ECHL Reading Royals

Down On The Upside

January 30, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Okay, let's just admit it, we've all done it. Mom's over perusing the home linens at the local department store, and that down escalator is just calling your name: begging you to come over and give it a go. It was great fun, at least until the store manager grabbed you by the ear lobe and dragged your behind over to mom. But (at least until you got caught-and maybe even after) the one thing you had to remember while running up those down flowing steps was to keep your legs moving-if you stopped, chances were that you would go crashing to the bottom, and that was almost as bad as the ear lobe treatment. The Royals certainly had their legs moving on Friday night, when they were able to exact a bit of revenge against a big and swift Charlotte Checkers' team. On Saturday against Toledo, the team probably felt like somebody kept cranking up the speed on the treadmill. No matter how hard the team went, there was always something (or someone) pulling them back down. Somehow, it didn't seem all that surprising when that game exploded in a wild and muddled mess of confusion. On Sunday afternoon, the Royals got a big boost from the Road Warriors who traveled en masse to the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton and fueled a comeback effort that came up just short. And so after a week of one step forward and two steps back, the Royals continue to hover around.500 hockey. It's far from crashing to the bottom, but it is a reminder that if you want to make it to the top, you're going to have to be faster than the forces working against you.....

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals' 6-3 win over Charlotte on Friday night, extended the team's unbeaten streak to four games (3 - 0 - 1), tying a season high, which was established in the first four games of the year (2 - 0 - 2). That streak was snapped with the 5-3 loss to Toledo on Saturday.

2. Jon Francisco scored his first pro hattrick in Friday's 6-3 win over Charlotte. That was the fifth hattrick of the season for Reading, establishing a new team single season record. That record was extended in Sunday's 5-4 loss to Trenton when Greg Hogeboom became the sixth Royal to score a hattrick this year. (The other four players who have had a hattrick this year for Reading are Arpad Mihaly, Shawn Collymore, Joe Zappala, and Chris Bala.)

3. James Hiebert scored the game winning goal for the Royals on Friday night, marking his third GWG of the season. Joe Zappala currently leads the Royals with four game winning goals this year. Hiebert also scored a goal and picked up an assist in Saturday's game, marking his sixth multi-point game of the year.

4. With Friday's win over Charlotte, the Royals ran the team's record to 4 - 1 - 1 against teams from the South Division this season. Reading has two more games scheduled against team's outside the North this year-both against the South Carolina Stingrays (on March 8 & 9). Over the past two seasons, the Royals have gone 13 - 3 - 1 against teams from outside the North Division; and over the course of the team's history, Reading has compiled a record of 40 - 12 - 6 against teams from divisions other than their own.

5. The Royals racked up 95 penalty minutes in Saturday's 5-3 loss to Toledo, establishing a team season high. (The bulk of those PIMs were compiled as the result of seven different variations of misconducts handed out against the team.) The team record for penalty minutes in a single game was established on October 20, 2001 when the Royals racked up 112 penalty minutes (98 in one period) against the Greensboro Generals.

6. The 35 penalty minutes assessed against Malcolm MacMillan last Saturday night tied the team record established by David Masse when he was assessed with 32 minutes in penalties on December 6, 2003.

7. Greg Hogeboom extended his personal point streak to seven games (5g - 4a = 9pts) with his three goal game on Sunday in Trenton. Hogeboom currently holds the team season high scoring streak, as he picked up at least a point ten consecutive games from December 2 through December 22, 2006 (5g - 12a = 17pts). The team record for consecutive game point streak was established last season by Mike Kompon when he went 25 straight games with a point (11/06/05 - 03/10/06) (8g - 32a = 40pts).

8. Malcolm MacMillan scored the first goal in Sunday's 5-4 loss in Trenton on Sunday. MacMillan's goal was scored while the Royals were playing short-handed, marking the eleventh SHG of the season for the Royals (and the second of the season for MacMillan). The team record for short-handed goals in a single season was established in 2004-05 when Reading scored 16 SHGs.

9. The Royals have scored nine power play goals in the team's last 100 chances with the man advantage over the course of the past 24 games. The Royals power play has been kept off the board in thirteen of those twenty four games.

10. Goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak has played thirteen consecutive games for the Royals and twenty three of the last twenty four games for the team.

UNSUNG HERO OF WEEK: Karl Taylor

There are very few jobs in the world today where the jump from 'utter genius' to 'complete dope' and back again (and back again ad infinitum) can happen as frequently (and as quickly) as a coach of a professional sports team. You probably receive a bit more credit than you deserve when things go well, and there's no question that you receive a lot more grief than you earn when they don't. And there's absolutely no question that Karl Taylor has been on both sides of that equation more times than he'd probably like to remember in the past two seasons. That being said, I think we can confirm one thing about Karl without going too far out on a limb: he cares...a lot. Whether it's exhorting his players to battle through difficulties, clipping tape late into the night, taking a few extra minutes to talk with fans, or burning the midnight minutes on his cell phone to deal with the constant flux of transactions that is the life of an ECHL coach-particularly in this neck of the woods- Karl's mantra for the past couple of years has pretty much been 'whatever it takes'. And it was within this context, on Saturday night, when his team captain was driven head first into the boards from behind, and the consequences meted out for that action seemed incongruent with the potential severity of the act, that I believe we all got a little bit of a glimpse of just how much he does care-a WHOLE lot.....

CLOSING NOTES

1. John Snowden assisted on four of the Royals' six goals against the Charlotte Checkers last Friday. In doing so, Snowden became the second Royal this season to have a four assist game. (Greg Hogeboom also had four assists in the Royals' 7-4 win over Trenton on December 10). The Royals' team record for assists in a single game is held by Jeff Guiliano and T.J. Kemp both of whom had five assist games during their respective stays in Reading.

2. The Royals scored the first goal in Sunday's 5-4 loss in Trenton. That marked only the third time this season that the Royals have lost a game in regulation when they've scored the first goal. (The other two games where that held true were on November 10 in Toledo and January 1 against the Dayton Bombers at the Sovereign Center.) Over the course of the season, the Royals have gone 11 - 3 - 3 when scoring first.

3. The Royals gave up two short-handed goals in the three games played last week-one to Charlotte's Lee Falardeau early in the third period on Friday and one to Trenton's John Laliberte early in the second period on Sunday. Over the course of the season, Reading has allowed nine short-handed goals against.

4. Shawn Collymore assisted on two goals for Reading in Sunday's 5-4 loss in Trenton. That marked the sixth time this season that Collymore has had two assists in a single game. It was also Collymore's tenth multi-point performance of the season. Only Greg Hogeboom (15) and Chris Bala (11) have had more multi-point games than the Collymore this season.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 30, 2007


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