Monarchs Weekly Preview
March 20, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
GAMES
Wednesday, Mar. 22, 7 p.m. - Reading Royals - Santander Arena
Friday, March 24, 7:05 p.m. - Elmira Jackals - First Arena
Saturday, Mar. 25, 7:05 p.m. - Elmira Jackals - First Arena
Sunday, Mar. 26, 4:05 p.m. - Elmira Jackals - First Arena
WEEK IN REVIEW The Monarchs played two games against the Atlanta Gladiators last week, and come out with a 1-1-0 record and two points.
Friday night, the Monarchs welcomed the Gladiators to SNHU Arena for the first time in franchise history, and came out with a 4-1 win. Goals by Wade Murphy, Peter Leblanc, Teddy Doherty and David Kolomatis (50th career goal) helped Manchester snap a four-game losing streak. Colin Stevens picked up his first win since returning to the Monarchs, making 25 saves in his 25th career victory.
Saturday, Atlanta flipped the script, and took the game, 5-1. Chris Leone tied the game at 1-1 with his 4th goal of the season, but the Gladiators went on to score four consecutive goals to take their first-ever win out of the Queen City. Stevens, left the game in the second period with an apparent injury, and was replaced by Jack Flinn, who finished the game in net.
PLAYOFF PICTURE The Monarchs (75 pts.) begin the week fourth in the North Division, trailing the Brampton Beast (79 pts.), Reading Royals (76 pts.), and Adirondack Thunder for the top spots in the division, with the Wheeling Nailers still in the playoff mix with 70 points. If the playoffs were to start today, the Monarchs and Beast would face-off in the North Division Semifinals.
LEADING THE WAY With the loan of Matt Leitner to the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL), the Monarchs leading scorer to begin the week is Quentin Shore with 43 points on 18 goals and 25 assists. Daniel Doremus leads the team with 33 helpers, while Joey Diamond continues to pace the Monarchs with 20 goals on the season.
GIVING THE JACKALS HOPE
Entering the week, Elmira has six wins against North Division opponents through 37 games. Of those six victories, four have come against the Monarchs. The Jackals have defeated only seven teams this season, with multiple wins against only the Norfolk Admirals (5), the Monarchs (4) and the Florida Everblades (2). Elmira has a 4-5-0-0 record against the Monarchs this season, and the two teams will see each other five more times before the regular season ends.
OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM
The Monarchs enter this week tied for the most goals scored in the Eastern Conference with the Brampton Beast (232) and are ranked fourth in the league with 3.68 goals per game. Manchester averages over a goal more than Elmira, who start the week last in the league with 152 goals, averaging 2.38 goals per game, trailing the Indy Fuel for 26th in the league at 2.62 goals per game.
HOME MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Despite having only 15 wins on the season, the Jackals play much better at home than they do on the road. Elmira has an 11-17-3-0 record at home, while averaging 2.97 goals per game and 3.58 goals against, compared to 4-24-4-1 on the road, with 1.82 goals for and 4.09 goals against per game. The Jackals specials teams also excel at home, averaging 19.3 percent on the power play, compared to 13.3% on the road, and are killing penalties at 84.8% at home, compared to 77.4% on the road.
READY FOR READING
With a 7-1-1-0 record against Reading, the Monarchs have their most wins against any team this season. To start the season, the Monarchs rattled off six wins in a row against a struggling Royals team before Reading won two of the last three. With one point separating these two teams in the North Division, Manchester will look for win number eight to jump the Royals in the standings.
TICKETS The Monarchs return to SNHU Arena ice Saturday, Apr. 1 (7 p.m.) when they begin a two-game series with the Elmira Jackals on Fan Appreciation Weekend!
To purchase tickets, contact the Front Office at 603-626-7825! Visit us at ManchesterMonarchs.com, follow the team on Twitter: @MonarchsHockey, and like us on Facebook for additional information.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
ECHL Stories from March 20, 2017
- Monarchs Announce Roster Moves - Manchester Monarchs
- Komets Split Pair of Games for Week 23 - Fort Wayne Komets
- ECHL this Week - March 20 - ECHL
- Gilmour Reassigned to Mallards - Quad City Mallards
- Monarchs Weekly Preview - Manchester Monarchs
- Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
