GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT REIGN
Jan 31, 2022SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (14-21-1-0) vs ONTARIO REIGN (22-7-3-2)
MON., JAN. 31 | 7:00 P.M. | TOYOTA ARENA | ONTARIO, CA
LISTEN | WATCH | MEDIA KIT | GAME NOTES
Road Trippin': After falling to the Ontario Reign for the second straight time last Thursday, 7-1, at the SAP Center, the Barracuda travel to Southern California to take on the Reign in the fourth meeting on the six-game season series on Monday. Monday’s game marks the final matchup of three straight against the Kings affiliate and the beginning of a four-game road trip. The Barracuda went 4-0 against the Reign a season ago, but are 0-3 so far this year, getting outscored 18-6. Ontario is coming off a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Stockton Heat, snapping a 10-game point streak (8-0-1-1). The Kings affiliate enters Monday with consecutive wins at home and a seven-game point streak at the Toyota Arena (5-0-1-1). Ontario won 7-4 in the first meeting against the Cuda in SoCal on Dec. 17.
Last Time Out: Despite putting up 40 shots on goal for the second straight game, the Barracuda were outmatched, falling 7-1 to the Reign. Rookie Scott Reedy was the only goal scorer for the Barracuda while T.J Tynan (1+2=3) and Christian Woalin (0+3=3) each notched three points apiece. San Jose’s power-play was held off the scoresheet (0-for-five) for the second straight game against the Reign and went two-for-three on the PK.
Reign Report: Reign center-man T.J Tynan, the AHL’s MVP from 2021, ranks second in the AHL in scoring (44), first in assists (36), first in power-play assists (20), and t-first in power-play points (21). Fellow forward Martin Frk is t-fifth in the AHL in scoring (38), t-second in goals (19), and second in power-play goals (9). In addition, forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan is t-third in power-play goals (8) in the AHL. Goaltender Matt Villalta is t-fifth in the league in wins (13), 15th in goals-against average (2.58), and t-12th in save percentage (.913), and rookie defenseman Jordan Spence ranks first among rookie defensemen in scoring (24) and first in power-play assists (13) and power-play points (15). The Reign boast the AHL’s top power-play (27.5%) despite going 0-for-6 in its 2-1 loss at Stockton on Saturday, while the club’s penalty-kill ranks 29thth (75.2%) out of 31 teams but have killed off 11-straight dating back to Jan. 23 vs. Tucson. The Reign are averaging a league-best 3.97 goals-for-per-game but are now 0-5-0-2 when scoring two or fewer goals this season.
800 for Sommer: On Jan. 8, 2022, head coach Roy Sommer picked up AHL victory #800 with a 6-3 win over the Henderson Silver Knights. The Oakland, Calif., native has been behind the bench for 1,711 games in the AHL, going 803-700-48-160 (W-L-T-OTL/SOL) over that span. During the 2015-16 season, the Barracuda’s first in San Jose, Sommer surpassed Fred “Bun” Cook (636 wins) for the most wins in AHL history, notching a 4-2 victory on Feb. 10, 2016, over Ontario. Sommer collected his 700th win on Dec. 3, 2017, at Bakersfield (2-1 W).
Reedy Rolling: Scott Reedy potted the Barracuda’s only goal on Thursday and now has three tallies in three games against the Reign this season and seven points (5+2=7) in five career games against Ontario. The Minnesota alumnus is t-third in the AHL in goals (18), first in power-play goals (10), and first in shooting percentage (32.1). In addition, Reedy has skated in his first five games in the NHL this season with the Sharks.
Blichy Boiling: Joachim Blichfeld’s four-game game point streak (3+1=4) came to an end on Thursday but he still ranks second on the team in scoring (25), goals (14), power-play goals (5), and first in shots (102) and t-first in game-winners (2). The Denmark native is t-seventh in the league in goals (14) and t-sixth in power-play goals (5). Blichfeld, who led the Barracuda a season ago in scoring, is just two tallies shy of his career-high of 16 goals in which he set in 2019-20 as a rookie.
California Dreamin’: Barracuda forwards Jake McGrew, Sasha Chmelevksi and Evan Weinger, and defenseman Keoni Texeira all hail from Southern California. McGrew, Weinger and Texeira even played for the LA Jr. Kings before moving onto the Western Hockey League. Chmelevski who was born in Huntington Beach, moved to Michigan when he was 12 but played for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks before he left the Golden State. Texeira grew up 20 minutes from Toyota Arena in Fontana, CA.