Ontario Reign: Three Stars of the Week 1/27 – 2/2

Another week has passed, and its time for our Three Stars of the Week honors for the Ontario Reign , who went 3-0-0 in three games.

Before we name the three stars, lets quickly recap the last weeks three games for the Reign.

4-2 loss to Colorado Jack Studnicka gave the Reign a 1-0 lead 26 seconds into the contested but ended the opening period in a 1-1 tie as Eagles defenseman Jacob MacDonald would get the equalizer nearly 12 minutes later.

Momentum in this game shifted to the Eagles side with five minutes left in the first period, which carried over into the second.

The second period has been the Reigns worst enemy, and it was again in this game with Colorado scoring three goals in the frame, two of them being self-inflicted by the Reign.

A Shwan Elemnt turnover and a bad change by Reilly Walsh led to breakaway goals for the visitors on their first and third goals in the frame.

Martin Chromiak would score a power-play goal on a deflection in the final 20 seconds of the third period to make the final score 4-2.

One before the buzzer couldnt hurt? #ReignTrain I #COLvsONT pic.twitter.com/18RHc6eRMX Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) January 30, 2025 2-1 win over Tucson There wasnt much scoring in this game.

Remember when I said the second period had been the Reigns enemy this season? Well, it turns out it was their friend in this game.

Jack Studnicka and Charles Hudon scored two odd-man rush goals 39 seconds apart in the middle frame, which was all they needed.

Egor Sokolov scored a power-play goal in the third period for Tucson to trim the Reign lead in half, 2-1, but Pheonix Copley and the Reign defense buckled down after to hang on for the victory.

HUDS 4 2 #ReignTrain | #ONTvsTUC pic.twitter.com/GnUZX0hBcS Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 1, 2025 5-4 SO win over Tucson A wild game is what this contest was.

The Reign led 4-1 with under nine minutes to play, but the Roadrunners battled back to tie the game at four with three goals in a span of 7:10 to force overtime.

Luckily for the Reign, they would survive and win in a shootout by scoring on both of their shot attempts, and Tucson being unsuccessful on both of their attempts due to an Erik Portillo save and a missed shot.

pic.twitter.com/b4EynINmis Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 The Reign have been excellent in third periods, but they let a three-goal lead slip away in this game.

Also, they committed nine(!) penalties, which saw them commit five in a row in the second period alone and have to kill a five-on-three on three separate occasions.

Penalties have been a problem at times throughout the year and they almost lost the game because of it.

Credit to the penalty kill units going 8-for-9 on the night for the Reign.

Third star Jeff Malott Stat line: Three games played, two goals, zero assists, three points, +1 rating, five shots on goal, one shootout goal Jeff Malott is this weeks third star with two goals and a shootout goal in the Reigns 5-4 victory over the Tucson Roadrunners .

Malotts two-goal game was his first non-empty-net goal since January 15th against the Abbotsford Canucks, which was a power-play goal.

In other words, an eight-game stretch.

The trio of Malott, Charles Hudon , and Glenn Gawdin has been the Reigns most productive line this season, but Marco Sturm broke that trio up in their 2-1 win over Tucson to shake up the lines.

Malotts first goal in the second game against Tucson came at five-on-five, moments after a power play expired, the first five-on-five goal from a first-line player since January 14th (nine games) against Abbotsford.

Lets see if that can wake up the first line and get them back to playing the way they have for most of the season.

Gawdin & Malott make it #3 for the #ReignTrain !!! #ONTVsTUC pic.twitter.com/dlmYnBLmT1 Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 NOW MALOTT WONT STOP!! #ReignTrain | #ONTvsTUC pic.twitter.com/rJCM5JYxsj Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 JEFF MALOTT & GLENN GAWDIN FOR THE #REIGNTRAIN SHOOTOUT WIN! pic.twitter.com/CABUSd78NB Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 Second star Taylor Ward Stat line: Three games played, two goals, one assist, three points, +2 rating, seven shots on goal Taylor Ward is this weeks second star, posting two goals and one assist for three points.

Ward recorded a primary assist in the Reigns 4-2 loss to the Colorado Eagles on Jack Studnickas goal and scored two goals in the second game against Tucson against his former teammate, Matthew Villalta .

Ward has quietly recorded seven points (5 G, 2 A) in his last seven games.

The forward has also formed great chemistry on a line with Studnicka and Andre Lee .

Sturm has used that line to matchup and shutdown the opposing teams best line and the trio has also been Ontarios best line offensively of late.

TAYLOR TIES IT !! #ReignTrain | #ONTvsTUC pic.twitter.com/mCLidZ0JKq Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 WARDO WONT STOP!! #ReignTrain | #ONTvsTUC pic.twitter.com/eqey40UlPb Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 2, 2025 First star Jack Studnicka Stat line: Three games played, two goals, two assists, four points, -1 rating, six shots on goal Jack Studnicka is this weeks first star, leading the Reign with four points (2 G, 2 A) during the week.

Studnicka recorded two points in the game against the Eagles, a goal in the first game against Tucson, and a secondary assist in the second game against Tucson.

He has been Ontarios best forward for the last two weeks.

Studnicka is fast and arguably Ontarios greatest puck carrier on zone entries.

As mentioned earlier, Sturm has used his line to shut down the oppositions best at five-on-five, but theyve also provided offense at five-on-five, too.

Since being put together on a line for the last nine games, the trio of Studnicka, Lee, and Ward have scored six goals at five-on-five when all three are on the ice together; all of them have come within the last seven games.

When two of the three players have been on the ice (not all three), that number goes up to eight goals.

All three have seen a slight increase in offensive production since being put on the same line.

Studnicka has eight points (4 G, 4 A) in his last seven games and has been used on the second power-play unit and one of the penalty kill units for the Reign.

He has been one of Sturms most reliable and trusted forwards, and I dont expect that to change as we head into the final stretch of the regular season.

Jack Studnicka: What if we just started winning immediately? #ReignTrain I #COLvsONT pic.twitter.com/a5UgaUbdmb Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) January 30, 2025 KRYGS + STUDS = #ReignTrain | #ONTvsTUC pic.twitter.com/ydSu26TJyF Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) February 1, 2025 Studs said Fly, Eagle Fly! #ReignTrain | @NetworkAccident pic.twitter.com/JcpOtsKJCz Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) January 30, 2025 NOTE: *The Reign are scheduled to play one game this upcoming week, so there will be no Three Stars of the Week.

The segment will resume for the week of 2/10 2/16.

This article first appeared on Hockey Royalty and was syndicated with permission..

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