Power Plays and Hat-Tricks: all around dominant performance earn OJR 6 points

Coming off a tough bout with the Fresno Monsters, the Ontario Jr. Reign looked to get back on track with three games in three days. The OJR resurged and displayed their dominance in back-to-back games with the Bakersfield Roughnecks and the Ventura Vikings. In those three games, the Jr. Reign outscored their opponents 25-4, earning them a six point weekend. 

Ryan Hicks got his eighth start of the season for the game-one road trip against the Roughnecks. 

The power play units got the scoring started as Jesiah Bennett assisted both Luke Cannon and Denver Craig to put the Jr. Reign ahead, 2-0 in the first period. 

In the second period, Bryn Studney-Amos found the back of the net in just under eight minutes of play. It was being at the right place at the right time for Studney-Amos as a rebound from a shot by Craig, fell to his stick for the putback.  

Bennett penciled his name on the scoresheet just a few minutes later by forcing a turnover in the Roughnecks defensive zone and beating the goalie to the five-hole.  

With just over two minutes remaining, Carter Demelo scored his 11th goal of the season, with some brilliant passes from Christopher Lai and Bennett, to put the score at 5-0 heading into the second intermission. 

Both Craig and Demelo acquired their second goal of the night in under two minutes of play. Craig got his score directly off a face-off that was poorly cleared, sending home a wrist shot from the left circle. While Demelo picked up the puck in the neutral zone, danced around two Roughnecks defenders, and placed the puck right into the roof of the net. 

With exactly 13 minutes remaining Craig netted his hat-trick by using his speed and beating a Bakersfield defender to an iced puck, as he deked the keeper to place the puck across the goal line.   

Within the final seconds of regulation, Morry Sheynin and Amir Shakirov earned themselves a point on their OJR debut. Shakirov found Sheynin from the neutral zone as he rifled a shot from the left circle to end the game with a final score of 9-0. 

Shakirov is no stranger to the Jr. Reign ,as he has played 76 games under the OJR banner between 2022-2024, totaling 51 points. 

When called upon, Hicks delivered, stopping all 22 shots he faced and earning himself and the Jr. Reign defensemen their third shutout of the season. Meanwhile, Bennett, Demelo, and Craig each tallied four points.

Being back at home for game two with the Roughnecks saw the return of Domenik McInenly for his seventh start of the season, after being out due to injury since late October. 

“I thought the game was good, it was nice to be back after injury,” McInenly said.

The first period was a rinse and repeat from game one, as a brace from Demelo put Ontario ahead 2-0 all while on the power play.  

Craig opened the scoring in the second period in just over seven minutes of play after he and Jack Forrester produced a give-and-go, leaving Craig a wide open net. 

The Roughnecks did respond with a power-play goal of their own as they capitalized off a scramble in front of the net to make the score 3-1. 

The score didn’t last long. Less than a minute later, Craig drove to the net, collected his own rebound ,and squeaked the puck past the goaltender’s pad.  

Meanwhile, Demelo secured his hat-trick just 11 seconds later directly off the face-off, as Bennett sauced a pass to the backdoor, leading to a one-timer.  

The Jr. Reign ended the second period with a score of 5-1.  

Bakersfield didn’t surrender quite yet, as a rebound found the stick of a Roughnecks attacker with under 12 minutes remaining in the final period. 

Studney-Amos put the game away with his fifth of the season off a scramble in front of the net making the final score read 6-2.  

McInenly saved 23 of the 25 shots faced, giving him his sixth win of the season. While Craig’s four points in game two pushed him past the 70-point mark for the season.  

“It was really nice to see all the guys flowing together through all the lines, just getting the job done,” McInenly said. 

Hicks was back in the blue paint for game three against the Ventura Vikings, in hopes of having a two-win weekend.    

Demelo continued his hot streak into the first period within the first minute, as he found the back of the net by putting back a rebounded shot from Caiden Stratychuck. 

Less than two minutes later Tyler Huston sounded the goal horn after he and Mason Geng created a two-on-one opportunity, where Huston deked the goalie and slid the puck across the goal line.  With over 17 minutes remaining in the first period, the Jr. Reign had a 2-0 lead.  

“I felt like I knew I was gonna get one today, and I worked hard and got rewarded well with it,” Huston said.  

Just after the halfway point in the period, it became Demelo’s showcase, as he scored three more goals, including two power-play goals, giving him four points in the first period. 

Ontario had a commanding 5-0 lead heading into the first intermission, with four of the goals coming from 44.

“I mean, just trying to build off what we've built the last couple day,” Demelo said. “And, the puck was finding me and ended up in the back of the net.”  

Eddie Cochrane added the Jr. Reign’s sixth goal from a tight angle on the right side of the net as the goaltender couldn’t hold on to the puck. Followed by a short-handed goal less than two minutes later by Studney-Amos to make the score 7-0.  

“ A lot of guys are working hard out there to get these goals and it’s nice to see,” Huston said. 

The Jr. Reign ranks among the top three teams in the USPHL with 18 short-handed goals.

Ventura did pull two goals back while on the power play, while Shakirov responded with a power-play goal of his own. As “Shak” shot a rocket from just inside the blue line that found the top left corner of the net to make the score 8-2. 

Cannon went on to end the second period with a goal of his own, as he capitalized off a loose puck in front of the net.

The third period was much calmer than the previous two as the only action was a shot on target from Boucher that was redirected by Huston into the goal for Ontario to break double digits.  

“A lot of guys put the puck in the back of the net, so its good to see scoring come from all lines, because we’ll need it come playoffs,” Demelo said. 

The rest of the third period was skated out as the final scoreboard read 10-2. 

Hicks earned his seventh win of the season, stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced. Demlo capped off the weekend with four goals and an assist, while Boucher contributed three assists to finish with three points.

Demelo’s nine goals and three assists, as well as Shakirov’s goal and four assists earned them USPHL Pacific Division players of the week. 

“ We got a good group here that we think can make a push to get to nationals, so we keep working every day in practice and in workouts and we're gonna get there,” said Demelo. 

The Ontario Jr. Reign are on the road for the next two weeks, which include a game on Saturday Jan. 25, at 8pm against the Ventura Vikings. Followed by a weekend series with the Lake Tahoe Lakers from Jan. 31- Feb. 2. You can keep up to date and watch those games on Flohockey.tv 

The Jr. Reign do return to home ice on Friday Feb. 7 at 8:45 pm and Saturday Feb. 8 at 8:30 pm for a two game series with the Fresno Monsters. Be at the Center Ice Arena as you wouldn’t want to miss this highly anticipated showdown. Tickets are on sale now at Tickets - Ontario Jr Reign.