Ontario Reign Projected Lineup vs. Tucson Roadrunners; Clarke’s Last Stand

This weekend’s two-game series between the Ontario Reign and visiting Tucson Roadrunners will likely have two distinctly different feels to them.

Saturday will see Kings prospect Brandt Clarke play in his final AHL game this season. Tomorrow morning, he’ll be returned to the big club and await his next set of orders. Will he stay up with the Kings, head to Team Canada’s World Junior selection camp in two weeks or be shipped back to Barrie in the OHL? Probably more of the former and not the latter. Time will tell, though.

If you missed it, Clarke joined Mayor’s Manor founder John Hoven for a pre-game discussion:

One Game Left: Clarke Talks Greene, O’Donnell, and Ontario Reign Experience

Another aspect of the Reign lineup that could change prior to Sunday’s rematch is the availability of defenseman Jacob Moverare and forward Lias Andersson. Both players were returned to the Reign earlier in the day. With Sean Durzi back from injury now, it’s unclear if Moverare will be needed for the Kings matchup vs. Ottawa on Sunday night. Technically, the Kings will have Clarke on the roster as their seventh defenseman. If there was any hiccups with their core six, would LA management want him playing against the Senators, thereby burning the first year of his Entry Level Contract? Not if he’s possibly going to the World Juniors they wouldn’t.

Likewise, the status of Andersson is also in question, especially while Brendan Lemieux and Alex Iafallo remain on the injured reserve list are still a few weeks away from returning.

Given that Moverare played for the Kings on Friday in San Jose — and considering the Reign already have an abundance of defensemen to rotate in — it’s conceivable that he sits out for the Reign tonight. However, considering the fact that Allard, Gaunce, and Nousiainen stayed out on the ice after morning skate at TSPC (usually an indication of who will not play), we’re penciling him in.

That level of ambiguity isn’t the case for Andersson, who was on coach Marco Sturm’s top line prior to being recalled and now hasn’t played a game in either league since November 12. He’s almost surely going to play.

This will be the first matchup between Ontario and Tucson this season. Last year, the Reign came out victorious in five of the eight games they played against each other. Ironically, the last time they squared off was a 4-3 overtime win for the Reign – a game in which Andersson had two goals. Need more? Andersson has only faced the Roadrunners on two other occasions in his career. And you guessed it. He scored in each of those games too.

ONTARIO REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. TUCSON ROADRUNNERS

Turcotte-Byfield-Madden
Andersson-Tynan-Fagemo
Quine-Thompson-Ward
Dudas – Helenius – Chromiak

Bjornfot-Spence
Moverare—Clarke
Bisson-Grans

Copley
Villalta

Game scratches: Allard, Gaunce, Lee, Nousiainen, Wagner

Out injured: Thomas, Doty

Puck drop is scheduled for 6pm PST tonight and the game can be viewed on AHL TV.

ICYMI — Hoven was on Bally Sports West on Tuesday night discussing what’s next for Byfield, Clarke, and Turcotte (link here).

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