Matchup: Ontario Reign at Idaho Steelheads. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at Qwest Arena. 7 PM gametime each night.
Uhhh, where? Treasure Valley people hear “Ontario” and usually think of two places – nearby Ontario, Oregon … or not-so-near Ontario, Canada. This is neither. The Ontario Reign are based in the Los Angeles suburb in southern California. The Reign is in its second season after relocating from Texas following the 2007-2008 season.
November Reign: No, not the Ontario Reign. We’re talking reign on the ice. Forward Ashton Rome reigned supreme for Idaho in the month of November, netting seven goals in twelve games, including a hat-trick at Stockton on the team’s last road trip. It was the first hat-trick (three goals in the same game) by a Steelhead this season. Kris Sparre was the last to accomplish the feat for the ‘Heads, doing it last season.
Rookie Transition: If Evan Barlow is having a hard time transitioning from college to the pro game, the rookie out of Cornell of the Ivy League isn’t letting it show. Barlow is second on the team in goals (10) and points (20) in his first season of professional hockey. Five of his ten goals have come on the power play.
The Idaho Steelheads (18-4-2) lost in a shootout to the Ontario Reign (10-11-3) by a 3-2 score at Qwest Arena, as Ontario completed a comeback victory; the Reign trailed 2-0 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation time. The shootout loss spoils an evening on which Luke Gazdic- playing in his first game with Idaho since last season- had a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick”; a goal, an assist, and a fight.
After a scoreless first period of play, Gazdic put the Steelheads on the board when he fired home a rebound for his first of the season. Marty Flichel and Brendan Milnamow assisted on the goal at 3:43 of the middle frame.
With just 22 seconds remaining in the period, John Swanson banged home what appeared a potential momentum-swinger; Evan Barlow lost a puck in front of the net, but conveniently Swanson recovered it in a position where he could place it behind Ontario goalie Curtis Darling. Also tallying an assist on Swanson’s goal at 19:38 was Gazdic.
The Steelheads continued to lead 2-0 until the 15:40 mark of the third period when Greg Hogeboom knocked home his team-leading 14th of the season for Ontario. At 18:05, Shawn Germain fired a wrist shot from the left point top-shelp on Idaho’s Rejean Beauchemin to force an overtime period.
Overtime failed to determine a winner, and in the shootout only one player was able to score: Ontario’s Peter Lenes. Darling stopped all five Steelheads shooters to complete the comeback.
Beauchemin falls to 8-2-1 with the loss; he stopped 27 pucks. Darling improves to 7-7-2 with the win; he made 32 saves.
The Steelheads and Reign are back in action at Qwest Arena on Friday night. The puck drops at 7:10 PM MST.