ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly: Raconteur Royale No. 4

November 7, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Week Four (November 7, 2016)

LAST WEEK'S GAMES Wednesday November 2, 2016 @ Colorado Eagles Win 4-3 Friday November 4, 2016 @ Rapid City Rush Win 6-3 Saturday November 5, 2016 @ Rapid City Rush Win 5-3

TEAM RECORD

GP W L OTL SOL PTS WIN % GF GA STREAK Place in Standings Overall 9 6 2 0 1 13 .722 32 27 3-0-0-0 2nd North Division Home 2 1 1 0 0 2 .500 7 7 0-1-0-0 Road 7 5 1 0 1 11 .786 25 20 3-0-0-0

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 @ CINCINNATI CYCLONES US Bank Arena - Cincinnati, OH (7:35 pm Eastern)

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 @ WHEELING NAILERS WesBanco Arena - Wheeling, WV (7:35 pm Eastern)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 v MANCHESTER MONARCHS Santander Arena - Reading, PA (7:00 pm Eastern)

VETERANS - ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY APPRECIATION NIGHT Army - Navy Game @ 2:00 pm (One Ticket Gains Admission to Both Games) Rally Towel Giveaway Courtesy of UGI Team Wears Veteran-Themed Specialty Jerseys Post-Game Auction to Benefit Local Veterans Causes

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 v ATLANTA GLADIATORS Santander Arena - Reading, PA (5:00 pm Eastern)

SONIC SUNDAY FAMILY FUN GAME Four Tickets - Four Hats - Four Combo Meals - For Just $44.00!

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

Last week, The Royals completed the western portion of the team's season-long eight game road trip with three straight victories, beginning on Wednesday with a 4-3 win in a slugfest in Loveland, Colorado, against the Colorado Eagles and completing the six game jaunt west of the Mississippi with back-to-back wins over the Rapid City Rush at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Friday (6-3) and Saturday (5-3).

So far the Royals have gone 4-1-0-1 on the eight-game roadie, which will come to a conclusion this week with games east of the Mississippi against a pair of teams in the Eastern Conference: the Cincinnati Cyclones on Wednesday (November 9 @ 7:35 pm) and the Wheeling Nailers on Friday (November 11 @ 7:35 pm).

Reading will return to home ice for the first time since Friday, October 21 (a span of twenty-two days) on Saturday (November 12 @ 7:00 pm) against the Manchester Monarchs and Sunday (November 13 @ 5:00 pm) for the only game of the year against the Atlanta Gladiators.

The three consecutive wins this week marked the first time this season that Reading has strung three wins together and pushed the Royals record to four games over .500 (6-2-0-1) for the first time this season.

Overall, Reading has compiled a record of 5-1-0-1 on the road. The only team currently who has more road victories than the Royals are the Toledo Walleye (6-1- 0-0). (The Adirondack Thunder also have five road wins: 5-0-0-0.)

Reading kicked off last week in Loveland, Colorado, with a come-from-behind win over the Colorado Eagles on Wednesday in the first game ever played in the State of Colorado and against the Eagles. Reading actually fell behind by two goals in that game (2-0) before ringing off four straight and holding the Eagles off down the stretch to pick up the two points.

That marked the third come-back win of the year for Reading-all three of which have come on the road. In all three of those games, the Royals found themselves trailing 2-0 before mounting the come-back.

(The others were a 4-3 win over the Wheeling Nailers in Wheeling on October 20; and a 3-2 victory over the Idaho Steelheads in Boise, ID on October 26).

In this most recent comeback in Colorado, the Royals trailed entering the third period 2-1 before scoring three straight in the third. That marked the first time this year that Reading has been able to come back and win despite entering the third period trailing the opposition.

In Wednesday's win, the two teams combined for a season-high 131 penalty minutes with Reading accounting for 46 of those minutes.

That was the most penalty minutes in a game played by Reading since the Wheeling Nailers and Reading combined for 147 penalties in a wild melee-filled matchup at WesBanco Arena (which Wheeling won 5-2) on March 28, 2105. Reading was responsible for 53 of those PIMs in that game.

Reading entered Wednesday's game having had just one fight all season long; and the team ended up in four tilts in that game alone: Mike Pelech (Conor O'Donnell); Matt Wilkins (Darryl Bootland); Kevin Sundher (Teigan Zahn); and Jesper Pettersson (Ryan Harrison) all picked up fighting majors.

The penalty-fest on Wednesday resulted in a season-high ten power play chances for the Royals, and Reading made the Eagles pay for those transgressions, scoring three power play goals (3-10) for the first time this season.

