The AHL released the full schedule for the 2024-25 season on Thursday and we can now officially proclaim there are only 93 days remaining until Opening Night in Ontario!
While the league’s schedule format remains unchanged for the upcoming year with each of its 32 teams playing 72 total games, 36 at home and 36 on the road, the Reign will not have the even balance of opponents on their slate that they’ve had in each of the previous two campaigns.
In both 2022-23 and 2023-24, Ontario played each of their nine Pacific Division foes a total of eight times, including four home matchups and four on the road.
The 2024-25 campaign will feature two series with Central Division opponents, the Texas Stars and Iowa Wild. Ontario will play games in Cedar Park, Tex. and Des Moines, Ia., and will also host both clubs for games at Toyota Arena in November, December and January. It’s the first time the Reign have played in Iowa since November of 2019 and their first contest in Texas since December of 2018.
Those trips throw off the balance previously achieved with the rest of the Pacific Division and will see the game count change against some of their frequent opponents. The Reign will still play eight games against the Calgary Wranglers, Colorado Eagles, Coachella Valley Firebirds, Henderson Silver Knights, San Diego Gulls, San Jose Barracuda and Tucson Roadrunners, but will only match up four times with the Abbotsford Canucks and Bakersfield Condors.
But everything will kick off in Ontario when the Reign open the regular season campaign with a three-game homestand at Toyota Arena against San Jose (Oct. 12-13) and Bakersfield (Oct. 18). The team’s Opening Night will be played inside their home building for the fourth consecutive season.
The Reign will be looking to continue their extraordinary success against the Cuda after winning all eight matchups vs. San Jose during 2023-24 and out-scoring them by a 32-13 margin. The Barracuda finished at the bottom of the Pacific with just 24 wins and 62 points last season.
Ontario won’t have to travel far for its first game outside of the Inland Empire when they face the Firebirds at Acrisure Arena on Oct. 25, their lone road game during the opening month of the campaign. The Reign will go up against Coachella Valley six times before the calendar flips to 2025. Three of the four home matchups with the Firebirds will be played on Saturday nights in Ontario (Dec. 21, Jan. 4, Jan. 25), while Reign fans looking to make the trip to the desert will have four weekend opportunities to do so with a Friday matchup on Oct. 25, a Sunday matinee on Nov. 10, a Friday contest before the holiday break on Dec. 20 and a Saturday evening matchup three days before New Years on Dec. 28.
As for their long-term Southern California rivals in San Diego, the Gulls won’t see the inside of Toyota Arena until Friday, Jan. 3. Despite missing the playoffs in 2024, San Diego held their own against the Reign, with the teams splitting their eight contests. Other home games against the Gulls will be played on Saturday, Feb. 8, Friday, Mar. 7 and Friday, Apr. 18, while Ontario will travel to America’s Finest City on Saturday, Nov. 23, Saturday, Dec. 7, Friday, Dec. 27 and Saturday, Mar. 8.
The Reign will be north of the border for six games this season, returning to Abbotsford for a two-game set on Jan. 14-15 before two series in Calgary on Feb. 15 & 17 and Apr. 5 & 7.
In addition, the Reign also have two trips to Colorado to face the Eagles this season, with matchups on Nov. 15-16 and Feb. 28-Mar. 1. The Eagles will return to Toyota Arena for contests on Jan. 29, Mar. 29-30 and Apr. 16.
Other highlights on the Reign’s home schedule include a Black Friday tilt against Texas on Nov. 29 and a St. Patrick’s Day weekend matchup with the Silver Knights on Sunday, March 16.
Days Breakdown
| Home | Away | Total | |
| Monday | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Tuesday | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Wednesday | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Thursday | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Friday | 7 | 9 | 16 |
| Saturday | 10 | 12 | 22 |
| Sunday | 9 | 2 | 11 |
– As has been the case in previous seasons, many of this year’s games will be played on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, with a total of 49 contests and 68% of the schedule taking place on one of those three days. Another popular gameday for the Reign this season will be Wednesdays, as the team will host eight contests on hump day and travel for seven others, making it the team’s third-most played on day of the week for the second consecutive year.
