REIGN FINAL – Reign 2, Wild 4 – Chromiak, Sturm

Two goals by Ben Jones sent the Iowa Wild (22-32-4-1) past the Ontario Reign (35-21-3-1) in the first of a two-game series between the two teams on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Martin Chromiak and Glenn Gawdin each found the back of the net for Ontario in a losing effort, with Gawdin’s goal serving as his 50th point of the 2024-25 season.

BOX SCORE

Ontario took an early lead just 59 seconds into the game when Charles Hudon grabbed a turnover and fed Chromiak in front of the net for a quick strike. Chromiak’s 13th of the season put the Reign ahead 1-0 as the teams were getting settled.

The Wild evened the game shortly after the midway point of the first when Jones converted on a breakaway opportunity to make it 1-1 at 11:30.

Before the end of the opening frame, Travis Boyd put a backhand past his former teammate, Pheonix Copley, to give Iowa its first lead of the evening, 2-1, at 18:27.

Jones also opened the scoring for Iowa at 1:49 of the second with his second strike of the game, converting on a wraparound to put the home team up 3-1.

The Reign responded at 4:54 when Gawdin deflected a shot by Jack Millar past goaltender Samuel Hlavaj to cut the Wild’s lead back to 3-2.

But the Iowa tacked on a power play goal before the end of the second and led by two after 40 minutes. The strike was scored by former Ontario forward Tyler Madden, who netted his first goal as a member of the Wild after he was traded by the LA Kings to the Minnesota organization on Feb. 26.

Neither team was able to add any offense to the scoreboard in the third, which saw Iowa maintain their two-goal advantage during the final 20 minutes. Ontario pulled Copley in exchange for an extra attacker with less than four minutes remaining on the clock. They managed to not allow anything further, but the chances of a comeback were shut down when Caleb Jones was whistled for tripping Madden with 30 seconds left.

The Reign held a 35-32 edge in shots on goal during the game, which featured 33 saves by Hlavaj and 28 for Copley. Madden’s power play goal was the lone man-advantage strike of the contest, as Iowa went 1-for-3 while Ontario ended at 0-for-1.

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

Martin Chromiak

Marco Sturm

The two teams will conclude their weekend series in Des Moines on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop for the fourth meeting of the season between the clubs is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.