First a little background. The East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) is a professional hockey league with teams across North America. It works as one of the feeder leagues for the NHL, like a rough equivalent of Double A baseball. The American Hockey League (AHL) is like Triple A baseball - those are the players one step away from getting the call up to the "The Show." So the Reign is the ECHL affiliate for the Los Angeles Kings. Make sense?
Citizens Bank Arena, where the Reign play, is quite nice, and the parking is free. So for a mere $18 you can get this view, which would cost you roughly 5 times more at an NHL game.
And since we were there on a giveaway night, we even got a free blanket. You just can't beat this deal!
I didn't know most of the Reign players, but Brianna and Jen come to quite a few games, so she was able to help me know who to watch for. Bri's favorite player is #21 - forward Greg Hogeboom, who I nicknamed Boomer. It's up there with the best player nicknames of all time, in my humble opinion.
Sitting behind the bench at a minor league game has one significant difference from the NHL - the players never seem to sit down. Either they don't get all that tired or they're just so anxious to get out there they have ants in their pants.
Personally, I think it's the latter, because they certainly skate fast enough. Although I must say, watching a minor league game will make you understand pretty quickly why NHL defencemen take so long to develop, because NO ONE in the minors plays defence. Even the defencemen! It's basically one end rush after another. As soon as somebody gets the puck, they're skating as fast as they can to try to put it in the net. Because you gotta show your skills to get the NHL scouts to notice.
Like the NHL, the Reign have mascots - they actually have two! Blaze the Dragon and Jordan the Dark Night actually had a "dance off" on the ice, which was hilarious. Blaze has some serious break dancing skills, kind of like a particular Kings employee I know. Coincidence? I think not!
Minor league hockey also has much better contests than the NHL. "Chuck-a-Puck" has got to be the most hilarious mess I've ever seen. You buy numbered pucks for $1, then throw them on the ice and try to hit one of two targets - the helmet in the center of the ice, or one of those green astro-turf circles.
I think the entire arena was down in the lower bowl seats just launching those pucks onto the ice. People were having a blast. And all I could think watching this was how long it would take to clean up the mess. Looks like someone thought of a creative use for the nets!
The Reign won the game, which was a super end to a fun evening. But the best thing about the game was #1 Star of the Night - goalie Curtis Darling.
Oh, the things you could do with that. I can't imagine what this poor guy goes through in the locker room. "Darling, could you get the hell out of my way next time and quit stick handling the puck?" "How about stopping the puck next time, Darling?" And my favorite, "Could you toss me my cup, Darling?" Then again, he's a good looking guy, so I'm sure there are plenty of girls running around the arena screaming "Darling," and he probably doesn't care much.
The ECHL games are mostly on weekends, so if you find yourself sitting at home bored on a Saturday night, check out the Ontario Reign. And give a shout out to my Darling while you're there.
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