Ontario Reign vs Abbotsford Canucks

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Everybody on that ice is playing for a phone call. That is what separates minor-league hockey from the show — nobody coasts on a contract, because a good month can move a player up a level and a bad one can bury him for a season.

By mid-November the standings start to bite and every home date at Toyota Arena carries a little more weight. Vancouver's farm club runs one of the better development programs in the league and arrives carrying the edge of a long road trip. The Reign play the fast, skilled style you would expect out of a Kings pipeline.

Seats near the glass cost a fraction of what they would an hour west, and from that distance you finally hear how fast the modern game actually is. The between-periods stuff keeps the kids busy.

Bring somebody who has never seen hockey live. Put them against the boards for the first shift and say nothing at all.