GAMEDAY: BARRACUDA AT REIGN
Oct 4, 2019
SAN JOSE BARRACUDA (00-00-00-00) vs. ONTARIO REIGN (00-00-00-00)
FRIDAY, OCT. 4 | 7:00 P.M. | TOYOTA CENTER | ONTARIO, CA
LISTEN | WATCH | GAME NOTES | BIOS
Opening Opponent: For the second consecutive season the Barracuda will open the regular season with a date against the Ontario Reign. A season ago, the Barracuda beat the Reign 4-1 at SAP Center to begin the season. San Jose has won their last two season openers and are 2-2 all-time.
Head-to-head: The Barracuda are 15-16-5-0 over four seasons against the Reign and 5-10-3-0 in Ontario. A season ago, the Barracuda went 5-3-0-0 against Ontario and 2-2-0-0 in Southern California. Alex True paced both clubs during the head-to-head series, collecting nine points (four goals, five assists) in eight games. In 2018-19, the Barracuda finished with the AHL’s seventh-best winning percentage (.625) and reached the postseason for a Pacific Division’s best fourth-straight year, while Ontario ended with the AHL’s second-worst winning percentage (.441). Only the Binghamton Devils finished with a worse winning percentage (.414).
SJB Key Returners: Several key pieces are back in teal in 2019-20, including the Barracuda’s leading scorer from a year ago Alex True, defensive leading scorer Nick DeSimone, 11-year-veteran and captain John McCarthy, and AHL All-Star’s Jake Middleton and Josef Korenar. 14 of the Barracuda’s 24-man roster were with the team a season ago.
SJB Key Departures: In three separate trades this offseason, the Sharks sent the Barracuda’s second-leading scorer from a year ago Francis Perron to Vancouver, the Barracuda’s second-leading defensive scorer from a year ago Kyle Wood to Carolina and 2017-18 AHL All-Star netminder Antoine Bibeau to Colorado.
SJB Key New Additions: The Barracuda bolstered their blueline depth with the additions of Trevor Carrick (2019 Calder Cup Champion with Charlotte) and Nick Meloche via trade over the last month and a half. At the forward position, they’ve added WHL MVP Joachim Blichfeld, QMJHL star Ivan Chekhovich, OHL star and Southern California native Sasha Chmelevski, veteran Swedish Leaguer Joel Kellman, and WHL Champion Noah Gregor. Also, the team added 2019 Mike Richter finalist Andrew Shortridge in between the pipes.
Coaches Corner: Oakland native Roy Sommer returns for an AHL record 22nd season as the bench boss of the Sharks top developmental affiliate. Sommer is the AHL’s all-time leader in games coached and wins. Sommer and Ontario’s head coach Mike Stothers won a Calder Cup as players in 1984 with the Maine Mariners. Stothers also captured a Calder Cup as the head coach of the Manchester Monarchs in 2015.