Reign Foiled by Steelheads in Shootout, 4-3
December 28, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Ontario Reign News Release
BOISE, Idaho - The Ontario Reign (15-10-2-4), four-time Pacific Division Champions and proud affiliate of the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets, rallied against a two-goal deficit for the second time in as many nights, but ultimately fell in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Idaho Steelheads (18-10-1-2) in front of a crowd of 5,064 on Saturday night at CenturyLink Arena.
Ontario opened the scoring in the first period when Matt White grabbed Ralfs Freibergs' rebound, and shoveled the puck past Steelheads netminder Olivier Roy to give the Reign a 1-0 lead at 2:46. Tyler Scofield picked up the secondary assist on White's goal.
Idaho evened the score when Colin Shea recovered the puck in the offensive zone and used a wrist shot that beat Joe Cannata low to his glove side at 5:52.
The Steelheads then pulled ahead after Alex Belzile's clearing attempt from center ice ricocheted high into the air off the skate of a Reign player and dropped into the Ontario net past Cannata at 9:22.
Idaho extended its lead in the second period, when Patrick Cullity blasted a shot from the left side at 11:36.
Ontario attempted to rally in the third period, when Scofield won a face-off at the left circle in the offensive zone, and Judd Blackwater swooped in and snapped the puck past the glove of Roy at 7:58.
The Reign then pulled Cannata for an extra attacker with only a few minutes remaining in regulation, and on the ensuing play Geoff Walker tied the game with a snap shot from the left circle at 16:50. Derek Couture and Dennis Brown received the assists on Walker's goal.
Overtime yielded no score, and the match went to the shootout, which ended in the fourth round when Belzile snapped a shot high to the glove side of Cannata to give the Steelheads the win.
Cannata took the shootout loss with 23 saves; Roy picked up the victory with 27 stops.
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