Early Lead Evaporates in Reign Setback
Published on October 30, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
The Ontario Reign (4-2-1-0) fell to the Henderson Silver Knights (5-1-1-0) Wednesday night by a final score of 6-2 in front of 1,867 fans at Lee's Family Forum. The Reign will be in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 31st taking on the Barracuda at 7 p.m.
The Reign took a 2-0 leading as Aatu Jämsen and Jared Wright scored 31 seconds apart from one another. The Silver Knights pulled within one late in the first period and then rattled off three unanswered goals in a span of 2:27 in the opening five minutes of the second period taking a 4-2 lead. In the front half of the third period, they Braeden Bowman potted a pair in 3:39 increasing the lead to 6-2.
Ontario led 2-1 after the first period with shots favoring Henderson 12-8 in a penalty free frame. Aatu Jämsen(2nd) gave the Reign a 1-0 lead with a highlight reel tally setup by Jack Hughes at 9:42. Hughes won a puck battle at the left side of the blue line and flipped the puck to Jämsen who darted to the middle of the offensive zone with speed. He worked the puck from his back hand to his forehand blowing by the defender and from the top of the crease lifted a backhand shot over the left shoulder of Whitehead. Just 31 seconds later Jared Wirght (2nd) increased the lead to 2-0 from Andre Lee and Kenny Connors. Right out of the media timeout in the right circle Connors won an offensive zone face-off back to Lee at the top of the circle. Lee's shot was turned aside by the left shoulder of Whitehead with the rebound dropping down near the crease. Wright kicked the puck from his left skate to his blade and sent a back hand shot past the right leg of Whitehead. Henderson got on the board with 3:52 left in the period when Kai Uchaz buried home a loose puck in the crease.
Despite outshooting the Silver Knights 14-6 in the second period it would be the home team potting three goals in the frame as Henderson led 4-2 through 40 minutes of play. Ben Hemmerling tied the game at 2-2 with a shot at the top of the crease on a setup behind the goal line from Tanner Laczynski. Then 1:19 later Tuomas Uronen gave the Silver knights a 3-2 lead with a low wrist shot from the right circle past the right leg of Copley. Dylan Coughlan made it a 4-2 advantage on a slapshot from the right circle at 4:09.
Braeden Bowman scored a pair of goals in a span of goals in a span of 3:39 in the third period with his first at 3:52 and his second at 7:31 to make it a 6-2 lead. Ontario outshot Henderson 11-6 in the frame.
Pheonix Copley made 18 saves on 24 shots in the loss while Cameron Whitehead made 31 saves on 33 shots in the win.
Postgame reactions from Andrew Lord.
What his team can learn from the loss
A lot. Yeah, we need to, obviously, really good start first 12 minutes. How we play? We were connected, simple. I think we were hard to play against. Credit to their energy line there, they got a big goal to get them on the board later in the first period. That really got them going. I thought we just took too long to respond. You know, the first six or seven minutes of the second was pretty ugly. They obviously get a couple there on some turnovers below the goal line, play on the second goal, and then it just again, took us too long, about the last, you know, seven or eight minutes of the second was good, more our way. It was unfortunate that that got him shot, didn't go in, you know, I think it was double post, or whatever it was, that may have, may have, really got us going. And then the fifth one, obviously, in the third really killed us off more or less. So yeah, lot of lessons. We definitely need to be back to our consistent 60 minute ways from this previous weekend, and we're going to need that Friday.
On offensive chances
Yeah I mean, I think the chances were decent. You know, they do a really good job in desperation mode. Whether it's a long body, a good stick on Puck, they blocked a lot of shots. You know, their goaltender was really solid as well. So I just it wasn't a 60 minute performance that we've had in the last couple games where we really were relentless. You know that late first into the second, you can't, you can't give him a four, two lead, and they're just too good of a team.
On Angus Booth's season debut
Yeah, huge to get him back, obviously, will take some time. It's an extended period off, and it was five or six weeks off, so but, you know, really good signs early. Took some hits to make plays. You know, solid out of his own zone. Defending was pretty good too. So he's a big piece to get back in our lineup.
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