Reign feast on Thunderbirds, take series 2-1

The USPHL Ontario Jr. Reign welcomed back the Las Vegas Thunderbirds for a three-game series in Ontario. The series began on Friday, December 9 with both teams in the race for the top seed of the Pacific division. Aidan Turner wasted no time to put the Jr. Reign on the board which brought them to a 1-0 lead a minute and eight seconds into the game. The Thunderbirds decided to stop the momentum as they scored and tied the game ten seconds later. What seemed like would end a high-scoring game did not see any scoring after that until the third period where Ivan Kedrov broke the tie to put the Jr. Reign up 2-1. That ultimately proved to be the game-winning goal as the Jr. Reign won the game 2-1.

Saturday saw two teams anxious for more action which is exactly what happened. Jacob Pelletier continued the fast scoring as he scored a minute and a half into the game which was followed by the Thunderbirds tying it at 1, three minutes after. Max Kathol and Ivan Kedrov wanted more as they each netted a goal to put the Jr. Reign up 3-1. The Thunderbirds were not going to quit there as they scored on a power play in the second period to cut the Jr. Reign lead to 3-2. Unfortunately for the Jr. Reign, the momentum had shifted to Las Vegas as they scored 2 unanswered goals in the third period to win the game 4-3 and tie the series one apiece.

Sunday saw a disappointed but determined team looking for some momentum. The Thunderbirds opened the scoring with a goal in each of the first and second periods to put the Jr. Reign down 2-0. Ivan Kedrov had an answer with his third goal of the series seventeen seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1. Shortly into the third period, Las Vegas found the back of the net once again to lead 3-1 which seemed very familiar to the Jr. Reign. They just needed a spark which was started by Chase Fraser to open their scoring in the third to put them down by one. Max Kathol knew what had to be done as he netted 2 goals shortly after to put the Jr. Reign in the lead at 4-3. That proved to be enough to not only win the Jr. Reign the game but the series.

The Jr. Reign got back on track against Las Vegas but their eyes are already focused on this weekend as they welcome their rival from down South, the San Diego Sabers for a Friday night matchup on December 16th.