by Jerry Feitelberg

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda met the Ontario Reign for the eleventh time this season. It looked like the Sharks against the LA Kings as the uniforms were replicas of the parent clubs. The Reign currently reside in first place in the Western Conference. The Reign entered the game with a record of six wins, two overtime wins, and just two losses against the Barracuda this year. The Teams played a very entertaining game in front of a very sparse crowd, and the result was the same. The Reign triumphed 3-2 in overtime. The Reign started Peter Budaj in goal, and the Barracuda had twenty-four-year-old Joel Rumpel tending the nets. Budaj is thirty-three years old and is the best goalie in the AHL. Budaj played for three NHL clubs in his career. He saw time with the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, and the LA Kings. He entered the game with a sparkling 1,63 goals against average and a 93.2% save percentage. Rumpel was making his second start for the Barracuda since coming over in a trade with the Allen Americans. The Barracuda needed a win as they are residing in ninth place in the conference and would not make the playoffs if the season were to end today.

The San Jose Barracuda, without question, won the first period. They outplayed and outskated the Western Conference leader, the Ontario Reign. The Barracuda had twelve shots on goal and held the Reign to just two shots on goalie Joel Rumpel. Not much happened until about halfway through the period. Right-winger Jeremy Langlois had a partial breakaway down the right side of the rink. He put a good shot on goal, but the Reign’s goalie Peter Budaj made a terrific stop to thwart Langlois. The Reign went on a power play when Trevor Parkes was called for tripping. The Barracuda penalty kill stopped the Reign cold as they did not allow a shot on goal. The Barracuda lit the lamp with 12:25 played to take a 1-0 lead. Trevor Langlois scored on a rebound. Jeremy Morin blasted s shot from the left side that Budaj stopped but the rebound went to Langlois, and he spun around and put it past Budaj for the score. The other excitement in the period was a fight between Alex Gallant and Ryan Horvat of the Reign. They both went to the penalty box for five minutes.

The Reign took control of play in the second period. They kept the Barracuda from mounting an attack for most of the period and were on the attack until they were called for two penalties late in the period. The Barracuda went on a power play with 3:54 played. Ryan Carpenter fed Michael Haley with a beautiful pass, but Budaj came up with the save. With 12:46 played, the refs called a penalty on Trevor Parkes for boarding. The Reign scored eight seconds later to tie the game. Michael Mersch scored his twenty-second goal of the year and assists went to Kevin Gravel and Nic Dowd. The Barracuda went on a power play when Vincent LoVerde went to the penalty box for holding. His teammate, Derek Forbort joined him there forty-seven seconds later. The “Cuda had a two-man advantage for 1:18 but could not convert. The Reign killed both penalties. The Reign outshot the Barracuda 8-6. Most of the Barracuda’s opportunities came late in the period.

Both teams played well in the third period. The Reign had the edge in the first half of the period. They scored a power-play goal with 10:21 played. The Barracuda refused to quit and took control of the game but couldn’t get the puck past Budaj. With about ninety seconds left in the contest, coach Roy Sommer pulled his goalie, and the move paid off as the Barracuda scored with just 32.4 seconds left in the game.

The Reign won the game in overtime as they scored just twenty-three seconds after play began. Final score 3-2 for Ontario.