Just hours before puck drop on Saturday as the Reign were set to host the Charlotte Checkers, the team made a roster move announcing the addition of forward Derek Army.
Army, 24, comes to the Reign from the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers where he had six goals and 11 assists through 23 games.
Earlier on Saturday, head coach Mike Stothers told the Reign’s Director of Communications and Broadcasting, Joey Zakrzewski, that center Kris Newbury will be out of the lineup against Charlotte with an undisclosed injury, which left the team down a forward. Newbury was indeed not on the ice for warmups and Army took his spot centering the line of Sean Backman and Valentin Zykov. Newbury missed 12 games earlier in the season with a broken foot.
Army, a native of North Kingstown, R.I., played collegiately at Providence and in his first season with Wheeling last year had 29 goals and 37 assists in 72 games. He started this season the AHL’s Portland Pirates, playing just four games.
Army has a family hockey background as his father Tim is a former AHL player himself and currently is an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche. The elder Army coached with Anaheim in the early 90s when they were the Mighty Ducks and also with the Capitals.
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