ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on February 1, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Just when you start to get a little bit cynical about the state of our human condition"and the apparent accep- tance in modern society of just flat quitting on your brothers in arms (as long as you make more money doing it), along comes a guy like Ryan Crane. Not to put the responsibility for the entire restoration of honor and pride within our human com- munity on the guy's shoulders, but Ryan certainly answered the call for Reading this past week. Despite not playing pro hockey since October (when he was released by the Royals from training camp), Ryan jumped right into the fray when the team was down to as few as twelve available skaters (and three regular defensemen) and played like the solid eighth year veteran that he is" and he bagged a game winning goal in the win over Charlotte to boot.

Hope restored (at least in part)...

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals 4-1 loss to Gwinnett last Wednesday extended Reading's season high losing streak to three games, which the team snapped in the 3-1 win over Charlotte on Saturday night. After Sunday's 3-2 loss to Gwinnett, the Royals record dropped to 5-6-0-1 against the South Division this season. The Royals have compiled a record of 8-11-1-2 against teams outside the East Division this year; and 15-7-0-1 within the East.

2. Wednesday's game marked the eighth time this season that Reading's offense has been held to one goal or less. (The Royals have been shutout once this year"by Chris Beckford-Tseu of Florida on November 21, 2009 in Florida.) Reading has compiled a record of 0-7-0-1 in those games. Overall, the Royals have scored 147 goals through 45 games this year, which is a 3.27 -˜goals for' average (tied for twelfth in the league).

3. Saturday's 3-1 win for the Royals over Charlotte on Saturday marked the second time this season that Reading's defense has held the opposition to one goal. (The Roy- als have not yet registered a shutout this season). The other was the 2-1 win over the Elmira Jackals on December 19, 2009. The Royals have allowed 162 goals against so far this year, which translates into a 3.60 goals against average, which is seventeenth in the league.

4. Sunday's 3-2 loss for Reading was just the third regulation loss for the team in games decided by one goal. In the twenty games played by the Royals this season that have been decided by one goal, Reading has compiled a record of 14-3-1-2.

5. Matt Marquardt scored the lone goal for the Royals in the 4-1 loss to Gwinnett on Wednesday. For Marquardt that was his first goal of the season in thirty-nine total games played this year (six with the Royals and thirty-three with the Providence Bruins of the AHL).

6. Ben McLeod picked up the lone assist on Reading's goal on Wednesday. That extended McLeod's personal point streak to five games (4g-2a=6pts). Although he was held off the score sheet in Saturday's 3-1 win over Charlotte, McLeod scored the Royals second goal in Sunday's 3-2 loss. That goal was scored while the Royals were on the power play, marking McLeod's fifth PPG of the year, which is tied for the team lead for players currently on Reading's roster. Since breaking a sixteen game goal scoring drought on January 16, McLeod has scored five goals in his last seven games.

7. Ryan Crane playing in just his second game for the Royals on Saturday night scored what proved to be the game winning goal. He is the fourteenth player to score a GWG for Reading this year. (Marc Cavosie leads the team with 3 game winners). Crane also picked up an assist on the Royals power play goal by Ben McLeod on Sunday.

8. Marc Cavosie registered a pair of assists"and was involved in a fight with T.J. Reynolds (who leads the ECHL in penalty minutes)"in Saturday's win. For Cavosie that was his fourth multi-point game of the year for Reading. Cavosie also scored his second short-handed goal of the season in Sunday's loss. Cavosie has registered at least one point in nineteen of the twenty-six games he's played for the Royals this year.

9. Chase Watson scored the Royals' third goal on Saturday in his first game with the team. Watson is the forty-third player in the nine year team history of the Royals to score a goal in his first game with the team.

10. Andrew Sarauer assisted on both goals scored by the Royals on Sunday. That was his fifth multi-point game of the season. Sarauer had his most productive offensive month to date for the Royals in January, registering ten points (5g-5a) in the twelve games played by the team.

11. Goaltender Matt Dalton was credited with 43 saves in Saturday's 3-1 win over Charlotte. That marks the eleventh time this season that Dalton has faced forty or more shots in a game. (He has won 6 of those games.) Dalton has played 14 consecutive games for the Royals and has started 29 of the last 35 games for the Royals since No- vember 11, 2009. Dalton is currently fourth in the league in total minutes played (1745) and leads all rookie goaltenders (third overall) in saves made (949).

13. The Royals power play was blanked twice this week, bringing the total number of games in which the PP has been held off the board this year to 19. The team has compiled a record of 5-13-0-1 in those games. The PP has been held scoreless in five of the last nine games, going 5-47 (10.6% scoring ratio) in that time span. Overall, the Royals PP is 37-239 this year, which is a 15.5% scoring ratio (eighteenth in the league).

CLOSING NOTES

1. The Royals penalty kill has given up at least on PP goal against in the last five consecutive games"and in 15 of the last 17 games. Overall, the Royals PK has killed 181 of the 225 power plays they have faced, which is a 80.4% kill ratio"eighteenth in the league.

2. Danny Taylor became the eighteenth goaltender in the nine year history of the Royals to play both for and against Reading. He joins Barry Brust and Tyler Sims as two goaltenders who used to play for the Royals that the team has faced this year. On Saturday, Reading also faced another former Royal in net"Ryan Munce"for the Charlotte Checkers. However, Reading had played against Munce before, when he was a member of the Johnstown Chiefs in 2006-07.

3. January marked the first month this season in which the Royals finished with a losing record: 5-6-0-1. In the nine year history of Royals, the team has compiled an overall record of 56-45-8 in the month of January.

4. Saturday's knock-down, drag out with the Charlotte Checkers set the high water mark for penalty minutes in a single game for Reading this season. The Royals compiled 61 minutes of penalties (on 14 infractions), while the Checkers racked up 75 PIMs (on 17 infractions). T.J. Reynolds led the pack with 21 PIMs; while Andrew Sarauer was hot on his heels with 19.

5. Royals' forward Kyle Laughlin registered his first point as a pro when he assisted on the what proved to be the game winning goal (by Ryan Crane) in Saturday's 3-1 win over the Checkers.

6. Every skater but Jimmy Fraser for the Royals and defenseman Sean Hurley for the Gwinnett Gladiators who was in the line-up for Wednesday's 4-1 win for the Gladiators over the Royals registered at least one shot on goal in that game.

7. The Royals take on the Trenton Devils for the ninth time this season on Friday night, when those teams face-off at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey. The Royals are 8-0-0-0 so far against the Devils' but 7 of those games have been decided by one goal and three of them have gone beyond regulation time.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from February 1, 2010


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.

OurSports Central