- Joined
- Jul 28, 2004
- Messages
- 130,165
Wednesday evening, the Ontario Reign have an opportunity to accomplish several things, including keeping their perfect 4-0 record going this postseason, as well as advancing to Round 3.
After sweeping the Bakersfield Condors in Round 1, coach Marco Sturm has his club on the precipice of a second consecutive postseason sweep. With a 4-0 shutout over the Canucks on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Arena, they hold a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. They’ll now have up to three tries to earn the series clinching victory in Abbotsford.
“I really like this group and I want to win a Calder Cup while I’m here,” rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke told Mayor’s Manor.
An AHL All-Star this season, and one of the top blueliners throughout the league’s regular season, Clarke continues to do his best to stay locked in mentally. Although, watching the Kings struggle vs. the Oilers wasn’t easy for him.
“I wanted to be there. I wanted to beat the Oilers with those guys,” he stated. “I wanted to help those guys out. I want to be around them. I got really close to a lot of those guys when I was with them, but that’s just the path I’m on right now.”
His development doesn’t need to be rushed and Clarke remains optimistic about the direction of things, saying he understands it’s all part of the process.
“Keep winning games, it’s been fun,” added the always approachable blueliner. “Let’s just keep winning these series. It’s good! I’m happy with where I’m at right now.”
There’s also been no shortage of encouragement and help from the Kings management team.
“I’ve had such a good support system, top to bottom,” Clarke noted. “Greener O’D, they’ve been on the ice with me a bunch. They’ve also been talking to me a bunch, texting me a bunch, making me feel good about myself. [Reign asst. coach Chris Hajt] has been phenomenal, we do video almost every day. I hear from Trent [Yawney] and Rob [Blake] all the time. They’ll just let me know how I’m doing, let me know stuff to work on, and stuff like that. It means a lot that there are so many people trying to help me out.”
With Blake in the house on Sunday for Ontario’s most recent game, Clarke also showed off some of what he brings to the game besides eye-popping offense.
“When people come at me, I’m going to give it back to them,” he said, when asked about what went down at the end of the game (as shown in the video above). “It’s always been part of my game. People are starting to see more of that now. I don’t think it should catch people off guard anymore. It’s kinda who I am and how it’s always been. Big games, they rile you up and I always try to rise the occasion.”
As for Sturm’s lineup in Game 4, Ontario’s bench boss indicated he doesn’t see any reason to change what’s been working thus far in the playoffs.
“Those were big wins for us at home and now we just have to make sure we’re going to play the same way on the road,” Sturm said. “Never change a winning team’s [lineup], that’s what I believe. Maybe not during the regular season, but playoffs, guys are dialed in. As long as they’re doing that and everyone is doing their job, I’m not going to change.”
Reign Projected Lineup vs. Canucks
Turcotte – Tynan – Fagemo
Hudon – Thomas – Madden
Lee – Helenius – Ward
Hodgson – Pavlychev – Doty
Hicketts – Clarke
Connauton – Santini
Nousiainen – Wylie
Portillo (starter)
Dell
Ingham
Other roster options include: (F) Chromiak, Francis, Pinelli and (D) Krygier, Millar, Rowe
Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm Pacific Time and the game can be viewed on AHLTV.
RELATED CONTENT:
Follow @mayorNHL
Continue reading...
