Ontario Reign: Three stars of the week 2/13 – 2/19

The Reign started the week in San Jose with a 4-3 overtime loss in a game where they were outplayed for most of the night. Ontario bounced back with a 60-minute effort on Friday with a 4-2 win over the Firebirds. The following night, Martin Chromiak was the hero scoring the overtime winner for the Reign against the San Diego Gulls. Another week has passed, and it’s time for our Ontario Reign three stars of the week.

Here are the three stars of the week from 2/13 – 2/19:

3rd star:

Samuel Fagemo

Stat line: Three games, two goals, zero assists, two points, -4 rating, seven shots on goal

Samuel Fagemo had two power-play goals during the week. Both goals were in the same game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In Friday’s 4-2 win over the Firebirds, Fagemo recorded two power-play goals off of one-timers from the left circle.

Fagemo has 16 goals on the season, and half have been on the man advantage. It was a slow start to the season for Fagemo, but he is slowly starting to come around.

2nd star:

Martin Chromiak

Stat line: Three games, two goals, zero assists, two points, +1 rating, six shots on goals

Martin Chromiak, like Fagemo, had two goals in a game during the week. A day after Fagemo potted two goals, Chromiak did the same against the San Diego Gulls. Chromiak opened the scoring on a breakaway in the first period at the 9:13 mark.

Chromiak wasn’t done there. With under a minute in overtime, he snapped a wrister from the left circle to beat Gulls’ netminder Gage Alexander glove side to win the game. The overtime goal was Chromiak’s 5th of the year in five games against the Gulls.

1st star:

The fourth line

Nikita Pavlychev: Three games, zero goals, two assists, two points, +4 rating, two shots on goal

Samuel Helenius: Three games, one goal, two assists, three points, +4 rating, three shots on goal

Andre Lee: Three games, two goals, one assist, three points, +4 rating, four shots on goal

The fourth line was the best in the three games for the Ontario Reign. Anytime the Reign needed a momentum shift, Marco Sturm didn’t hesitate to put them on the ice. They spent more time in the offensive zone and got rewarded with valuable ice time late in games. Nikita Pavlychev had two assists during the week, while Samuel Helenius and Andre Lee recorded three points each. Helenius scored his first goal of the season in the second period against San Jose, a game in which the Ontario Reign lost 4-3 overtime.

Andre Lee recorded an assist against San Jose while also scoring two goals in the first period of the next game against Coachella Valley in a 4-2 Reign win. The two goals by Lee matched his season total from his previous 32 games. He now has four goals on the season.

All three players are 6’4″ or taller and used their size very well when protecting the puck from defenders in the offensive zone. They skated well, forechecked well, were physical, and created several scoring chances. Without a doubt, that line was last week’s number-one star of the week.