ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on March 8, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Well, one thing's for sure, no one on the Royals roster over the past week is complaining about lack of ice time today. With the team down to just fourteen skaters for three of the four games played last week, every available body had to get a solid grip on the rope and give 'er the ol' heave-ho-about every other shift.

And several members of the team dug in a little bit deeper and yanked a little bit harder when their turn came. One of those guys was Ste- fano Giliati, who racked up 3 sepa- rate 4 point games and extended his personal point streak to 7 games (7g -10a=17pts). Giliati has been here before-he went on a wild point rampage at the beginning of the season for the Royals-but this past stretch was particularly important to the team because there was a considerable amount of open space on the rope this week.

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals' 6-4 over the Trenton Devils at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey, on Tuesday night snapped a team record seven game road losing streak (01/22/10 - 02/27/10). The Royals are 12-14-1-1 on the road this season with eight more regular season games to be played in the opposition's building.

2. Reading's 6-3 loss to the Kalamazoo Wings on Thursday snapped a season long four game home win streak (02/13/10 - 02/28/10). The Royals bounced back with home victories over Johnstown on Saturday and Kalamazoo on Sunday. The team has now won six of the last seven at home and has compiled a record of 18-11-0-2 at Sover- eign Center with five home games remaining in the regular season.

3. The Royals 6-5 overtime victory over the Kalamazoo Wings on Sunday marked the first victory ever for Reading over Kalamazoo. The Royals played six regular season games against the K-Wings in that team's first season in the ECHL and compiled a record of 1-3-1-1 against Kalamazoo.

4. In all three victories earned by the Royals this week, the team (which had only fourteen skaters in the lineup in each of those wins) scored six goals. Over the course of the year, Reading has scored six or more goals seven times, and the team has compiled a record of 7-0-0-0 in those games. The overtime game winner on Sunday by Olivier Labelle was the Royals' 200th goal this year, which (through 59 games played) translates into a 3.39 goals per game average (eighth best in the ECHL).

5. In Thursday's loss, the K-Wings racked up six goals on Reading, marking the eleventh time this year that the Royals have allowed six or more goals in a single game. The Royals have compiled a record of 0-10-0-1 in those games. Over the course of the season, Reading has allowed a total of 226 goals against, which translates into a 3.73 team goals against average (eighteenth in the league).

6. The Royals gave up five second period goals to the K-Wings in Thursday's 6-3 loss. That marked the eighth time in the nine year history of the team that Reading has allowed five or more goals in a single period. It was the second time that it occurred at the Sovereign Center. (The Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies scored five third period goals against the Royals on March 22, 2003 in a 9-3 victory over Reading.) The Royals, who gave up six second period goals to the Elmira Jackals on February 19, 2010 are currently playing to a minus-14 (-14) in the second period this season.

7. Reading had three separate players score their first pro goal this past week-and one player who scored his first ECHL goal: a) Matt Ward, playing in his second pro game on Tuesday night in Trenton, scored at the 13:16 mark of the first period to tie the game at three-after Reading trailed by as much as 3-1 at one point. Ward also registered a pair of assists in that game (and played to a plus-4, +4) to register his first multi-point game as a pro. b) Rob Slaney's first pro goal, which came at the 14:42 mark of the third period in Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Trenton Devils proved to be the game winner. Slaney has registered five points (1g-4a) in his last five games with the Royals. c) Also in Tuesday's 6-4 win in Trenton, Ryan Hand scored his first ECHL goal in his twenty-first game in the league. (He played twelve games for Utah earlier this season and has now played in eleven with the Royals this year). That was actually Hand's second pro goal, as he did score one as a member of the Laredo Bucks in the Central Hockey League in his rookie season last year. d) In Saturday's 6-4 win over Johnstown, Kyle Laughlin scored his first pro goal at the 17:20 mark of the first period to give the Royals a 3-1 lead over the Chiefs

