ECHL Reading Royals

Breaking the spell

Published on October 30, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Well, they said Kenny Rogers couldn't win at Yankee Stadium, either. But pine tar issues aside-or at least to the side of your hand-the Royals have had a relatively rough go at the Toledo Sports Arena for quite a while. Ever since Reading knocked the Storm out of the playoffs on April 19, 2005 with a 5-2 victory in Toledo in Game Four of the North Division Semi-Finals, the Royals have gone eight consecutive games without at win at the Sports Arena. Not that the Royals have played poorly in Toledo during that stretch. In fact, Reading has held several late leads in Toledo and ended up in a tie at the end of regulation no fewer than three times in that time period. Case in point, last Friday night, the Royals scored an early third period goal to take a 2-1 lead, only to give up a goal down the stretch and end up on the losing end of another shootout. Saturday night, the Royals battled back from a two goal deficit with a couple of power play goals late in the second period, only to have Toledo score their first power play goal of the season with 7:56 remaining in regulation to regain the one-goal advantage. Even after a short-handed empty netter seemed to ice it for Toledo with just 27 seconds remaining, the Royals still scored again to make it a one goal game. I don't think anyone in Reading is reaching for the pine tar rag quite yet, but on the other hand.....

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. With back-to-back one goal-one assist games for the Royals this week, Arpad Mihaly continued a scoring spree that has placed him second in the league in goals (with 6) and fifth in the league in points (with 9). Mihaly is currently riding a five game point streak and a four game goal scoring streak. Mihaly has also racked up multi-point performances in each of his last four games with Reading.

2. Two of the Royals' young defensemen scored their first pro goals this weekend: (i) Rob LaLone gave the Royals a 2-1 lead when he scored 1:13 into the third period against the Storm last Friday; and (ii) Roman Teslyuk broke up a Toledo shutout 16:24 into the second period with a power play goal in only his second game with the Royals on Saturday night.

3. Malcolm MacMillan currently leads the ECHL with 42 penalty minutes. This past weekend MacMillan added 21 minutes to his totals, which included three tilts with three separate Storm players in the two games: Jon Sitko, Ken Magowan and Gerry Burke.

4. In Saturday's loss to the Storm, all three of Reading's goals were scored while the team was playing with the man advantage. Those three power play goals were more than the Royals had scored on their first 41 chances with the man advantage this season. The Royals have now scored five power play goals in 47 opportunities, a 10.63% scoring ration-22nd out of the 25 teams in the league.

5. The Royals penalty killers have only allowed three power play goals against in 44 chances for the opposition with the man advantage this season. That translates into a 93.18% kill ratio, which is second best in the league.

6. In the five games played so far this season, Reading has scored the game's first goal only once-in the 5-4 shootout loss suffered to the Trenton Titans in Reading's home opener. In every other game, the Royals have had to play from behind, which is something they've done pretty well so far, as the team has come back to tie (although not necessarily held that tie) or win in all four of those games.

7. Logic dictates that it would be somewhat unusual that a short-handed empty netter would prove to be the game winner; but that was the case on Saturday night in Toledo, thanks to Jason Becker's goal with just 18 seconds remaining to cut Toledo's lead to 4-3 moments after the Storm had taken a 4-2 lead on Scooter Smith's short-handed empty netter with 27 seconds left in the game.

8. The Royals lost the team's second shootout in as many tries this season on Friday night to Toledo, 3-2, which also marked the third consecutive shootout loss to the Storm over the past two seasons. For the second time this year, the only member of the Royals to score in the shootout was Kevin Saurette shooting fifth. Reading shooters are now 2 for 10 in shootout attempts this season (20% scoring ratio). Last season, Royals' shooters went 11 for 37 in the shootout (29.37% scoring ratio), while compiling a record of 2-4.

9. Shawn Collymore's two assist performance in Friday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Storm marked his first multi-point performance as a member of the Royals. Collymore, who played 49 games for Toledo in 2004-05, had nineteen multi-point games for the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League last season (regular season and playoffs), including six games in a row from March 4 through March 19, 2006.

10. The Royals failure to win at the Toledo Sports Arena last Friday and Saturday night extended the team's winless streak in Toledo to eight games dating to April 19, 2005, when the Royals defeated the Storm 5-2 to win Game Four of the North Division Semi-Finals and clinch that series.

UNSUNG HERO OF THE WEEK

The running joke with Jason Becker is that he's the 'oldest rookie in the league'. Technically, this might be right. The 32-year old defenseman is actually in his seventh year of pro hockey, although all of those seasons were played in European leagues that are not recognized by the ECHL. Regardless, Jason's play has resembled the polar opposite of your 'basic-A rookie'. He not only scored the first goal of the season for Reading, but his steady and selfassured style of play on the blue line seems to have had a calming influence on his teammates, which is probably why the Royals' coaching staff is quick to call his number in critical moments of the game. We may have also got a glimpse of the fire burning in Jason's heart when he scored a goal with 18 seconds remaining on Saturday night, when it would have been much easier to simply give up and go home.

CLOSING NOTES

1. While it might not be quite like the 'Bonds Homerun Watch,' the Arpad Mihaly ECHL 'point count' continues to amaze: in his last 23 regular season ECHL games with the Wheeling Nailers (05-06) and the Royals (06-07), Arpad Mihaly has racked up an impressive 40 points (17g - 23a = 40pts).

2. Arpad Mihaly has scored at least one goal in the last four consecutive games. The longest goal scoring streak in Royals' history belongs to Brian McCullough, who scored a goal in six consecutive games from November 2 through November 16. 2002.

3. Two former Reading defenseman are making their mark in Manchester. Eric Werner has picked up 8 assists (which includes two separate 3-assist games) in 7 games for the Monarchs; and T.J. Kemp had his first multi-point game in the AHL on Sunday, scoring a goal and picking up an assist in the Monarchs' 5-4 shootout loss to the Binghamton Senators. Kemp has now picked up four points in four games for Manchester.

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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.

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