ONTARIO, Calif. – The Abbotsford Canucks. A game-tying goal from the Reign leading to overtime. A 4-on-3 man-advantage in the overtime period. We’ve seen this before and didn’t like the ending. Luckily, the Ontario Reign have Martin Frk. 

The Reign continue their strong play early this season, as they pick up their second win of the season. They have yet to lose in regulation and have collected five of a possible six points. For the most part, they have looked pretty good doing it.

The game started strong, as Johan Sodergran scored his first of the season. Minutes later, Samuel Fagemo, who continues to impress, scored his second to take the Reign into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

It took the Canucks until the last 63 seconds of the second period to beat Matt Villalta, who would end the game having made 26 saves on 29 shots. But the Canucks came out strong for the third period, as Sheldon Dries snagged a power-play goal, and Justin Bailey scored his second of the season to leave Ontario looking at a 3-2 deficit with less than five minutes in regulation. With the goalie pulled, Tyler Madden scored his first of the season to tie the game, as TJ Tynan, one of the MVPs for the Reign so far, added a fourth assist in three games to send this one to overtime. 

Only 15 seconds into overtime, Canucks’ forward Madison Bowey was called for tripping, putting the Reign on the power play, where Martin Frk (and yes, his glorious mustache) scored the game-winner for his third goal in three games. Tynan adds another assist, giving him five points (tied for the league lead) and Jaret Anderson-Dolan also added his second assist of the season. 

FRK! FRK! FRK! FRK! pic.twitter.com/yOfOrGydk8

— Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) October 20, 2021

After last weekend, the Reign needed to be better defensively, and also be more disciplined. They did limit the Canucks to less than 30 shots, but they also took five minor penalties, one more than the Canucks did. They allowed only one power-play goal from the Canucks, but it seems fair to say that these continue to be areas that need improvement. 

Coming Up

The Reign return to action this weekend as they face the Bakersfield Condors on Friday night for the first time this season, and follow it up with a Saturday game against rivals the San Diego Gulls.