Reign Holds off Iowa, 4-3
AHL Ontario Reign

Reign Holds off Iowa, 4-3

Published on January 8, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Ontario Reign News Release


The Ontario Reign (21-10-1-1) defeated the Iowa Wild (10-21-1-1) Wednesday night by a final score of 4-3 in front of 5,982 fans at Toyota Arena. The Reign will host the Henderson Silver Knights Friday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. (PST) concluding a five-game homestand.

Glenn Gawdin stretched his point streak to 12-games as him and Nikita Alexandrov finished the night with two assists. Cole Guttman scored a power-play goal as the Reign have now recorded a power-play tally in four straight games. Kenny Connors opened the scoring 77 seconds into the contest, the quickest goal to start a game this season, while Jared Wright scored and added an assist. The Reign are now 6-1-0-1 in their last seven games and improved to 11-3-1-1 in one-goal games this season having won eight of their last 10 games.

Ontario led 3-1 after the first period with shots even at 8-8. Kenny Connors (8th) scored Ontario's quickest goal to start a game this season making it 1-0 just 77 seconds in from Aatu Jämsen and Jared Wirght. From the left corner Wright fed Jämsen behind the net where he spun the puck to Connors crashing the net. Connors sent a shot from inside the left circle into the bottom right corner. Then 1:57 later Cole Guttman (9th) scored on the power-play from Nikita Alexandrov increasing the lead to 2-0. Alexandrov attacked the net from the right side of the goal line and the puck came free to Guttman inside the right circle where he directed it home with lots of traffic in front. Boris Katchouck pulled the Wild within one on the power-play at 7:22. With 4:27 left in the frame Pheonix Copley stopped Ben Jones on a penalty shot. Jared Wright (7th) gave the Reign a two-goal advantage from Glenn Gawdin and Joe Hicketts with 1:48 left in the frame. Gawdin sent a shot from the blueline that was saved by Mercer and Wright found the rebound in the right circle and sent a shot home. Shots were 8-8 in the frame as the Reign and Wild each went 1-for-2 on the power-play.

The Reign held a 4-3 lead through 40 minutes of play. Carson Lambos made it a one-score game for the Wild scoring at 8:30. Martin Chromiak (14th) gave Ontario back a two-goal lead at 12:23 from Alexandrov and Gawdin. From the blueline Alexandrov skated the puck into the right corner finding Chromiak in the high slot for a one-timer. Gerry Mayhew scored on the power-play for the Wild at 16:40 on the lone man advantage for either team in the stanza. Shots favored Iowa 13-5.

It was a scoreless third period as the Reign killed off a four-minute double minor in the early stages of the frame. Ontario outshot Iowa 7-6 in the final 20 to hold on for a 4-3 win.

Pheonix Copley made 24 saves in 27 shots in the win while Riley Mercer suffered the loss making 16 saves on 20 shots. Ontario went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Iowa was 2-for-4. The Reign were outshot 27-20.

Postgame thoughts from Andrew Lord, Glenn Gawdin, and Jared Wright.

Lord

On tonight's win

We found a way. Loved our start. I think we're at the races there in the first five. Obviously get two quick ones, which was great. Then I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit. Give them a lot of credit. They were working tonight. They were really playing fast, putting pucks behind us, getting it on the forecheck. I thought we managed it okay in the first, the second was a poor period. Copley was really good, helped us a lot here tonight. The third I thought we saw it out. So finding a way when there's a lot of games right now is important. I was impressed that with that, I think early in the year, it might have slipped away. Tonight, we found a way. It was really good. Good closing it out the way we did.

Gawdin

On closing out tight third periods

Just finding ways to shut it down and not necessarily stop playing, but you have to play smart and not make mistakes. I think that's what a lot of the third periods are in those close games, it's mistakes that lead to chances. So if we stay structured and be smart with the puck, we don't give up too much.

On Lee and Ward getting the call up

I think everybody stepped up. We lost two guys that are a big part of the team, that collectively, we're going to make up for I don't think one or two guys can fill the shoes, so I think everybody brought a little bit more tonight. And big reason why we won.

Wright

On playing with Connors and Jamsen

It's really fun playing with Kenny, such a smart player, and then obviously Aatu is incredibly skilled. So I just try to do whatever I can on the forecheck, get them the puck. They're super offensively driven players. Just try to do whatever we can, and good that we chipped in a couple there.

On the mindset going into the 4 minute penalty kill

I think just to stay composed. I think we were pretty upset about that call, but I was just happy that we were able to settle down, able to kill that. I thought I could have been better on the third goal, just reading the play better. I kind of got too aggressive, and they were able to hit the guy in the middle and ended up in the back of the net. So it's something that I need to learn from on the penalty kill. But it was also great that we killed off that four minute penalty. So that was great.

Check out the Ontario Reign Statistics

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