OJR conclude regular season with seven game win streak

In the final week of the regular season, the Ontario Jr. Reign aimed to finish strongly with back-to-back games against the Bakersfield Roughnecks, followed by a season finale against the Colorado Fighting Elk. The Jr. Reign continued their strong run collecting six points.  

Josh Henson got the game one start, making it his 14th appearance on Billet Appreciation Night. 

The opening period featured nonstop action with no penalties until Teleios Zermeno capitalized on a rebound from a Christopher Lai shot to open the scoring, with just over two minutes remaining. 

However, Bakersfield responded in the second period, leveling the score at 1-1 within the first five minutes. 

From there on out, it was all about the Jr. Reign on both sides of the ice. 

The forecheck was essential for Ontario, as it created four unanswered goals for the home side. Matteo Pero continued his hot streak with two goals, one of which was on the power play, continued with a goal by Mason Geng and concluded by a Morry Sheynin power-play goal in the dying seconds.  

“We just go at them hard because we know we go at the other team's defense hard, they're gonna turn the puck over, so we're moving our boots and just hitting hard, and I think that's what made our forecheck special,” Geng said. 

After 40 minutes of play the score was a lopsided 5-1 for the home side. 

The scoring continued into the last period as Ethan Fraser scored his eighth goal of the season while on the power-play, in just three minutes. Fraser has carved a niche for himself as a net front specialist.  

The Roughnecks pulled one back while short-handed to make the score 6-2.

Ontario responded with three more unanswered goals, two by way of Geng, to complete his hat-trick, and the final goal by the captain Jesiah Bennett within the final seconds of the match. 

The final score read 9-2, for the Ontario Jr. Reign. 

Henson answered the call when he needed to as he saved 22 of the 24 shots he faced for his eighth win of the season. 

Ontario headed to Bakersfield for game two, which would be their last road game of the regular season. 

Ryan Hicks started in the blue paint for his 13th appearance and in search of his 10th win.

It was the Samuel Delaquis show early on, scoring a power-play goal from a rebound in the opening two minutes. 

The Roughnecks did level the match just after the halfway point in the period, which caused Ontario to go on a scoring spree. 

Grant Coylendall, Lai and Sheynin all scored within the last six minutes of the period to give the visitors a 4-1 lead. 

The second period was one sided as the Jr. Reign continued the offensive pressure. 

Delaquis completed his hat-trick with two power-play goals in the latter half of the period. First was a wide open back door goal that was assisted by a centering pass from Pero. While Sheynin found  Delaquis once more on the backside of the net for an easy tap-in and the 6-1 lead.  

“It's just at this point, it's part of what we do special teams and all we want to finish top of the league in both power play and penalty killing,” Geng said. 

Geng and Fraser found the back of the net in the late part of the final period before Bakersfield scored a consolation goal to end the game 8-2. 

Hicks the southpaw, secured his 10th win of the season. While Delaquis and the power play units were perfect going 3-3. 

The final home game of the season against the Colorado Fighting Elk saw the return of Henson in net. He didn’t have much to do as the boys in front of him only allowed 10 shots on goal which were all turned aside. Assistant captain Henson ended the season with the team’s seventh shutout. 

Goaltending and commitment to defensive excellence led to the OJR boasts the divisions best goals against record. 

OJR leading point scorer Denver Craig opened the scoring with a power-play goal within four minutes. Followed by another tally by Geng just three minutes later. All the while, defenseman Amir Shakirov netted his second of the season to end the first period. 

The Jr. Reign piled on four more goals before the midway point of the second period, including a power-play goal from Pero and another from Carter Demelo.

Alec Boucher and Delaquis joined the scoresheet, while Coylendall sealed the final regular-season goal, using his speed to outpace a Fighting Elk defender and fire a glove-side shot past the goaltender, securing a 10-0 victory. 

Head coach and general manager Jeremy Blumes summarized his thoughts of the 2024-2025 season. 

“this season has been a bit of a roller coaster, many highs and a few lows, during the lows is when the learning takes place.” Blumes continued  “These guys love being together and working together on a daily basis, there is a lot of love in that room. Where we're at now, we're prepared to have a really strong postseason, building off of all the learning that's taken place since training camp.”

OJR ended the regular season with a record of 33-11-2. 

Now the Ontario Jr. Reign take a  postseason road trip for a best of three game series with the Lake Tahoe Lakers. Game one will be on Friday, March 7 at 7:30 pm followed by game two on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 pm. If necessary game three will take place on Sunday, March 9 at 12pm. All the action can be seen on Flo Hockey.tv. 

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