LOS ANGELES -- Resilient.
The word Ontario Reign captain Joe Hicketts used to describe this year’s team.
“We pushed (until) the end,” Hicketts said in postgame interviews. “I’ll give this group a lot of credit. We were able to battle and fight back. At the end of the day it’s a shitty feeling. But proud of where we came from. You look at the start of the season to now. We took a lot of strides.”
The Reign ended their season with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the San Jose Barracuda Saturday night in Los Angeles. Losing the first two games in a best-of-three series in the first round of the AHL Playoffs to send them to the offseason.
“We battled,” Hicketts said. “But I don’t think we put forth our best product and (we) put ourselves in a tough spot tonight.”
With the first two games being played at Crypto.com Arena instead of their home, Toyota Arena - things felt off both games.
“I feel so bad,” coach Marco Sturm said. “I want them (the fans) to know, the guys tried everything. We didn’t play our game but they tried everything to bring that game back to Ontario on Monday night. Because we felt like we had a good connection this year. I thought overall the crowd was better than (it had) ever been. And we wanted to bring it back. So thank you, even for showing up again today, it means a lot to us.”
Hicketts said that although it was a big building at Crypto Arena, the team was still able to hear and see the energy and excitement the fans brought. And the team appreciated it.
San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov had 29 saves while Ontario goalie Pheonix Copley had 23.
“I felt like I was playing well, I was seeing the puck well,” Copley said. “The guys were doing a great job in front of me. It was very tight defensively. We've battled really hard and it's unfortunate we weren’t able to win either game. But I felt defensively we were playing really well, we were playing really structured. We just couldn’t get any traction.”
The opening period was complementary to the first 20 minutes of Game 1. Neither team scored, but there were multiple penalties.
After the last game, Coach Sturm emphasized the team’s need to be disciplined when it comes to penalties - with five first period penalties, the lack of emotional self-control was prevalent, but understandable given the circumstances.
Ontario had one thing that went well for them during the second period. Their discipline prevailed and they didn’t commit any penalties.
But every other aspect of the game during period two? Unfortunate - to say the least.
The Reign couldn’t score, had trouble connecting on passes and although the effort was there, the play-making ability was not.
Even with three power play opportunities in period two, Ontario couldn’t find the back of the net.
Anthony Vincent scored 7:40 into the second with an assist from Colin White to put San Jose up 1-0.
Hicketts said the message going into the third period was to believe, they had made comebacks before and planned to do it again.
“I thought the third period was our best period,” coach Sturm said. “We made a push, we made small little adjustments and the guys were into it.”
Six minutes into the final period, Martin Chromiak netted a goal with assists from Glenn Gawdin and Caleb Jones to even the score.
“We came close,” Hicketts said. “We were one shot away. We were able to tie it up and at the end of the day it’s tough to win (by) only scoring one goal in this league. But again, credit to (Copley) he did a heck of a job keeping it at two (goals) both games.”
Collin Graf scored the game-winning goal for San Jose to give them the 2-1 lead with 2:58 remaining in the game.
“These guys played so well for 72 games,” coach Sturm said. “Really well, exactly the way we wanted. Finished strong, had home ice advantage, you couldn’t ask for anything more. We lost a lot of guys too. It didn’t matter who was in, who was out, who was with the (Los Angeles) Kings, who (wasn’t). Guys kept going and that’s why it was a good group.”
Coach Sturm said he felt like the team that played the last two games wasn’t the same team that played the first 72.
“I saw it, we felt it,” coach Sturm said. “Crypto (Arena) was just for us - a bad experience. And it was something new for us. We were hoping it would turn into our advantage but it totally went the other way. And we missed our home. We missed Ontario and we tried. I think everyone tried today as much as they (could) to bring it back to Ontario, (because) I know we would have won that (game)...But it hurts. Because it wasn’t the same team.”
Sturm said this was a learning experience and players have to learn how to deal with playing in different environments.
As the postgame interviews were filled with red, glossy eyes - the melancholy was felt. Not only for the season ending so abruptly, but for the fans that never got a true playoff home game in Ontario.
“Thank you for your support,” Hicketts said. “It means a lot, seeing that (Ontario) building full. Sorry we couldn’t drag it back there for Monday night.”