ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Comeback Effort Falls Short Against Wheeling, 6-4

January 20, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Johnstown, PA - The Reading Royals (23-11-2=48) gave up four unanswered second period goals to fall behind 5-1 but made a valiant third period comeback attempt, scoring three unanswered goals to bring it to within one before the Nailers locked down the win, 6-4. This was the third consecutive loss for the Royals, who are 1-6-1 in their last eight games at the Sovereign Center.

The Nailers scored first when Drew Fata was allowed to walk down the slot and slide one between the legs of goaltender, Yutaka Fukufuji (8-6-1) at the 4:54 mark of the first period. In the play leading to that goal, there was a scrum that the Royals' players seemed to believe was going to result in a penalty call against Wheeling, which caused the Royals to hesitate in their defensive coverages and open the lane for Fata. The Royals tied the game at the 13:48 mark of the first when Shay Stephenson sent John Morlang breaking into the offensive zone with a long pass out of the defensive zone up the right wing side. Morlang skated low into the right circle and dropped the puck to the trailing Chris Bala, who was skating down the slot and fired the puck behind Wheeling goaltender, Andy Franck.

The Nailers opened things up in the second with back-to-back goals scored by Eric Sonnenberg scored 1:19 apart. In the first, Sonnenberg redirected a Tim Verbeek feed off the right wing wall as Sonnenberg charged to the net, deflecting the puck past Fukufuji at the 6:37 mark. Then, with the Nailers on the power play, Sonnenberg found a loose puck in front of the Royals' net after a Sean Collins pass from the right side of the goal went off a Royals defender. Sonnenberg buried a quick snap shot under the bar at the 7:55 mark to make it 3-1. The Nailers extended their lead to three goals at the 13:43 mark of the second after Fukufuji stopped Brendon Hodge who had slipped behind the Royals' defense, but Fukufuji could not control the rebound and no one picked up the trailing Bo Cheesman who slipped it in to make it 4-1. In the waning moments of the second, the Nailers picked up what proved to be the game winner, when Curtiss Patrick re-directed a Jordan Cameron pass off the right wing side, while Patrick was charging down the slot and to the net with just 22 seconds remaining.

In the third, the Royals made a game of it with three unanswered goals. The first was scored by Jason Kostadine, who slipped behind the Nailers defense after a nice pass from Malcolm MacMillan sent him breaking into the offensive end. Kostadine made a power move to the net and got a shot on goal. Franck kicked out that shot with his left pad, but the rebound bounced to the top of the crease where it hit a Wheeling defender and went in to make it 5-2 at the 4:12 mark of the third. The Royals then rang off a pair of short-handed goals by Brad Sullivan and Stuart Kerr to make it 5-4. On the first, Sullivan took a backhand shot from the right circle that hit the short-side goal post and fluttered into the air in front of the Wheeling goal. The puck was then hit out of the air-apparently by a Nailer stick-and went into the net at the 12:03 mark of the third. 2:58 later, Stuart Kerr was off to the races immediately after stepping out of the penalty box to end a five-on-three power play for Wheeling. Wheeling's Terry Virtue took a shot from the top of the right circle that ricocheted off the shin-pad of Mike Kompon and into the neutral zone, where Kerr picked it up, blitzed to the net and ripped one behind Franck to make it 5-4 with 4:59 remaining. However, forty-three seconds later, the Nailers regained the two goal lead when they rushed into the Royals end, and Jordan Cameron took a shot that missed to the right of Reading's net. Cam Paddock tracked the puck down behind the goal and fed it to the trailing Sonnenberg who buried it behind goaltender Brian Gratz (who had come on in substitution for Fukufuji at the start of the third period-and who made nine stops on the ten shots he faced in his first action as the emergency back-up goaltender for the team) for his hattrick goal to give the Nailers a 6-4 lead that would hold through the remaining 4:16.

On Saturday night, the Royals are back at the Sovereign Center against the Johnstown Chiefs. The first 1500 fans in attendance, who are 21 years of age or older, on Saturday receive a Yuengling Lager Pint Glass-the second in a series of five to be given away this season-courtesy of All-Star Distributing. Royals' game day broadcasts can be heard on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Ephrata and www.royalshockey.com with pre-game beginning 30 minutes before the opening face-off. Streaming video is also available through the Royals' website on a pay per view basis provided by B2 Networks.

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