The Reign of the East Coast Hockey League and an affiliate of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, is beginning its second season.

The tryout camp offers players the opportunity to show the Reign coaching staff their skills for a chance at receiving an invitation to the 2009-10 Ontario Reign camp. The players that are competing for spots are traveling from such places as Canada, New York, New Hampshire, and Colorado.

Saturday's on-ice session is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Sunday's on-ice session is from 11:55 a.m. to 1:55 p.m.

Ice Town is located at 10540 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside.

Clifford, the 35th player taken in the June draft, is a rugged winger has played often and played well during the team's exhibition games while teaming with first-round draft choice Brayden Schenn. He still could be sent back to his junior club, Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League, any time before the 10th game of the regular season, in which case the pro contract would take effect in the 2010-11 season.

So, naturally, I asked Terry Murray if their influence in the locker room was as important as their ability on the ice.

"No," he said.

"Lots of good things. The first period was exactly the way you want to see it start: Lots of energy, lots of getting pucks in, good puck possession time. We just need to continue to build on that kind of period. I thought we got away from that in the second period. ... We let up and tried to make one more play, looking for one more option, when it really wasn't necessary. You can just continue to get pucks to the net."

On the play of center Andrei Loktionov, who played on a line with Alexander Frolov and Wayne Simmonds: "He's a very skilled player. He's a special kind of a guy. He has the puck a lot. He can find people, sees the ice, makes good plays, and he can play a very brave game. It doesn't matter who he's matched up against, he's going to go in and battle them for puck possession. For a kid that still has a year of junior eligibility, he's a pretty special player."

On Jonathan Quick, who faced 18 San Jose shots in regulation and another eight in the five-minute overtime: "Real good. He had a lot of power plays coming at him, 5-on-3, 4-on-3, and you have to be working real hard to find the puck and moving in your net. He was very sharp. He made some big stops at the end of the game, just in the overtime to get it to a shootout."

On 2009 draft choices Brayden Schenn and Kyle Clifford, a pair of 18-year-olds who were impressive for the second game in a row: "That line (with center Trevor Lewis) in the first period was probably the best line on the ice on both teams in my opinion. They played hard, heavy, they did all the things you want them to do. Just great kids, great competitive, highly competitive athletes that want to win. And they know how to play the right way."

Most of the empty seats were in the lower bowl, the higher-priced seats. The upstairs sections, in contrast, were around 80 percent full.

Those who showed up seemed to be mostly Kings fans anyway, rather than just here for the novelty of NHL hockey in their backyard.

The Kings dressed maybe half their available roster, with regulars making the bus ride including Dustin Brown, Alexander Frolov, Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Sean O'Donnell, Ted Purcell, Davis Drewiskie, Wayne Simmonds and Raitis Ivanans. Jonathan Quick started in goal and played the entire game, as planned.

Sharks rookie Benn Ferreiro scored at 12:52 of the first period off a Kings giveaway, and San Jose goalie Thomas Greiss made the lead stand up for 59 minutes and 50.1 seconds.

But Dustin Brown took advantage of a 6-on-4 situation in the waning seconds after the Kings had pulled Quick and Dan Hinote had taken a cross-checking penalty with 19.4 seconds left. Brown took a pass from Ted Purcell right in front of the net and beat Griess for the tying goal, sending the game to overtime.

After a scoreless extra period -- Quick made two saves in the final five seconds to preserve the tie -- the teams went to the shootout, and San Jose's Jason Demers beat Quick in the fourth round for the winning goal after the first seven shooters had been unsuccessful.

And, this being an ECHL arena, the Kings and Sharks gave the fans a full dose of fisticuffs: Four different fights, including a particularly energetic scrap between Johnson and San Jose defenseman Derek Joslin at the end of the second period.

However, the Kings missed a chance to give the locals a bonus.

Four players who were with the Ontario Reign for parts of last season are in the Kings' camp: left wing Bud Holloway, defenseman Colten Teubert, right wing Geoff Walker and goalie Jeff Zatkoff. None of them made the trip tonight, which means that while Terry Murray might be an accomplished coach, he's not so good at recognizing story lines.

