The Ontario Reign took over the top spot in the ECHL with a 5-3 win over the Colorado Eagles, winning both games in the weekend set at the Budweiser Events Center. Colton Yellow Horn, the league's top point producer and goal scorer, had a pair of goals to pace the visitors in their win. Ontario got on the board first when Brodie Sheehan stuffed home a loose puck from the Colorado crease seven minutes into the game. Michael Forney extended his point streak to seven games when he tied the game 11 minutes later. With the Eagles working a power play, he battled his way to the middle of the offensive zone and sent a shot across his body that snuck inside the left post. But the Reign countered less than a minute later when Yellow Horn was left alone in the slot. The Eagles tied the game at 2 four minutes into the second period when Dylan Hood toe-drug the puck in the neutral zone to turn around a defender, then one of the league's fastest skaters used his speed to zoom down the left wing before back-handing a shot top-shelf over Drew O'Connell. But the Reign scored the period's next three goals to take a 5-2 lead into the final frame. With the teams skating four aside midway through the second, Mario Lamoureux sent a shot on net from the left circle that Kyle Jones kicked right into the low slot where Justin Pender was able to toss it into the wide open net. Ontario stretched its lead to 4-2 13 minutes into the second stanza with a power-play goal. After a failed clearing attempt by the Eagles allowed the Reign to keep the puck in the zone, Derek Couture picked up his third goal in two games when he was able to poke home the puck from the doorstep. Things continued to go the Reign's way late in the second period, even when the Eagles put forth extra effort to stymie their attack. With Ontario on an odd-man rush, Tommy Lange -- who signed with Colorado earlier in the day -- made a diving defensive play to break up a back-door pass, but it ended up poking the puck onto Yellow Horn's stick in the low slot for a tap-in. For the second game in a row the Eagles got a goal early in the third period to spur hopes of a comeback. Just under two minutes in -- just eight seconds into a power play -- Arthur Bidwill's shot from the left point found its way to the back of the net to trim Ontario's lead to 5-3, but that's as close as Colorado would come. Their next games will come next Friday & Saturday in Bakersfield, Calif.
