ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on October 19, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. After the 4©1 loss to Kalamazoo last Thursday, the Royals are now 4©5© in season openers over the nine year history of the team. That was only the second time in team history that the Royals have opened the season at home. The last time¡ªOctober 11, 2002¡ªthe Royals beat the Wheeling Nailers, 7©3. Overall in home openers, Reading has compiled a record of 3©4©2.

2. Going into last Thursday¡¯s home opener, the Royals had compiled a record of 7©3©1 in games played on Thursdays, which historically is the best day of the week for the Royals with respect to win percentage. The worst: Mondays (0©3©). The only other days of the week in which Reading has compiled a losing record are Wednesdays (26© 29©5) and Sundays (42©46©9).

3. Ben McLeod scored the team¡¯s first goal of the season¡ªand the only goal of the game in the season opening loss to Kalamazoo. McLeod, who leads the Royals with three points (2g©1a), also scored the Royals¡¯ third goal on Saturday night shortly after Reading fell behind by two goals to the Elmira Jackals. McLeod capped that off by assisting on the third period game tying goal by Ben Gordon with just 6:30 remaining in regulation. Last season, after being acquired from the Cincinnati Cyclones in a mid© March trade, McLeod racked up 11 points (5g©6a) in 12 games for the Royals. McLeod has had at least a point in 9 of the 13 games he¡¯s played for Reading.

4. Ben Gordon became the first Royal to register a multi©goal performance this season when he scored the game¡¯s first and final goal (at least in the 65 minutes of hockey) in the SOL on Saturday. Last year in his first season as a pro, Gordon had a pair of multi©goal games¡ªone of which was against the Royals as a member of the Cincinnati Cyclones. With Reading last season, Gordon racked up 18 points (6g©12a) in 12 games. He now has had 7 multi©point games in the 14 that he has played for Reading.

5. Scott Langdon scored his first goal as a pro in Saturday¡¯s shootout loss. Last year, in his first season of pro, Langdon went 62 games without a goal. Langdon, who led the Royals with twelve fighting majors last season, also engaged in a fight on Saturday¡¯s game which helped spark Reading¡¯s comeback from a two©goal deficit at that point in the game. Langdon¡¯s nine penalty minutes currently leads the Royals.

6. Stefano Giliati scored his first goal for the Royals (and first ECHL goal)¡ªwhich was also the first power play goal scored by the Royals this season¡ªlate in the second period to tie Saturday¡¯s game, 4©4. Giliati had also registered an assist on the goal scored earlier in the second period by Ben McLeod, which means that Giliati picked up his first multi©point game as a Royal on Saturday. Last season, Giliati had a pair of multi©point games for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

7. Eric Werner racked up a pair of assists in Saturday¡¯s SOL to Elmira. In 2005©6, when Werner led Reading defenders with thirty assists and forty©two points, he racked up eight multi©point games; Werner also played eight games for the Royals in 2006©7, and registered one point in seven in a row during that stint.

8. In both games played this week, the Royals gave up three goals to the opposition in the second period. Over the course of the history of the team, the Royals have given up three or more goals in 140 separate periods over 132 games. The Royals have compiled a record of 18©100©14 in those games. Of course, the Royals also scored three goals of their own in the second period of Saturday¡¯s SOL. In the team¡¯s history, Reading has scored three or more in 156 periods over 143 games, and the team has a record of 115©17©14 in those games.

9. Saturday¡¯s game marked the 110th time in the history of the team that the Royals have scored a ¡°Late Game Goal For¡± (i.e. third period goal that either wins the game or ties the game, and the Royals either end up losing in overtime or the shootout). Last season, Reading played twelve games in which the team scored a ¡°Late Game Goal For¡±. The best season for Reading in this regard was 2007©8, when the team scored a ¡°Late Game Goal For¡± in 18 regular season games¡ªand five playoff games.

10. Reading¡¯s power play finally broke through in the team¡¯s fifth power play opportunity in Saturday¡¯s game¡ªthe thirteenth of the season for the team. Reading also bagged a five©on©three power play goal to tie the game in the third. As of this writing, the Royals 19 power play chances this season thusfar leads the league. The Royals scoring ratio (2©19) of 10.5% places the team twelfth in the league in that category. The Royals PK allowed one power play goal in four chances for Kalamazoo on Friday; and allowed a pair of PPGA in seven chances for Elmira on Saturday. Overall, the kill is 8 for 11 (72.7%), which is 18th out of the 20 teams in the league.

CLOSING NOTES

1. Kevin Regan played goal in both games for the Royals this past week. Those games were Regan¡¯s first in the ECHL. He currently has an 4.32 goals against aver© age and a .859 save percentage. He stopped 4 of 5 in his first ECHL shootout.

2. Gavin Morgan, who was named team captain by the Royals on October 15, registered an assist in both of the games played by the team this week. Morgan now has a total of 340 points (109g©231a) in his 624 game pro career.

3. Daniel Steiner, who is entering his eleventh pro season, registered his first points in North America on Saturday night, when he picked up an assist on two of the Royals¡¯ goals. All ten of Steiner¡¯s prior pro seasons were played in the Swiss National League A (NLA).

4. Jimmy Fraser racked up his first pro point when he picked up an assist on Scott Langdon¡¯s second period goal for the Royals on Saturday night. Fraser also picked up his first pro penalty minutes when he (along with Olivier Proulx of Elmira) picked up a two minute minor for roughing early in the second on Saturday.

4. With the exception of defenseman Scott Fletcher, every Royal skater who appeared in action this past week registered at least one shot on net. Stefano Giliati led the team with six shots in Thursday¡¯s loss to Kalamazoo; and Ben Gordon put six shots on net on Saturday to lead the team that night.

5. After a two©year hiatus, this Friday night the Royals return to Toledo, Ohio, albeit not in the Toledo Sports Arena¡ªand this time against the ¡®Walleye¡¯ not the ¡®Storm¡¯. Historically, the Royals compiled a record of 19©14©9 against the Storm. The last time Reading played in Toledo, the Royals were defeated despite 45 stops by Jeff Pietrasiak, when Jason Maleyko scored the over©time game winner with just 21 seconds left in OT on March 24, 2007.

6. The Royals make their first appearance in team history in Kalamazoo this Satur© day (7:30 pm) and Sunday (4:00 pm).

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ECHL Stories from October 19, 2009


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