ECHL Reading Royals

If You're Waiting To Exhale, Don't Hold Your Breath

Published on March 7, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Playoff hockey must be great for your abs- that and increasing your capacity to hold your breath under water-(although I'm not sure I really want to know what it's doing to the ulcerations on my stomach lining, which raises the parenthetical, but equally vexing question, of whether it truly is better to look good than to feel good...but, let's not digress too far.) I mean, while teams battle for their respective playoff lives down the final stretch of the regular season, you can 'feel the burn' of the collective stomachs of fans and coaches and front office personnel and just about everyone else with a rooting interest as we all squeeze our guts into a proverbial Gordian knot. Such was certainly the case this past week for the Royals who squeezed out the team's first regulation win of the year against the Johnstown Chiefs in a one-goal nail biter that had all the indicia of pro game in mid-May (or June for that matter). In contrast, on Saturday, the Royals' could barely catch their breath as the red hot Dayton Bombers charged from the opening face-off and left Reading gasping for air sixty minutes later. But on Sunday, it was back to the grind, as the Royals traded goals with the Wheeling Nailers through 65 minutes of white-knuckled game time-and had to go to the shootout to nab the critical two points in the standings. All this, and we still have a month to go...just to see who gets to the playoffs! So in this momentary break in the action, I think we all would be wise to take a deep breath, because it appears that it's going be a while before we're all going to be able to relax and fully (and finally) exhale.....

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. Friday's 3-2 win against the Johnstown Chiefs extended the Royals winning streak to a season high six games. That win also extended the team's home winning streak to a season high five games. Both of those streaks were snapped with the 7-2 loss to Dayton on Saturday.

2. With the shootout win in Wheeling on Sunday, the Royals have run the team's record to 8 - 2 - 0 in the last ten games.

3. Friday's 3-2 win over the Chiefs on Friday marked the first time this season that the Royals have beaten the Chiefs in regulation in eight games this season. The Royals did beat Johnstown 3-2 in overtime on December 9, 2006. Reading has a record of 2 - 4 - 2 against the Chiefs this year and have three more games to go in the regular season series.

4. Defenseman Bryan Schmidt scored the game's first goal in Friday's 3-2 win over the Chiefs. For Schmidt, who was assigned to the Royals from the Manchester Monarchs on March 1, that was his first goal in the ECHL in his first game in the league. Schmidt was recalled to Manchester on March 6.

5. John Snowden scored the game winner on Friday night, marking his eleventh goal of the season and five of those have proven to be game winners, which ties him for the team lead in that category. Snowden also assisted on the Royals second goal (by Brett Smith) that night, marking Snowden's sixth multi-point performance of the season.

6. Friday's win marked the fourth consecutive win for goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji, which established a team season high in that category. During that four game win streak, which was snapped in the 7-2 loss to Dayton on Saturday, Fukufuji allowed 7 total goals on 118 shots (.941 save percentage).

7. The seven goals allowed by the Royals in Saturday's loss to the Bombers, marked the third time this season that Reading has allowed as many as seven goals against in a game this year (5-7, loss v. Johnstown, 11/24/06) and (1-7, loss @ Columbia, 12/22/06).

8. The Royals shootout win in Wheeling on Sunday marked the first time this season that Reading has won two shootouts in a row. (Reading won the team's prior shootout, 2-1, also against the Nailers on February 18 at the Sovereign Center.) The Royals are now 3-5 in the shootout and 4-6 in games that have gone beyond regulation time.

9. Bill Downey scored the game's first goal in the 3-2 shootout win in Wheeling on Sunday. For Downey that was his first goal as a Royal in only his second game with the team. Downey played 44 regular season games for Wheeling last season and scored four goals with the Nailers.

10. Jon Francisco scored the Royals' second goal in Sunday's shootout win. For Francisco that marked his fifth goal of the season and his first since racking up his first pro hattrick on January 26, 2007, in the Royals' 6-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers. Francisco is currently riding a three game point streak (1g - 2a).

CLOSING NOTES

1. In Friday's 3-2 win over Johnstown, defenseman Rob LaLonde picked up two assists, marking his third two-assist performance of the season. LaLonde was called up to the Binghamton Senators of the AHL for the second time this season on Tuesday, March 6, and played in the Senators' 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phantoms that night.

2. The Royals' power play was held off the board in both Saturday's 7-2 loss to Dayton (0-5) and the 3-2 shootout win over Wheeling on Sunday (0-3). The PP has been blanked in a total of twenty-three games this season and is currently scoring at a ratio of 15.2%, which ranks 18th out of the 25 teams in the league.

3. The Dayton Bombers scored three power play goals (in four chances) on Saturday night. That marked the third time this season that Reading's PK has allowed three or more power play goals against in a game. (The team season high against was set on November 25, 2006 when the Wheeling Nailers scored four PPGs against the Royals). The Royals are currently killing penalties at an 83.0% ratio, which is fifteenth in the league.

4. Chris Bala scored the 'winning shot' in the shootout against the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday. That was the first shootout shot of the season on which Bala has scored in three tries. Over the course of the season, Royals' shooters are 9 for 43 in the shootout, a 20.9% scoring ratio.

5. This past week two former members of the 2005-06 Royals made their debut in the National Hockey League, bringing the total number to four off last year's team to make it to the NHL this season. Shay Stephenson played two games for the Los Angeles Kings last week; and Rich Peverley picked up an assist in his first NHL game with the Nashville Predators last Sunday. Yutaka Fukufuji and Barry Brust made their NHL debuts this season, as well. Also, Jeff Finger (a member of the 2003-04 Royals) played his first NHL game (with Colorado) this year.

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ECHL Stories from March 7, 2007


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