Ontario Reign: Potential Opponents for Round 2

The Calder Cup playoffs begin this week, and the Ontario Reign will have their bye week as they await their round two opponent.

Here is how the seedings in the Pacific Division are lined up:

  • 1. Ontario Reign
  • 2. Colorado Eagles
  • 3. Henderson Silver Knights
  • 4. Coachella Valley Firebirds
  • 5. Bakersfield Condors
  • 6. San Jose Barracuda
  • 7. San Diego Gulls

Being the highest seed, the Reign will play the lowest seed to advance in Round 2 (Pacific Division Semifinals). For example, if the Gulls win their series, the Reign will face them because they would be the lower seed to advance.

There are four potential opponents for the Reign in their second-round matchup. Those four opponents are the Bakersfield Condors, Coachella Valley Firebirds, San Diego Gulls, and San Jose Barracuda.

The benefit of playing one of those four teams in the playoffs is that the Reign won’t travel outside of California in the next round, but it’s not something Head Coach Andrew Lord is focusing on. “The travel in our division is super easy regardless,” he said after his team’s 2-0 season-finale loss to the Abbotsford Canucks last weekend. Not having to travel far is a nice luxury, but in the playoffs, there are no easy matchups or a preferable opponent.

We’ll save the series preview write-up for when the Reign’s opponent is determined, but today, we’ll do a profile breakdown of the matchups against those four teams.

Bakersfield Condors

NHL affiliate: Edmonton Oilers

The Reign had no problems with the Condors during the regular season, compiling a 7-1-0-0 record in the season series. These two teams met in the opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs two years ago, resulting in a clean sweep for the Reign. The rosters for both teams have turned over significantly, leading to the rivalry tapering off over the last two seasons.

Series format: 2-2-1 (The two teams are within a 300-mile distance from each other, marking this a traditional 2-2-1 series with the Reign having the home ice advantage)

Coachella Valley Firebirds

NHL affiliate: Seattle Kraken

The rivalry between the Firebirds and Reign has been brewing since the 2023-24 season. The two clubs met in the Pacific Division Finals (Round 3) in the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs, which saw the Reign’s season come to an end with a Firebirds sweep.

A lot has changed since that series for the Firebirds, with a lot of their incoming prospects (Jagger Firkus, Eduard Sale, Jani Nyman, Ty Nelson, and Tyson Jugnauth) who were now AHL eligible replacing the stop-gap veterans (Andrew Poturalski, Kole Lind, Cameron Hughes, Connor Carrick, and Jimmy Schuldt).

The season series was a seesaw battle with five of the eight games decided by one score and four of them needing overtime to decide a winner.

Series format: 2-2-1 (The two teams are within a 300-mile distance from each other, marking this a traditional 2-2-1 series with the Reign having the home ice advantage)

San Diego Gulls

NHL affiliate: Anaheim Ducks

The rivalry that never dies. If there was one big gripe I had with the schedule makers is that we only got four games of the AHL’s SoCal Faceoff. Nevertheless, the fact that the Gulls are back in the playoffs and a possible opponent for the Reign in round 2 is a good thing because of their rivalry and early playoff matchups when the two teams relocated to Southern California 10 years ago.

Three of the four games this season were decided by two goals or fewer — including a controversial no-goaltender-interference call that went against the Reign in January — and provided the intensity that this rivalry never disappoints. If these two teams meet, we could be in for a fun, physical, exciting series.

Series format: 2-2-1 (The two teams are within a 300-mile distance from each other, marking this a traditional 2-2-1 series with the Reign having the home ice advantage)

San Jose Barracuda

NHL affiliate: San Jose Sharks

Speaking of bad blood, the Barracuda have become the Reign’s new fiercest rival. With a carryover effect from last season and a two-game series sweep by the Barracuda in last year’s playoffs, it’s clear these two teams do not like each other.

The Barracuda and Reign finished their season series on New Year’s Eve, which was capped off by a buzzer-beating goal from Lucas Carlsson. All eight regular-season matchups were a war, and with the two teams having time away from one another for the past four months, I don’t think the hatred has gone away. For Ontario, I’m sure they will have revenge on their minds if they see San Jose.

Series format: 2-3 (The two teams are not within a 300-mile distance from each other. Ontario will have the choice of hosting the first two games and playing the backend three in San Jose or the other way around)

Featured image credit: Megan Sander/Ontario Reign

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