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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Agree To Terms With Joe Zappala

September 22, 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 Joe Zappala ("zah - PAHL - ah"). Last season, Zappala (6'0"/205 lbs) scored seven goals and assisted on a team-high fifteen others in 31 games for the Yale Bulldogs prior to joining the ECHL's Trenton Titans for seven games late in the regular season. Zappala, who hails from Medford, Massachusetts, picked up his first point as a pro in a game against the Royals, when he assisted on Trenton's second goal in a match-up won by Reading (3-2) after a twelve round shootout on March 26, 2006.

After graduating from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where Zappala led his team with twenty six goals and forty-one points in twenty-six games and earned a selection to the All-New England Prep first team, Zappala was recruited to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In his first season at Yale, Zappala picked up fifteen points in thirty games-second best amongst the freshman on the team. Zappala's offensive production exploded in his sophomore season, scoring a team high eighteen goals and earning second team All-Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League honors. Fully half of Zappala's goals that year proved to be game winners, a category in which he led all other college hockey players in the nation. That breakout season led to Zappala's selection as a finalist for the Walter Brown Award which is given to the best American-born college hockey player from New England. In his junior year, Zappala received an All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year Award, which is given to recognize dedication to strength and athletic conditioning, from the the National Strength and Conditioning Association. In addition, while at Yale, Zappala was selected to the ECAC's All-Academic Team three consecutive times.

After the conclusion of his senior season at Yale, Zappala joined the Titans in late March last year. In his third game as a pro, which happened to be against the Royals at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton (the "Road Warriors Game"), Zappala started a rush that resulted in a Titan goal with 29 seconds remaining in the first period that gave Trenton a 2-1 lead and provided Zappala with his first point as a pro. Earlier that period, Zappala got into a tilt with Royals' captain, Reagan Rome, which resulted in five minute fighting majors to the both of them. After the Royals tied things at two mid-way into the third period, the game went into a shootout that required twelve rounds to resolve. In fact, Zappala bagged his shootout attempt on Royals' goaltender Cody Rudkowsky to keep the Titans alive in the fifth round, but the Royals' Eric Werner scored in the twelfth round to give the Royals the 3-2 win.

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.

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