8. Stefano Giliati stretched his personal point streak to seven games (7g-17a) by racking up thirteen points (5g-8a) in the four games played this week. He registered three separate four point games during the week, which began when he scored a goal and picked up three assists (including one on the game winner by Robert Slaney) (and played to a plus-3, +3) in Reading's 6-4 win in Trenton on Tuesday. After assisting on the Royals second goal (scored by Aaron Brocklehurst on the power play to give the Royals a 2-1 first period lead on Thursday), Giliati bagged two goals-including his second game winner of the season-and racked up a pair of assists in Saturday's 6-4 win over Johnstown. On Sunday, Giliati had his second consecutive two-goal, two-assist game in the Royals' 6-5 overtime victory over Kalamazoo. Giliati, who leads the team in plus-minus at plus-7 (+7), has twenty-two points (9g-13a) in his last fourteen games.

9. Andrew Sarauer is currently riding a five game goal scoring (and point)( streak (6g-4a=10pts). Sarauer, who has had four consecutive multi-point games, is the leading scorer on the active roster for the Royals at this time (18g-23=41pts). He has registered seventeen points (9g-8a) in his last thirteen games.

10. Olivier Labelle's overtime game winner on Sunday against the K-Wings was his twenty-first goal of the year, which ties him with Ben Gordon for the team lead in that category. It was Labelle's team leading fourth game winning goal of the year and his second OT GWG of his pro career. (He also scored the overtime game winner for the Utah Grizzlies on April 5, 2008 in a 4-3 victory over the Stockton Thunder). Labelle has scored ten goals in his last twelve games for the Royals.

11. Jimmy Fraser scored the game's first goal in Sunday's 6-5 overtime win over Kalamazoo. That goal, which snapped a twenty game goal scoring drought for Fraser (dating back to January 15) was Fraser's third -˜first goal' of the season, which ties him amongst active players on the Royals in that category.

12. Scott Langdon scored his fourth goal of the season at the 9:03 mark of the first period in Tuesday's 6-4 win over Trenton to get the Royals on the board and cut the Devils' lead at that point of the game to 2-1. Langdon also picked up a pair of assists in Saturday's 6-4 win over Johnstown, marking his third multi-point game of the season. Langdon has registered seven points (2g-5a) in his last eleven games.

13. Aaron Brocklehurst is riding a three game point streak (2g-2a). Both of Brocklehurt's goals this week were scored while the team was on the power play. All three of the goals he's scored for Reading since joining the team on February 5 have been power play goals. Five of his total eleven goals are PPG.

14. Dinos Stamoulis picked up a pair of assists in Saturday's 6-4 win over Johnstown, including one on the game winner by Stefano Giliati that night. That was his second multi-point game of the year. Stamoulis has registered seven assists in his last eleven games.

15. In Saturday's win over Johnstown, goaltender Andrew Engelage played his first full game for Reading since an overtime victory over the Trenton Devils on December 27, 2009. Engelage picked up his second OT win for Reading on Sunday in his first start ever against Kalamazoo. (Engelage also had an overtime victory for the Toronto Marlies over the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL on December 5, 2009.) The Royals have now won seven of the eight games in which Engelage has played.

CLOSING NOTES

1. The Royals' third goal in Sunday's 6-5 win over the Kalamazoo Wings, which was scored by Aaron Brocklehurst (on the power play) at the 1:50 mark of the second period was the 2000th goal scored in the nine year team history of the Royals.

2. After getting blanked on the power play for the twenty-fifth time this season in Trenton on Tuesday (0-5), the Royals broke a string of 20 consecutive power play chances without a goal when the team scored on its first power play chance on Thursday against Kalamazoo (1-3). The Royals PP also scored on the team's first PP chance on Saturday night against Johnstown (1-3); and scored on the first two chances with the man advantage against the K-Wings on Sunday (2-7)

3.The Royals penalty killers kept the Trenton Devils' PP off the board on Tuesday (5-5) and also blanked the Johnstown Chiefs PP on Saturday (5-5). The Royals' PK has blanked the opposition 19 times this season.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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