– The most frequent day of the week on the overall schedule is Saturday, with 22 total games including 10 at Toyota Arena. Ontario will play 12 road games on Saturday, which is also the most frequent day for the team to be on the road.
– Once again, the Reign believe in home Sundays. It will be the second-most played on day of the week at home, with Ontario hosting nine contests on Sunday during 2024-25. It’s also the second straight campaign that the Reign will play just two Sunday road games, with the lone occurrences coming in Coachella Valley on Nov. 10 and in Iowa on Mar. 23.
Month Breakdown
| Home | Away | Total | |
| October | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| November | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| December | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| January | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| February | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| March | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| April | 3 | 5 | 8 |
– Ontario’s schedule begins with a heavy amount of home games in October but will even out before the New Year with 14 games at Toyota Arena before Jan. 1, compared to 13 on the road. Things become a little lopsided thereafter, with more home games in January than any other month (9), followed by the busiest road stretch of the season in March. The campaign ends with a five-game road trip to begin April before three straight home games to close out the regular season.
– Other than October which has just a single road game in Coachella Valley, December should be the easiest month on the team as far as travel goes, with only one contest outside of Southern California, a New Year’s Eve matchup in Henderson. The Reign will host five games during the final month of 2024 against five different teams.
– The stretch run tends to be the busiest for teams in the AHL, and that will continue to be the case for the Reign this season with 14 total games in March, and eight of them coming away from Ontario. It will definitely be the month with the most miles traveled, featuring trips to Colorado, Tucson, Texas and Iowa.
Odds & Ends
| Odds & Ends | Number of Games |
| Longest Homestand | 3 Games (6 times) |
| Longest Road Trip | 5 Games (4/2 – 4/12) |
| Back-To-Backs (H/H) | 6 Sets |
| Back-To-Backs (H/A) | 2 Sets |
| Back-To-Backs (A/H) | 4 Sets |
| Back-To-Backs (A/A) | 8 Sets |
| Most Days Between Games | 6 (3 times) |
– Ontario will play a total of 20 back-to-backs, with eight of them coming entirely away from home. Those include trips in Abbotsford, Colorado, Iowa, San Jose, Texas and Tucson. When those longer distance teams make their way to Southern California there are more opponents for them to play within driving distance which necessitates less two-game sets in Ontario.
– While New Year’s Eve games are an annual tradition for Ontario, they’re usually hosted at Toyota Arena. This season will be different, as the team travels to Henderson for a Dec. 31 game against the Silver Knights. The Reign will also be in Calgary on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 17 for a 12 p.m. matinee.
– While most of Ontario’s games will begin at 6 or 7 p.m. in the pacific time zone, there will be a few exceptions where the team will drop the puck earlier in the day, like President’s Day in Calgary. Seven of the Reign’s nine Sunday home games will begin at 3 p.m., while two contests are slated for 5 p.m. Ontario will also have earlier start times when they are in Texas and Iowa, with 5 p.m. Pacific puck drops in Cedar Park and a 4 p.m. beginning on Saturday, Mar. 22 before a 1 p.m. start in Des Moines the following afternoon on Mar. 23.
– The AHL All-Star Classic will be hosted by the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season, taking place in the desert February 2-3 at Acrisure Arena. The Reign finish their pre-break schedule the night before with a road game in Tucson against the Roadrunners on Saturday, February 1. The 2025 All-Star event will include the AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Sunday, February 2 and the AHL All-Star Challenge the following evening, Monday, February 3.
We’ll continue to have updates here on LAKI as Ontario makes depth additions to its roster the remainder of the summer. To this point, the Reign have seven AHL contracted players on the roster for 2024-25, including Charles Hudon, Jacob Doty, Luke Rowe, Jack Millar, Quinn Olson, Shawn Element and John Parker-Jones. We can definitely expect more announcements throughout the summer so stay tuned as the countdown to a new season continues!
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