Kings goaltending prospect Jacob Ingham entered Ontario’s first pre-season game midway through the second period and eventually helped the Reign secure a 3-2 shootout victory. Following the game, here’s what he had to say…
On if his recent experience playing helped him get into a rhythm today
Yeah, definitely. There was a lot of starts and stops, we were kind of joking I could write a book on this season. I’ve been living out of a suitcase, having been in Berlin and the [ECHL] and the taxi squad for a bit, and back here with the Reign. There’s so many opportunities, so many new experiences, especially my first year as a pro. I think everything has helped me in a certain way, and I think being down in the East Coast helped me get back to my footing with North American ice and playing the game back in North America. I know there’s so many things that have helped me, just from all of those experiences. I’m happy to keep them and keep taking what I’ve learned and continue to grow my game.
On his thoughts on coming in halfway through the game
Normally you always want to get the start every game. When we were in Berlin, I think I had three games, so I just called myself the reliever, me and the boys were joking that it seemed like that’s what I was doing a lot, wasn’t anything new for me to come into the game today. I think I’ve always had, knock on wood, pretty good success coming in cold. There’s advantages and disadvantages. You get to scout their players a bit and see how they’re doing, knowing a couple OHL players over there so you kind of know their tendencies, it’s always nice to look at the team’s powerplay before you have to go in and face it.
On how felt he was able to apply coach’s information to his game today, and how he is adjusting to the defensemen in front of him
We have a great D-corps, we have a lot of young guys on our team. Makes it a lot of fun, and a lot of fun to come to the rink. There’s definitely a lot of things that I felt I’ve improved on in my game and that I brought into my game today. Just a couple simple things like transitions, [Bill Ranford] and I have been working on that into my post and behind the net play. I think it helped me on the one spot late in the third where they had the pass out and the guy hammered one by my blocker and just bumped off my post. It’s exactly what we’ve been working on, and it’s nice to see some of that stuff fall into my game. I know there’s some stuff that I got to keep working on and keep hammering away at, so I don’t really have to think about it and just goes in my game naturally.
On the building in Greenville, and his transition to pro hockey
It was definitely a different experience, especially going in there for camp. The skill gap in that league is pretty different, you have some really high-end players and then some more middle players. This year, with the AHL not starting, it was actually pretty good, lot of AHL guys. A lot of teams were stacked up pretty good. I know a lot of teams lost players when AHL camps opened up and NHL camps opened up. It was definitely a great experience to get over there. It’s always great meeting new people and meeting new coaches and just getting your work done. I wasn’t there for too long, but I know Matt Millar, he was down there with me and he’d help me for a week. It was nice to have him there, and I think that’s credit to LA and his commitment to me and trying to make me feel welcome.
On the pace of the game today and his expectations coming into the game
The pace was fast, I know we’ve been pretty fresh, I think that was their third game in four nights, you could kind of see them tail off towards the halfway point of the game and a little bit later in the game. I know [JF Berube] was standing on his head that first period, they came out flying. We got a lot of young guys, we’ve got good engines on our team. I know everyone’s in great shape and their excited to have that track meet, high-skill type of caliber game. Coming from the OHL that’s a lot of games most nights. It was a lot of fun out there, the game was great.
On how he saw the chemistry of Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev in the game
It was good, it was pretty short, Quinton came out of the game there kind of halfway through, or the second period. They look good together, especially that powerplay. I was looking at myself, it was almost an all-OHL powerplay. To see them doing what they’re doing at the pro level, you can tell that they’re going to have great futures. I think having them on the powerplay together, I know Quinton makes a lot of plays, opens up a lot of ice, Arthur can hammer the puck. Good combination together.
On what his book title would be about this season
I’m not really sure, I think a classic hockey one, like ‘Suitcase’ would be pretty funny.
On the difficulty of transitioning from different leagues as a goalie
It’s a lot different. I know when I first went to Germany, the game was completely different. It was a lot it east to west, there was a slower pace game, typically not as many shots, they’re only shooting when they get great A’s. The ice is just a lot bigger so it translates a lot differently than North American hockey. A lot of that really helped me with being patient and making better reads and just being with pros. Being over there for two months, we have we had quite a bit of NHL games on our roster, there’s guys that been around and been over here in North America and it’s great just to learn from those guys over there. Then coming over to Greenville and over here and with the Kings, it’s just back to North America. You have the best players in the world over here when you’re skating with Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter then you got hopefully the future best players in the world with some of the younger guys and our team like Akil Thomas, Tyler Madden, and those guys. It’s just awesome to be able to develop with them and learn and make our ways as we go along in our career.
On the areas he is most focused on improving right now
I think there’s a lot that you can always change in your game. I think there’s always one saying that if you’re the same goalie the last year and then you show up to camp as the same goalie that’s never a good thing. You always want to be learning the ways, gauging your game and using it as a measuring stick. I think what I want to work on is getting in my stance early. I think I’ve been doing a great job of using my size, so I think that’s just something I want to keep building off of and using my transitions like I talked about with working with [Bill] and just kind of keeping my game tight and making reads just to make it a little bit simpler.
More postgame comments linked below, including information on Quinton Byfield leaving the game early with an injury.
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Reign Win 3-2 in SO: Coach Wrobo Postgame Quotes, Byfield Injured
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That’s a Really good interview!