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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Break Through at Home Over South Carolina, 5-3

November 13, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (2nd Atlantic Division, 6-5-0-0=12), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, defeated the South Carolina Stingrays (4th South Division, 3-6-0-1=7), 5-3, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. This victory, which marked the Royals first home win of the 2010-11 season (1-2-0-0), stretched Reading's win streak to a season long three games. The Royals grabbed the game's first goal, running the Royals' record to 6-0-0-0 when scoring first. Goaltender Matt Dalton (win, 3-2-0-0; 34/37) was particularly good in repelling the Stingrays' late game attack. South Carolina's Jared DeMichiel (loss, 3-3-0-0, 27/31; 1 eng) sustained the loss in his first outing against Reading. The Stingrays got the game's first five power play chances and capitalized on one (1-5); Reading got a chance with the man advantage in the third period and were held off the board in that sequence (0-1).

Reading broke through 15:24 into the hockey game when the line of Ryan Cruthers, Olivier Labelle, and Ben Gordon pressed hard on the fore-check and precluded the Stingrays from gaining an easy-out of the defensive zone. Gordon ended up with the puck in the left corner and fed Ryan Donald at the left point. Donald went d-to-d to the right point, where Alain Goulet took control and uncorked a low, hard bomb that beat DeMichiel to the stick side for his second of the year.

South Carolina tied the game 0:59 into the second period, when Tommy Goebel fired a shot from low left side that struck a Royal defender in the shin pad. The puck ricocheted back onto the stick of Nikita Kashirsky, who slipped a cross-crease pass to a waiting Maxime Lacroix for an easy back-door tap in for his fifth of the year. Reading re-took the lead (2-1) 3:14 into the second when Matt Caruana fired from a sharp angle along on the goal line on the right side. The puck slid underneath DeMichiel and into the net for Caruana's eight of the season. The Stingrays re-tied the game at two 1:59 later while playing with the man advantage. Rob Ricci forced one towards the Royals' net that struck the skate of a Reading defender and flipped into the upper portion of the goal for his fourth of the year. But, once again, the Royals bounced back to take their third lead of the contest (3-2) 12:23 into the second period. After winning a defensive zone face-off, the Royals took off on a two-on-one break with Chris Blight carrying into the offensive end. He fed across the slot under a defender's stick to a charging Andrew Sarauer, who fired short-side high from deep on the left side for his third of the year.

Reading got what proved to be the game winner 0:47 into the third, when Matt Generous stole in the neutral zone and dumped the puck into the South Carolina defensive end. Ben Gordon then forced a turnover with a hard hit on the end wall. Olivier Labelle took control and shot from below the goal line. The shot struck DeMichiel in the back and ricocheted into the net for his eight goal of the year, giving the Royals their first two goal lead of the game (4-2). The Stingrays opened it up, pounding the pressure on Reading and forcing Dalton to make a number of quality stops. South Carolina drew within one with 4:19 remaining in regulation, when Pierre-Luc O'Brien fired from the mid slot. Dalton kicked that shot out-but the rebound fell to the right side of the net, where Ricci punched it back in for his second of the night. From the point forward, the Stingrays continued to attack, particularly when they pulled the goaltender for a sixth attacker in the waning moments. However, the Royals withstood the attack and iced it with an empty netter from Matt Caruana on a disputed play in which Kashirsky was dumped in the slot without call from the officials.

The Royals and Stingrays go at it again tomorrow afternoon (Sunday, November 14 @ 5:05 pm) at the Sovereign Center. The pre-game warm-up show presented by The Works at Wyomissing will kick off on the Royals Broadcast Network (WRAW 1340 am in Reading, www.1340wraw.com) at 4:35 pm. You can also catch all of the Royals away games season on Royals TV exclusively on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Season tickets for the Royals' 2010-11 season are currently available. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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