However, Reading's power play was held off the board on both Friday (when the Royals only had 19 seconds worth of power play time) and Saturday (0-4) in Rapid City-and has currently riding a streak of eight straight power plays without a goal.

Overall, Reading's power play is scoring at a 21.1% clip (8-38), which is tenth best in the league.

Entering Friday's game, eight of the twenty-one goals scored by Reading (38.1%) to that point of the season had been notched while the team was playing with the man advantage. All six of the goals scored by Reading on Friday were scored while the two teams were playing five aside; and all five of the Royals' goals in Saturday's 5-3 win were scored while the two teams was playing at even strength (albeit one-Reading's second by Kevin Sundher-was scored while the teams were playing four-on-four).

On Friday, the Royals made the team's first trip ever to Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota, where the team faced the Rapid City Rush for the first time in team history.

Reading opened the scoring 7:51 into the first period on a deflection of a Florian Iberer shot by Robbie Czarnik.

That marked the first time this season that the Royals had scored the game's first goal since the opening game (a 6-2 win over the Elmira Jackals on October 15)-a span of six consecutive games.

The Royals actually had a golden chance 1:19 earlier than that (6:32 into the first) to get on the scoreboard first when Olivier Labelle was awarded a penalty shot after getting hacked on a breakaway. Unfortunately, Labelle did not score on the PS, hitting the right pipe on his attempt.

That was first penalty shot attempt of the season for Reading, and the thirty-seventh in Royals' team history- and the second for Olivier Labelle, who became the first player in team history to attempt a penalty shot in playoffs for Reading when Kalamazoo goaltender Riley Gill stopped him 5:45 into the first overtime of a decisive Game Five in a first round playoff series against the K-Wings on April 12, 2010.

Historically, the Royals have gone 14-23 on penalty shots taken by the team (which is a 37.8% scoring ratio).

Reading has missed the last six in a row attempted penalty shots, including a PS attempt by Joe Rehkamp in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Toledo Walleye last season. (Reading ended up losing that game 3-1.)

The six goals scored by the Royals in Friday's win in Rapid City tied the team's season high. Reading also scored six in the season opening 6-2 win over the Elmira Jackals.

Eleven of the sixteen skaters in Friday's contest picked up at least one point for the Royals; and four players had multi-point performances: Olivier Labelle (2g- 0a), Todd Perry (0g-2a), Kevin Sundher (0g-2a), Steven Swavely (1g-1a).

Fourteen of the Royals' sixteen skaters in Friday's contest played to a plus with six skaters recording a plus-two (+2) performance.

Similarly, in Saturday's 5-3 win over Rapid City, ten different skaters recorded at least one point, and nine skaters played to a plus-1 (+1) or better.

Friday's 5-3 win over Rapid City marked the first game this season in which the Royals did not give up a power play against, killing all five chances on the power play for the Rush. To that point Reading had given up at least one PPG in every game played.

Somewhat to the contrary, in Friday's game, the Royals scored the team's first non-empty-net short-handed goal of the season, when Todd Perry, playing in only his second game of the year, picked off a puck at the defensive blue-line and took off on a short-handed breakaway and ended up scoring a critical SH goal 15:15 into the third period.

The Royals also scored a short-handed empty-netter (by Steven Swavely) in Friday's 6-3 win over Rapid City.

Despite killing all five chances with the man advantage for Rapid City on Saturday, the Royals' overall penalty killing ratio (72.5%--11 PPGA in 40 opps), is still twenty-seventh out of the twenty-seven teams in the league.

11 of the 27 goals allowed (40.7%) by Reading to this season have come while the opposition was playing with the man advantage.

Chris McCarthy, who leads the Royals with ten points (3g-7a) in nine games, is riding a three game point streak (1g- 3a).

McCarthy, who leads the Royals with seven assists, racked up a two-assist performance in Saturday's win in Rapid City to record his second multi-point game of the year.

Olivier Labelle, who recorded his second multi-goal (and team-leading third multi-point) performance of the year in Friday's 6-3 win in Rapid City, is riding a three game point streak (2g-2a).

The two goals on Saturday were actually the first two even strength goals of the season for Labelle, who leads Reading with five goals. His three power play goals is tied for the team lead.

The seven shots Labelle generated in Friday's win in Rapid City tied the team season high.

Rookie Steven Swavely, who has recorded at least one point in eight of the Royals nine games (4g-5a=9pts), is riding a three game point streak (2g-2a=4pts).

Swavely, who registered his first multi-point game as a Royal on Friday (1g-1a), is tied third in rookie scoring.

He also score Reading's first short-handed goal of the year when he bagged a 180 foot empty netter while the Royals were playing a man short late in Friday's win.

