Ontario Reign: Three Stars of the Week 11/25-12/1

Another week has passed and it’s time for our Three Stars of the Week honors for the Ontario Reign, who went 2-0-0 in two games. Before we name the three stars, let’s quickly recap the last week’s two games for the Reign.

4-0 win over Texas

The Ontario Reign played a team outside the division for the first time since the 2021-22 season. It was also the first time they played the Texas Stars since 2018. Two goals in both the first and third periods were all the Reign needed offensively to go along with Pheonix Copley’s 27-save shutout for a 4-0 win.

3-1 win over Bakersfield

The Reign Train would hit the road on the second night of a back-to-back to take on the Bakersfield Condors. Samuel Fagemo got his team-leading 10th goal to open the scoring two minutes on the man advantage. Alex Swetlikoff would answer 50 seconds later on a transition goal for the Condors. Since it was the Teddy Bear Toss game for Bakersfield the bears would be raining down from the stands.

Glenn Gawdin would score two goals 5:14 apart after the Swetlikoff goal to cap off his insane month of November. The two goals gave Gawdin 21 points (9G, 12A) in 12 games for the month. Copley was sharp in net again, stopping 25 of 26 shots faced in the victory.

Here are your Reign’s three stars of the week

Third star

Aatu Jamsen

Stat line: Two games played, one goal, zero assists, one point, +2 rating, one shot on goal

Aatu Jamsen is this week’s third star. Jamsen scored his second goal of the season, first since October 27th, in the Reign’s 4-0 win over Texas. The goal was Jamsen’s first game-winning goal in North America. The seventh-round pick was also awarded the Reign Train conductor hat from teammate Jack Studnicka after the win against Texas.

What I like about Jamsen’s game is that he is creative. He’s not the fastest skater but a smart one. He’s calm with the puck and has silky hands to get through traffic in the neutral zone and pull off a couple of unique moves. The ice sheet in North America and getting stronger are areas he’ll keep adjusting to with his first season over here.

The chances of making the NHL as a seventh-rounder are slim so Jamsen will have the odds stacked against him. However, I believe he has the opportunity to be one of the few to be an effective NHLer with his skating and creativity with the puck.