Ontario Reign: Alex Turcotte doesn’t finish Wednesday’s game

While the Ontario Reign dropped their game in overtime to the San Jose Barracuda last night, they may have lost a player in the process.

At the 8:01 mark of the third period, Alex Turcotte took a huge hit from Barracuda’s forward Ozzy Weisblatt. Turcotte would get up slowly, make his way to the bench, and wouldn’t return for the rest of the game. No penalty was called on the play but Martin Chromiak came to his defense and received a minor penalty for roughing. Alan Quine filled in for Turcotte’s spot on the third line as Marco Sturm juggled the lines for the bottom six for the remainder of the game.

Ozzy Wiesblatt introduces himself to Alex Turcotte pic.twitter.com/zVOQY0QUuf

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) February 16, 2023

Personally, I don’t have an issue with the hit. After watching the replay several times on AHLTV, in slow motion, it looked like a clean hit to me, and Turcotte’s head hitting the glass hard may have been the reason for the injury and why it looked bad. It’s unclear what the injury is and if he will be out long. It is concerning given his recent injury history, which included two concussions last season.

The next game for the Ontario Reign is Friday night at home against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. If Turcotte can’t go then I would expect Nikita Pavlychev to play the 3C. I’ll be in attendance for that game and give any updates on him in warmups.

Featured image credit: San Jose Barracuda