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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Complete Regular Season with Offensive Explosion, 8-4

April 3, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA- The Reading Royals of the ECHL (37-29-1-5=80, 2nd East Division), 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 Trenton Devils (33-29-4-5=75, 3rd East Division), 8-4, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The win in the final game of the regular season clinched the seventh seed in the American Conference playoffs for Reading. The Royals will face the Kalamazoo Wings, who are the second seed after winning the North Division title tonight, in the first round of the playoffs. In this one, the Royals had two forwards register hattricks-and more-as Daniel Steiner scored four goals (and pick up five points), and Andrew Sarauer scored three goals (and racked up six points). Goaltender Kain Tisi (win, 1-0-0-0; 42/46) made a number of critical stops-particularly in the third period-to pick up the win in his first game as a pro. Trenton's Jeff Lerg (loss, 1-1-0-0; 26/34) suffered his first loss as a pro. The Royals were unable to convert on four chances with the man advantage (0-4). The Devils capitalized on back-to-back power play chances in the first period (2-3).

Reading rang off the game's first three goals in the span of 3:38 starting at the 6:20 mark when Steiner finished with a back-door tap in of an Andrew Sarauer pass from deep on the left side. Steiner got his second of the game (and seventeenth of the year) when he took a drop pass from Sarauer off the rush and ripped a high snap shot behind Lerg. Ryan Cruthers completed the trifecta when he ripped a one-timer from low on the left side after a nice cross-ice feed from Ben Gordon for Cruthers' twenty-second of the season. The Devils bounced back with back-to-back power play goals. The first 11:35 into the first was scored on a back-hand from Dan Eves out of the left circle that went across the body of Tisi into the right side of the net. Chris Poli scored on the next Trenton power play 55 seconds later, when Tim Kunes fed the puck low in the right circle to Poli who blasted a one-timer under Tisi for his thirteenth of the year.

Reading bagged a couple of goals from Andrew Sarauer early in the second to regain the three goal lead at 5-2. The first came 1:51 into the period when Sarauer charged to the top of the crease and finished on a Steiner feed out of the right corner. The second, which proved to be Sarauer's fourth short-handed goal of the year, came when Cruthers picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and charged on a breakaway towards the Trenton goal. Lerg made the stop on Cruthers, but Sarauer bagged the rebound opportunity for his twenty-seventh of the year.

Once again, the Devils climbed back in with back-to-back goals The first came on a breakaway for Jeremy Akeson at the 13:31 mark of the second after he picked off a pass at the offensive blue line and charged off to the races. Dan Eves then cut the lead to one (5-4) with 2:54 left in the second when he corralled a rebound of a shot from the left point and stuffed it in for his twenty-third of the year. Eleven seconds after that, however, Sarauer completed his hattrick when he ripped one out of the left circle that blitz by Lerg into the upper right corner of the net for his team leading twenty-eighth goal of the year. Reading got two more from Steiner in the third, as he completed his first North American hattrick at the 13:04 mark of the period-and then added to his totals with his nineteenth of the year with 26.9 seconds left in regulation, when he cleaned up after Stefano Giliati hit the right pipe on a breakaway.

The Royals now turn their attention to the first round of the American Conference Playoffs where they will face the Kalamazoo Wings in a best of five series, beginning on Tuesday, April 6 (7:00 pm) at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Royals game night broadcast on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast will begin at 6:30 pm.

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