ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Acquire Forward Jason Kostadine From Stockton

January 6, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League and the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has acquired right winger Jason Kostadine from the Stockton Thunder in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash. The Royals, who played the last three consecutive games with just 14 skaters and lost three more players to the AHL yesterday, have also brought in defensemen Michael Acosta and center Jamie O¡¯Leary. Reading also signed emergency back-up goaltender Adam Horvath.

Kostadine is a second year pro from Manchester, Missouri, who picked up 2 assists and 94 penalty minutes in 23 games with the Thunder this year. An eighth round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2002, Kostadine played for the Texas Wildcatters in the ECHL last season, scoring five goals, assisting on seven others and picking up 224 penalty minutes in 68 games. Acosta is a defenseman who played four seasons at Princeton University from 1995 through 1999 but is yet to play a pro game. O¡¯Leary is an eighth year pro from Needham, Massachusetts, who played his college hockey at Boston College from 1994 through 1998. O¡¯Leary has played 397 regular season ECHL games in his pro career (and 2 games in the International Hockey League) so that his first appearance with the Royals will constitute his 400th professional game. In those games, he has scored 88 goals and assisted on 163 others (251 points). Last season, O¡¯Leary played 7 regular season games with Reading and scored two goals and picked up an assist. He was also a member of the Royals team that made an extended and somewhat improbable playoff run in 2003-04, scoring two goals in the fourteen playoff games that he played for the Royals that year. For Horvath, this is his second stint this season in an emergency back-up capacity for the Royals.

All four of the new members of the Royals are expected to be in uniform when Reading probably is back in action on Friday night in Johnstown against Chiefs (7:30 pm). The season long seven game road trip for Reading then concludes on Saturday night in Trenton, when the Royals take on the Titans at 7:00 pm. The Royals return home on Tuesday, January 10, against the Wheeling Nailers in a game sponsored by the Pennsylvania Lottery. Royals¡¯ game day broadcasts can be heard on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Ephrata and www.royalshockey.com with pre-game beginning 30 minutes before the opening face-off. Streaming video is also available through the Royals¡¯ website on a pay per view basis provided by B2 Networks.

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