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ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

April 4, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Thanks for Helping Steph Hackash's Effort to Kiss the Pig!

The pre-game auction of the V & M Towing Warm-Up Jerseys was a rousing success, raising over $10,000 for the Olivet Boys & Girls Club. Thanks for your support!

Suggested Rule Change:

No More Tackling at the End of Fights

In the continuing series of rule change recommendations, my latest proposal is to prohibit any form of tackling a combatant during a fight-usually at the end. This dangerous act serves no purpose whatsoever and puts the person being tackled at grave risk of injury. If you do it, you receive an automatic game misconduct. Do it in the third period and you're thrown out of the next game, too.

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The two wins registered by the Royals this past week gave Reading forty-four regular season wins for the first time in team history (44-23-2-3"). The ninety-three points in the standings compiled by the Royals in the 2010-11 regular season tied the team record, which was set in 2004-05 (43-22-7").

2. Reading's 3-2 shootout win over the Wheeling Nailers on Wednesday at the Sovereign Center was the sixth shootout win of the season for the Royals. That was tied for the most SO Wins in the league. (Stockton went 6-7 in 13 shootouts; the Royals went 6-3 in 9). This ties the team record for most SO Wins in a single season. (It is actually the third time that the Royals has had 6 SO wins in a single season: 2003-04 = 6-7; and 2009-10 = 6-5.) The Royals went 2 for 3 in their shootout attempts on Wednesday. Reading had the second best shootout scoring percentage in the league: 21-46 (.457)-which is far-and-away the best the team has ever done in the shootout. (Greenville went 15-31 for a .484 shooting %.) Reading's goalies stopped 32 of the 46 shootout attempts they faced for a ..696 save percentage (eleventh best in the league).

3. The Royals 6-3 win in Trenton on Friday marked the twenty-second road victory of the season for the Royals (22-12-1-1). The Royals had set a new team record with their 21st road win in Gwinnett a week ago Sunday. Reading led the league in road wins this season.

4. The six goals scored by Reading on Friday night in Trenton marked the tenth time this season that the Royals scored six or more goals in a single game. The team went 10-0-0-0 in those games. Overall, the Royals were the top scoring team in the league, racking up 257 goals (3.57 goals per game average), which is the second most ever by a Reading team. (The 2002-03 Royals scored 261 goals for a 3.63 goals per game average.)

5. Wednesday's 3-2 shootout win over the Nailers marked the thirtieth time this season that Reading held the opposition to two goals or less. The Royals went 28-1-0-1 in those games. Reading allowed 220 goals against this year (3.06 team goals against)-ninth best in the league. (That was fifty-five goals less than the team allowed in the regular season last year.) The 2004-05 Royals set the team record for defense, allowing just 161 goals against that year (2.24 team goals against-which led the league).

6. For the second consecutive year, Reading had five players this year who scored twenty or more goals: Andrew Sarauer (25), Chris Blight (25), Ben Gordon (23), Ryan Cruthers (21), and Olivier Labelle (21). Three other players scored 18 goals: Matt Caruana, Yannick Riendeau and Casey Haines. Last year, the five twenty goal scorers were Sarauer, Gordon, Cruthers, Labelle and Stefano Giliati. The 2003-04 Royals also had five twenty goal scorers.

7. Andrew Sarauer registered four points in Saturday's 6-3 win over Trenton (2g-2a). That was the third game this season that Sarauer, who ended the regular season as the Royals' leading scorer (25g-42a=67pts), racked up four or more points in a single game. Sarauer registered fifty points (20g-30a) in his last thirty-five games with the Royals. In 131 career games with Reading, Sarauer has 130 points (53g-77a), which places him third on the all-time scoring list for Reading. His fifty-three goals ties him with Ben Gordon, Brad Rooney and Dany Roussin as the team's all-time leader for goals scored.

8. Chris Blight registered his seventeenth multi-point game of the season on Saturday (2g-2a). (After of that performance, he had scored 7 goals over a span of four games.) In his last 22 games with the Royals, Blight, who led active players on the Royals by playing to a plus-18 (+18) in forty-six games with the Royals, racked up thirty points (16g-14a). In 85 career games with the Royals, Blight has 98 points (46g-52a), which is ninth all-time for the organization.

9. Ryan Cruthers completed the regular season on a three game point streak (1g-2a). He registered thirty-four points (13g-21a) in his last twenty-eight games with the Royals. Cruthers is the fourth all-time leading scorer in Royals history with 128 points (44g-84a) in 110 games.

10. Matt Dalton registered his twentieth win of the year for Reading in Friday's 6-3 victory over the Trenton Devils. Dalton is the first goaltender in Royals history to rack up twenty (or more) wins in two consecutive seasons. Dalton finished the regular season with a 2.86 goals against average, which was tied for twelfth best in the league. He had the third best goals against average in the league (.919).

