Traccitto signs in the ECHL

[Brock]

http://www.ontarioreign.com/news/archives/index.html?article_id=810

Good luck to Reggie. Hopefully he can earn himself a couple of AHL PTO contracts at some point this year too.

[hockey123]

http://www.insidesocal.com/reign/2010/08/reign_sign_defenseman_reggie_t.htmlReign sign defenseman Reggie Traccitto.

By J.P. Hoornstra (jp.hoornstra@[NO EMAIL POSTING ALLOWED]) on August 27, 2010 1:15 PM

Reggie Traccitto can score, fight, and skate at defenseman and forward. The 20-year-old rookie, coming off an overage junior season with the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League, is bringing his diverse skill set to the Reign next season.

Traccitto becomes the third defenseman confirmed be to joining the Reign, joining veteran Chad Starling and rookie Eric Doyle. A converted forward, Traccitto led all OHL defensemen with 20 goals last season for the IceDogs. He also contributed 18 assists in 65 games, after having never scored more than four goals or 15 assists in a single OHL season.

More details as we get 'em...

[hockey123]

Traccitto best under pressure
Traccitto best under pressure. Reggie Traccitto, who played last season with the Niagara IceDogs, is off to his first AHL training camp.

Reggie Traccitto is at his best when something big is on the line.
Many will remember the former Cambridge Winter Hawks’ playoff goal in double overtime from centre ice that sunk the Listowel Cyclones and helped pace the team to the first of back-to-back Sutherland Cups.

In his overage year last season with the Niagara IceDogs, it was do-or-die for the undrafted defenceman if he wanted to move on to professional hockey.

The 21 year old came up with his best offensive year, scoring 20 goals to lead Ontario Hockey League defenceman.

Fifteen of those goals came on the power play, good enough for 10th among all OHL skaters.

After the IceDogs season finished, he was expected to end the season with an East Coast Hockey League team, but those plans fell through. Unfettered, he still had interest from about five ECHL teams and was confident that something could be worked out for this season.

That's when the ECHL’s Ontario Reign stepped in. The California-based team, affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings, offered Traccitto a one-year contract and a spot at the American Hockey League’s Manchester Monarchs training camp. Traccitto bit and now he’s off to his first AHL training camp.

He's going to have to overcome those first-time jitters and come up big again if he wants to stay there.

“I’ve never been too much of a nervous guy. I've been in a lot of nervous situations growing up and that seems to get me going," the Oakville native said on his cellphone. He leaves for the Manchester training camp on Sept. 28.

"Even if you get cut, you're there for the experience. You learn what it's like to play in the big leagues. You see guys that are coming down from the NHL and they're going down to the AHL camps and you learn from them. I'm still young; I'm only 21 years old. Some players don't make it to the NHL until they're 25 years old."

Making the Monarchs is the best case scenario for Traccitto, though that's not the reason why he's going. He is hoping to learn from the training camp and take it to Ontario, where he is hoping to be one of the top defencemen on the team.

He has a good shot at it, as the coaching staff enticed him by saying that they were going with a younger roster this year. Less experience among his teammates means more playing time.

"Two of the teams that were interested in me were older teams and obviously I want to be on that developing team, to get some experience and actually play. Hopefully, it will work out this year and it will be one step up the ladder," he said.

With a one-year contract, Traccitto knows he has a limited amount of time to impress Ontario coaches for another year in the Kings system, or at least a chance somewhere else.

But that's something he had to do last year in Niagara, too. No doubt he'll take the same advice the IceDogs coaching staff dished out to him.

"At the beginning of the year the coaches pulled me aside and said, 'You're an overager, which is good. You're going to have to improve everything you've done in the last three years in the league'. It was bring all you've got and that's exactly what happened. I went out every game and played as hard as I could, and showed the scouts what I could do."

He also learned what it was really like to fight for a job and his future.

"We had three overagers on our team last year and all of us were fighting for jobs. It's not like you can just go out game after game and think that you're going to be in the best position. You can be the starting 'd' and end up being the sixth 'd' by the end of the game. Playing against other overagers always helps you."

And there will always be casual hockey watchers who will question Traccitto's decision. Why start at the bottom of the pros when he could possibly latch on with a team in Europe? They love youngsters that can put the puck in the net.

"I wanted to play in North America first," he said. "I want to do the best that I can and play as long as I can, with my dream goal to get into the NHL. I think, for myself, going to Europe, that would be more down the line, if I knew that wasn't going to make the NHL then maybe it would be a possibility."

Regardless, he's become a good student of the game. Which may be more important that his physical skills.

"I'm going to take everything I can from last year and use it.

[DaDawg]

Good luck Pippo!!!

[hockeyfan]

From Ontario to Ontario.

Good luck to one of my favourites!

[DaDawg]

From Machester cres. to Manchester NH :)