ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on November 29, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Royal of the Week Nomination

Defenseman Todd Perry

When you look to the long run made by the Royals in last year's playoffs, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that certain late season additions substantially factored in that success. A couple of d-men stand out in that category, including Todd Perry, who joined the Royals late last year and then promptly settled in as the quiet shut- down d-man every team needs to make some noise in the post-season. Of course, when you look at Todd's history - particularly the long and perhaps surprising playoff run by the Columbia Inferno in 2008 - his impact at crunch time should come as no surprise. Perhaps what does come as a bit of a surprise is that he's just 23 years old particularly when you watch the veteran-like poise that the displays on the ice. The other sur- prise, particularly when you realize that he has played four years of pro, Todd actually appears to have substantially improved his skill set this season, particularly his skating. The entire package seems more complete. The third surprise, well, that came on Friday, when his first goal as a Royal proved a record setting 3-on-3 OT GWG ....

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. With the back-to-back 4-3 overtime wins against the Cincinnati Cyclones to start this week (Wednesday and Friday), the Royals ran the team's record five games over .500 for the first time this year (11-6-0-0). Those wins also extended the team's win streak to three straight (all in overtime), which was snapped in the 4-2 loss to Florida on Saturday night. The Royals are 8-2-0-0 in the team's last ten games and 10-3-0-0 in the last thirteen.

2. The three overtime wins strung together by the Royals starting on Sunday, November 21 (a 3-2 def. Elmira Jackals) and continuing through Wednesday and Friday, marked the first time in team history that Reading had won 3 consecutive games in overtime. It marked the 3rd time in team history that the Royals have played 3 con- secutive games that ended regulation in a tie (11/24 - 11/30/01; 02/18 - 02/20/05; and 02/07 - 02/11/06); but the first time Reading ended up winning all 3 of those ties.

3. The three consecutive wins registered by the Royals starting on Sunday (November 21) were all of the come-from-behind variety. In each of the games on Sunday (November 21) and Friday (November 26), the Royals entered the 3rd period trailing by 2 goals. Reading has a record of 2-5-0-0 when entering the third period trailing.

4. Saturday's loss to the Florida Everblades marked the first time this season that Reading held a lead entering the third period and failed to win (5-1-0-0).

5. Mikhail Stefanovich registered his first pro hattrick in his fourth game with the Royals on Wednesday night against the Cincinnati Cyclones. His goal that completed the hattrick was also the overtime game winner. That was the first hattrick of the season for Reading, and the 24th in team history. (The most recent coming from Olivier Labelle last April in the American Conference Finals against Cincinnati.) Stefanovich is the first player in Royals team history to complete the hattrick with an OT GWG.

6. Ryan Cruthers scored the Royals' second goal in Wednesday's 4-3 OT wins over Cincinnati on both Wednesday and Friday. His goal on Friday, which was Cruthers ninth of the year (second on the team) came eight seconds into the third period (with the Royals trailing 3-1). That goal is the quickest goal ever scored at the Sovereign Center into a period; and it is the quickest goal ever scored by a Royal in any building (home or away) into a period. That night, Cruthers also assisted on the OT GWG by Todd Perry to register his fourth multi-point performance of the year. Cruthers is currently riding a three game point streak (2g-2a=4pts). In 78 total regular season games over the past two seasons, Cruthers has registered 89 points (31g-58a). He is currently the eighth all-time leading scorer for Reading (two points behind Chris Bala).

7. Ben Gordon scored the Royals first goal in Friday's 4-3 OT win. Gordon also assisted on Cruthers' goal 8 seconds into the third for his fourth multi-point game of the season. Gordon also scored the Royals second goal in Saturday's 4-2 loss to Florida. Gordon currently leads the Royals in plus-minus, playing to a (+9) through 18 games. Gordon has now registered 105 points (35g-70a) in 86 regular season games over 3 seasons with the Royals. He is tied with Brock Hooton for fourth in the all-time Royals scoring list.

8. Eric Castonguay picked up a pair of assists in Wednesday's win and scored the game tying goal 1:24 into the third period in Friday's OT win, extending his personal point streak to five games (3g-3a=6pts) which was snapped in Saturday's loss to Florida.

9. Defenseman Todd Perry scored his first goal in 38 total games (regular season and playoff) as a Royal 1:14 into overtime on Friday. The goal was the 30th regular season overtime game winner for the Royals and the first one that was ever scored with the team's playing three skaters aside.

10. Goaltender Matt Dalton won all three consecutive overtime games for the Royals from Sunday, November 21, through Friday, November 26. That was Dalton's second three game win streak of the season. His seven total wins is currently tied for second in the ECHL. Dalton has won five total overtime games for Reading (4 in regular season and 1 in playoffs). Cody Rudkowsky holds that record for Reading with eight total OT Wins (7 in regular season and 1 in playoffs).

CLOSING NOTES

1. Andrew Sarauer scored the first goal for the Royals on Saturday night 14:08 into the first period while Reading was on the power play. That was the first PPG for Reading since 4:50 into the first period of the 2-1 win in Wheeling on November 11 - a span of 483:44 of game time over nine games. Sarauer leads the Royals with 7 power play points this season (2g-5a).

2. The Royals are currently 11 for 75 with the man advantage this season, which is a 14.7% scoring ratio (13th). At home, Reading is 4-37 on the PP (10.8%).

3. Reading's PK allowed a power play goal against in all three games played this week, including the game tying goal in the third period by the Florida Everblades on Saturday. The Royals have allowed 18 PPGA in 99 PP chances for the opposition, which is a 81.8% kill ratio (12th in the league).

4. Eric Castonguay was loaned to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Sunday and promptly scored an important goal in Bridgeport's 3-0 win over the Norfolk Admi- rals. Royal-on-loan Chris Blight assisted on Castonguay's goal and scored an empty netter of his own (and played to a plus-3). In other AHL news, goalie Ben Scrivens made 32 saves in a 2-1 win for the Marlies over Syracuse on Saturday.

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