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ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

October 25, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Boy, some guys have all the luck-and some guys can't seem to buy a break.

Unfortunately, for Royals' goaltender Ben Scrivens, he seems to have fallen in the latter category, at least at the start of his pro career in Reading. We might as well just say it-Ben's been great for the Royals, although you might not know it to look at his won-loss record (1-2-0). After winning the season opener for the Royals, Ben has been the hard luck loser in his other two appearances for the team. Last Sunday in Trenton, he came in 7:13 into the game with the team down 4-0 stopped 22 of 23 shots and still got saddled with the loss because the lone goal scored against him happened to turn out to be the GWG, despite the fact that he was principally responsible for the comeback hope. This past Sunday, he got the loss again after making 36 saves-many in spectacular fashion- when he again give his team a chance to win a rather lopsided game against. Here's to hoping for a change of fortune for young Ben....

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. Saturday's 7-2 loss to the Elmira Jackals at the Sovereign Center stretched the Royals winless streak in home openers to five (0-4-1). The last time Reading won a home opener was back on October 29, 2005, when the Royals' Rich Peverley scored an overtime game winner to cap a 2-1 win over the Trenton (then-) Titans. The Royals have compiled a 3-5-2 record in home openers in the team's ten seasons in Reading.

2. The Royals are currently riding a three game losing streak. The team did not hold a lead at any point during those three games. In 180 minutes of game time over that span, the Royals trailed the opposition for 128:22.

3. Reading allowed five goals against in the third period of Saturday's 7-2 to Elmira. That marked the eleventh time in team history (over a span of 652 games and 1956 periods) that the Royals have given up five or more goals in a single period-and the second time it's happened this season. (The Trenton Devils rang off five goals in the first period of their 6-4 win over Reading on Sunday, October 17.) The record for goals against in a single period for the Royals is six, which has occurred twice in team history and most recently in Elmira on February 19, 2010, when the Jackals scored six second period goals in an 8-3 victory over Reading.

4. Matt Caruana scored both goals for the Royals in Saturday's game. Those were the first goals that Caruana scored for Reading and marked his fifth multi-goal game in three seasons in the ECHL. (He scored two goals three times with the Bakersfield Condors in 2008-09; and he did it once with the Gwinnett Gladiators last season). Those goals extended Caruana's point streak with the Royals to three games (2g-2a), which was snapped on Sunday.

5. Andrew Sarauer assisted on both goals scored by the Royals on Saturday. He also registered an assist on Reading's first goal in the team's 3-2 loss to Elmira on Sunday. Sarauer has picked up at least one point in every game for the Royals and is currently tied for the team lead with four assists.

6. Eric Castonguay also assisted on both goals scored by the Royals last Saturday night to register his first multi-point game as a Royal.

7. The Royals and Jackals racked up a total of 152 combined penalty minutes in Saturday's game, which included a 'line-brawl' at the 14:28 mark of the second period, resulting in the ejection of six total players including Ryan Cruthers, Ben Gordon and Matt Generous for the Royals. That marked the most combined penalty minutes in a single game for Reading and their opponent since the Royals and Jackals engaged in the game lovingly remembered as the 'Kook-fest' on February 2, 2008 in Elmira, when those two teams racked up a combined 253 pims.

8. Saturday marked Matt Dalton's return to the net as the Royals' goaltender after his record setting season with team last year. Dalton allowed seven goals against, marking the second time in his pro career to allow seven goals. The last time was also against the Jackals at the Sovereign Center on December 29, 2009, when Elmira beat the Royals 7-1.

9. The Royals gave up a season high 39 shots in Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Jackals. Reading has allowed 138 total shots against in the first four games of the season, which is an average of 34.50 shots against per game (17th out of the 19 teams in the ECHL). Last season, the Royals gave up a team record 2655 shots against, which was an average of 36.88 shots against per game, which was dead last in the league.

10. In both games this week, the Royals allowed a pair of power play goals against-and in both of those games, the goal that proved to be the opposition's game winner was scored while they were playing with the man advantage. Reading's PK has given up at least one power play goal against in all four games played this year. The opposition has scored eight power play goals in 32 chances with the man advantage, which translates into a 75.0% kill ratio for the Royals (13th in the league).

11. Reading has scored at least one power play goal in each of the games played so far this season-and both goals scored in Sunday's 3-2 loss were PPGs. The Royals are 6 for 22 with the man advantage, which trans- lates into a 27.3% scoring ration (third best in the league).

CLOSING NOTES

1 . The Royals have allowed 21 goals in the first four games of the season, which translates into a 5.25 team goals against average, which is nineteenth in the league. Last season, Reading allowed a total of 275 goals against during the regular season, which was a 3.82 team goals against average (18th out of the 20 teams in the league that year).

2. Reading faced a season high thirteen power play chances in Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Jackals. The team has faced 32 power play opportunities for the opposition which is more than any other team in the league. The Royals are currently a mi- nus-10 (22 - 32) with respect to power plays awarded to the opposition. The only team that has worst ratio than the Royals in this regard is the Victoria Salmon Kings, who have had 17 power plays and have faced 30 (-13).

3. Alain Goulet scored his first goal as a member of the Royals on Sunday, when he bagged a PPG at the 13:35 mark of the third period to draw the Royals within one goal of the Jackals at 3-2.

4. Dallas Jackson registered his first pro point when he assisted on Goulet's goal.

5. Olivier Labelle is currently tied for the league lead with 34 penalty minutes.

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