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ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

December 6, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Lest we forget that hockey is really a game of energy and effort, leave it to a lunch-pail line to remind us. With the highly talented first-place Elmira Jackals coming to Reading on Friday, presumably buoyed by the addi- tion of the 2009-10 ECHL MVP, Tyler Donati, the Royals needed a bit of a boost and they needed it quick—well, is the first shift sound quick enough? Rob Slaney, Casey Haines and Devin Timberlake attacked off the opening face-off and sent a clear and pre- sent message that skill would have to take at least a temporary back-seat to good ol' fashion grinding 'er out. That message seemed to land squarely on target, as the rest of the Royals followed suit and the skill guys fulfilled their role, as well. To be sure, the Slaney-Haines-Timberlake line generated a goal on Friday and pulled out the third period tie-breaking game winner against Trenton on Saturday (on the first shift in the third); but, in their honor, let us remind ourselves once again to watch the game (and the scoreboard) and not necessarily the score sheet....

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. With the team's two wins this week, the Royals are now six games over .500 (13-7-0-0) for the first time this season. The Royals are 10-2-0-0 in the team's last twelve games and 12-3-0-0 in the last fifteen.

2. With back-to-back wins over Atlantic Division rivals this week, the Royals are above .500 within the Division for the first time since the first game of the year (6-5-0-0).

3. The five goal differential in the 6-1 win over the Elmira Jackals on Friday night is the largest margin of victory this season for the Royals.

4. The 3-2 decision in Trenton Saturday marked the seventh time this year that the Royals have played a game in which the final score was 3-2. The Royals have won the last five consecutive games decided by that score in which the team has played. Reading has compiled a record of 9-3-0-0 in games decided by one goal this season.

5. In Saturday's win against the Devils, the Royals trailed after one period, 2-0. That marked the second consecutive game for the Royals at Sun National Bank in Trenton, New Jersey, in which the team trailed by two-goals and came back to win on the strength of a third-period tie-breaking game winner. (The other was a 3-2 win for Reading over the Devils on November 17.) The Royals have compiled a record of 5-1-0-0 when tied after two periods.

6. Saturday's game was the fifth come-from-behind win of the season for the Royals. It marked the fourth time this year that Reading overcame a two-goal deficit.

7. Ryan Cruthers registered a pair of assists in both games played by the Royals this week. Cruthers, who is tied with Matt Caruana and Ben Gordon for the team lead with 22 points (t-10 in the league), is currently riding a 5 game point streak (2g-6a=8pts). Cruthers leads the team with 6 multi-point performances. In 80 total regular season games over the past two seasons, Cruthers has registered 93 points (31g-62a), which is seventh on the all-time scoring list (two points behind Brian McCullough).

8. On Friday against Elmira, Ben Gordon registered his first three point game of the season (1g-2a). In Saturday's game, Gordon scored his first power play goal of the year to extend his current goal scoring streak to four games (4g-3a=7pts). Gordon and his linemates (Ryan Cruthers and Eric Castonguay) each played to a plus-4 (+4) in Friday's game, and Gordon currently leads the team in plus-minus at plus-14 (+14), which is second in the ECHL. Gordon has now registered 109 points (37g-72a) in 88 regular season games over 3 seasons with the Royals, 4th all-time for Reading (14 points behind Graig Mischler).

9. Eric Castonguay registered his first multi-goal game of the season (2g) on Friday against the Jackals. He also picked up a pair of assists in Saturday's win in Trenton. Castonguay has picked up at least one point in seven of his last eight games with the Royals (5g-5a=10pts).

10. Yannick Riendeau scored what proved to be the game winner in Friday's 6-1 win over Elmira. He also scored the first goal for Reading in Saturday's win over the Devils.

11. Rob Slaney's first goal of the season proved to be the third-period tie-breaking game winner in Trenton on Saturday. Slaney became the ninth Royal to score a GWG this season.

12. Goaltender Ben Scrivens won both games for the Royals this past week. He is currently riding a five game win streak in Reading (and a 7 game win streak including his two games played for the Toronto Marlies in the AHL). Saturday's game in Trenton marked the third time this year that Scrivens has faced more than 40 shots in a game. His .936 save percentage is second best in the league, and his 2.25 goals against average is third best in the ECHL.

CLOSING NOTES

1. The Royals power play was held off the board for the eleventh time this season in Friday's 6-1 win over Elmira (0-1). Reading did score the game-tying goal on Satur- day while playing with the man advantage (1-4). The Royals are 2 for their last 36 on the PP; and 12 for 80 in the twenty games played so far (15.0%) (13th).

2. The Royals penalty killers did not allow a power play goal against this past week- end, killing all seven PP opps against. The Royals PK has held the opposition off the board in seven games this season. Overall, Reading has allowed 18 PPGA in 106 chances for the opposition, which is an 83.0% kill ratio 10th in the league.

3. The Royals have scored 68 goals through twenty games, which is a 3.40 goals per game average (fourth in the league). Last season, Reading averaged 3.53 goals per game, which is the second most in team history. (The 2002-03 Royals averaged 3.63 goals per game.)

4. Saturday's game marked the fifth time this season that Reading has allowed forty or more shots against. On the season, the Royals average 33.55 shots against per game, which is 17th out of the 19 teams in the league.

5. Devin Timberlake registered his first point as a Royal when he assisted on Ca- sey Haines goal (to make it 4-0, Reading) in Friday's win over the Jackals. He also picked up an assist on Rob Slaney's game winner on Sunday.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 6, 2010


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