ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

March 16, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals 4-2 win over the Wheeling Nailers at the Sovereign Center last Wednesday ran the Royals' home record to 4-1-0 against the Nailers this season. Wheeling is the only team this year that the Royals have played more than once at home against whom Reading has a winning record. The Royals are 0-3-0 however this season at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, where these two teams will square off for a pair this weekend.

2. Friday's 5-3 loss to the Trenton Devils on Friday marked the 37th regulation loss of the season for the Royals, which established a new team record. The previous re- cord was held by the inaugural team (2001-02), which went 27-36-9=63.

3. Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Devils was the team's 19th regulation loss at home this year (11-19-0), which ensured that this year's team will be the first in Royals' history to have a losing record at home. (The prior low water mark for the home record was established in 2002-03 at 17-16-3 = 37). Saturday's loss also dropped Reading's home record against the Devils to 1-4-0 with two more games to be played against Trenton at the Sovereign Center this season, including this Friday.

4. The Royals held the Nailers to two goals last Wednesday, marking the 18th time this year that Reading has held the opposition to two goals or less. The Royals have a record of 16-2-0 in those games. Friday's game marked the twenty-third time this year that the Royals have given up five or more goals to the opposition. Reading has a record of 2-20-1 in those games. Overall, the Royals team goals against average is 3.73, which is the second worst in the league amongst active teams.

5. Saturday's loss marked the 13th time this year that the Royals' offense has been held to one goal or less-and the fifth time (out of twelve played) that the Trenton Devils have done it to Reading. The Royals are 0-13-0 in those games. Reading has been held to two goals or less 25 times this year and have compiled a record of 0-23-2 in those games. Overall, the Royals goals per game average is 2.92 which is eighteenth in the league.

6. Chris Stevens scored his third game winning goal of the season in Wednesday's win over Wheeling, tying him (with Kirk MacDonald) for the team lead in that category. Stevens also registered a team high eleven shots on goal in Wednesday's win. In Friday's game, Stevens registered his thirteenth multi-point game of the year with Read- ing in 39 games with the team. Four of those multi-point games have come in his last seven played. In those seven games, Stevens has racked up ten points (4g- 6a=10pts) and played to a plus-five (+5).

7. Dan Rudisuela factored in all three Royals' goals (1g-2a)-and played to a plus-3 (+3)-in Friday's 5-3 loss to Trenton. That marked Rudisuela's tenth multi-point game of the year-and seven of those have come in his last twenty played. In those twenty games, Rudisuela has registered twenty-two points (9g-13a=22pts). In Satur- day's loss, Rudisuela, who leads the Royals with 169 shots on net, racked up a personal high of eight shots on goal.

8. In Wednesday's win, Ben Gordon registered a pair of assists in his first game with the team, while his former Cincinnati (and now Reading) teammate Ben McLeod also picked up an assist. Gordon racked up his first goal with the team on Saturday, as he was the only Royal to score in that game; while McLeod registered his first multi- point performance with the team on Friday night (1g-1a). McLeod's goal on Friday came eleven seconds into the third period-which is the quickest goal into a period for the Royals all season long. In Gordon's last twety-one games (3 with the Royals, 18 with Cincinnati), he has racked up 27 points (9g-18a=27pts).

9. The Royals power play went 1-15 in the three games played this week-and was held off the board on Friday and Saturday against Trenton (0-10). Reading's PP has been held off the board in nine of the last fifteen games (and in 27 of the 63 played this year). (Trenton's PK has blanked the Royals in 8 of the 12 games played between the two teams.) In the last fifteen games the Royals power play has gone 9 - 75 which is a 12.0% scoring ratio. Over the course of the season the Royals have scored 54 power play goals in 334 chances with the man advantage, which translates into a 15.7% scoring ratio (13th in the league).

CLOSING NOTES

1. The Royals penalty kill kept the Devils' power play off the board in Saturday's loss at the Sovereign Center (0-5), snapping a string of seven consecutive games in which the PK had given up at least one goal against. Over the course of the season, the Royals have blanked the opposition's power play twelve times. Overall, Reading's PK has allowed 76 PPGAs in 356 chances, a 78.7% kill ratio (last in the league).

2. Reading gave up two short-handed goals-one of which proved to be the game winner-in Friday's loss in Trenton. The Royals have allowed 8 short-handed goals over the course of the season (tied for seventh least in the league). The team record for short-handed goals against is 13 (2002-03).

3. David Nimmo scored a goal and registered two assists (one of which came on the game winner by Chris Stevens) in Wednesday's win against Wheeling to rack up his first three point game of the season for Reading. Nimmo has had four multi-point games for the Royals this year. Nimmo's goal that night was his third power play goal of the year (in eleven scored).

4. Mike Curry scored a goal in his second game for the Royals on Wednesday. That was Curry's first goal since January 17 (for the South Carolina Stingrays against the Mississippi Sea Wolves)-a span of twenty-two games for Curry.

5. The Royals held the Wheeling Nailers to just 18 shots in Wednesday's win, which is a season best for the team. The Royals have averaged giving up 34.41 shots per game this year, which is eighteenth out of the 21 teams in the league.

6.The Royals registered 42 shots on goal in Saturday's loss, which is the second most for the team this year. (Reading had 44 shots in 10-6 loss at Wheeling on December 26). Reading averages 29.59 shots on goal per game (17th).

7. Reading is playing to a (-51) through 63 games, having given up 235 goals this year and scored 184. The team low in this regard is a (-42) (303 GA - 261 GF) in the 2002-03 season. That season also established the team high for total goals against (303). The team low for goals scored was established in the inaugural season when the Royals scored just 182 goals.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 16, 2009


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