REIGN FINAL – Reign 3, Eagles 1 – Sturm, Petersen, Spence

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• News post

• Jared Shafran

Cal Petersen led the way with 27 saves, including 13 in the third period, to preserve a two-goal lead for the Ontario Reign (11-6-0-1) in a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Eagles (13-5-1-0) on Friday night at Toyota Arena.

• Cal Petersen
• Jordan Spence
• Taylor Ward
• Matt Villalta

• Marco Sturm

# Marco Sturm

It was a good team effort with good special teams and good goaltending. I thought our five-on-five play was pretty solid. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous going in because there were a lot of changes, and a few guys had been sick or hurt too, so you never know, but it was a good overall game.

[Cal Petersen]’s good. It’s not just his fault [in the NHL]. Obviously, he needs to be better, but we had a good chat yesterday. He’s an outstanding person and a good goalie, and he showed it today. He just needs confidence, just like everyone; a player or a coach. We all need confidence to bring out game and that’s why the Kings [sent him down]. That’s why he’s here and we’ll all try to help him, but he’s going to be the first one who’s going to work the hardest. I know that because that’s just the way he is.

The guys feel it. We all felt it yesterday in practice. I think the guys were happy to have him. Cal, he doesn’t want to be down here [in the AHL] but I think he felt really good yesterday to. Today was a good game, and even after the game, he got rewarded with being the best player of the game. That shows that we’re all happy to have him because he’s an outstanding goaltender and just trying to help.

Taylor Ward was a little bit up and down the last few weeks and he knew that. We talked about it. He came up big today. I thought he knew the situation, he knew the score, and he knew that we had to kill the penalties. Even when they pulled the goalie, he did a lot of good things. He stepped up and that’s what we need from him every night.

# Cal Petersen

The guys battled tremendously for me, which was awesome. It’s cool to see them, and a lot of the guys I’m meeting for the first time and they were willing to lay their bodies down for me and block some shots, so that was awesome to see. It was a great team win, especially being down a man at the end, getting some huge blocks and a lot of sacrifices was really cool.

It’s different. It’s an adjustment but I’m going to make it the best thing for me at the time right now. For where I want to be, this is the route to get there, so that’s how I’m going to look at it. It was a bit of a shock, and a bit of an adjustment, but it’s a reality. All you need is a net to showcase yourself, to show who you are, and to show what you can be. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to come down here and play.

It was cool. It was a bit nostalgic. You don’t ever really know where your hockey career is going to take you. I think I’m very fortunate to have a great opportunity down here with a great group of guys. They accepted me right away and obviously battled for me tonight. That’s the most important thing, that these guys were willing to do that for me and accept me as one of their new teammates. I’m just hoping to help them win a few games and do whatever I need to do to support them.

It’s awesome to be back with [Matt Villalta]. He’s been one of my favorite goalie partners. He’s an all-time kid and a fantastic goaltender too. There’s things that I take away from him and I hope there’s things he takes away from me, so its fun for us to be back together on the ice and having some fun. He likes to keep it light and joke around a little bit, which puts a smile on my face, so I’m very fortunate to have him again. He’s a great person.