Ontario Reign 20-21

[Eagle Fang]

Reign were a mess tonight

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Two games in a row, Byfield coughing it up....

 

[kingsboy11]

Damn that's an annoying loss. I know the boys are going to be upset because they've only won 1 game so far, but they've been in every game this season and they've come back against multiple teams. This is a really young team going through growing pains and this is a good learning experience

 

[Eagle Fang]

Someone smarter than me can comment, but it seemed like the biggest issue, aside from shaky defense and some really bad goals, is the transition of play from the defense to the forwards from a systems standpoint. It seemed like there were large gaps between the forwards and defense, with the defense being almost stationary in their own zone trying to make passes. They didn't look like a cohesive unit moving up the ice.

I don't recall if that's just how they play, but it was noticeable tonight and likewise, it was noticeable that the Reign weren't flying into the offensive zone like they normally do.

 

[regulate]

Reign just flat out didn't skate the 1st two periods. At least they made it a game in the 3rd. After an excellent start in the preseason and first several games, Madden is pressing. Thomas isn't having much of any affect on the games lately. Byfield has been hit and miss. Kaliyev is being too fine with his shot and missing the net and shooting from too far out. Hults looks pretty good in the games he's been in, there is promise there. Durzi has looked like a career AHLer now in both his pro seasons. Brickley and Clague is not a good defensive pairing, Reign missed Alt tonight. Kupari not as much of a factor tonight, but continues to rack up points. He was tied for the league lead in scoring going into tonight's game and had another assist. We haven't seen Moverare since he was injured in game #2. A lot of young players still coming to terms with you can't get by at this level with your B game.

 

[No Name The Nameless]

Do you think this is a John Woblewski problem? New coach and all? I am not used to watching non NHL games. I cannot count how many issues I have with the way things are played.

 

[No Name The Nameless]

Do you think this is a John Woblewski problem? New coach and all? I am not used to watching non NHL games. I cannot count how many issues I have with the way things are played.

 

[Docgonzo]

Do you think this is a John Woblewski problem? New coach and all? I am not used to watching non NHL games. I cannot count how many issues I have with the way things are played.

Could be just growing pains for him as well. First year as a head coach at a pro level coaching some guys close to his age.

 

[King'sPawn]

- young team
- rookie coach
- depleted blueline
- not playing either of their top goaltending prospects (Ingham and Parik)

They will have ups and downs

 

[Docgonzo]

- young team
- rookie coach
- depleted blueline
- not playing either of their top goaltending prospects (Ingham and Parik)

They will have ups and downs

Isn’t Ingham down in Ontario now? It’d be nice for him to get some games over Berube.

 

[BigKing]

Reign just flat out didn't skate the 1st two periods. At least they made it a game in the 3rd. After an excellent start in the preseason and first several games, Madden is pressing. Thomas isn't having much of any affect on the games lately. Byfield has been hit and miss. Kaliyev is being too fine with his shot and missing the net and shooting from too far out. Hults looks pretty good in the games he's been in, there is promise there. Durzi has looked like a career AHLer now in both his pro seasons. Brickley and Clague is not a good defensive pairing, Reign missed Alt tonight. Kupari not as much of a factor tonight, but continues to rack up points. He was tied for the league lead in scoring going into tonight's game and had another assist. We haven't seen Moverare since he was injured in game #2. A lot of young players still coming to terms with you can't get by at this level with your B game.

Perfect analysis. I've watched every game of this homestand and couldn't agree more.

Durzi especially. People shit in Gaunce but he and Durzi might as well wear the same number.

Byfield very disappointing tonight. Puck was barely on his stick.

 

[Vino]

Reign really miss a player like Paul LaDue and especially reliable goaltending. Villalta has not been good, but Berube has been awfully bad. They should send Berube to taxisquad and Grosenick to Ontario.

 

[Fat Elvis]

Hopefully Moverare isn’t out long. He could be a stabilizing presence on the blueline.

 

[regulate]

Reign Recap:

The Good: Reign have shown tenacity to come back from deficits in the 3rd period, lead by veteran players. Berube made a few highlight real saves. Cole Hults pots his first pro goal on a nice dish by Clague. Eyssimont finally gets a point in his 7th game. With an assist, Rasmus Kupari leads the AHL in scoring with 8 pts in 7 games.

The Bad: Berube would probably want at least one of those goals back.

The Ugly: The Reign were definitely not skating as well as they are capable of, played the first two periods in a daze until they finally woke up. They did not create many grade A chances, and missed the net on the few they had. Really kind of a boring game.

Colorado 1-0: The Reign win the opening draw, Clague tries a back hand pass inside his own blueline which fails to connect to Kupari, an immediate counterattack and Brickley cannot close fast enough to block or disrupt the shot by Sherwood, who beats Berube from about 35-40 ft only 10 seconds into the game. A deflating start.