11. Reading scored at least one power play goal in 11 of the team's last 13 games-and scored more than one in 6 of those games. Reading went 22 for 68 on the PP over those 13 games, which is a 32.4% scoring ratio. Overall this season, the Royals scored 69 PPG in 352 chances with the man advantage for a 20.8% scoring ratio-which is the second best power play scoring ratio in team history. (In 2005-06, the team scored PPGs at a 21.2% rate). The 352 PP chances was the fewest the team has ever had.

12. Reading's penalty kill kept the Trenton Devils (in Trenton) PP off the board on Friday night (0-2), marking the 33rd time over the 72 regular season games that the Royals PK blanked the opposition's PP. Reading ended the season with the second best road PK in the league (85.2% kill ratio). Over the last twelve games of the season, Reading's PK allowed 14 PPGA in 56 chances for the opponent, which was a 75.0% kill ratio. Overall, the Royals killed penalties at a 82.4% clip (9th best) (60 PPGA in 340 chances). The 340 power play chances for the opposition are the second fewest in team history. (The team gave up just 312 PP chances to the opposition in 2004-05).

CLOSING NOTES

1. Goaltender Matt Dalton registered his third win the shootout on Wednesday, stopping all four shots he faced from the Wheeling Nailers to run his shootout record to 3-0. Dalton stopped fifteen of the sixteen shootout attempts he faced this year. He had the best save percentage in the shootout of any ECHL goalie who faced more than five shootout attempts (.938).

2. The Royals ended the season dead last in the league in shots allowed, giving up an average of 36.28 shots against per game-or a total of 2612 shots against; but that was actually 43 shots less than the team gave up last year.

3. Saturday's loss snapped the Royals four game win streak. Reading won five in a row twice this season; had two four game winning streaks; and four other separate three game winning streaks.

4. Yannick Riendeau, who scored Reading's first goal in the 5-2 loss on Saturday night, scored seven goals in his last eleven games of the regular season.

5. The Royals scored their 14th short-handed goal of the year on Friday night, which was the second best in the league. (The team record is 16 SHG-set in 2004-05) .

2010-11 READING EAGLE FAN'S CHOICE AWARDS

Offensive Players of the Year Presented by Ned Ehrlich, Esq...... Ryan Cruthers, Chris Blight

Defensive Player of the year Presented by V & M Towing............ Todd Perry

Rookie of the Year Presented by The Works at Wyomissing........ Casey Haines

The Heart Award.................................................................................. John Scyrmgeour

Unsung Hero Presented by Freymoyer's Hotel & Restaurant....... Louis Liotti

Scrapper of the Year Presented by V & M Towing.......................... Olivier Labelle

Most Valuable Player Presented by Auto Spa of Wyomissing...... Ben Gordon

The Fan's Choice Award...................................................................... Andrew Sarauer

The General Manager's Award.......................................................... Alex Sincavage

The Star of the Year Presented by Deibler Dental.......................... Matt Dalton

ECHL EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTER-FINALS BEST-OF-FIVE v Cincinnati Cyclones

Quick Facts

1. The Royals faced the Cyclones four times this season and compiled a record of 3- 1-0-0. Reading won both games at the Sovereign Center and went 1-1-0-0 in Cincin- nati. Reading has compiled a 21-21-4 historical regular season record against Cincy.

2. All three of Reading's wins against Cincinnati this season went beyond regulation time. The two wins at the Sovereign Center came in overtime. On November 24, 2010, Mikhail Stefanovich became the first player in Royals history to complete the hattrick with an overtime game winner 2:02 into OT. On November 26, it was Todd Perry who ended things with an OT GWG 1:14 into the extra session. Matt Dalton picked up the win in each of those games.

3. On December 15, 2010, the Royals beat the Cyclones 2-1 in a shootout at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. Reading only registered 16 total shots in that game (and had just one shot in the first period.) Rob Kwiet scored the Royals only goal in the 65 minutes of hockey. Ben Scrivens stopped 28 of 29 shots he faced. Four Royals scored in the shootout; while Scrivens stopped 2 of 4 in the shootout.

4. Cincinnati won the only game decided in regulation time this season between the Royals and Cyclones, 3-2, at U.S. Bank Arena. Michael Hutchinson made 41 saves; but Cincy broke a 2-2 third period tie with a GWG by Mathieu Aubin with just 3:56 left in regulation.

4. Over the course of the regular season, the Royals went 2-17 on the PP against Cincy; while the Cyclones went 2-14 against Reading.

5. This is the third playoff match-up in the two teams' respective history. The Cy- clones have ended the last 2 playoff runs for the Royals: (i) in a 7 games in the North Division Finals in 2008; and (ii) last year in the American Conference Finals.

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ECHL Stories from April 4, 2011


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