ECHL ECHL

McCullough, Rooney Lead Reading Offense

Published on November 25, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Posting back-to-back home wins over Southern Conference leader South Carolina, Reading is 11-9-1 and tied for second place in the Northeast Division with Atlantic City, one point behind leader Richmond.

The Royals, who are second in the East Coast Hockey League in attendance averaging 5,730 fans, won 5-3 before a crowd of 6,160 on Friday and 5-2 in front of 7,215 fans on Saturday, the first two road losses of the season for South Carolina. Reading has a three-game winning streak and will play four games in five nights beginning Tuesday when its hosts Roanoke. The Royals play at Roanoke on Thursday, host Atlantic City on Friday and play at Wheeling on Saturday.

Brian McCullough leads the ECHL with 15 goals and 31 points and leads Reading with 16 assists. McCullough has a 12-game scoring streak, tying him for the longest scoring streak in the ECHL in 2002-03. Mississippi defenseman Jim Baxter saw his 12-game scoring streak end in a 3-1 loss to Baton Rouge on Sunday. McCullough, who has an assist in his last four games, has 21 points (10g-11a) in the 12 games, including a six-game goal scoring streak from November 2-16, the longest goal-scoring streak this season. McCullough scored the first hat trick in Royals team history in the season opener on October 11, and he has a goal in 12 of Reading's 21 games and a point in 17 games.

Brad Rooney has an 11-game scoring streak in which he has 16 points (6g-10a). Rooney is second on the Royals and tied for eighth in the ECHL with 25 points. Rooney is tied for second on the team with 10 goals and 15 assists. Defenseman Simon Tremblay is third among ECHL defensemen with 15 assists and is tied for fourth in scoring among defensemen with 18 points.

Jeff Giuliano is tied for the ECHL lead among rookies with 15 assists while ranking eighth among rookies in scoring with 18 points. Giuliano, who had an ECHL season-high five assists and five points on October 11, missed two games when he was called up to Manchester of the American Hockey League where he scored two points (1g-1a) in three games. Alex Kim ranks second among ECHL rookies with 10 goals and is tied for sixth among rookies with 19 points.

Reading leads the ECHL with 34 power-play goals while ranking second in power-play percentage (24.81 percent). The Royals lead the ECHL with 79 goals and are tied for fifth in scoring with 3.76 goals per game.

Record-Tying 15 Renegades Score In 9-4 Win

Richmond had 15 different players score a point in its 9-4 win over Augusta on Friday, tying the East Coast Hockey League record for most players with a point in a game. Goaltender Marc Magliarditi and defenseman Ian Turner were the only two players that didn't score for Richmond. Richard Pitirri led the scoring with three points (0g-3a) while Jonathan St. Louis had two goals, one of eight players to score a goal for the Renegades. The nine goals and 25 points are both single-game season highs for the ECHL while the six goals scored in the second period tied the season-high set by Baton Rouge, who had six goals in the second period on October 11.

Johnstown set the ECHL record on December 2, 1989 against Hampton Roads when 15 players, including the starting goaltender, scored a point. Erie tied the record on November 15, 1991 vs. Nashville, again with the starting goaltender scoring. Erie tied the record again on November 27, 1992 against Greensboro and became the first team to have 15 skaters score a point. Knoxville tied the record on January 26, 1996 against Nashville, again with 15 skaters. Birmingham was the last team to have 15 players score, again without the goaltender, on March 21, 1998 against Tallahassee.

Richmond scored 15 goals in back-to-back wins beating Roanoke 8-1 on November 15, tying the season high for goals in a game, and Reading 7-2 on November 16. The Renegades lost 4-1 against Roanoke on Saturday ending a six-game winning streak. In its last five games, Richmond has 28 goals, an average of 5.6 goals per game, and has raised its scoring average from 2.93 goals per game to 3.60 goals per game, eighth in the ECHL.

Pride's Sirois Nears 400-Point Plateau

Pee Dee's Allan Sirois needs only two points to reach 400 regular season points in his East Coast Hockey League career. In his seventh season in the ECHL, he has 174 goals and 224 assists in 426 regular season ECHL games. Sirois will play his 300th regular season game with Pee Dee at Columbia on Wednesday. He has scored 287 points (122g-165a) in the regular season with the Pride, and 34 points (12g-22a) in 37 postseason games with Pee Dee. Sirois was selected as a starter for the 2002 ECHL All-Star Game and responded with two goals, including the game winner, and an assist while earning MVP honors.

IceGators' Richardson Scores Six Goals, Eight Points in Two Games

Bruce Richardson scored four goals and had an assist in Louisiana's 7-3 win over Columbus on Saturday. Richardson, who had scored two goals in a game twice in his career, picked up his first career hat trick, and the 50th in IceGators history, at 9:13 of the second period. He scored his fourth goal at 16:51 of the third period, the sixth time in team history a player has scored four goals, and the first since John Spoltore on March 26, 1999. Richardson had two power-play goals, a shorthand goal and an even-strength goal while his assist came on a power-play goal. Richardson had two goals and an assist in Sundayís 7-6 overtime loss to Columbus and becomes the third player in team history to score six goals in two games and the first since Jay Murphy had back-to-back hat tricks (March 12-17, 2000). Bob Berg scored six goals in two games in 1995-96, including a team record five goals against Mobile on December 6, 1995. Murphy holds the team record for most goals in three games with eight (March 12-18, 2000).

Feature Games Of The Week

Northern Conference

Lexington at Dayton Thursday, 7:30 ET
- Lexington and Dayton have combined for 227 penalty minutes in three previous games.

Richmond at Reading Tuesday, 7:05 ET
- Battle for first place in the Northeast Division with Richmond (24 points) and Reading (23 points).

Southern Conference

Pee Dee at Florida Friday, 7:30 ET
- Florida is 1-2-1 against the Pride in 2002-03, including 1-0-1 at Teco Arena.

Baton Rouge at Mississippi Saturday, 7:00 CT
- Baton Rouge is 1-1 at Mississippi after ending its 11-game winless streak with a 3-1 win on Sunday.

InGlasCo ECHL Player Of The Week

Bruce Richardson Louisiana IceGators

GP: 4 G:6 A: 4 PTS:10 +/-: +5

ECHL Goalie Of The Week

Scott Fankhouser Reading Royals

GP: 3 W-L: 3-0 GAA: 2.00 PCT: .926

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ECHL Stories from November 25, 2002


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