ECHL Reading Royals

Raconteur Royale Number Number Nineteen

February 21, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


LAST WEEK'S GAMES Tuesday February 14, 2017 @ Adirondack Thunder Win 6-5 so Friday February 17, 2017 @ Elmira Jackals *SUSPENDED* REA leads 2-0 Saturday February 18, 2017 v Elmira Jackals Win 4-1 Sunday February 19, 2017 v Elmira Jackals Win 2-0

TEAM RECORD

GP W L OTL SOL PTS WIN % GF GA STREAK Place in Standings Overall 51 31 17 1 2 65 .637 192 145 3-0-0-0 2nd North Division Home 25 16 9 0 0 32 .640 98 66 2-0-0-0 Road 26 15 8 1 2 33 .635 94 79 5-0-0-1

THIS WEEK'S GAMES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 v Greenville Swamp Rabbits Santander Arena - Reading, PA (7:00 pm)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017 @ Adirondack Thunder Glens Falls Civic Center - Glens Falls, NY (7:00 pm)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2017 v Greenville Swamp Rabbits Santander Arena - Reading, PA (6:00 pm)*

Please Note Special Start Time To Accommodate Albert Boscov Memorial at Santander Arena (1:00 pm) Faith and Family Night

Broadcast: Broadcast Begins 30 Minutes Prior to Opening Face-Off With Pre-Game Warm-Up Show

Digital Stream on iHeartRadio Rumba 1340 - Reading

Road Games Only: BCTV Telecast in Berks County, PA (Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15, Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965)

Pay-Per-View Streaming Video at ECHL.TV

Weekly Notes

The Royals played in four games last week, one of which (on Friday, February 17) was suspended due to ice conditions at First Arena in Elmira, New York, with 6:07 remaining in the first period (and Reading leading over the Elmira Jackals 2-0). That game is going to be rescheduled and picked up at the time and with the score when the game was halted.

The Royals won the other three games played last week, defeating the Adirondack Thunder in a shootout, 6-5, at Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, last Tuesday, and knocking off the Jackals in back-to-back games at Santander Arena in Reading, 4-1 on Saturday and 2-0 on Sunday.

The Royals are currently riding a three-game win streak.

The team's three victories this past week pushed Reading's record back to the season high water mark of fourteen games over .500 at 31-17-1-2=65, which puts the team in second place in the North Division.

This is the second time this season that Reading has been fourteen games over .500. The other was after forty-seven games at 28-14-1-2.

Saturday's 4-1 win over Elmira was Reading's thirtieth win of the year in the team's fiftieth completed contest.

That marked the sixth time in the sixteen year history of the team that Reading has won thirty or more in the first fifty games.

Five of those seasons have come under Head Coach Larry Courville: 2010-11, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15. The other was the 2005-06 season under Head Coach Karl Taylor when the team was 31-13-6 after fifty played.

The best record in team history after fifty games belongs to the 2014-15 group, who were 34-13-3 after the fiftieth game.

Reading's win in Adirondack last Tuesday snapped a three game losing streak and extended what is currently a five game road winning (and six game road unbeaten, 5-0-0-1) streak for the Royals, dating back to 3-2 shootout loss to the Thunder in Glens Falls on January 24.

The Royals are currently 15-8-1-2 with ten more games to go on the road (including the suspended game in Elmira).

Reading has one game on the road this week-on Friday at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, where the Royals have compiled a record of 3-0-0-1. (Overall, Reading is 6-1-0-1 against the Thunder).

Friday's game will be the final regular season game for Reading at Glens Falls Civic Center. The Royals and Thunder will meet up twice more in the regular season in Reading (March 24 and 25).

Saturday's 4-1 win over Elmira snapped a three game home losing streak for the Royals, who have gone 16-9-0- 0 at Santander Arena so far this season with eleven more home games to play.

Reading plays two games at home this week-both against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (on Wednesday and Sunday).

The Royals dropped a pair to the Swamp Rabbits in mid-December down in Greenville. The two games this week will be the final regular season matchups between the Royals and Swamp Rabbits.

Overall, Reading has compiled a record of 4-7-0-0 against teams from the South Division with nine more to play against the South (2 against Greenville and 7 against the Norfolk Admirals).

Tuesday's 6-5 shootout win in Glens Falls, New York, marked the sixth time this season that Reading has played in a game that has gone beyond regulation time (and the third game in which extra time was required against Adirondack Thunder). The Royals have gone 3-3 in those games.

Tuesday's game marked the third time this year that the Royals have had to go to the shootout for a resolution-and the second time against Adirondack-and the first time that Reading has won.

