Reign Dominates Coachella Valley, 7-0
AHL Ontario Reign

Reign Dominates Coachella Valley, 7-0

Published on April 2, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release


The Ontario Reign (42-19-3-2) defeated the Coachella Valley Firebirds (37-22-5-0) Wednesday night by a final score of 7-0 in front of 7,007 fans at Acrisure Arena. The Reign will host the Bakersfield Condors Saturday at 6 p.m. PST.

Cole Guttman notched his first professional hat-trick while also adding an assist helping the Reign to their biggest offensive night of the year. Andre Lee tallied four assists while Phoenix Copley picked up his first shutout of the season making 23 saves for his fourth straight win now having won seven of his last eight games.

Ontario led 1-0 after the first period outshooting Coachella Valley 13-3 as each team went 0-for-1 on the power-play. Cole Guttman (22nd) got the Reign on the board from Andre Lee at 14:50. The Firebirds had possession with their two defenders back behind their blue line. The one defenseman swung the puck over to his left where the defensive partner lost an edge. Guttman moved in on the puck and from the right face-off dot fed Lee all alone in front. Lee went fore-hand backhand, but Kokko made the initial save but Guttman was there to bang home the rebound.

The Reign erupted offensively in the second period scoring four times taking a 5-0 lead into the second intermission. Cole Guttman (23rd) opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the period with his second of the night from Andre Lee and Glenn Gawdin. Through center ice Gawdin sent the puck in deep behind the net where Guttman collected it. From there Guttman dealt it up the wall to the left hash marks for Lee. Then Lee cycled it down to the left corner where Guttman drove it to the top of the circle and snapped a shot short side past Kokko with Gawdin providing the net front screen. Just 1:45 later Joe Hicketts (4th) stretched the lead to 3-0 from Logan Brown and Francesco Pinelli when he blasted a shot from the right point into the top left corner with a screen in front from Aatu Jämsen. Ontario went on their second power-play of the game at 8:44 and Kenny Connors (13th) cashed in 85 seconds into the man advantage from Joe Hicketts and Andre Lee. Francesco Pinelli won the face-off in the right circle and Lee at the dot slid the puck to the right point for Hicketts who pushed it to the left circle for Connors. Above the left face-off dot Connors unleashed a wrist shot off the bar and in making it 4-0. With 2:23 left in the stanza Cole Guttman (24th) completed the hat-trick from Andre Lee. At the offensive blue line Lee raced to the puck and muscled it away from the Firebirds defender and left it for Guttman at the top of the left circle. Guttman drove the puck through the circle attacked the blue paint and slid it through the legs of Kokko. Shots were 14-11 Coachella Valley in the period.

Glenn Gawdin (14th) extended the lead to 6-0 at 6:54 of the third period from Cole Guttman and Angus Booth. At the neutral zone circle Booth kicked the puck out to Guttman at the right wing. From outside the circle Guttman rolled the puck back to Gawdin all alone in the high slot. Gawdin marched towards the crease and went fore-hand, back-hand past the right leg of Östman. Martin Chromiak (25th) joined in on the scoring with 4:32 left in the contest making it 7-0 from Kenny Connors. From the left side of the attacking blue line Connors laid the puck forward for Chromiak who raced through the left circle got behind the defense and at the top of the crease beat Östman with a five-hole shot. Shots were 15-6 Ontario in the final 20 minutes.

Pheonix Copley made 23 saves for his first shutout of the season in his fourth straight win and now victorious in seven of his last eight games. Nikke Kokko suffered the loss allowing five goals on 24 shots while Victor Östman made 13 saves on 15 shots in relief. Ontario went 1-for-2 on the power-play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Cole Guttman, and Andre Lee.

Lord

On the win

We just played a lot better with a consistent 60 minutes. We defended hard and I thought our neutral zone was solid. We were breaking pucks out pretty well and had made four lines playing the right way for the most part, especially the first 30 minutes. We Started on time getting the first one, and then we kind of went from there, which is great to see. I think a couple days of rest and practice really helped us. Those three weeks were hard. Being on the road a bunch some really tough tests, and we just kind of were able to take a breath and reset a little bit. That was much more like our team that we've seen for a lot of this season.

On the second period

It was excellent especially that first 10 was awesome. Our second periods haven't been particularly good as of late, we've been hemmed in a bunch. Tonight we had a pretty good mindset to start the period. Gutty gets one there early, and we're kind of off to the races from there.

Guttman

On goal scoring and first pro hat-trick

It was a great night for the team. I liked our line. I thought we were buzzing. Obviously, as of late it hasn't been going in as easy, so it was nice to get a few there. Felt good after two sometimes I think I've been a little snake bitten over the years. So it was nice for it to go in with a lucky bounce. I drove the net and luckily it went in.

What a win like this can do

At this point every game matters. Obviously there are a bunch of teams tight right now, so everyone is going to matter especially coming down the stretch here. I think we have these guys a couple more times this season and we know they're going to come strong when we see them next so we just have to bring it again.

Lee

Playing with Cole Guttman and Glenn Gawdin

Obviously I think playing with each other on and off sometimes the chemistry has been there. We went out in this game, talked before about trying to get the puck, work the cycle, get the bodies to the net, and you can see it paid off tonight. They're two really good players and it's pretty easy for me to just jump in and play.

On Pheonix Copley's shutout

It was really good to see because he's been battling for the past month or so, helping us out, trying to keep us in the game, and we haven't been helping him out enough. It was a mindset on the bench even when we're up 5-0 to not stop playing. He's been great for us the whole year, same with Portillo. So just got to continue with that mindset and play good defense, and that will lead to winning.

Check out the Ontario Reign Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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