Gaunce Lifts Reign over Grand Rapids in Overtime
March 27, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
Cameron Gaunce scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime to vault the Ontario Reign (35-14-4-3) past the Grand Rapids Griffins (27-27-6-2) by a final score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena. Vladimir Tkachev led the way with three assists in the win for Ontario, the team's third victory in four contests against Grand Rapids this season.
Samuel Fagemo and Thomas Hickey also got on the board for the Reign, while Aidan Dudas picked up two assists and goaltender Matt Villalta earned the win with 24 saves. Ontario continues to hold second place in the AHL's Pacific Division with a points percentage of 0.688.
Fagemo opened the scoring with his 21st goal of the season during a power play opportunity at 13:39 of the first. His strike came off a pass by forward TJ Tynan and had a second assist from Tkachev.
Grand Rapids evened the game at 1-1 on a power play goal by Jonatan Berggren at 4:16 of the second, cashed in off a pass by Riley Barber.
Ontario went back in front on a goal by Gaunce at 15:42 of the second. Tkachev found the defender with a drop pass from the high slot and after his first shot on net was stopped, Gaunce chipped home the rebound for his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-1.
Moments later, a turnover by Grand Rapids in their own zone led to the first goal of Hickey's Reign career. During 4-on-4 play, Tkachev intercepted a pass and fed Hickey who was open near the crease for a redirect into the net. The goal, which came at 17:10 of the second was just 1:28 after Gaunce's strike and had Ontario in front, 3-1.
But Dominik Shine, who had been in the penalty box during 4-on-4 play, exited the sin bin and immediately got one back for the Griffins before the end of the frame to make it a 3-2 game at the second intermission.
The Griffins tied the game at 3-3 and forced overtime on a late strike by Dan Renouf at 16:40 of the third after an extended shift in the Ontario end.
But the Reign dominated the extra session, earning all four shots on goal in OT. Gaunce's winning tally came on a rebound after Grand Rapids goaltender Victor Brattstrom made a save on an initial chance from forward Taylor Ward. Gaunce waited until the puck was underneath the crossbar before batting it into the net to end the game.
The Reign had a 29-27 edge in shots on goal during the contest. Brattstrom stopped 25 of the attempts in a losing effort, while Ontario ended at 1-for-5 on the power play and Grand Rapids finished 1-for-4 on the man-advantage.
Chris Hajt
On the team's impressive overtime period
That was one of the best overtimes we've had just for the reason of recognizing opportunities to make good plays, take time and space away from the other team, being second on the puck quickly, or just our assignments in general. We had a quick-up mentality after that and some unbelievable opportunities, and obviously we're thrilled that Gauncer used his baseball skills to get one in. Happy for him because he played an outstanding game as well and he's really inspiring for our team.
On Cameron Gaunce's impact in the game
He's a very intelligent player. He jumps in at the right times and definitely has a knack for the offensive side of things. He came up for us today and had some really nice plays and had some great chances as well, where he just picks his spots. He doesn't necessarily lead the rush but just slides in there and makes a really good play. He was huge for us tonight.
On what tonight's win means moving forward
Anytime you win in your own barn, its huge. Coming down the stretch, we want to round out our game. We want to make sure we're playing the right way and finding ways to win, which is always important. It's not always going to be an unbelievable game structurally or just in general with your team and how they play, but its just as important to find a way to win. We did today. There were a lot of good efforts by Matt Villalta and Vladimir Tkachev and guys like that.
Cameron Gaunce
On his game-winning goal in overtime
In the defensive zone, I thought I had a pretty good stick on #48 and Dudas did a really good job of setting quickly. That's something we've been working on 5-on-5 in practice, so for him to put that into our 3-on-3 play shows a lot about the reads he's been making lately. Once that happened, we went on a 2-on-1. Their guy did a great job of backchecking so he was able to hit Ward late. Then I just saw the puck. I thought he was going to score. It went off the glass and I figured I'd wait and try to bat it in, or I figured it would end up behind the net, which would give me a second to get back anyway. It just happened to come back out and I batted it with one hand. Did I expect it to go in? Probably not, but I was still able to get it and I'm very grateful for it.
On the team's strong defensive effort in overtime
I think our forwards did a very good job of recognizing the speed, taking the speed [players], and leaving us [defensemen] certain players. If a forward has the puck, predominately we like the defensemen to play them 1-on-1 because usually teams are looking for that. They're trying to leave the zone and isolate one of our forwards, or one of the other teams forwards. The forwards being patient with their guys and letting [Grand Rapids'] forwards come to us, allowed us to have a better gap. They had to then make reads off of us.
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