That was the first shootout win for the Royals since February 27, 2016 (last season), when the Royals beat the Thunder 5-4 in a six-round shootout. Brandon Alderson-shooting sixth-bagged the shootout winner for Reading in that game. Goaltender Connor Knapp picked up the shootout win that night.

On Tuesday, it was Nick Luukko, shooting second, who bagged what proved to be the shootout winner for Reading. That was Luukko's first ever shootout attempt as a pro. Goaltender Mark Dekanich stopped all three shots he faced in the skills competition to notch the win.

Historically, Tuesday's game was the 208th time (in 1131 games) that Reading has played in regular season game that has ended regulation time in a tie.

It was the 100th win in games ending in a tie (100 - 108).

One-hundred and twenty-three of Reading's ties have gone to the shootout for resolution (eighty-five have ended in overtime). The Royals have gone 60-63 in shootouts during the sixteen year history of the team. .

Mike Pereira scored the game's first goal last Tuesday 48 seconds into the contest. He followed that up by scoring the first goal in Elmira in Friday's suspended game 1:20 after the opening faceoff.

After scoring the game's first goal on Saturday and Sunday against Elmira, the Royals have now scored first in thirty of the team's fifty-one completed games. Reading has compiled a record of 23-6-1-0 in those games, which is a .783 win percentage.

Despite holding leads of 1-0, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 5-4 and ultimately, 6-5, in Tuesday's shootout win in Adirondack, Reading actually trailed for 4:23 in that game at 1-2. So, technically, that was the eleventh "come-from-behind win" of the year for the Royals.

On Saturday, Reading ran the team's historical record to 9-1-0-0 in Pink in the Rink games hosted at Santander Arena since the inception of the promotion in the 2007-08 season.

The back-to-back wins for the Royals over the Jackals on Saturday and Sunday pushed Reading's record to 37-10- 3-1 in the last fifty-one regular season games against the Jackals dating back to the 2013-14 season.

Tuesday's 6-5 shootout win marked the tenth time this year that the Royals have scored six or more goals in a single game; and Reading has compiled a record of 9-1- 0-0 in those games.

Sunday's win marked the seventh time this year that Reading has scored two goals in a game, and the team has gone 3-2-0-2 in those games.

Overall, Reading has scored a total of 190 goals through 51 games (not including the suspended game), which is a 3.72 goals per game average-fifth best in the league.

The five goals allowed to Adirondack on Tuesday marked the tenth time that Reading had allowed five or more in a game (2-8- 0-0)-and four of those games came in a span of six played (from February 3 - 14).

After Friday's 4-1 win over Elmira and Saturday's shutout victory over the Jackals, the Royals have now held the opposition to one goal or fewer nine times (9-0-0-0).

Saturday's 33 save shutout for goaltender Mark Dekanich was the second shutout of the year for Reading-both against Elmira and both at Santander Arena. It was the fifty-seventh regular season shutout in the sixteen year history of the team.

Overall, Reading has allowed 145 total goals against in the 51 completed games, which is a 2.84 team goals against average-second best in the league.

After the Royals power play was blanked for the second consecutive game on Tuesday, Reading scored a power play goal in each of the two games played against Elmira on Saturday (1-4) and Sunday (1-4).

Overall this season, Reading's PP is 35 for 178, which is a 19.7% scoring ratio-tenth best in the league.

Reading's penalty kill has gone six consecutive games and twenty-three consecutive power play chances for the opposition without giving up a PPG against.

Over the last 35 games, during which the Royals have compiled a record of 25-9-0-1, the team's penalty killers have knocked off 106 of the 116 power play chances they have faced, which is a 91.4% kill ratio in that time span.

Overall, Reading is killing at an 84.0% clip (29 PPGA in 181 chances), which is eleventh in the league.

Justin Crandall is riding a four game assist streak (0g-6a) and is currently tied (with Robbie Czarnik) for the team lead amongst active players on the roster with forty-five points (16g-29a) in forty-five games. His twenty-nine assists leads the team.

Unfortunately (for Justin) a referee's decision and scoring change nicked him of another apparent point (and goal) in Saturday's win over Elmira. Midway into the second period, Crandall took a shot that appeared to cross the goal line; however, the referee did not signal goal and allowed play to continue. Seconds later in the same sequence, the Royals scored-a goal that was originally credited to Robbie Czarnik with one of the assists going to Crandall.

However, upon further review it was determined that the "second" goal was actually scored by Mike Pereira and the assists in the sequence on the play were awarded to Czarnik and defenseman Florian Iberer-leaving Crandall out of the equation.

Crandall leads the Royals in plus-minus at plus-26 (+26), which is currently tied fifth in the ECHL.

Crandall also leads the Royals in shooting percentage at 19.8% with sixteen goals on just 81 shots.

