REIGN PREVIEW 10/13 – Ontario vs. San Jose

WHO: Ontario Reign (0-1-0-0) vs. San Jose Barracuda (1-0-0-0)
WHAT: AHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME #2
WHEN: Sunday, October 13 @ 3:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Toyota Arena – Ontario, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FloHockey – AUDIO: Reign Radio – TWITTER: @ShafReign & @OntarioReign

TODAY’S MATCHUP: Less than 24 hours after the Ontario Reign suffered a 5-0 defeat to begin their 2024-25 season, the team has an opportunity to get even with the San Jose Barracuda in Game 2 Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena.

LAST TIME OUT: With a perfect night from goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, which consisted of 22 saves, the San Jose Barracuda blanked the Ontario Reign by a 5-0 score on Opening Night Saturday at Toyota Arena. Rookie attacker Kasper Halttunen scored twice in the victory for San Jose, his first two North American pro goals in the first game of his AHL career. Other Barracuda tallies were netted by Anthony Vincent, Collin Graf and Joey Keane.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: As the two teams approach today’s latter half of an opening weekend back-to-back, it’s intriguing to see how each will deploy its goaltenders. San Jose will have the option to use Yaroslav Askarov for a second straight day after a 22-save shutout on Saturday, or they can turn to Georgi Romanov for what would be his first appearance of the season. On Ontario’s side, Pheonix Copley has yet to play any game action since returning from a season-ending injury sustained with the Kings last year, but if he’s fully healthy, we will most likely see his season debut. The Reign are still looking for their first goal of the new season and will attempt to break out offensively after being held off the scoresheet in the opener.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Ontario was at its best against San Jose last season and will aim to rekindle the success they had previously against the Barracuda after a loss on opening night. A year ago the Reign had an unblemished 8-0-0 record vs. San Jose, securing 100% of their possible 16 standings points available to them. Ontario outscored San Jose 32-13 in last year’s series and produced a 21.9% power play success rate with seven goals in 32 opportunities. The Reign also killed 22 of 25 Cuda man-advantages (88%). Samuel Fagemo was Ontario’s leading scorer against San Jose last season, posting 16 points in seven games on 11 goals and five assists. Returning forwards Charles Hudon (3-3=6) and Taylor Ward also had strong offensive performances against the Barracuda (2-4=6).

BOOTH’S DEBUT: Defenseman Angus Booth appeared in his first professional game on Saturday for Ontario, debuting alongside Joe Hicketts on the left side of the team’s back end. The 20-year-old was selected by the Kings in 2022 with the 116th overall pick in the fourth round of the NHL Draft. He then signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the team in December of 2023. Booth totaled 28 points on three goals and 25 assists (3-25=28) last season in 61 regular season games with the Shawinigan Cataractes and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He also appeared in 17 postseason contests with Baie-Comeau, earning three assists and a plus-eight rating. Prior to joining Baie-Comeau, Booth was named captain with Shawinigan in his third season with the club. He helped the Cataractes capture the QMJHL Gilles-Courteau Trophy as playoff champions in 2022.

SCOUTING THE BARRACUDA: San Jose is off to the start they were looking for after a 10th place finish in the Pacific Division a year ago. The Barracuda are aiming for their first playoff berth since the 2018-19 campaign. One of their top returners from last season is forward Ethan Carwell, who finished with 43 points in 71 games on 23 goals and 20 assists. Two other notable names that have returned to San Jose are veterans Justin Bailey and Scott Sabourin. Bailey scored 11 points in 16 games last season before a recall to the Sharks where he appeared in 59 NHL contests. Sabourin, on the other hand, who previously played 28 games with the Reign in 2015-16, had 27 points in 59 outings with the Cuda and played three NHL games. The roster also includes top prospects Filip Bystedt and Yaroslav Askarov, as well as former 2015 first-round pick Colin White who has played in close to 400 professional games over eight seasons.

HICKETTS AT THE HELM: Ontario officially named Joe Hicketts the fourth captain in team history on Thursday, welcoming back the defender for a second season with an added leadership responsibility. In addition, it was also noted that Charles Hudon and Jeff Malott would each serve as alternate captains. Hicketts, 28, appeared in 30 games with the Reign last year, where he posted 20 points (1-19=20) and added one goal and five assists (1-5=6) in eight Calder Cup Playoff games. He began his pro career in the Detroit Red Wings as an undrafted free agent prior to the 2014-15 season and went on to skate in 22 NHL games, all with Detroit. The 5-8, 176-pound blueliner has earned 217 points (35-182=217) with 290 penalty minutes and a plus-18 rating in 449 career AHL games split between Ontario, Iowa and Grand Rapids. In 39 career Calder Cup Playoff games, Hicketts has produced 18 points (2-16=18) and helped Grand Rapids to a Calder Cup Championship in 2017, where he contributed eight points (1-7=8) in 19 postseason contests. Hicketts takes over the captaincy from TJ Tynan, who held it for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns before departing in July to join the Colorado Avalanche organization. The first two captains in AHL-Reign history were forwards Brett Sutter (2017-22) and Vincent LoVerde (2015-17).

THREE LETTER LEEGUE: Former Ontario Reign forward Andre Lee was in the lineup with the LA Kings for his NHL debut during an opening night victory in Buffalo on Thursday and played his second career game Saturday afternoon in Boston. The Karlstad, Sweden native registered two shots on goal and two hits while logging nine shifts in his first NHL opportunity before dishing out three hits in eight minutes of action during game two. Lee appeared in 105 games with Ontario over three seasons from 2021-24, totaling 24 points on 14 goals and 10 assists, recording career-highs last year with 13 points in 36 games (8-5=13) before adding four goals in eight playoff appearances.