The Ontario Reign began operating in 2001 as the Manchester Monarchs in New Hampshire. They are the LA Kings AHL affiliate, and have been since their first season. In 2015, the Monarchs and the Ontario Reign (the ECHL affiliate for the Kings at the time) flipped teams and locations, as the AHL wanted to create a predominantly California-based Pacific Division. The Ontario Reign became the Kings’ AHL team, and the Monarchs became their ECHL affiliate.
In their inaugural season in Ontario, the Reign finished first in the new look Pacific Division with a record of 44-19-4-1, but were swept in the conference finals by the eventual Calder Cup champions, the Cleveland (then Lake Erie) Monsters. Since then they have enjoyed a fair amount of success, only missing the playoffs twice in eight seasons (including the COVID-19 cancelled season), however they haven’t made it past the first round since their inaugural season.
The Reign have yet to win the Calder Cup under that name, but in their final season as the Monarchs, they beat the Utica Comets 4-1 to capture the first and only Calder Cup in franchise history.
In the 2022-23 season, the Reign struggled mightily, finishing 6th in the division with a record of 34-32-5-1 and losing in the first round to the Colorado Eagles. This would mark the third straight season with a playoff defeat to the Eagles.
Their current head coach is Marco Sturm, their current GM is Richard Seeley, and they play out of the Toyota Arena.
Notable former Reign include Jonathan Quick, Dustin Brown, Tyler Toffoli and Alec Martinez.