ECHL Reading Royals

Reading Royals Weekly

Published on December 29, 2014 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. This past week, the Royals won a pair of games against the Elmira Jackals. On Friday (December 26), the Royals defeated the Jack- als at First Arena in Elmira, 5-2. Reading then beat Elmira on Saturday (December 27) at Santander Arena in Reading, 4-3.

2. With the two wins this past week, Reading stretched the team's current win streak to a season-long five games (5-0-0-0). Reading is 8-1-0-0 in the last nine games.

3. Reading's back-to-back wins over the Jackals pushed the team's record to a season-best eight games over .500 (17-9-1- 1=36). The Royals .653 win percentage is third best in the East Division, fi?h best in the Eastern Conference, and tied for sixth best in the ECHL.

4. Friday's win in Elmira jumped the Royals over the Jackals and into third place in the ECHL's East Division for the first time since the fi?h game of the season. The Royals maintained that position in the East Division standings a?er Saturday's win in Reading.

5. The victory in Elmira on Friday was the 500th regular season win in the team's 963rd game in the fourteen year history of the team. A?er Saturday's victory, the Royals have a historical record of 501-372-91, which translates into .567 win percent- age. (Home: 274-165-45, .614 win percentage; Away: 227-207-46, .521 win percentage).

6. The Royals completed the team's most recent five game road trip in Elmira on Friday with the 4-3 win over the Jackals. Reading compiled a record of 4-1-0-0 on this trip, winning the final four games in a row a?er dropping the first game of the road trip in Wheeling on Sunday, December 14, by a score of 3-2. The current four game road winning streak is a team season- best.

7. Through twelve games on the road so far this year, Reading has compiled a rec- ord of 8-3-1-0, which translates into .708 win percentage. The Royals will play a pair of games on the road this week, returning to Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, to face the Evansville Icemen for the for the third time this season on Friday; and then traveling to Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis for the second time this year, where the team will take on the Indy Fuel.

8. On Saturday, Reading returned to Santander Arena where the team defeated the Jackals for the second night in a row. That win marked the fourth consecutive win on home ice for the Royals, dating back to a 2-0 win over the South Carolina Stingrays on Decem- ber 7.

9. Through sixteen games on home ice this year, Reading has compiled a record of 9-6-0-1, which translates into a .594 win percent- age.

10. Reading will play the team's first game of the upcoming week on home ice, when the Royals will face the Elmira Jackals on New Year's Eve (Wednesday, December 31 @ 5:30 pm). That game will mark the final game of Calendar Year 2014. In 74 regular season games played during the Calendar Year 2014 so far, Reading has compiled a record of 48-21-2-3, which translates into a .682 win percentage.

11. Wednesday's game will mark the conclusion of a stretch of the schedule during which the team will face the Elmira Jackals in three consecutive games. That game will mark the eighth game (of what will be a total of fi?een) between the Royals and Jackals this season. So far, Reading has a record of 4-1-1-1 against Elmira.

12. Friday's win in Elmira snapped a three game winless streak (0-1-1-1) against the Jackals. That win pushed the Royals' record at First Arena in Elmira to 2-0-1-0 with four more games to be played between the Royals and Jackals this season in Elmira. Friday's victory also stretched the Royals unbeaten streak in First Arena to eleven consecutive games (10-0-1-0), dating to a 4-3 loss to the Jackals on February 15, 2013.

13. Saturday's win over the Jackals in Reading pushed the Royals' record to 2-1-0-1 on home ice against Elmira with four more games to be played between the two teams at Santander Arena.

14. The Royals scored the game's first goal in both of the games played this past week. In fact, both 'first goals' scored by the Royals this week were also the first goals scored in the pro careers for two of the Royals' players: (i) on Friday in Elmira for forward MaM Hatch; and (ii) on Saturday in Reading for defenseman Jor- dan Heywood.

15. Reading has compiled a record of 11-3-0-1 when scoring first and has gone 7-1-0-1 when bagging the first goal on home ice.

16. Saturday's 4-3 win for the Royals marked the eighth come- from behind win of the year for Reading. In that game, the Roy- als got a goal from Olivier Labelle12:04 into the third period to snap a 2-2 tie between the two teams. That goal did not prove to be the game winner. Instead, Reading tacked on a fourth goal 14:48 into the third (by Jordan Heywood) that would prove to be the game winner a?er Elmira struck for a sixth-aMacker goal (to make the score 4-3) with 25 seconds le? in regulation. This marked the second time in a span of the last five that the Royals bagged a third period tie-breaking goal that did not end up as the GWG due to a late game sixth aMacker goal against. The other was in Indianapolis on December 17, when Sean Wiles' third period tie-breaking goal did not prove to be a game winner.

