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 Reading Royals

Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Ryan Cruthers

July 11, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with forward Ryan Cruthers. He is the fourth player announced as signed by the Royals to an ECHL Standard Players Contract for the 2014-15 season, joining forwards Sean Wiles and Kevin Walrod and defenseman Bryant Molle. Consistent with team policy, terms of the SPC were not released.

Cruthers (6'0/191) (30), who hails from Farmington, New York, but resides in Reading, will be returning for his fifth stint with the Royals. Last year, he led the team with fifty-six points (16g-40a) and registered forty-two penalty minutes in fifty-three games. Cruthers, who came out of retirement to join the Royals in early December, ended up tied for eighteenth in the overall league scoring race. At the conclusion of the regular season, Cruthers was bestowed with the Royals' Offensive Player of the Year Award to become the first player in team history to win that award three times. He recorded two points (0g-2a) in five playoff games for Reading last year.

Twenty-one of Cruthers' points (4g-17a) came while the Royals playing with the man advantage, which placed him tied for third in the league in power play points. His seventeen power play assists was tied for second most in the ECHL. Cruthers, who led the Royals with fifteen multi-point performances, went on a scoring tear shortly after joining the team. Beginning on December 28, 2013, he strung together an eleven game point streak (6g-12a), which was the longest on the team this season-and the fourth longest this past year in the league. Within that same time frame, Cruthers recorded an assist in nine straight games (12a) (12/28/13 - 01/18/14), which tied for the longest assist streak in the ECHL this season.

Cruthers, who will be entering his seventh year of pro, holds just about every possible career offensive record for the Royals. He is the team's all-time career scoring leader with 223 points in 212 games (which is also a team record). His seventy-one goals is tied with Olivier Labelle for the team all-time lead; his 152 assists are fully thirty-nine more than the closest player to him (Yannick Tifu); and he has generated more shots on goal (626) than any other player in team history. Cruthers has had sixty career multi-point games as a Royal; he has recorded twelve career game winning goals (tied for second with Tifu-Labelle holds the team record with 14 career GWGs); and Cruthers has racked up seventy-nine career power play points (22g-57a).

Cruthers is also the team's all-time leading scorer in playoffs, piling on thirty-four points in twenty-nine total playoff games with the Royals. He has been known to bag big playoff goals, including the late third period tie breaking game winner in a 2-1 victory over the Florida Everblades in Game Three of the 2010 American Conference Semi-Finals (which set up a four game sweep for Reading). He also scored the series clinching double-overtime game winner in Game Four of the 2011 Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series against the Cincinnati Cyclones at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Cruthers, who has led his team in scoring in four of his prior six seasons of pro, has recorded a total of 346 points (128g-218a) and 477 penalty minutes in 399 total pro games. 363 of his pro games have been played with five different teams in the ECHL where he has accumulated 339 points (125g-214a) and 452 total penalty minutes. He also recorded seven points (3g-4a) in thirty-two AHL games with five different teams. Cruthers has fifty-four career playoff games to his credit. He has recorded forty-five total post-season points (18g-27a).

Prior to turning pro, Cruthers played two seasons of college hockey for the U.S. Military Academy, where he won the Outstanding Freshman Award before transferring to Robert Morris University. While at RMU, Cruthers had two spectacular seasons, which culminated with being selected as College Hockey America's Player of the Year in 2008.

Season Tickets for the 2014-15 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.


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