Robbie Czarnik is riding a four game point and assist streak (2g-5a). His nineteen goals currently leads all players on the active Royals' roster and is tied with Chris McCarthy, who is currently recalled to Lehigh Valley.

Czarnik, who has thirty-three points (14g-19a) in his last twenty-seven games, recorded his second three point performance, third two- goal game, and team-leading thirteenth multi- point performance of the year in Tuesday's shootout win over Adirondack.

Czarnik, who leads the Royals with 157 shots on goal, tied the team season high with eight shots on goal in Saturday's win over Elmira.

Olivier Labelle, who picked up the primary assist on the game winner in Sunday's 2-0 victory over Elmira, has 240 points (118g- 122a) in 273 career game as a Royal on Sunday, which places him five games behind Ryan Cruthers (86g-187a'3pts in 278 games), who is the all-time career leader in games played as a Royal.

Matt Willows returned to action after a three-game absence due to injury in last Friday's suspended game in Elmira. He scored the Royals' fourth goal in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Jackals in Reading, during which he generated seven shots on goal. He followed that up by tying the team season-high record with eight shots on goal in Sunday's 2-0 win.

Ryan Penny has scored three goals in his last four games played, including the suspended game in Elmira on Friday.

Defenseman Florian Iberer recorded his first three-point game-and seventh multi-point performance-when he picked up an assist on three of the four goals, including the game winner by Derik Johnson, scored by Reading in Saturday's 4-1 win.

Nathan Moon scored his first goal as a Royal-and the first goal of the game-3:24 into the second period of Saturday's 4-1 win.

Moon would go on to assist on the game winner by Derik Johnson in that game to record his first multi-point game of the season.

Ian Watters has picked up an assist in each of the last four complete games that Reading has played. Watters played in his 178th game as a Royal on Sunday (15g-54a=69pts, 198 PIMs), which is fifth all time (thirteen behind Bryant Molle, who is fourth).

Mike Pereira scored the first goal of the game 48 seconds into the team's 6-5 shootout over Adirondack on Tuesday. He followed that up by scoring the first goal 1:20 into Friday's suspended game. Pereira extended his goal scoring streak to three, when he bagged Reading's third goal in Saturday's 4-1 win. Although that streak was snapped on Sunday, Pereira has nine points (6g-3a) in his last eleven games played.

Nick Luukko, who has three assists in his last four complete games played, leads the Royals defenders in plus-minus at (+24), which is tied fourth best amongst defensemen in the league.

Tyrell Goulbourne, who recorded his second consecutive multi-point (1g-1a) performance in Adirondack on Tuesday, has scored four goals in his last six complete games, which includes scoring his second game winner of the year in Sunday's 2-0 win over Elmira.

In Saturday's 4-1 win over Elmira, Goulbourne engaged in his team-leading fourth fight of the year when he took on the Jackals' Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel.

Derik Johnson became the eighteenth different player to score a game winning goal for the Royals when he notched the team's second goal in Saturday's 4-1 win. That was Johnson's fifth goal of the year-and eleventh point- surpassing the ten points (1g-9a) that he had in 55 games with the Royals last year in his rookie season.

Todd Perry played in his 170th game as a Royal on Sunday (8g-38aFpts, 223 PIMs), which is seventh most all time (6 behind Reagan Rome).

Goaltender Mark Dekanich registered his first shootout win of the year when he made 37 saves in 64:53 of hockey-and then proceeded to stop all three shots he faced in the shootout on Tuesday in Glens Falls, New York. He followed that up by making 33 saves to record his first shutout as a Royal-and his eighteenth regular season shutout as a pro-on Sunday against the Jackals.

In twenty-six games with the Royals, Dekanich has compiled a record of 13-10-1-1 with a 3.05 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

Goaltender Martin Ouellette played made all eight saves he was called upon to make in 13:53 of hockey played in Friday's suspended game. He followed that up by making twenty-five saves to record his twelfth win of the season in Reading's 4-1 win over Elmira on Saturday. That marked the third time this year that Ouellette has held the opposition to one goal-and the eleventh time this season that he has held the opposition to two goals or fewer.

In twenty-two games with the Royals this season, Ouellette has compiled a record of 12-7-0-1 with a 2.64 goals against average (which is eighth best in the league) and a .912 save percentage. ..

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS 02/13/17 Delete Reece Willcox (d) Recalled to Lehigh Valley (AHL) 02/14/17 Add Nathan Moon (f) Activated from ECHL Reserve List 02/16/17 Delete Johnny McInnis (f) Placed on ECHL Reserve List 02/17/17 Add Matt Willows (f) Activated from ECHL Reserve List

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ECHL Stories from February 21, 2017


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