Yahoo Sports Reign's Copley, Gawdin Win AHL Awards
The Ontario Reign were well represented in today’s awards announcements, with Pheonix Copley winning AHL player of the week, and Glenn Gawdin winning AHL player of the month.
Copley had a tough return to the ice after undergoing knee surgery at the beginning of 2024, but has looked much more comfortable in the past couple of weeks.
With Erik Portillo looking solid in his NHL debut, Copley needed to have a big week. He delivered, pitching a shutout on Friday against the Texas Stars and only allowing one goal on 26 shots in Bakersfield the following night. That's good for a 0.50 goals against average and a .981 save percentage in back to back starts. Reign head coach Marco Sturm opted to go with Copley in Bakersfield rather than Jacob Ingham, despite the games coming on consecutive days.
Sturm had this to say about Copley’s week, “The last few weeks, you can see it in practice, you can see it in the games, how calm he is, this is the old Pheonix Copley that we’ve seen in the past.”
On the offensive side, Glenn Gawdin earned himself AHL player of the month for November, putting up nine goals and 12 assists, racking up 21 points in 12 games.
Gawdin, like many other players in Ontario, had a slow start to the season, registering only one point in his first six games.
But when the calendar turned to November, Gawdin flipped a switch and the rest of the team followed suit.
The 27-year-old Gawdin has seemingly only gotten better with age. He hads 55 points in 70 games with the San Diego Gulls last season, but already has 22 points in just 17 games with Ontario. That puts him on pace for a staggering 93 points this season.
"It all starts with the centerman in the middle, and [Gawdin], he became stronger and stronger - he's not done yet." Sturm said, with a grin on his face.
He has also been excelling in the faceoff circle, winning over half his faceoffs in 10 of the 12 games this month.
Both of these players are a big reason why the Ontario Reign went 9-3-0 in the month of November, winning six of their last seven games. They are currently riding a four game winning streak.
