Alex Turcotte and Akil Thomas embracing the chase for a championship with the Ontario Reign

In the midst of their deepest playoff run since their inaugural 2015-16 season in Ontario, the Reign currently find themselves in the third-round, best-of-five series against the Pacific Division’s top seeded Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Reign lost their first game of the postseason in last night’s Game 1, but are 5-1 to begin the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, finding contributions up and down the lineup to help generate the strong start. Two key components to the Reign’s lineup are today’s focus – the tandem of Alex Turcotte and Akil Thomas. Two of the organization’s top prospects, both players have been staples to Reign’s success in every facet of the game as they look to continue the team’s playoff run.

Both players pride themselves on contributing all over the ice and Turcotte and Thomas are leaning on each other and their previous experiences to be themselves during this playoff run. They’ve each faced plenty of adversity to begin their professional careers. Having dealt with multiple injuries since turning pro, Turcotte and Thomas have grown closer as teammates and reflected on that during their time with the media before the start of their third round

“Obviously, we’re really tight, so, to do this together for all these years now and find some success in the playoffs, it’s been a lot of fun and we want to keep going,” Turcotte said.

Thomas reflected back to where it all began, in Berlin, Germany during the fall of 2020. Both players were overseas playing with Eisbaren Berlin early in the season and they’ve essentially been teammates ever since.

“We were in the gym today talking about our time in Berlin together [during the pandemic] actually before our practice,” Thomas added. “It’s pretty cool to kind of just think about those days and obviously be in the position we’re in right now together. Things are going well so it’s been fun.”

While each player has had their respective ups and downs to begin their career, both Turcotte and Thomas both put together the best seasons of their young careers during the 2023-24 campaign.

Each playing in a career-high number of games this season, both Turcotte and Thomas have plenty of positives to take heading into their bout with the Firebirds.

Turcotte, the former fifth-overall draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, suited up for 55 games between the Kings and the Reign this season and was nearly a point-per-game player in the AHL. Looking at the year as a whole, the Illinois native notched 29 points (10-19-29) in 35 games with the Reign and netted his first career NHL goal against the Nashville Predators on January 31st, one of 20 games he appeared in this season with the Kings.

Accomplishing many of the same milestones, Thomas, a second-round pick in the 2018 draft, also set an AHL career-high in points with 46 (22-24-46) in 64 games. Ranking fourth on the Reign in offense this season, Thomas made his NHL with the Kings on April 1st, netted his first career goal on April 3rd against the San Jose Sharks and totaled four points (3-1-4) in seven games with the Kings overall.

When asked about the positives and value that he could take from his 20 games with the Kings the season, Turcotte spoke about how it instilled confidence in him that has benefitted his game throughout this playoff run.

“When you go up, it’s really hard, it’s a lot different than the AHL,” Turcotte said. “I think just knowing that we could play at that level brings you a lot of confidence and I think that’s the biggest thing I took back to the Reign. I felt like when I came back down I had even more confidence than before. I trust my game more and kind of just go out there and play it to the best of my abilities. For me personally, that’s the biggest thing.”

A plethora of valuable lessons are taught at the highest level of hockey when prospects who don’t have much NHL experience enter the league. For both Turcotte and Thomas, being able to take the positives from their separate experiences with the Kings this past season and bring that with them into the AHL playoffs proved crucial for both individual and team success.

Having won five of their first six games to begin the playoffs, both Turcotte and Thomas gave factored in offensively, each having found the back of the net and assisting on multiple goals.

If you’re looking for the reason that Turcotte and Thomas have excelled this season, you can’t point to just one thing. Taking into account their health, maturation and hard work combined with the leadership and guidance of second-year Reign head coach Marco Sturm, results have followed. Both Turcotte and Thomas credited Sturm for the relationship they’ve built with the long-time NHL player and coach and the positive impact he’s had on their respective game’s.

Thomas – I think Marco has helped me out a lot. Obviously, I didn’t play much last year and the year before that [due to injury]. For me, it was kind of like back to the basics again and I definitely started off a little rusty as expected. Marco has been there with me the whole way to just kind of get me going and I think he has a bunch of guys on our team taking good strides.

Turcotte – I think for me, the biggest thing was just being more consistent on defensive side of the puck. [Sturm] has helped me tremendously with that. It’s paid off a lot too and I’ve gone up [to the Kings] and it’s definitely the biggest thing I think that he’s added to my game is just being consistent. I feel like I’ve always been pretty good on the defensive side but I would have some lapses, especially in the first couple years. So that’s the biggest thing that he’s helped me with. When I’ve gone up, I feel like it’s been pretty good and I’ve felt comfortable thanks to him.

Sturm took the podium following Turcotte and Thomas and reciprocated the feelings.

He’s got a job that features a balance that most leagues do not. He is incentivized to win games and motivated to win games but he’s also tasked with helping to develop top prospects within the organization so that they become ready to take the next step to the NHL. He certainly wants to win…..who doesn’t? But he also takes pride in seeing players like Thomas and Turcotte develop into impact players in the AHL who are close to ready to make the next step.

“These guys are like my kids, right, and it’s so nice,” Sturm said. “For me it’s almost like a win for me as well. Grow[ing] as a person, as a player every year and again, having them play playoff hockey, that helps to develop definitely. Those guys are a big part of this team and they’ve been our leaders all year long, especially in the playoffs. I’m very happy that they had a chance also to play with the Kings this year. I’m very pleased with the process and the development process this year.”

Eyes on the prize with a chance to keep fighting for the coveted Calder Cup, Turcotte, Thomas and the Reign now have their sights set on the Firebirds. Separated by just 80 miles from arena to arena, the rivalry is in full form now that they meet in playoffs for the first time.

Coachella Valley took Game 1 on Wednesday, but there’s a long way to go here. The Reign will look to even the series on the road in Game 2 on Friday, May 17 at 7 PM at Acrisure Arena. The Reign will host the Firebirds for Game 3 at Toyota Arena in Ontario on Sunday, May 19 at 7 PM, followed by Game 4 on Friday, May 24. Should the series extend to five games, the decisive contest would be in Palm Desert on Sunday, May 26.