ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on October 17, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Over the past couple of seasons, there's one thing that goaltenders with the Royals have- n't had to worry all that much about...getting their workout. Last year, the Royals gave up more shots than any team in the league, and woe be unto he who tries to take that title from us this year-as Reading gave up 45 to the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday and 44 to the Greenville Road Warriors on Saturday.

And through it all, at least to this point, the Royals' goaltenders have been up to the task. Last season, it was Matt Dalton, Ben Scrivens, Michael Hutchinson, Daren Machesney (who the Royals faced in South Carolina on Friday), and several others, who held down the fort. And so far this season, it's been newcomer Mark Owuya, who was introduced to North American pro-Royals' style-on Friday night; and Joe Palmer, who stepped into the shooting gallery on Saturday. The quantity and quality of the onslaught faced by Palmer against Greenville-particularly down the stretch-was about as intense as we've seen since, well, the last time we played; and I think it's safe to say that his style was a per- fect fit for our style....

TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. Saturday was the 11th season opener for the Royals-and the first time the team ever lost in overtime in the first game of the year. Reading has an overall record of 5 - 5 - 1 - 0 in openers. Friday marked the 9th time in team history that the Royals have opened the regular season on the road (4-4-1-0).

2. Olivier Labelle scored the first goal of the season for the Royals, marking the second consecutive season that Labelle has scored the team's season-opening goal. That was Labelle's 45th goal as a Royal (in 98 games). He is sixth on the Royals all-time goal scoring list.

3. The first multi-point game of the season for the Royals also went to Olivier Labelle-along with his linemate, Yannick Riendeau. Labelle scored Friday's first goal and assisted on the game-tying goal by Riendeau with 2:33 remaining in regulation. Riendeau went the other way-assisting Labelle's goal and scoring the dramatic one late in the game. Rob Kwiet (1g-1a) and Chad Painchaud (1g-1a) registered multi-point performances in the Royals' win on Saturday in Greenville.

4. Dennis McCauley became the 57th player in team history to score a goal in his first game with the Royals when he bagged Reading's second goal against the Stingrays on Friday night. McCauley also registered and assist in Saturday's win. Casey Haines, Matt Schepke, and Marvin Degon all registered a point in both games, as well.

5. Dave Cowan, Matt Schepke and Marvin Degon all picked up assists in their first game with the Royals, making them the 60th, 61st, and 62nd, players to do achieve that feat in team history.

6. Yannick Riendeau's goal against the Stingrays on Friday was his 22 goal with the Royals in his 61st game with the team. Including last season's playoffs, Riendeau has registered 19 points (13g - 6a) in his last twenty-one games with the Royals..

7. Goaltender Mark Owuya is the forty-seventh goalie in team history to play for the Royals in the eleven year history of the team-and the tenth different to start in a season opener for the team.

8. Goaltender Joe Palmer, who made forty-two saves in the win for the Royals in Greenville on Saturday, is the 22nd goaltender in Royals' team history to play for the Royals and against the Royals. Reading faced Palmer twice last season as a member of the Toledo Walleye. He beat Reading in overtime on January 7, 2011 in Toledo (4-3); and started (and played 20:39) in Reading's 8-2 win over the Walleye at Sovereign Center on January 14.

9. Matt Schepke scored the game's first goal in Reading's 3-2 win over the Road Warriors on Saturday. That marked the first time this season that the Royals' have scored the game's first goal--and the 349th time in team history that the Royals scored the 'fg'. Reading has a 241 - 73 - 35 record when scoring first (.741 win %).

10. Chad Painchaud registered his first multi-point game as a Royal in his second game with the team (1g-1a) in Saturday's win over the Road Warriors. Last season in Victoria, Painchaud had 13 multi- point games for the Salmon Kings.

11. Rob Kwiet's first goal of the season, which came 2:07 into the third period of the 3-2 win over Greenville, was the first power play goal of the year for Reading; it was also the team's first GWG of the year. Last season, five of Kwiet's eight goals with the Royals were scored while the team was playing with the man advantage. That was Kwiet's 94th game with the team (75 regular season and 19 playoff games), and it was his twelfth goal with the team and his first game winner with the team.

CLOSING NOTES

1. The Royals allowed 45 shots to the South Carolina Stingrays and 44 in Greenville, which averages to 44.5 shots against per game-twentieth out of the twenty teams in the ECHL. During the regular season last year, the Royals allowed forty or more shots 24 times, and ended up dead last in the league with a 36.28 shots against per game average.

2. In the first two games this year, Reading got six goals from 6 different players; 8 players had more than one point over the two games; and ten of the 17 players who skated for the team registered at least a point..

3. The Royals host the team's home opener this Saturday (October 22) against the Cincinnati Cyclones. It is the second time in team history that the Royals have faced the Cyclones in the home opener. On November 3, 2007, the Cyclones beat Jon Quick and his Royals' teammates 3-0 behind the 29 save shutout performance by Cedrick Desjardins at the Sovereign Center.

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