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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Close out Home Portion of 2016 with 4-2 Win Over Wheeling

December 31, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (win, 17-11-1-136) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Wheeling Nailers (loss, 14-12-2-030), 4-2, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In Reading's final home game of Calendar Year 2016, goaltender Austin Lotz, playing in his first game for the Royals, made any number of spectacular saves in the opening period to give his new teammates enough time to break through and then hold off a resilient Wheeling Nailer team, who tied the game twice (at 1-1 and 2-2). A third-period tie-breaking game winner by Chris McCarthy proved to be the difference in Reading's third win in a row-and third win of the season (in four tries) against Wheeling.

After Lotz almost single-handedly turned aside an early onslaught from the Nailers, Reading broke through 17:43 into the first period when Olivier Labelle made a solid play at the offensive blue line to free the puck down the slot for Chris McCarthy, who in turn tapped it across to Justin Crandall, who settled and fired a low snap shot that beat goaltender Sean Maguire for his ninth of the year.

Wheeling tied the game at one 9:14 into the second when Derek Army carried deep down the left wing side and snapped a perfectly placed shot that caught the upper right corner of the net for his eleventh of the year.

Reading re-took the lead with 2:56 remaining in the second, when Michael Boivin stepped up in the neutral zone to foil a Wheeling break and simultaneously start a rush for Kevin Sundher, who broke hard down the right wing side and cut off the edge and across the top of the .crease, where he attempted to jam the puck in. Maguire made the save, but the rebound fell to the low slot where Robbie Czanik stepped up and chipped the puck up and over Maguire for his ninth of the year.

Wheeling tied the game a second time 8:40 into the third period when Reading won a defensive zone face-off and chipped the puck up off the glass. As several Reading forwards blew the zone, the Nailers' Michael Webster jumped up, knocked the puck down with his glove, gained possession and carried into the mid-slot where he ripped a low bullet that beat Lotz low glove side for his second of the season.

Reading got what proved to be the game winner 11:41 of the third, when Florian Iberer made a solid play at the left point to keep the puck inside the offensive zone. Iberer fed the puck in the mid-slot to Olivier Labelle, who fired a quick snap shot toward the net. Chris McCarthy, who was buzzing across the top of the crease, redirected the puck up and over Maguire for his thirteenth of the season.

The Royals tacked on some insurance with 42.3 seconds left in regulation on the team's fifth power play chance of the night. After a long sequence of just passing the puck around the perimeter and killing time, Czarnik slipped a cross-slot pass to Justin Crandall, who laid down a highlight reel move that caused Maguire to bite hard, and Crandall just stick-handled around the goaltend and stuffed the puck into the net for his second of the night and tenth of the season.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31 @ ADIRONDACK THUNDER Glens Falls Civic Center - Glens Falls, NY (5:30 pm)

ROYALS BROADCAST

AUDIO: iHeartRadio - Rumba 1340 in Reading TELEVISION: Royals' Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15, Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965 Courtesy of Boscov's Travel and Apple Vacations

STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)

Teams Per: 1 2 3

WHL: 0 1 1 2

REA: 1 1 2 4

Records

WHL: 14-12-2-030

REA: 17-11-1-136

Goaltenders

WHL: Maguire (Loss) (2-4-0-0) (24/28)

REA: Lotz (Win) (1-2-2-0) (26/28)

Power Play:

WHL: 0-4

REA: 1-5

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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