NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Reading Royals

Let It Pour

January 17, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


There is no question but that for the past couple of weeks the Royals have been battling through a bit of a scoring drought. That's not to say the Royals haven't had their chances. More frequently than any of us would care to remember, the Royals have out-shot and out-chanced the opposition only to be edged out in the only the stat that really matters, i.e. outscored. And, to add insult to injury, this season it seems the team has clanged more iron Shaquille O'Neal in a free-throw shooting contest. Certainly all of that was part of the story in the Royals' backto- back losses this weekend to the Cincinnati Cyclones. After a dramatic and draining victory in Wheeling on Friday night, the Royals were only able to muster a total of two goals in two games against the first place Cyclones. To be fair, Cincinnati earned their victories with a solid team effort-not to mention the solid play of goaltender Cedrick Desjardins. But all season long in Reading, we've had the feeling that the sky was about to open up and start raining buckets of goals for a team that is comprised of a number of players with a history of scoring in bunches. But, that simply has not been the case, particularly of late. To run the analogy a step farther, the dark storm clouds have hung leaden in the air and, unfortunately, they've done nothing but block the sun. And, as odd as it may sound, there is something about having difficulty scoring that makes the losses feel more ominous and dark. And therein lies the challenge of this team, to somehow in the midst of the black cloud keep their focus on the silver lining-or coating-of a certain Cup.....

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. After going 8 - 2 - 1 in a span of eleven games from November 29 through December 21, the Royals have gone 3 - 8 - 0 in the last eleven games.

2. The Royals' back-to-back home losses to the Cincinnati Cyclones this week extended the Royals current home losing streak to a season high three games.

3. In the last eleven games, the Royals have scored a total of 24 goals, an average of 2.18 goals per game. In the first 27 games this season, the Royals scored a total of 101 goals, an average of 3.75 goals per game. Over the course of the season, Reading averages 3.29 gpg, which is 13th in the league.

4. The Royals' 3-2 win in Wheeling last Friday was the first 'one-goal' win for Reading since the 3-2 overtime victory over the Johnstown Chiefs on December 2. Over the course of the season, the Royals have compiled a record of 4 - 10 - 4 in games decided by one goal.

5. In Friday's 3-2 win over Wheeling, the Royals scored the game's first goal (a power play goal by Chris Bala 4:53 into the game). In the two losses suffered by the Royals this week, the Cyclones scored the first goal of the game-in both games by Barret Ehgoetz (7:19 into Saturday's game and 5:44 into Sunday's game). Over the course of the season, Reading has a record of 9 - 2 - 2 when scoring first and 7 - 16 - 2 when the opposition scores first.

6. Chris Bala's goal last Friday was his second "first goal" of the season-and was his sixth goal in the eight games leading up to and including Friday's win in Wheeling. Bala also assisted on the Royals' game winner on Friday, marking his tenth multipoint game of the season (which is second best on the team).

7. Bala's power play goal last Friday snapped a streak of 19 consecutive power plays (and four straight games) without scoring a ppg for Reading. In the two games against the Cincinnati Cyclones this weekend, the Royals went a collective 0 - 11 against the top penalty killing team in the league. The Royals have scored two power play goals in their last 36 chances with the man advantage (5.5% scoring ratio); and four pppg in the last 65 chances (6.1%). The Royals power play has been blanked in ten of the last thirteen games. Overall this season, the Royals are scoring power play goals at a 15.0% clip, which is tied for nineteenth in the league.

8. In Friday's game, Greg Hogeboom scored a goal and picked up an assist to register his team leading fourteenth multi-point performance of the season. Hogeboom also scored the Royals' lone goal in the 3-1 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. That goal was Hogeboom's sixth short-handed goal of the season, which establishes a new team record for SHGs in a single season, which was set last year by Chris Bala. Hogeboom's 6 shorties currently leads the league. That was also the tenth short-handed goal of the season for Reading.

9. John Snowden scored the Royals' game winning goal on Friday. That goal, scored while the Royals were on the power play with just 7:53 remaining in regulation time, broke a 2-2 tie. For Snowden, it was his seventh goal of the season, and his second game winner of the year; and it was actually his second GWG in three games played, as Snowden scored the game winner in the Royals' 3-1 win in Toledo on December 16-after the Royals next game, on the 21st of December in Charlotte, Snowden sat out eight games with an injury and just returned to the Royals last Friday.

10. Goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak played all three games for the Royals this past week. Pietrasiak has now played 17 of the last 18 games for Reading-and in the one game he did not play for Reading, he played for the Hershey Bears. Pietrasiak has a 8 - 9 - 0 record for the Royals.

UNSUNG HERO OF WEEK: John Francisco

It has been almost a year ago to the day that Jon Francisco received the first call of his pro career to the American Hockey League. In virtually the first minute of his first shift with the Manchester Monarchs in his long-awaited (and equally long-deserved) AHL opportunity, Franny went down with a knee injury. He did not return to the Royals until March 10, 2006, when he played seven more games for Reading before re-injuring his knee. After an extensive rehab over the summer, Franny kicked off the 2006-07 season with a renewed excitement, only to suffer another injury to the same knee in the second game of the season. For a guy used to playing with reckless abandon in every game of every season in which he had ever been involved in hockey going back to his youth days in Hermantown, Minnesota- he was, after all, the Royals' "Iron Man" in 2004-05-this past calendar year has had to have been a difficult challenge. But drawing on the strength of his wife and newly born baby girl, Franny has shown up to the rink every day of his rehab with an unwavering determination to get back in the line-up with one goal in mind: to help his teammates. It didn't take long for that to play out last Friday night as, early in the first, he won an offensive zone face-off that set up the game's first goal in the Royals' 3-2 victory in Wheeling. To add an exclamation point to his return, Franny also picked up a helper on the game winner late in the third period. Some might question why Jon-a man of many talents- would go through all of this physical and mental aggravation again (and again and again). And, I would suspect that, somewhere in his answer, we might all draw strength for our own moments of hardship: the love of the game.....

CLOSING NOTES

1. This past Saturday, Yutaka Fukufuji became the third player in Royals' team history to play for Reading and the Los Angeles Kings in the same season. (Ryan Flinn accomplished that feat in 2001-02 and goaltender Mathieu Chouinard did it in 2003-04). In doing so, Yutaka also became the first Japanese born player to compete in (and, on Tuesday night, start) an NHL game.

2. Greg Hogeboom competed in the all-star game's skill competition last night, coming in 5th in the hardest shot (92.4 mph); 6th in accuracy shooting (2 of 8); and contributing to the American Conference's win in the breakaway relay (17-8).

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from January 17, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central