OJR score 25 goals, earn 6 points and sole possession of 2nd place in the Pacific Division

Coming off an overtime loss and a win against the Roughnecks, the Ontario Jr. Reign then went on to play three games during the week on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The Jr. Reign could not stop scoring as they outscored their opponents 25-10 across the three games and ended the week with six points. 

Game one was against the Ventura Vikings at the Simi Valley Iceoplex and saw goaltender Josh Henson return to the net for his first start since opening night after dealing with an injury. 

The Vikings got the scoring started early, in just 19 seconds, as well as finding another goal from a power play just after the halfway point to give a 2-0 lead. 

The Jr. Reign responded with two goals themselves to end the period, including a short-handed goal by Denver Craig and a power-play goal by Darian Sinclair. Craig had his hand on both goals as he took on two defenders and beat the goalie for the first while sliding a centering pass in front of the net for Sinclair to finish. 

The second period is when the goals started flowing for the Jr. Reign. 

After defending a 4-on-3 power play, it was Christopher Lai and Craig who started off the second with three goals in three minutes. 

Lai’s first of the night came while short-handed as Jesiah Bennett created a turnover and found Lai for the go-ahead goal. Then it was a rinse and repeat from Craig as he flew across the blue line and beat the goalie to the top shelf. Lai’s second goal came from a shot deep into the attacking zone past the keeper's glove side.   

Sinclair added his second to the box score in just over nine minutes of play in the second period. As well as Carter Demelo joined in on the scoresheet, scoring his second of the season via a wrist shot from the left circle while on the power play. 

Ventura did pull one back with just under five minutes left in the period, making the score 7-3. 

The Vikings weren’t done yet as they opened the third period with a goal in just 54 seconds. 

Nevertheless, the Jr. Reign went hunting for more as Craig scored his third and fourth of the night, while mixed in with a goal from Sean Chernyak as he rifled one past the keeper from the point.  

The final goal of the night came from Ethan Fraser from a long breakout pass from Lai, leaving Fraser all alone with the keeper. 

The match ended 11-4 for the Jr. Reign, as Henson ended the night with 17 saves off 21 shots, earning him his first win. As well as Craig ending the night with seven points that included his four goals and three assists. All the while, Lai had two goals and two assists, in addition to Bennett with three assists. 

In game two, the scoring didn’t stop against the Bombers, with Ryan Hicks getting the nod to start in the blue paint. 

Sinclair got the game started with the opening goal in 56 seconds off a rebound from a shot by Chernyak from deep in the zone. 

As the period continued, Ontario kept the pressure on, which led to a goal by Craig with five minutes left in the first period. It was another burst of speed across the blue line, beating the defenders and goalie, putting the puck into the roof of the net. 

The first period ended with a score of 2-0. Hicks didn’t have much to do as he saved all eight shots he faced throughout the period.  

The Jr. Reign once again scored within the opening minute of the period. This time it was Craig who beat the Bombers goalie from a tight angle within the right face-off circle. 

Long Beach responded quickly with two goals in two minutes, which included a power-play goal, making the score 3-2 within three minutes of the second period.

Once again it was a reply from the Jr. Reign with two more goals within two minutes. This time it was Bennett and Demelo.  

Bennett’s goal was earned off a forced turnover by Sinclair in the zone as he laid it off to Bennett to nail it home from the right circle. Demelo scored directly off a face-off, as he took a quick shot from the slot, collected his own rebound, and sent the puck home. 

With five total goals scored in five minutes, the score was tallied up to 5-2 with 15 minutes remaining in the second period. 

As time winded down, Demelo added his second of the game off a power play opportunity. All the while, Alec Boucher added another goal with a shot from just inside the zone to close out the period with a score of 7-2. 

Two more goals came in the final period, including a power-play goal from Fraser and Teleios Zermeno to make the final score 9-2.  

“I think just working as a collective unit, and it doesn't matter who the opponent is, just making sure we're working to our level and not dropping to other teams levels, and just putting pressure their team and putting the puck in the back of the net.” Demelo said.  

Hicks made 25 saves from 27 shots, in addition to Bennett ending with four points, with Craig, Boucher, and Chernyak ending with three points. 

Game three was a much tighter affair as it was a rematch with the Ventura Vikings. 

Henson was again in net against the Vikings for his third start of the season. 

Tyler Huston was the first one to score in under five minutes of play, as he was able to clean up a deflection in front of the net.  

Captain Adam Layden expressed the importance of having a deep line-up with multiple scorers.  “Depth scoring is how you win in playoffs,” Layden said. “I think everybody's really stepped up.”

To keep up with the trends from the previous games, it only took Ventura a minute to respond with the equalizer. 

That is until Lai scored a short-handed goal by picking up the puck in the neutral zone and rifling a shot that the keeper couldn’t keep out of the net. 

The second was equally sawed out by both teams until the Vikings tied the game with just five minutes remaining in the second period. 

Despite the goal, the Jr. Reign outshot the Vikings 18-10. 

The third period saw the two sides taking turns on who was scoring. Demelo kicked things off with a goal in less than four minutes, which was answered with a Vikings goal. Soon after Bennett scored a short-handed goal with less than five minutes remaining, which was also replied to with a Vikings power-play goal.   

“Ventura is a good team, even though their standings don't show it.” interim head coach Coby Downs said. “They did play us hard, and you're always gonna get the team's best.” 

From there the game was all tied at 4-4, as we were headed into overtime. 

In just 50 seconds, the Jr. Reign went on the power play, giving them a 4-on-3 advantage. With that, it was Craig who ripped a shot from the right circle, beating the keeper glove side to end the game 5-4.  

“I think we had our moments and spurts of good hockey,”Downs said. “Then obviously we had our bad and but at the end of the day, like good teams, we found a way to win.“