REIGN PREVIEW 10/10 – Ontario vs. Tucson

WHO: Ontario Reign (0-0-0-0) vs. Tucson Roadrunners (0-0-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #1
WHEN: Friday, October 10 @ 7:00 Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ReignInsider & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Ontario Reign begin their 11^th season of AHL hockey tonight at Toyota Arena under first year head coach, Andrew Lord, hosting the Tucson Roadrunners to open the 2024-25 campaign.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: After finishing third in the Pacific Division in 2024-25 the Reign are once again expected to compete with the best in the west. Ontario brings back 14 returners from last year’s roster when it totaled 43 wins, the second-most in team history. Notably, Glenn Gawdin, who finished tied for sixth in the AHL with 62 points and tied for 10^th with 26 goals in 72 games is back for his second year with the Reign. Martin Chromiak is back for his fourth full season with Ontario after setting career highs with 39 points, 18 goals, and 21 assists in 69 games while Francesco Pinelli returns for his third year after setting career highs with 29 points, 15 goals, and 14 assists. Taylor Ward and Andre Lee are the two skaters currently on the Reign roster that made their NHL debuts with LA a year ago. Defensively speaking, Joe Hicketts returns for his second season as captain while Kirill Kirsanov is expected to make his North American professional debut. The additions of forwards Cole Guttman and Logan Brown add NHL and AHL experience while Samuel Bolduc provides NHL and AHL experience on the backend.

PRE-SEASON RECAP:  The Ontario Reign went (2-0-0-0) in pre-season action. Last Thursday they defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds scoring five unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory. Aatu Jämsen (2-1-3) and Koehn Ziemmer (0-2-2) had multi-point games while newcomers Kenny Connors and Jack Hughes found the back of the net. This past Sunday the Reign defeated the San Diego Gulls by a final score of 3-2 with Martin Chromiak scoring with 5:16 left in the contest for the game-winning goal. Francesco Pinelli scored a short-handed goal in the first period while Kaleb Lawerence found the back of the net in the middle frame. Erik Portillo made 20 saves in the win.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ontario was stellar against Tucson last year posting a (6-2-0-0) record in eight meetings vs. the Roadrunners. The Reign outscored Tucson 24-18 in the head-to-head series as Glenn Gawdin posted nine points (4G, 5A) with a plus-nine rating. Erik Portillo made 23 saves on Nov. 13 in a 4-1 in while he turned aside two shootout attempts and made 27 saves in a 5-4 shootout win at Tucson on Feb. 1 in his two appearances. The Reign just (3-for-34, 8.8%) on the power-play against the Roadrunners but (26-for-30, 86.7%) on the penalty kill.

SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS: Tucson is coming off a franchise-record three-straight Calder Cup Playoff appearances as they were the last final team in the Pacific Division from a year ago to qualify for post-season play. Tucson’s 24-man roster features 17 returning players, including 14 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders. Cameron Hebig set career highs in points (47), goals (26), and assists (21) during the 2024-25 campaign while Austin Poganski accomplished the same feat with (41) points, (15) goals, and (26) assists. Notable new faces for the Roadrunners feature Scott Perunovich who signed a one-year, two-way deal with Utah on July 1 having 108 career NHL games under his belt between St. Louis and the New York Islanders. Kevin Rooney signed a one-year, two-way contract with Utah on October 6 after playing 70 NHL games with Calgary last season. The Canton, MA native has appeared in 330 NHL games and 242 games across his 10 pro seasons. The Roadrunners scored a franchise-record 228 goals last season ranking 12^th in the AHL, while leading the Western Conference in penalty minutes (1,075).