REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Stars 0 – Fagemo, Copley, Sturm

Pheonix Copley stopped all 27 shots that came his way to help the Ontario Reign (9-7-0-0) win their third straight game 4-0 over the Texas Stars (9-7-0-0) in the first meeting between the two clubs since 2018 on Friday night at Toyota Arena.

Samuel Fagemo also starred in the victory with two goals for the Reign, while Kaleb Lawrence recorded a goal and an assist and Jack Studnicka earned two assists.

BOX SCORE

Aatu Jamsen opened the scoring at 9:25 of the first with a goal off a rush into the offensive zone, set up by his linemate Lawrence and defender Jack Millar. Millar joined the play on the right wing and fed the puck to Lawrence, who picked up his first-career assist with a feed into the slot that Jamsen buried top shelf to make it 1-0 Ontario.

Two minutes later Fagemo extended the Reign’s lead to 2-0 with his eighth goal of the year from Studnicka. Fagemo found himself alone in the corner of the offensive end and threw the puck at the net. It glanced off the skate of Texas goaltender Remi Poirier and in at 11:30.

A scoreless second period saw Ontario control their two-goal edge into the final frame, where Fagemo added on with his second of the night and ninth of the year four minutes in. Madden fed the puck to Fagemo for a one-timer that he blasted into the net, which also had a second assist credited to Studnicka.

Lawrence capped off the scoring with the third goal of his rookie year at 16:06 off a pass by Martin Chromiak. Shawn Element also factored in on the play with his second assist of the 2024-25 campaign.

Neither team was able to score on the man-advantage, with Texas finishing 0-for-4 that included a 5-on-3 opportunity in the third, while Ontario ended at 0-for-3. Poirier finished the contest with 16 saves for the Stars in a losing effort.

Postgame reactions from Fagemo, Copley and head coach Marco Sturm are below –

Samuel Fagemo
On tonight’s win
It was a while since we played at home, so it’s nice to get the fans again. I think we just played a solid 60-minute game and it was nice to score a lot of goals.

On his two goals
The first one was pretty lucky there. My first thought was just to get the puck to the net to see if there were any rebounds. But then I got a nice bounce, and it was nice to see the puck go in. The second one Madds made a good read to give me a one-timer shot there, then I was trying to shoot the puck as fast as possible. It was a nice feeling to see that puck go in.

On getting going with his linemates
I think the last couple of games we have clicked well. I think our games fit really well, and they’re such nice guys too. So I’m really thankful and happy to play with those guys.  

Pheonix Copley

Marco Sturm
On the confidence of this group
It’s always a good sign when you don’t play your best, but you still come out with the win and the shutout. Guys are feeling pretty confident right now and we had the lucky bounces as well, so we’ll take that against a really good hockey team. We want to win the series against them in the next few days and it definitely started off the right way.

On Pheonix Copley
He was really good. Right from the start to the finish. He was really good all week in practice, very focused, so I knew he would have a good game for us. That’s why he’s going to be back in tomorrow.

On Fagemo’s shot
With his shot he should shoot it all the time and it’s what he does anyway. It’s so dangerous. Even the other ones, he didn’t score, he’s got to use it. When it goes in for him, it goes in.

On his team killing off the 5-on-3
It was definitely a big boost for our finish. We didn’t want to end up that way but the killers did a tremendous job today, especially on that kill. We put ourselves in a tough situation but the guys did a good job. We didn’t really give up any clean opportunities.

Ontario will travel to Bakersfield on Saturday for a matchup against the Condors at Mechanics Bank Arena beginning at 7 p.m.