17. Saturday's third period surge pushed the Royals record to 7-1-1-1 when entering the third period tied with the opposition. Five of those seven third-period 'jump ball' wins have come in the last nine games played by the team: (i) 12/07 v South Carolina; (ii) 12/13 v Wheeling; and (iii) 12/17 @ Indianapolis; (iv) 12/20 @ Evansville; and (v) 12/27 v Elmira.

18. The 4-3 win on Saturday marked the sixth game in the last eight played by Reading that have been decided by one goal-and the Royals have won five of those six one-goal games. Overall, Reading has compiled a record 10-4-1-1 in one-goal decisions.

19. The five goals scored in Friday's win in Elmira marked the seventh time this season that Reading has scored five or more goals, and the team has compiled a record of 6-1-0-0 in those games. Reading is 11-2-0-0 when scoring four or more goals this season.

20. Overall, Reading has scored a total of 97 goals in twenty-eight games, which translates into 3.46 goals per game average, which is sixth best in the league.

21. Friday's win in Elmira marked the ninth time this season that the Royals have held the opposition to two goals or less. Reading has compiled a record of 9-0-0-0 in those games.

22. The Royals have allowed a total of 89 goals against, which translates into a 3.18 team goals against average, which is sixteenth in the league.

23. Reading's power play broke a string of nineteen consecutive unsuccessful power play chances over a span of six games before scoring on the team's first chance with the man advantage in Friday's game in Elmira. Reading ended up 1 for 5 on the pow- er play in that game (which included 53 seconds of five-on- three early in the second period); and the Royals' PP was blanked by Elmira's PK in five chances with the man ad- vantage on Saturday.

24. The Royals PP has been held off the board in six of the last seven games, nine of the last eleven, and ten of the last thir- teen games. Over those past thirteen games, Reading's PP has gone four for the last forty-nine, which is an 8.2% scoring ratio.

25. Overall, the Royals power play has scored 21 goals in 132 chances with the man advantage, which translates into a 15.9% scoring ratio, which is eighteenth in the league.

26. Friday's game marked the fourth game in a row and seventeenth time this season that Reading's penalty killers have kept the opposition's power play off the board. The Royals have a record of 12-3-1-1 in those games where the team has blanked the oppo- nent's PP.

27. The Jackals broke a string of seventeen consecutive penalty kills over a span of six games when they struck for a power play goal 7:55 into the second period of Saturday's game in Reading. Over the last nine games, the Royals PK has killed thirty of the last thirty- three chances with the man advantage for the opposition, which is a 90.9% kill ratio.

28. Overall, Reading is killing at an 83.8% rate (16 power play goals against in 99 chances for the opposition with the man advantage), which is eighth best in the league. The Royals are killing at an 88.4% ratio on the road, which is sixth in the league.

29. Reading is the second least penalized team in the league, averag- ing 11.14 PIMs against per game.

30. Pat Mullane is riding a six game point streak (3g-7a=10pts), as well as a three game goal scoring streak (which marks his second three-game goal scoring streak of the season). During this most re- cent six-game span, Mullane has recorded four multi-point perfor- mances including both of the games played this week. Mullane, who leads the Royals with twenty-seven points (11g-16a) in twenty-eight games, has twenty points (6g-14a) in his last seventeen games. He is tied for the team lead (with Cam Reid) with eleven goals, which for Mullane have come on just 52 shots, which translates into a team best 21.2% shooting percentage. His goals this week included the team's first period power play goal on Friday to give the Royals a 2- 0 lead. That was his fourth power play goal of the year, which is second on the team to Adam Comrie (who has five). Mullane also scored the game-tying goal (at two) late in the second period on Saturday. In his last six games, Mullane has played to a plus-8, and he is currently second on the team (to Olivier Labelle) playing to a collective plus-11 (+11) to this stage of the season.

31. Adam Hughesman snapped a streak of three games without a point when he picked up a helper on the game winner (by Cam Reid) in Friday's 5-2 win in Elmira.

32. Cam Reid has four goals in his last five games. He recorded his first multi-goal game of the season on Friday (2g-0), which was his second consecutive multi-point performance (and fi?h multi-point game of the year). His first goal that night proved to be his sec- ond consecutive game winner. Reid is currently second on the team in GWGs with three.

33. David Marshall is riding a five game point streak (1g-5a=6pts), as well as a three game assist streak. In his twenty-six games with the team, Marshall has generated 76 shots on goal, which leads the team.

34. Olivier Labelle has recorded at least one point in five consecutive games (3g-5a), and he's picked up an assist in each of those five games. During that span, Labelle has recorded three multi-point performances and now has five multi-point games over the course of the season. On Saturday, Labelle scored his ninth goal of the year 12:04 into the third period to break a 2-2 tie, which led to Roy- als win. For Labelle that was his 80th goal as a Royal, which is more than any other player in team history. Labelle, who now has 152 career points as a Royal (80g-72a) (third most ever), played in his 184th game as a Royal on Saturday, which ties him with Yannick Tifu for second all-time games played. Labelle, who played plus-3 (+3) in Saturday's win, has played to a plus-7 (+7) in the last five games and leads the Royals in plus-minus, playing to a plus-12 (+12) in twenty-eight games with the team.

