
Book \'Em, Danno
February 27, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release
Long before there were 683 television stations pumped through a little black cable into your house and we still had to fool with the aluminum foil on the rabbit ears for about twenty minutes just to pick up one of the three available options, there were some shows you could just about guarantee were going to be on every TV in the neighborhood on a particular night of the week. One of those was the classic good guy-bad guy showdown, Hawaii Five-0. Alright, I'm sure the gratuitous shots of bikini clad girls carrying surfboards in warm island breezes had something to do with it (and yeah, it did have the greatest TV theme song of all time); but there was also something inherently re-assuring about that show. Despite the never ending supply of diabolical criminal masterminds intent on defiling the pristine shores of our fiftieth state, Steve McGarrett was never rattled. Sure there were interminably tense moments where the very essence of public safety seemed to hang precariously in the balance (always miraculously timed for a commercial break). But, you knew at some point in the show Jack Lord was going to brace for that icy glare and utter those infamous words-Wo Fat and his boys were going down. As the Royals have rung off their own 5-0 sequence over the last two weeks, there certainly have been a number of tense moments where the outcome hung precariously in the balance. But for some reason or other, there always seemed to a calm, controlled, assured feeling in the air. Perhaps it was that during the three games this week, for the most part, when it got to the third period the team was playing with a two goal cushion. Certainly, the rejuvenated play of the team's goaltenders also factored into a feeling of confidence. But, either way, at this stage of the season for the Royals, the most important thing isn't how they nab the wins, it is simply that they book 'em.....
TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK
1. The Royals are currently riding a season high five game win streak. The last four of those wins have come at the Sovereign Center-also a season high (home) win streak for the team. Reading's season long six game home stand continues this week with games on Friday (against the Johnstown Chiefs) and Saturday (against the Dayton Bombers).
2. Center Brett Smith scored the game winning goal in the Royals' 4-2 win over Cincinnati last Wednesday. That was Smith's second goal since being acquired by the Royals from the Phoenix Roadrunners on February 5 (his eighteenth goal of the season), and his first at the Sovereign Center. It was also the first GWG of the year for Smith, who also picked up an assist in that game, marking his multi-point game for the Royals.
3. Joe Zappala scored two power play goals, including his team leading fifth game winner, in Reading's 3-1 win over the Dayton Bombers last Friday. This was Zappala's second multi-goal game of the year for the Royals. (He racked up a hattrick against the Trenton Titans on December 10.) Zappala also picked up a goal and an assist in the team's 4-2 win over Cincinnati last Wednesday. Zappala has had 7 multi-point games for the Royals this year.
4. Shawn Germain scored his first goal as a member of the Royals-a short-handed marker at the 15:43 mark of the second period to make it 3-1 Reading- last Friday against Dayton. That was the team's thirteenth short-handed goal of the season.
5. Goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji stopped nineteen of the twenty shots he faced in the first period in last Friday's 3-1 win for the Royals, establishing a season high for saves in a single period by a Royals' goaltender this year.
6. Yutaka Fukufuji won all three games for the Royals last week, stopping 88 of the 93 shots he faced in those games for a .946 save percentage (and a 1.67 gaa). Fukufuji's three wins in a row ties the team season high for a goaltender. (Jeff Pietrasiak has won three in a row twice this year: 12/08 - 12/10/06 and 12/15 - 12/21/06.)
7. Shawn Collymore factored in all four goals (2g - 2a) scored by the Royals in the team's 4-2 win over Dayton on Saturday night. Collymore's second goal that night proved to be the game winner, his third GWG of the season for the Royals. For Collymore, this marked his second multi-goal game of the year for Reading (he had a hattrick on 11/17/06 against the Toledo Storm) and the eighth time this season that he has had two assists in a single game. Collymore has racked up thirteen multipoint games this year (second only to Greg Hogeboom on the team).
8. Ned Lukacevic also factored in all four goals scored by the Royals (2g - 2a) in the 4-2 win against Dayton on Saturday. For Lukacevic, this marked his first multi-goal game as a pro, as well as the first time in his pro career that he's had four points in a single game. Lukacevic also scored a goal for the Royals in the 4-2 win over Cincinnati last Wednesday.
9. Dany Roussin picked up three assists in the 4-2 win over the Bombers last Saturday. For Roussin, that was his first three point performance of the season for the Royals. Roussin also scored a goal in the 4-2 win over Cincinnati last Wednesday. Roussin now has six goals on the season and five of them have been scored against the Cyclones.
10. In the last seven games, the Royals power play has gone 8 for 38, a 21.1% scoring ratio. Over the course of the season, the Royals are scoring power play goals at a ratio of 15.4%, which is tied for seventeenth in the league.
CLOSING NOTES
1. In last Wednesday's 4-2 win over Cincinnati, Taylor Christie picked up two assists, including one on the game winner by Brett Smith, marking his fourth multi-point game of the year for Reading.
2. Last Wednesday and Friday, the Royals' penalty killers were able to kill a full two minutes of five-on-three against during both games. The Royals' PK has only allowed 4 power play goals against in the last 40 chances with the man advantage for the opposition-a 90.0% kill ratio. Over the course of the season, Reading is killing penalties at an 83.6% ratio, which is twelfth in the league.
3. On Sunday, Royals forward Shawn Collymore was loaned to the Binghamton Senators, marking his third trip to the AHL this season. Collymore played in Binghamton's 5-2 loss to the Hershey Bears on Sunday. He has played 7 AHL games this year.
4. Defenseman Rob LaLonde was loaned to the Binghamton Senators on Sunday, as well, marking his first trip to the AHL this season. (Last season, LaLonde played seven games with in Lowell at the conclusion of his season at Merrimack College.) LaLonde also played in the Senators loss to Hershey on Sunday.
5. Goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak played for the Hershey Bears in that team's 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phantoms last Saturday night. In that game, Pietrasiak allowed 3 goals on 15 shots in 31:14 worth of time. Pietrasiak now has a record of 1-1-0 with the Bears this season. This marks Pietrasiak's fourth trip to the AHL with three separate teams this season.
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ECHL Stories from February 27, 2007
- Condors Slip Past RoadRunners 5-4 In A Shootout - Phoenix RoadRunners
- Fresno Extra Special In 5-0 Win Over Cyclones - Cincinnati Cyclones
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- Bombers soar over Toledo, 6-2 - Dayton Bombers
- Everblades in first place after 6-3 win over Augusta - Florida Everblades
- Ice Pilots fall to Inferno 5-4 in shootout - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- Third period power play goals vault Everblades over Lynx - Augusta Lynx
- Community and Promotions Update - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Cyclones Receive Goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris - Cincinnati Cyclones
- Constant recalled to Hartford - Charlotte Checkers
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Steelheads' Nesbitt Named In Glas Co Player Of The Week - ECHL
- Nesbitt named ECHL Player of the Week - Idaho Steelheads
- Stingrays Weekly - South Carolina Stingrays
- Gladiators "Salute to Atlanta Traffic" Jersey Auction a Success - Atlanta Gladiators
- McKenna named Goaltender of the Week - Las Vegas Wranglers
- Wranglers' McKenna Named Rbk Hockey Goalie Of The Week - ECHL
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- Charity Case to perform post-game concert March 17 - Charlotte Checkers
- ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna in Long Beach Wednesday - Long Beach Ice Dogs
- Ice Pilots weekly - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- Ice Pilots look for four wins in Columbia Tonight - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Book âEm, Danno - Reading Royals
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