Ziemmer’s Hat Trick Fuels Reign’s Comeback Win Over Condors Heading Into All-Star Break
The Ontario Reign are heading into the All-Star break on a high note-and they’ve got a 19-year-old rookie to thank for it. In front of 9,787 fans at Toyota Arena, the Reign erased an early two-goal deficit to take down the Bakersfield Condors 4-3 on Saturday night, locking up first place in the Pacific Division at the break.
The star of the show? Koehn Ziemmer, who delivered his first professional hat trick-and he did it in style, scoring three straight goals to flip the game on its head.
A Rough Start Turns Into a Statement Win
Ontario didn’t exactly come out flying. The Reign found themselves trailing 3-1 after the first 20 minutes, with Bakersfield capitalizing on early chances and even striking shorthanded.
Riley Stillman opened the scoring for the Condors at 10:02 of the first, blasting a slapshot from the blue line past Pheonix Copley’s glove. Just over a minute later, James Hamblin made it 2-0 with a shorty, snapping a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Copley low on the far side.
The Reign did get on the board before the period ended, thanks to a power-play goal from Cole Guttman-his 17th of the season. Nikita Alexandrov created the chance with a shot off the right pad of Connor Ungar, and Guttman pounced on the rebound below the right circle. But the Condors answered back before the horn, with Damien Carfagna cleaning up his own rebound in tight to restore the two-goal cushion.
Shots favored Bakersfield 10-8 after one, and Ontario had some work to do.
Ziemmer Sparks the Turnaround
Whatever was said in the locker room during the first intermission worked. Ontario came out with more urgency in the second, and Ziemmer got things rolling just 2:40 into the period. The rookie forward crashed the crease and buried a rebound from Kirill Kirsanov and Angus Booth, cutting the deficit to 3-2 and injecting life into the Reign’s bench.
The Reign dominated the middle frame, outshooting the Condors 15-8, but it was in the third where Ziemmer truly took over.
He tied the game at 3:34 of the third, taking a feed from Jack Millar in the high slot and ripping a shot through Ungar’s five-hole. Then, just over three minutes later, Ziemmer completed the hat trick with a beauty-snapping a wrist shot from the right circle into the top corner off a setup from Jared Wright and Joe Hicketts. That goal gave Ontario its first lead of the night, and they never looked back.
It was a clinical third period for the Reign, who outshot Bakersfield 6-3 and locked things down defensively to secure the win.
Copley Steady in Net, Special Teams Deliver
Pheonix Copley earned the win between the pipes, stopping 18 of 21 shots. It wasn’t a high-volume night, but Copley came up with timely saves when it mattered most, especially in the third with Ontario protecting a one-goal lead.
The Reign’s power play continued to hum, extending their home scoring streak with the man advantage to 10 straight games. They finished 1-for-6 on the night, while the penalty kill went a perfect 3-for-3, even withstanding that early short-handed goal against.
Postgame Reactions: A Team That Believes
Head coach Andrew Lord was all smiles postgame, praising his team’s resilience after a sluggish start.
“It was a lot of fun,” Lord said. “We started a little slow, give them credit.
But I loved the claw back. That power-play goal from Guttman and Alexandrov was huge to get us going.
And then the second and third was our way-fast, relentless, hard on the forecheck. The shot volume was there, the traffic was there, and Ziemmer was there.
Awesome night.”
Ziemmer, understandably, was soaking it in after his breakout performance.
“Felt good all night,” he said. “First period didn’t go how we wanted, but we battled back.
Shift after shift, everyone was going. To come out with two points there is unreal.”
He also acknowledged the timing-heading into the All-Star break on a win like this adds some extra juice.
“After the break, it’s the final stretch into the playoffs. It’s a good time to be playing some good hockey.”
Jared Wright, who assisted on Ziemmer’s third goal, spoke about the electric atmosphere in the building.
“The crowd was roaring all night long,” Wright said. “Ziemmer getting the hat trick-just so much fun.
We were even laughing between faceoffs. It was one of those nights where you just enjoy the ride.”
And when it comes to this team’s identity, Wright summed it up perfectly:
“No matter what the score is, we know we can come back. We’ve proven that time and time again. We don’t want to be down early, but we never give up.”
What’s Next
With the win, Ontario heads into the All-Star break atop the Pacific Division standings. They’ll return to action on Saturday, Feb. 14, when they hit the road to face Abbotsford. If this comeback win is any indication, the Reign are locked in for the stretch run-and Ziemmer might just be heating up at the right time.