Incidentally, the most notable accomplishment of the trip? The Kings' bus left their El Segundo training facility at 3:30, heading into the teeth of the worst traffic of the day heading east ... and got into Ontario in a little over an hour and a half, by all reports.

The Ducks acquired right wing Evgeny Artyukhin from the Tampa Bay Lightning for left wing Drew Miller and a 2010 third-round draft choice.

Artyukhin, 26, has played two NHL seasons, and had six goals, 16 points and 151 penalty minutes in 73 games, while averaging 10:40 time on ice and leading the team in hits with 249. He's 6-foot-4 and 254 pounds, if there's any further question as to his fitting in with these Ducks.

Oh, and Artyukhin also was the one who laid the devastating knee-to-thigh hit on the Kings' Drew Doughty during a January game at Staples Center. That was notable not only because Doughty was out for the rest of the game and a couple after that, but because no one except for Sean O'Donnell attempted to retaliate.

So Artyukhin also should be popular among Ducks fans in the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" category.

Miller, younger brother of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller, was a sixth-round pick of the Ducks in 2003 out of Michigan State. He was a member of the team's Stanley Cup championship team in '07 and appeared in 27 regular season games (four goals, 10 points, 27 penalty minutes) and all 13 postseason games last season. He scored two goals in the playoffs.

Officially, they say no, as assistant GM David McNab told the team's in-house blogger, Adam Brady, earlier this week:

"No, it's not a precursor," McNab said. "You have to have three goalies. Your third has to be somebody that the organization is comfortable can play and can win. That is what we think we have in Justin. This has nothing to do with leading into something else. This is strictly to get depth at a position that you have to be strong in."

But speculation has swirled that the Ducks might be looking for a taker for J.S. Giguere and his $6 million cap hit for each of the next two seasons, since Jonas Hiller established himself as a No. 1 goalie during the regular season and particularly in the playoffs.

Pogge spent most of last season in the American Hockey League, and after being built up as the Maple Leafs' goalie of the future seemed to have hit a wall, especially in a town impatient for success.

Another thing to keep in mind: As of now, the Ducks do not have an AHL affiliate. They dropped Iowa in May, a precursor to the AHL's suspension of the franchise in July. In all likelihood the Ducks will disperse their minor leaguers to other AHL teams and will go without a full affiliate for at least this season.

They also have nine goalies in their organization, counting Hiller, Giguere and Pogge.

That said, if you have a goalie that needs to play in order to develop, is he better served by keeping him the third goalie with the big club (and likely never playing), or to send him to a minor league team affiliated with another club, where that club's prospect likely would get first consideration when it came to playing time? (Or do you just bite the bullet and send him to Bakersfield, the Ducks' ECHL affiliate?)

The other option: A trade. Stay tuned.

Hickey, 20, a smooth puck-moving defenseman, stayed in juniors the last two seasons, with Seattle of the Western Hockey League, and also captained Canada's gold medal-winning entry in the World Junior Championships last winter. He finished the 2008-09 season with the Kings' Manchester affiliate in the AHL, with a goal and six assists in seven games.

Said Kings coach Terry Murray after watching Hickey in a camp game today: "He's gotten bigger physically. He's stronger. He shows much more confidence, much more authority to manage the game ... the confidence side has grown dramatically."

Does Hickey feel he has a good chance to crack the Kings roster this season?

Marchant had five goals and 13 assists in 72 regular season games last season, and his only playoff goal was a huge one -- the game-winner in a triple-overtime victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against Detroit.

Here are highlights of a conference call interview earlier today.

Scuderi, Pittsburgh's fifth-round choice (134th overall) in 1998, played in 300 games with Pittsburgh, with three goals and 36 assists. He was a plus-13 with 112 penalty minutes. He added a goal and seven assists in 49 postseason games with the Pens.

The Kings also re-signed restricted free-agent right wing Kevin Westgarth to a three-year contact.

Westgarth, 25, made his Kings/NHL debut this past season and played in nine games, recording zero points and nine penalty minutes. He also played in 65 games with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, recording 10 points and a team-leading 165 penalty minutes.

ONTARIO REIGN:

The Kings' ECHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, announced Tuesday that center Jon Francisco, center Tim Kraus, and rookie defenseman Brian Kilburg signed standard player contracts for the 2009-2010 season.