35. Ryan Cruthers scored his seventh goal of the season with 53.1 seconds le? in the second period on Friday to give the Royals a 4-0 lead in Elmira. For Cruthers, that was his seventy-eighth career goal as a Royal (second most in team history). Cruthers, the all-time career leading scorer, now has 244 points (78g-166a) in 239 career games with the team.

36. Defenseman Mike Marcou picked up his fourth assist in a span of four games when he recorded the primary assist on the Royals' first goal (by MaM Hatch) in Friday's win in Elmira. Marcou has seventeen points (3g-14a) in twenty-seven games with the Royals, which places him tied for twel?h amongst defensemen in scoring. Marcou has played plus-4 (+4) in his last five games.

37. Defenseman Adam Comrie recorded the primary assist on the Royals' power play goal by Pat Mullane in Friday's win in Elmira. That marked Comrie's eighth power play point of the season (5g-3a), which leads the team. A?er Friday's game, Comrie was recalled to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where he scored the game winning shootout shot in the Phantoms 3-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night.

38. Defenseman Zach Davies played to a personal season-best plus-2 (+2) in Friday's win in Elmira. In his last five games, Davies has played to a collective plus-4 (+4).

39. Ian WaMers is riding a three game assist streak (0g-3a) (which included recording the primary assist on Ryan Cruthers' goal on Friday in Elmira) and has four points (1g-3a) in his last five games, during which he has played to a collective plus-5 (+5).

40. Defenseman Maxim Lamarche, who picked up an assist on the third-period tie-breaking goal by Olivier Labelle on Saturday, leads all d-men on the team in plus-minus, playing to a plus-10 collectively (+10) in twenty-four games with the Royals-during which he has played even or beMer twenty-one times. Lamarche played plus-2 (+2) on Saturday, marking the third time this year he's played plus-2 (+2).

41. Michael Caruso recorded an assist on the Royals' game-tying goal (by Pat Mullane) late in the second period of Saturday's game. Caruso, who has played to a plus-7 (+7) in eleven games in Decem- ber, played to a plus for the eighth time this month on Saturday (+2).

42. Andrew Johnston, who's picked up a point in five of the ten games he's played for Reading this year, recorded the primary assist on the Royals' first goal (by Jordan Heywood) in Saturday's win over the Jackals. Johnston, who played plus-2 (+2) on Saturday, has played even or beMer in all six games he's played in the month of December, playing to a collective plus-4 (+4). Johnston generated a personal season-high five shots on goal on Saturday.

43. Bryant Molle picked up his fi?h assist of the season, when he recorded a helper on Ryan Cruthers' goal to give the Royals a 4-0 lead on Friday in Elmira.

44. MaM Hatch started the Royals scoring spree on Friday with his first goal as a pro 7:23 into the first period. Hatch also recorded an assist on Reading's fi?h goal in that game (by Cam Reid) to rack up his first pro multi-point performance. He followed that up by re- cording his second pro multi-pro game on Saturday, when he registered assists on both of the third period goals scored by the Roy- als-including the third-period tie breaker by Olivier Labelle and the ultimate game winner by Jordan Heywood. In Saturday's game, Hatch played to a personal best plus-3 (+3).

45. On Saturday, it was Jordan Heywood's turn to start the scoring with his first pro goal 16:00 minutes into the first period. Hey- wood also scored what proved to be his first game winner as a pro 14:48 into the third period, becoming the seventh player this season to rack up a multi-goal game this season for the Royals-as well as the seventh different player to bag a GWG for the team.

46. Goaltender Connor Knapp made twenty-four saves on twenty-six stops to record his second consecutive win Friday in Elmira. In four- teen appearances with the Royals this season, Knapp, who was re- called to Lehigh Valley a?er Friday's game, has compiled a record of 7-5-0-0 with a 3.32 goals against average and a .893 save percent- age. Knapp was loaned back to Reading by the Phantoms on Mon- day, December 29.

47. In his first appearance for the Royals, goaltender Joe Howe made twenty-five saves on twenty-eight shots to become the third goal- tender this season to win a game for the Royals. Including his time with the Utah Grizzles (for whom he appeared in eight games), Howe has a record of 4-3-0-2 with a 3.57 GAA and .887 save percentage this season. Howe, who as a member of the Cincinnati Cyclones beat the Royals last year (January 4, 2014) by a score of 6-2, is the twenty- eighth goaltender in team history (and the second this year-the other being Connor Knapp) to play both for and against the Royals in his respective career.

December 29, 2014 Week Number Eleven Reading Royals Weekly Release

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