Ontario Jr. Reign Prevail in Overtime Thriller on Teddy Bear Toss Night

Following a dominant offensive performance through three games last week, the Ontario Jr. Reign looked to continue their run of form against the Long Beach Bombers. The Friday night showdown on Teddy Bear Toss night, saw the Jr. Reign won their second consecutive overtime win, with a score of 4-3. 

This was the fourth time in under 30 days that the Jr. Reign and the Bombers would meet. As the season record between the two is 2-0-1 in favor of Ontario. 

USPHL goaltender for the month of November, Ryan Hicks got the start as he entered the game with a 3-1 record and a .930 save percentage. 

The first period started evenly as the familiarity between the two teams were fully on display.    

“You get to know the teams, and you definitely get to know their play style and their lineup and everything like that,” said Christopher Lai.  “It kind of does take a toll on you, when you know you're playing the same guys, but I like the way that our schedule is built like that.” 

Carter Demelo got the scoring started just after the halfway point as Jack Forrester laid-off the puck for him in the right circle for the one-timer finish. Demelo’s sixth goal of the season caused a downpour of teddy bears to be thrown on the ice for the Bob Hope USO organization in Ontario.

“I mean, there was obviously extra motivation with the teddy bear toss tonight, I really wanted that opener,” said Demelo. 

Demelo wasn’t done yet, as he added his second of the night just 17 seconds later. Demelo picked up the puck from Sean Chernyak in the neutral zone, drove past a defender and placed the puck past the keeper's stick side. 

With just over nine minutes left the score was 2-0 in favor of the Jr. Reign. 

The attacking floodgates then opened for Ontario, as the shots on goal kept piling up on the Bombers goaltender. 

None were able to connect as the first period concluded 2-0. 

Long Beach didn’t take long to respond in the second, as they pulled one back in under four minutes from a centering pass in front of the goal. 

Ethan Fraser countered with a goal of his own to restore the lead to two goals. A shot from Lai was saved by the goaltender, but he wasn’t able to hold on to the puck as Fraser was there to clean it up. 

As the period ended 3-1 for the Jr. Reign, they were unable to capitalize on four power-play opportunities. Lai emphasized the importance of staying out of the box, while Ontario only had one penalty the entire match. 

“So, one of the keys going into today's game and going forward is we're not, we're not going to play the other team's game,” said Lai. “We're going to play our game, and stay out of the box, and we're not gonna let anybody change that.”

The final period is when the game became tight, as the intensity of the match was picked up from the opening face-off draw. 

As both sides looked for more goals, it was Long Beach who struck first in under four minutes of play, and then found the equalizer just four minutes after that. 

In just seven minutes of play the score was all tied up at 3-3. 

Both Ontario and Long Beach created more chances in their respective zones, but weren’t able to convert, as we were headed into overtime with the score after regulation remaining at 3-3. 

The Jr. Reign entered the overtime period with a man-advantage due to a Bombers penalty that carried over from the third period. 

As there was just a few seconds left on the power play, Demelo ripped a shot from the slot. The rebound found the stick of Lai as he had a wide open left side of the net, for him to put away the game winning goal. 

Only 38 seconds of overtime play was needed, as the Jr. Reign escaped with two points in a 4-3 win. 

“It's good to come out with a win, but I think we have a lot that we could have done better there,”said Demelo. “Have to give them credit, they played a good game, but I think we are better than that.” 

Hicks made 25 saves on 28 shots faced while Demelo ended the night with three points, as well as Lai finishing with a goal and assist as well. 

The Ontario Jr. Reign won’t have a home game for a while, as their next match up is away against the Long 

Beach Bombers, on Friday Dec. 13. From there the OJR boys travel to Las Vegas, for the USPHL Las Vegas showcases with four straight games from Dec. 18 - Dec. 21. You can catch all the action on FloHockey.tv.  

With that being said, tickets are on sale now for the next home game against the Fresno Monsters. That game takes place on Jan. 11 at the Center Ice Arena, with a 8:30pm puck drop. Get your tickets today at Tickets - Ontario Jr Reign