NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Reading Royals

Royals Weekly

November 17, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals put together the team's first winning week of the season, taking two of the three games played in the previous seven days. The 3-2 shootout win over the Elmira Jackals on Tuesday snapped a season long four game losing streak for the team; and Sunday's 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Cyclones ended a two game skid for the Royals at the Sovereign Center in Reading, where the team has compiled a record of 2-5-0 so far this season.

2. The Royals picked up their second shootout win of the season in Elmira on Tuesday. Ned Lukacevic, who scored the game tying goal late in the second period to extend his personal goal scoring streak to three games, was the only player of the nine shooters in the shootout to bag his attempt, giving the Royals the two points. Goaltender Danny Taylor stopped all five Elmira attempts in the shootout. The Royals' goaltenders are yet to allow a shootout goal, having stopped all ten attempts they've faced.

3. In four of the five wins that Reading has registered this year-including both wins this week-the team has trailed at some point of the game and had to come from behind to pick up the two points. In Tuesday's shootout win in Elmira, the Royals trailed the Jackals 2-0 before mounting a second period comeback; and in Sunday's 5-3 win over Cincinnati, Reading trailed twice (at 1-0 and 2-1) before registering three second period goals to take the lead for good. The Royals have come back from two goal deficits three times this year (10/17 @ Trenton; 11/04 @ Cincinnati; and 11/11 @ Elmira). The only game that the Royals have won this year during which the team never trailed was the 6-2 victory over the Idaho Steelheads (11/01).

4. In Sunday's win over Cincinnati, the Royals got five goals from five different players. This continued a trend that has remained true in all fourteen games played by the team this year: in every game, each goal has been scored by a different player, i.e. the Royals have not yet had one player register a multi-goal game Over the course of the season, fifteen different players have scored a goal for Reading.

5. Matt Curley, who is in his second year of pro and played 55 games in his rookie season, scored the first goal for Reading against the Jackals last Tuesday to register his first goal as a pro. Kevin Harvey scored the only goal for the Royals on Saturday night in the 4-1 loss to the Devils, marking his first goal as a member of the Royals. Harvey, who currently leads the ECHL with 79 penalty minutes (and is second in the league with 17 minor penalties), engaged in a couple of fights this past week and is now tied for the team lead (with captain Matt Herneisen) with five fighting majors.

6. Matt Herneisen scored what proved to be the game winning goal for the Royals on Sunday evening against the Cyclones. Herneisen currently leads the Royals with two game winning goals. He also leads the team in the plus/minus category, playing to a plus eight (+8) through fourteen games.

7. Dan Rudisuela scored the Royals' first goal on Sunday (to tie the game at one in the first period) while Reading was playing on the power play. That snapped a streak of five consecutive games and twenty-three consecutive power play chances (dating back to 11/05 in Cincinnati) in which the Royals had failed to bag a PPG. For Rudisuela, that marked his team leading second power play goal of the season.

8. Brock Hooton registered his first multi-point game of the season for the Royals on Sunday (1g-1a). Last season, Hooton, who led the Royals with 26 goals and 59 points, tied for the team lead (with Dany Roussin) with fifteen multi-point games. Kirk MacDonald registered his third multi-point performance of the season (which is tied for the team lead with Tyler Doig and Shawn Snider) on Sunday (1g-2a) when he became the third Royal this season to bag a three point game.

9. Goaltender Danny Taylor saw a season high 50 shots in Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Trenton Devils. In the three games this week, Taylor faced a total of 128 shots and stopped 120 of them to register a .938 save percentage for the week. He also stopped all five of the Elmira Jackals' shootout attempts for his first shootout win as a member of the Royals. (He was 3-2 in the SO for Manchester last season in the AHL). In the last four games, Taylor has faced 38 or more shots in each of those games and has seen 37 or more shots in seven of his ten starts this year. (The Royals average giving up 33.71 shots against per game, which is 17th in the league.)

10 The Royals currently lead the ECHL with 388 total penalty minutes through the first 14 games (a league leading average of 27.71 pims per game). The Royals have accumulated 118 minor penalties, which have resulted in a league leading 99 short-handed situations for the Royals over the course of the season. In contrast, the Royals have only had 67 power play chances this season-which translates into a (-32) for special teams' opportunities this season. Reading has also racked up twenty fighting majors (which is second only to the Fresno Falcons who have fought 25 times in 13 games). 9 different Royals have engaged in at least one fight this season.

CLOSING NOTES

1 Luciano Aquino registered his first multi-point game with the Royals (in his second played) when he picked up a pair of assists (including one on Matt Herneisen's GWG) in Sunday's 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones.

2. Jason Payne picked up his first point as a member of the Royals (and his first point in the ECHL since March 30, 2002, when he scored a goal in the New Or- leans Brass' 6-3 loss to the Columbia Inferno) when he assisted on Ned Lukace- vic's game tying goal at the 16:12 of the second period in Elmira on Tuesday.

3. Defenseman Scott Langdon engaged in his first pro fight (against Cincinnati's Steve Makway) in Sunday's win over the Cyclones. Langdon also picked up his first pro point earlier this season when he assisted on Kirk MacDonald's game tying goal mid-way into the third period in Reading's 3-2 shootout win in Cincinnati back on November 4, 2008.

4. Shawn Snider picked up his team leading eighth assist when he registered a helper on the Royals' lone goal (scored by Kevin Harvey) in the 4-1 loss to the Trenton Devils on Saturday night.

5. Mac Faulkner registered his team leading seventh goal of the season when he iced Sunday's win with an empty-netter with just 10 seconds to go in the 5-3 win over Cincinnati. Faulkner leads the Royals (and is currently fourth in the league) with 58 shots.. 6. Defenseman Tyson Marsh picked up his third assist of the season when he started the play that resulted in the game winning goal by Matt Herneisen in Sunday's victory over Cincinnati.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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

ECHL Stories from November 17, 2008


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