REIGN FINAL – Reign 4, Stars 1 – Jones, Sturm

The Ontario Reign (35-20-3-1) took a lead into the third period and tacked on insurance to defeat the Texas Stars (35-20-3-0) by a final score of 4-1 on Wednesday night at the H-E-B Center.

Pheonix Copley led the way with 30 stops in the crease for Ontario and was named the No. 1 star of the game. Caleb Jones factored into three of the Reign’s tallies, scoring his first goal of the year and assisting on two others.

BOX SCORE

The two teams were scoreless in the first, which featured two successful penalty kills for Ontario and a fight between the Reign’s Jacob Doty and Alex Petrovic of Texas.

Taylor Ward put Ontario in front with the opening goal of the contest 1:13 into the second period. The attacker one-timed a feed by Reilly Walsh from the top of the offensive zone that found its way through traffic and just inside the left post. Jack Studnicka recorded the second assist on Ward’s 11th goal of the season.

The Reign carried their one-goal edge into the third period, despite being out-shot 18-13 during the first 40 minutes.

Jeff Malott extended Ontario’s lead to 2-0 with less than six minutes remaining in the contest, scoring his 21st goal of the season on a shot from the left circle that snuck underneath goaltender Magnus Hellberg. Jones had the lone assist credited on the goal, which turned out to be the game-winner.

Just 19 seconds later, however, the Stars got on the board to cut the score to 2-1 when Justin Hryckowian scored on a shot from the front of the Reign net at 14:59.

Texas had momentum late when Joseph Cecconi was called for high-sticking with 2:34 remaining in the contest. The Stars pulled Hellberg for an extra attacker, giving themselves a 6-on-4 advantage in the Reign end.

But Jones had other ideas, getting control of the puck in between the circles and sending it the length of the ice and into an empty net for his first goal as a member of Ontario to extend the lead to 3-1 at 18:54. Assists on the play went to Ward and Joe Hicketts.

Then moments later, Glenn Gawdin added on another empty-net goal for his 18th strike of the season. Hicketts and Jones earned helpers on the play, which put a bow on the victory for the Reign.

Ontario went 1-for-2 on the power play in the game and successfully held Texas’ second-ranked man-advantage unit to an 0-for-6 night. Both late empty-net goals also counted as shorthanded tallies. Hellberg suffered the loss despite turning out 17 of the 19 shots on goal he faced in the contest.

Postgame reactions from Jones and head coach Marco Sturm are below –

Caleb Jones

Marco Sturm

Ontario will continue its road trip in Iowa this weekend for two games in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena beginning Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.