Mike Pelech is riding a four game point streak (1g-3a).

Pelech, who leads the Royals with 29 penalty minutes, racked up a team season-high fifteen in last Wednesday's 4-3 win in Colorado, which included a fighting major (Conor O'Donnell)

Kevin Sundher, who is riding a three game point streak (2g-3a=5pts), racked up back-to-back multi-point games on Friday (0g-2a) and Saturday (2g-0a).

Sundher's first goal of the season also proved to be the first goal of the game in Saturday's 5-3 win in Rapid City.

Sundher tied Mike Pelech by recording a team-season-high fifteen penalty minutes in Wednesday's game in Colorado, which included his first fighting major as a pro (Teigan Zahn).

Sundher leads the Royals with thirty-four shots on goal through nine games.

Robbie Czarnik scored the team's first goal in Wednesday's win in Colorado while the team was playing with the man advantage. He followed that up by scoring the game's first goal in Friday's win, which was also his first even strength goal of the year.

Czarnik is currently riding a three game point streak.

Ryan Penny broke a streak of four straight games without a point when he scored Reading's third goal to regain a two-goal advantage at (3-1) 17:15 into the second period of Saturday's win in Rapid City.

Mike Pereira scored two goals this past week-the team's fourth in Colorado on Wednesday and the team's fourth on Saturday in Rapid City.

Both of those goals proved to be games winners. In fact, all three of Pereira's goals this season have been GWGs. Last season, Pereira led the Royals with five game winners

Pereira is currently riding a three game point streak (2g-1a).

Defenseman Florian Iberer recorded his first multi-point performance of the season when he picked up a pair of assists in Reading's 4-3 win over Colorado last Wednesday, which included an assist on the game winner by Mike Pereira that night.

Playing in his first game of the season, defenseman Todd Perry picked up a pair of assists in Reading's win on Friday in Rapid City. Both of his assists that night came on goals scored by Olivier Labelle.

Last season in sixty-six games with the Royals, Perry had one multi-point game: a three-assist performance in a 7-5 win over the Elmira Jackals on January 27, 2016.

On Saturday, Perry regained the two goal advantage at 5-3 15:15 into the third period when he scored an unassisted short-handed goal on his first (and to this point only) shot on goal this season

Defenseman Nick Luukko's first point of the season proved to be the game winner in Friday's 6-3 win over Rapid City when he stepped out of the penalty box and directly into a breakaway pass on which he converted what to that point was only his sixth shot of the season in eight games played.

In his rookie season with the Royals last year, Luukko scored four goals one of which proved to be the game winner in a 4-1 victory over the Adirondack Thunder on February 18, 2016.

Goaltender Mark Dekanich won both of his starts this week, making 31 saves in Wednesday's 4-3 win in Colorado and stopping an equal number in Saturday's 6-3 victory over the Rush.

Dekanich, who is riding a three game unbeaten streak (2-0-0-1), has compiled a 3-1-0-1 record in five games with Reading with a 2.95 goals against and .912 save percentage.

Goaltender Martin Ouellette won the lone game he played this past week, making 18 saves in the 6-3 victory for the Royals on Friday in Rapid City.

In four games so far this season with the Royals, Ouellette has compiled a 3-1-0-0 record with a 2.53 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

For Head Coach Larry Courville, the three wins recorded this past week brings him to 311 career regular season wins (in 551 total games) (311-189-25-26) as the Royals' coach, which translates into a .611 overall win percentage. The 311 victories are ninth all-time in the ECHL, six behind Jeff Brubaker.

Friday's win-his 310th -actually pushed Courville into second place all-time in the ECHL for regular season wins by a coach with a single team, surpassing Jeff Pyle, who won 309 games with the Gwinnett Gladiators.

The only coach in league history, who has won more games than Larry Courville with a single team is John Brophy, who won 416 with the Hampton Roads Admirals (1989- 2000).

Interestingly, 155 of Coach Courville's wins have come on home ice (155-97-8-14), which is a .606 win percentage; and 156 of his victories have come on the road (156-92-17-12)-which is a .616 win percentage.

LAST WEEK'S TRANSACTIONS 11/04/16 Add Todd Perry (d) Activated from 21-Day Injured Reserve Add Justin Crandall (f) Activated from ECHL Reserve List Delete Jesper Pettersson Placed on ECHL Reserve List

11/05/16 Claimed Michael Boivin (d) ECHL Playing Rights (waived by Rapid City Rush)

11/06/16 Traded Adam Morrison (g) ECHL Playing Rights (to Rapid City Rush for Future Considerations)

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 7, 2016


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