REIGN PREVIEW 11/16 – Ontario at Colorado

WHO: Ontario Reign (6-6-0-0) at Colorado Eagles (6-6-0-1)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #13
WHEN: Saturday, November 16 @ 6:05 PM Pacific
WHERE: Blue Arena – Loveland, CO
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: ESPN LA App / Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: Game 2 of the Ontario Reign’s first visit to Colorado of the 2024-25 season is set for tonight at Blue Arena.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Reign are looking to complete a rare sweep of the Eagles in Colorado on Saturday after securing a 5-3 win in the opener on Friday night. Ontario has not secured a series sweep in Loveland since the abbreviated 2021 season when they won three consecutive road games there with no fans present. Both clubs have secured six wins from their early-season schedule, but Colorado remains a single point ahead of the Reign in the standings, locked in a three-way tie for fourth place, by virtue of a shootout loss. The Eagles have a record of 5-3-0-1 from nine previous contests at Blue Arena this year. Ontario ranks fifth in the AHL offensively, averaging 3.5 goals per game, while Colorado is 14th in the league with 3.15 tallies per contest. The Eagles are a better team defensively on the year, allowing just 2.46 goals per night which is tied for seventh in the AHL. Colorado allows an average of just 26.38 shots on goal per game, which ranks fourth in the league, while Ontario is eighth-best in that category (26.83).

LAST TIME OUT: The Ontario Reign withstood a 16-shot effort in the third period by the Colorado Eagles and scored on three of their eight attempts on goal in the final frame to earn a 5-3 win on Friday night in the opener of a two-game weekend series at Blue Arena. Pheonix Copley stopped 15 of the third period shots and 35 overall in the game to earn the victory for Ontario, while the Reign got goals from five different skaters, including Kaleb Lawrence who netted his first pro tally late in the second.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Reign won just three games against the Eagles a year ago during the clubs’ eight-game series, finishing with a 3-5-0 record including a 1-3-0 mark in Colorado. The Eagles outscored Ontario 36-30 in the series and held a slight shots-on-net advantage (245-242). Both sides scored eight times against the other on the man-advantage in the eight contests, with the Reign going 8-for-34 (23.5%) and Colorado finishing 8-for-30 (26.6%). Former Eagles forward Charles Hudon was one of Ontario’s top scorers against Colorado last season, scoring eight points on five goals and three assists, while Alex Turcotte also added eight points with four goals and four helpers.

OH MY GAWDIN: After scoring two goals and an assist during Wednesday’s win over Tucson, forward Glenn Gawdin continued his recent hot streak by scoring on a shorthanded breakaway in the third period Friday. The strike held up as the game-winner and kept Ontario’s leading scorer on a point-per-game pace this season with 12 points in 12 contests on five goals and seven assists. After a slow start with only one point from his first five games in a Reign sweater, Gawdin had three straight multi-point outings during the team’s three-game win streak from Nov. 1-6. Since the calendar turned to November, Gawdin has 11 points in seven games along with a plus-7 rating. The former fourth-round pick by St. Louis in 2015 is coming off a career-high of 55 points last year with San Diego, scoring 22 goals and 33 assists in 70 outings. In 340 games during his AHL career with Stockton, the Gulls and Ontario, Gawdin, a Richmond, B.C. native, has totaled 248 points on 90 goals and 158 assists.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Colorado finished in fourth place in the Pacific Division standings last season but were unable to advance past the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, dropping a best-of-3 series to the Abbotsford Canucks. Head Coach Aaron Schneekloth is back behind the bench for a second season and is now in his 11th year overall as a coach with the Eagles which has spanned the club’s entire AHL history. Forward Matthew Phillips leads the team in scoring with 12 points in 12 games this season on four goals and eight assists. Veteran forward Jayson Megna has also made a big impact with 10 points on four goals and six assists, while Jere Innala’s totaled nine points on two goals and seven helpers. Defender Jacob MacDonald leads the blueliners with 11 points from the back end on five goals and six assists and Jack Ahcan has also been a factor offensively with seven points (1-6=7). Former Reign captain TJ Tynan has recently returned to the roster for Colorado after a call-up to the Avalanche where he played in seven contests. In net, a recent recall for Trent Minor to Colorado’s NHL team has left the club with Kevin Mandolese as the starter, who has gone 3-2-0 with a one shutout in five games and has a 2.25 goals-against average along with a 0.917 save percentage.

MALOTT MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Forward Jeff Malott has scored points in six of his last seven games for Ontario and is now tied for second on the team in overall scoring with 10 points on a goal and nine assists. Malott had the lone assist on Glenn Gawdin’s game-winning shorthanded breakaway goal in Colorado on Friday night. The fifth-year forward has appeared in all 12 of the Reign’s games this season and has recently formed a formidable trio alongside Gawdin and Charles Hudon on Ontario’s top forward line. Malott, a Waterdown, Ontario native, had a career-high 52 points in 70 games a year ago while playing for the Manitoba Moose, scoring 22 goals and 30 assists. It was his third consecutive 20-goal season with Manitoba, where he played from 2020-24, totaling 237 AHL games. An undrafted attacker out of Cornell University, Malott made his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets in March of 2022.

HICKETTS HELPING OUT: Reign captain Joe Hicketts has picked up nine assists in his first 12 games this season, which is tied with Malott for the club lead. Most recently on Friday, the defender had the primary helper on forward Kaleb Lawrence’s first pro goal to even the score at 2-2 late in the second period with a shot from the point that the big attacker deflected into the net. The 28-year-old blueliner is coming off a season where he was held to only 30 regular season appearances, but he was active offensively during that time, totaling 20 points on a goal and 19 assists. Hicketts was also an important factor during Ontario’s two playoff series wins, with the Kamloops, B.C. native earning six points in eight playoff outings on a goal and five assists. Now in his ninth AHL season, Hicketts has 226 total points during 461 games on 35 goals and 191 helpers.