Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Only a break in the schedule can slow down the Ontario Reign these days.
After a rare Friday and Saturday off this weekend, the Reign resume this evening when the San Jose Barracuda visit Toyota Arena. And while they still sit sixth in what is a deep Pacific Division field, the Reign are only four points removed from third place and hold games in hand on every other team in the division. But that schedule will intensify considerably over the next several weeks; today’s meeting with the Barracuda starts a pre-holiday stretch in which the Reign will host league-leading Calgary and then play a home-and-home series with Coachella Valley.
After a 4-6-0-0 start to the season, the Reign have won eight of their last 10; in that span they have scored 38 goals and went six consecutive games in which they had four or more goals. Thanks to that surge in production, they now are fourth in the AHL with 3.55 goals per game. What’s more is that they have managed that offensive output with a power play that only ranks 20th in the AHL at 16.7 percent.
A potent offense can change games quickly. Last Sunday against Bakersfield, the Reign trailed 3-2 halfway through the third period before three goals in an 8:50 span turned that game into a 5-3 win.
The Reign began this season missing several top power sources from last season, and it showed early. Forward prospects Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte won jobs with the Los Angeles Kings. So did elite defenseman Brandt Clarke, who took spots on the AHL All-Rookie Team, AHL Second All-Star Team, and AHL Top Prospects Team in 2023-24. T.J. Tynan departed for Colorado via free agency.
Ontario scored just eight goals over its first five games to open this season. But roster fortunes are going Ontario’s way lately, starting in net with the Erik Portillo–Pheonix Copley tandem, both of whom have also seen time in Los Angeles due to injury to Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper. Now that they are back together, the pairing provides a top prospect/veteran set-up for head coach Marco Sturm to use. The Reign even have Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev back for the first time since 2021; Kaliyev, who fractured his collarbone in training camp and has been out since September, has joined Ontario on a conditioning assignment.
A pair of offseason signings up front have also helped. Los Angeles plucked Glenn Gawdin from the Anaheim organization in free agency, and the seventh-year pro has put up 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 20 games. Jeff Mallott, who spent the past four seasons with the Manitoba Moose, has added 19 points (three goals, 16 assists).
And then there is Samuel Fagemo, one of the AHL’s most dangerous snipers. Fagemo can pile up goals quickly using his elite selection of shots; he scored a remarkable 43 goals in 50 games for the Reign last season. He went scoreless in his first six games this season, but has since collected 11 goals in 14 contests. If Fagemo is hot, that spells significant trouble for opponents.
A head coach is never quite satisfied, and any hot team wants to keep playing as much as possible. But it’s December, which means plenty of off-ice activities. The team’s holiday party happened after last Sunday’s win, and there was a family party to begin this week as well. This recent run of success made those parties that much sweeter.
“[The holiday season is] way more fun,” Sturm told the team website, “when you’re on a winning streak.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
