded four goals. He also ended the 2023-24 regular season with an uptick in offense, producing seven points (4G, 3A) over Ontario’s final 10 games. It was also a stretch where Lee scored a goal in each of the team’s two separate visits to Henderson.
Following a 15-game stint with the Kings to open this season, he’ll now rejoin the Reign, where he can get more playing time to further enhance his development. It comes at a unique time too. For starters, his typical center (Sammy Helenius) is up with LA, while his usual right wing (Taylor Ward) is likely to return tonight after missing the past few weeks with an injury.
If practice this week is any indication, Sturm isn’t quite ready to reunite the duo, though. Lee appears to be penciled in at LW3, while Ward could possibly initially draw in at RW4. However, it’s worth noting, Ward usually doesn’t play that far down the lineup; so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sturm pair them back up pretty quickly.
At some point, Ontario’s bench boss could also reunite Kings prospects Aatu Jamsen and Kaleb Lawrence. The rookie duo seemed to have good chemistry throughout camp and the exhibition season. With Lawrence scoring his first AHL goal last time out, maybe Sturm’s can eventually overcome the perception it would be a tall task to have the pair playing on the same line this early on in their debut campaigns.
REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. SILVER KNIGHTS
Should Sturm opt to make any key changes during pregame warm-ups, this article will be updated.
Hudon – Gawdin – Malott
Chromiak – Studnicka – Fagemo
Lee – Pinelli – Madden
Element – Lawrence – Ward
Hicketts – Millar
Booth – Rowe
Dvorak – Walsh
Copley (starter)
Ingham
Other roster options include: (F) Doty, Jamsen (D) Krygier
Injured: (D) Parker-Jones
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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