Larocque-Wolfe and Lai Lead OJR to Victory

The Ontario Jr Reign (19-5-0-1) defeated the Bakersfield Roughnecks (11-7-1-1) by a score of 5-3  thanks to big performances from Chris Lai and Kaedin Larocque-Wolfe. The win puts the Jr Reign 13 games over .500, a new season high. 

The Jr Reign got straight to business as Larocque-Wolfe found the loose puck in front of the net and snuck a shot past the Roughneck goalie an astounding 13 seconds into the game. It turned out to be historically fast as now Larocque-Wolfe holds the franchise record for fastest goal to start a game, as pointed out by Jr Reign play-by-play announcer Steve Granado. 

It was the first goal in two games for the Jr Reign’s most prolific scorer, and he didn’t stop there as he would add two more to finish with his third hat trick of the season. 

The Ontario PK was once again on point in this contest, keeping a very good Roughnecks powerplay scoreless on all four of their attempts. However, Bakersfield would battle back to tie the game 3-3 halfway through the third period. 

From here on out it was the Chris Lai show as he took over where Larocque-Wolfe left off to give the OJR the lead with six minutes remaining in the game. Lai gathered the rebounded shot from Jettson Koch and buried it for the 4-3 lead. 

Lai would put the final nail in the coffin, taking advantage of the empty net from Bakersfield to give Ontario a two-goal cushion in the final two minutes and change. 

Sunday night’s sixth man was Easton Berns, a Jr Reign 10uB squad member, who gave a fiery starting lineup announcement in the Jr Reign dressing room and took the ice with the team for warm-ups. 

As always a big thanks goes out to Bubba’s Tacos and Firewater Cantina for providing the food and drinks! 

Don’t forget Friday, Dec. 15 is the highly anticipated Teddy Bear Toss Night, don’t miss out on your chance to attend and buy your tickets today! 

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