Colorado 2-0: The Eagles were pressuring with their 1st line, a shot from just inside the blue line is blocked by Thomas either on his torso or the inside of his thigh, causing him to bend over in pain. The puck caroms off of Thomas into the slot, where it strikes the back of an Eagle players skate. Thomas is the only defender near but he it doubled over in pain, veteran AHL offensive dynamo TJ Tynan hammers it in from the slot between the circles, 2-0 Eagles.

Reign 2-1: Hard work by Eyssimont along the boards, and he breaks free with the puck down the left wing. Sutter goes to the middle of the ice on the attack and receives a nice pass from Eyssimont and blasts a one-timer past the Eagles netminder.

Reign 2-2: The Reign are pressuring the Eagles in their own zone with an excellent shift. Kupari has the puck on the right side around the top of the right circle, a little back pass to Clague who is supporting deep. Clague immediately spots Hults who pinches back door on the opposite side of the ice. A beautiful pass, Hults receives it and after gathering it in quickly roofs a shot over the Colorado netminder in tight. We're tied in the 3rd period.

Colorado 3-2: A draw in the Reign zone was won back cleanly Dickinson over Sutter, Gerard let's a wrist shot go through traffic and it beat Berube up high in the top corner.

Colorado 4-2 (EN): Berube is pulled with the Reign trying to tie the score. Byfield passes the puck directly to and Eagles player who dishes to TJ Tynan for the empty net goal.

Notes: The Reign fall to 1-5-1 to start the season. Turcotte, Sodergran, Moverare and Alt missed the game due to injury. Rymsha, Imama, and Grosenick were assigned to the taxi squad. This was Colorado's first win of the season in 4 games.
Trending up: Cole Hults. His defensive play seems to be improving, and his offensive instincts are very evident. He is skilled and makes a solid first pass out of the zone. I don't think we'll see him come out of the Reign line up again. Seeing some potential, and he'll be 23 in May, so if he continues to round out his pro game at the AHL level this season, appears (its early) he could contend for a roster spot in the near future.

Trending down: Tyler Madden: Tyler continues to work hard but he is pressing. Frequent turnovers and occasional lapses in his defensive coverage down low. His skill is evident, just needs to play his game and get stronger. Probably his poorest game of the season, and he hasn't scored a goal yet in 7 games despite quite a few opportunities. Made the decision to stay on the ice too long at the end of a Reign PP (along with a few other players), a 2 on1 opportunity resulted against, only a great stop by Berube saved the day.

Trending down: Sean Durzi: I really would like Sean to succeed, but despite his skill in the offensive zone with misdirection while passing the puck (everyone knows what's coming), he lacks a hard shot from the point, and he's frequently out-muscled and out-skated. There have been several 2 on 1's when he is defending (where is his partner), and he has yet to disrupt and shot attempts or passes defensively. He'll have to improve significantly to reach the next level IMO.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Byfield passes the puck directly to and Eagles player who dishes to TJ Tynan for the empty net goal.

I replayed this a few times to verify that I saw the same thing...I mean WTF was that?? From this game to the last won they lost, is QB getting confused about what team he plays for?

 

[regulate]

Do you think this is a John Woblewski problem? New coach and all? I am not used to watching non NHL games. I cannot count how many issues I have with the way things are played.

I don't think so. Wrobo's job is to develop these kids with the Kings structure that Tmac plays with. As I've said many times, don't expect a bunch of kids to come into a men's pro league and start ruling the roost because they have skilled pedigree in their age group. They will get better, but it takes time to develop. This start to me is not unexpected at all. The best AHL teams have a mix of skilled young players on the cusp, tweeners that are really good at the AHL level but struggle in the NHL, and AHL vets, combined with good goal tending. Read the quotes in this article, he's well spoken.

 

[Master Yoda]

It looks like Hults could be another Dman that could push to make the roster in 2 years.

 

[yankeeking]

Great article he is very well spoken and his experience with the underage team will definitely help the kids . I especially like him pointing out about the shot on the power play where he tried to beat him high in the upper corner and the goalie made that glove save, if he had kept that low enough for a rebound or tip much more dangerous shot, always thought that was how Karlson got so many points , while he had a great shot most were low enough to redirect or bounced off the boards for a rebound attempt , that shot seemed selfish at the time almost like he thought he was too good to be stopped. You are right this guy is very well spoken and from his thought patterns we should see the team developing as. We go . looking forward to development more than winning the division or whatever happens this year, not having the full complement of AHL pros on the team consistently should help the kids that are going to advance to burden more of the load

 

[Pucknut50]

One issue I have watching the game is the camera is to low. Not sure what the optimum would be but its not working the way it is now.

 

[regulate]

One issue I have watching the game is the camera is to low. Not sure what the optimum would be but its not working the way it is now.

I'm not sure what they can do about that. The training facility is not meant for broadcasting games. If you've ever been there you know that the area at center ice (bleachers) is not very high.

 

[kilowatt]

One issue I have watching the game is the camera is to low. Not sure what the optimum would be but its not working the way it is now.

As @regulate mentioned, the Reign are playing at the Kings' practice facility instead of their usual arena in Ontario. There's not much more they can do. It's an AHL-quality production in a practice rink.

 

[kingsboy11]

Part 2 is up