Game 11: Reign 3, Rockford 1 + postgame notes

Ontario Reign 3, Rockford IceHogs 1
Final

Radio feed
Box score

SOG: ONT 28, RFD 32
PP: ONT 1/2, RFD 0/3

ONT starters: G Anders Lindback, D Damir Sharipzianov, D Vincent LoVerde, LW Michael Mersch, C Adrian Kempe, RW Jonny Brodzinski
RFD starters: G Lars Johansson, D Erik Gustafsson, D Viktor Svedberg, F Pierre-Cedric Labrie, F Jake Dowell, F Kyle Baun

FIRST PERIOD
1) ONT – T.J. Hensick (4) (Paul LaDue, Sam Herr), 19:20

SECOND PERIOD
2) ONT PPG – T.J. Hensick (5) (Mike Amadio, Justin Auger), 11:43

THIRD PERIOD
3) RFD – Kyle Baun (2) (Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Viktor Svedberg), :58
4) ONT – Jonny Brodzinski (3) (Kurtis MacDermid), 14:08

POSTGAME NOTES

–With the win the Reign improved to 5-3-3-0 and 4-2-2-0 on the road while Rockford dropped to 5-8-1-0 overall. The Reign improved to 2-0-0-0 against Central Division teams, 4-0-0-0 when leading after two periods of play and 3-0-0-0 in two-goal games.

–With his two-goal performance, T.J. Hensick continues to lead the Reign in points (5-6=11).

–By picking up an assist each, Mike Amadio (2-2=4) and Justin Auger (1-3=4) are now on three-game points streaks.

–The Reign were outshot by Rockford 32-28 and were led by Brett Sutter, Sean Backman, Jonny Brodzinski and Michael Latta, who each had three.

–Defenseman Damir Sharipzianov made his season debut for the Reign and finished with no shots on goal and an even plus-minus rating.

–The Reign nearly had a perfect day on special teams by going 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-2 on the power play.

–Kurtis MacDermid is on a two-game point streak and picked up three assists on the weekend by
adding the helper on Jonny Brodzinski’s third goal of the season.

–With an assist, Paul LaDue now has points in back-to-back games (1-1=2).

–The Reign improved to 4-1-3-0 when veteran winger Paul Bissonnette is in the lineup, grabbing points in all but one of those eight games.

VIDEO

–Note: There will be no video of today’s game as the AHL Live feed is down.

IN-GAME NOTES

–Here’s how the Reign aligned today, a few shakeups:

Michael Mersch – Adrian Kempe – Jonny Brodzinski
Brett Sutter – Mike Amadio – Justin Auger
Sam Herr – T.J. Hensick – Sean Backman
Paul Bissonnette – Andrew Crescenzi – Michael Latta

Damir Sharipzianov – Vincent LoVerde
Kurtis MacDermid – Paul LaDue
Alex Lintuniemi – Zac Leslie

–Chicago native LoVerde (pictured) grew up just outside of Rockford and his family bought 120 tickets for family and friends to attend the game, according to Joey Zakrzewski.

–Dean Lombardi has been on the road with the Reign and observed his second straight game.

PREGAME NOTES

–Scratched today for the Reign are: D Rob Scuderi, F Joel Lowry, F Patrick Bjorkstrand, D Zach Trotman (upper-body injury/did not travel), G Jonah Imoo (did not travel). D Damir Sharipzianov will be making his season debut.

–Here’s some pregame audio from head coach Mike Stothers courtesy of Joey Zakrzewski about the Reign’s focus going into today’s game against a Rockford team playing its third game in three days.