RIVERSIDE — For some reason, championships seem to follow David Rutherford around. Which may help explain why the Ontario Reign traded for him in January.

Rutherford, a 28-year-old forward, won an ECHL Kelly Cup with Florida in 2012. He won a Central Hockey League championship in 2011, with the delightfully named Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. He was a member of three championship clubs in juniors, winning a Memorial Cup with Spokane in 2008, a Western Hockey League championship with Vancouver in 2006 and a BC Hockey League title at Surrey in 2005.

Thus, as the Reign prepares for today’s Game 1 of its second round playoff series against Utah, which begins today at 3 in The Vault, the input of Rutherford and Gary Nunn — who also has hoisted the Kelly Cup (Alaska in 2011) and was acquired by the Reign in March for his playoff know-how — won’t hurt.

“I try to say to the guys that it’s one day at a time, especially in the playoffs,” Rutherford said Saturday, following a practice at LA Kings Icetown. “If you lose 8-0 or 3-2, you’ve got to wash it away. That’s the biggest thing, letting go.

“For this team, getting over that first series was like slaying a dragon to a lot of people. To me, I was kind of baffled. I expected to win. To me, it was just another game, another victory, on to the next one.”

The history of the Reign franchise, of course, had a lot to do with those acquisitions.

Last Tuesday night’s Game 7 victory over Colorado moved Ontario past the first round for only the second time in the team’s six seasons. The Reign had won four division championships but was 1-4 in its previous playoff series, the only victory a four-game sweep of Utah in 2013 with the last two wins coming in overtime.

Now, in the franchise’s last shot at a Kelly Cup before it transfers to the American Hockey League this fall, a team that finished second in the Pacific Division could be the one to rip apart that underachiever reputation.

“I know Smurf (coach Jason Christie) wanted to get guys who had been there before and won before,” Rutherford said. “I’m lucky to come in here and just be a part of something special right now.”

Yes, the Reign players call their coach “Smurf,” to his face no less. And I’m guessing Rutherford has fit in pretty well at this point, because his teammates are now calling him “Baby Smurf.”

He scored eight goals in 22 regular season games with Ontario, and had a goal and four assists in the Colorado series with a plus-9. He has filled varied roles since joining the club from the Missouri Mavericks, in a trade for Reign veteran Geoff Walker, on Jan. 22.

“I was an agitator on the shutdown line before this series,” he said. “And then they wanted to switch things up, and I went back to being a setup guy. But more or less it’s about whatever the coach needs on each given night, especially during the playoffs. It’s all about adapting. We’ll see what Utah has to give, and we’ll see what the coach gives me as a role there.”

Of late, Rutherford has been skating with Nunn and Judd Blackwater on the Reign’s top line, which is how they were grouped in Saturday’s practice. Blackwater had four goals and four assists in the first round (after a 35-goal regular season), and Nunn had two goals and two assists against Colorado.

Utah finished 14 points behind Ontario in the regular season standings. But the Grizzlies finished 20 points behind Idaho, the Pacific Division champ, before winning the teams’ first-round series in six.

Ontario was 6-3-1-1 against Utah in the regular season. Rutherford earned ECHL Player of the Week honors for March 9-15 in large part because of a goal and four assists in three games against the Grizzlies.

For what it’s worth, this series also matches the ECHL affiliates of the Kings and Ducks, although we shouldn’t get carried away. Each team has two of the parent club’s prospects: Forward Maxim Kitsyn and defenseman Alex Roach for Ontario, defenseman Kevin Lind and goalie Igor Bobkov for Utah. This ain’t L.A. vs. Anaheim, nor even a preview of next year’s Ontario-San Diego AHL rivalry.

But it is the playoffs, always the best time of year for a hockey player. And it’s an opportunity for the Reign to leave the ECHL with a bang.

“We have something special here,” Rutherford said. “Let’s make sure we don’t (toss) it away.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: jalexander@pe.com