Sports stats



ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Agree To Terms With Doug Christiansen

September 20, 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 organization has agreed to terms with forward Doug Christiansen. In a career year last season, Christiansen (6'4"/245 lbs), who hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, led the Royals with 35 goals and 64 points in 63 regular season games, during which he also racked up 141 penalty minutes. The twenty-eight year old Christiansen made six separate trips to three different teams in the AHL last season, playing in a total of nine American League games. Christiansen, who is entering his fifth season as a pro, fired a team leading 199 shots on goal last season and had the best shooting percentage on the Royals (17.6%) for anyone who had more than ten shots on goal. Chosen by the fans as the team's Most Valuable Player at the end of last season, Christiansen also led the team in power play points with 28 (including 14 power play goals) and first goals (6), one of which was scored 18 seconds into the Royals' 7-4 win over the Dayton Bombers at the Sovereign Center on November 11, 2005.

In his first year of junior hockey, Christiansen hoisted the hardware, as his team, the Green Bay Gamblers, took home the 1997 United States Hockey League's championship trophy. After a second season with Green Bay, Christiansen was recruited to Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he scored fourteen goals and added twelve assists and 134 penalty minutes in 102 games over four seasons with the Dutchmen. While at Union College, Christiansen was also selected to the Eastern College Athletic Conference's All-Academic Team three consecutive times. After not scoring in his first fifty games as a pro, Christiansen was thrust into somewhat of a career changing move when he was traded from the ECHL's Augusta Lynx to the Charlotte Checkers in late February of 2003. In Charlotte, Head Coach Don MacAdam convinced Christiansen to use his size and strength to gain position and possession in front of the opponents' net; and, from that point forward, Christiansen became the prototypical power forward. In fact, the next three seasons have seen Christiansen progressively increase his offensive output, including a twenty-four goal and sixty-two point breakout season with the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League two years ago.

Last season, Christiansen started well, scoring seven goals in the team's first twelve games, but he seemed really to hit his stride in mid-December when he went on a ten game point streak (8g - 5a = 13pts). From that point forward, Christiansen picked up at least one point in thirty-six of his last forty-seven games with the Royals. Over the course of the season, Christiansen led the Royals with seventeen multi-point games and seven multi-goal games-three of which came against Don MacAdam's Dayton Bombers. Christiansen also scored two goals in the Royals' four playoff games; but his most dramatic goal of the season might have been the overtime game winner (his second goal of the game) against the Johnstown Chiefs on March 17, which served to cap a 6-5 come-from-behind win after the Royals had fallen behind by three goals in the first period.

Full season tickets and total choice flex plans for the 2006-07 season of Royals' hockey are currently on sale. Individual game tickets for the Royals' regular season are currently on sale for Royals' season ticket holders and will go on sale to the general public on Monday, September 25. For more information, contact the Royals' office at 610-898-7825 or visit the Royals website, www.royalshockey.com.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from September 20, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central