GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT REIGN
Oct 12, 2024SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (0-0-0-0) vs ONTARIO REIGN (0-0-0-0)
SAT., OCT. 12 | 6:00 P.M. | TOYOTA ARENA | ONTARIO, CA
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Reigning It In: The Barracuda kick off their 10th season this Saturday night with back-to-back games against the Ontario Reign (LA Kings affiliate). Last season, the Barracuda struggled, going 0-6-1-1 against Ontario, including 0-2-1-1 at the Toyota Arena. Ontario, who finished third in the Pacific Division in 2023-24 with a 42-23-3-4 record, reached the Division Finals before being swept 3-0 by the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Open Case: Historically, the Barracuda are 3-5-1 in season openers and 1-3 on the road. Against Ontario, they hold a 1-1 record in season openers but are 0-1 at the Toyota Arena, notably losing 5-0 there to start the 2019-20 season.
The New Guys: Of the 27 players on the Barracuda’s opening night roster, 10 were not on the team a year ago (Colin Graf, Kasper Halttunen, Andrew Poturalski, Colin White, Luca Cagnoni, Jake Furlong, Braden Hache, Joey Keane, Jimmy Schuldt, Yaroslav Askarov) and five players appeared in less than 10 games last season for the Barracuda (Filip Bystedt, Luke Grainger, Donavan Houle, Mitchell Russell, Lucas Vanroboys).
Hot Pot: The Sharks signed two-time Calder Cup Champion Andrew Poturalski to a two-year contract in July. Poturalski finished the 2023-24 season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, collecting 51 points (15+36=51), a plus-eight rating and a team-high nine power-play goals. The New Hampshire alumni has played in the AHL finals in each of the last three seasons and four of the past six.
Reign Report: TJ Tynan, Ontario’s leading scorer for the past three seasons, signed with the Colorado Avalanche this summer. Tynan, the AHL’s MVP in 2021-22, led the league in assists in each of his three years with the Reign, including 84 assists during his MVP season.
Marco Polo: Former Shark’ Marco Sturm returns as the head coach of the Reign in 2024-25, his third with the team. In two seasons in the AHL, Sturm has guided Ontario to the playoffs both years, going 76-55-8-5. Prior to his time with the Reign, the German coach spent four years with the Kings as an assistant under Todd McLellan.
Cuda Killer: A year ago, Reign forward Sam Fagemo finished with 16 points (11+5=16) in seven games against the Barracuda, collecting all 16 points in five of the seven games. Fagemo notched a pair of hat-tricks against San Jose which included a five-point game (3+2=5) on Feb. 27, 2024.