In just the second time in the team's history, the Los Angeles Kings AHL affiliate the Ontario Reign have won the Pacific Division title for this regular season.
OT win over Coachella Valley delivers Pacific Division title to Ontario Reign this regular season this past weekend
This past weekend on Saturday (April 11), the Reign defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds by a score of 3-2 in the extra frame in overtime in front of the eyes of a packed out crowd of over 8,000 fans at Acrisure Arena. It only took forward Glenn Gawdin under a minute on the scoreboard (just 17 seconds) into the extra frame in overtime to deliver the clutch game-winning goal on the ice for the Reign to beat the Firebirds a couple of days ago last weekend.
Forwards Koehn Zimmer and Martin Chromiak scored the game's other two goals on the scoreboard for the Reign in the overtime win in the extra frame over the Firebirds. The win over the Firebirds on the scoreboard this past weekend didn't come without a challenge, though, on the ice. Coachella Valley fought back in the final frame in the third period and in the middle frame after being down 2-0 on the scoreboard early in the game a couple of days ago.
It is the first time in roughly a decade (since the 2015-16 season) that the Reign in the AHL have won the Pacific Division crown in the regular season. This is also just the second time in the history of the Reign organization that they've won the Pacific Division.
The win over Coachella Valley this past weekend on Saturday in the extra frame in overtime made it essentially mathematically impossible for any other team in the Pacific Division to lock up the division crown and get the No. 1 seed for the first-round bye in the playoffs this spring in the month of April.
"It's just the regular season. I mean, we're all in it for the playoffs. We're all in it to go on a long run. I'm very proud of what the guys have accomplished. They put a ton of work in. They put their bodies on the line every night, and I do think it gives us a really good chance at success. But ultimately, that's all it is. And now, the real season starts."Andrew Lord
Reign head coach Andrew Lord was proud and confident in the way his team fought on the ice after the win over the Firebirds on Saturday to win the Pacific Division crown.
The Reign will host the San Diego Gulls and Abbotsford Canucks in back-to-back games this upcoming weekend on Friday (April 17) and Saturday (April 18).