ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Drop Checkers, 3-1

Published on January 30, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (23-17-1-3=50, 1st 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 Charlotte Checkers (23-15-3-2=51, 3rd South Division), 3-1, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The win, which came in the first match-up of the season between Reading and Charlotte, snapped a season long three game losing streak for the Royals. Goaltender Matt Dalton (14-12-0-2; 44/45), who was playing in his thirteenth consecutive game for Reading, made a number of spectacular stops at critical moments to pick up his fourteenth win of the year. The Checker's Ryan Munce (Loss, 8-9-1-0; 23/26) took the loss in the Sovereign Center, where he played as a member of the Royals (and against the Royals as a member of the Johnstown Chiefs) in the 2006-07 season. Reading failed to break through on the power play for the fifth time in the last eight games-despite having 5:42 of consecutive man advantage (including 3:27 straight of five-on-three) in the second period (0-7). Charlotte scored their lone goal while playing with the man advantage (1-5).

Reading struck 2:40 into the game ten seconds after an early game penalty to the Royals' Marc Cavosie expired. Cavosie took a feed from Matt Marquardt and started an odd man rush into the offensive zone, dishing to Charlie Kronschnabel, who carried deep into the slot. As Kronschnabel attempted to dish towards Marquardt, who was charging down the right side, a sliding back-checker for Charlotte deflected the cross ice pass between Munce's legs and into the net. Kronschnabel was credited with his eight of the year.

Reading took a 2-0 lead 8:51 into the second period, after a sustained sequence of offensive zone puck possession that resulted from a relentless forecheck by Chase Watson, Jimmy Fraser and Kyle Laughlin. Fraser ended up with the puck behind the Checkers' net and fed back up into the mid-slot, where defenseman Ryan Crane stepped in for the pass. Crane fired a quick snap shot high glove side on Munce for his first goal in his second game with the Royals. The latter stage of the second period featured a wild melee at the 13:51 mark that erupted after T.J. Reynolds took a couple of wild runs at Ben Gordon and Andrew Sarauer of the Royals, while Reading was already on the power play due to an instigating minor assessed against David Marshall when he took exception to a hit by Dinos Stamoulis at the 13:18 mark of the second. The end result was a long sequence of consecutive power plays for Reading (5:42 of total power play time for Reading-including 3:27 straight of five-on-three) and four players (Reynolds and Tyler Doig of Charlotte; and Andrew Sarauer and Matt Marquardt) ejected from the game. However, the Royals didn't make the Checkers pay in that sequence at it remained a 2-0 lead for the Royals after two periods.

Charlotte broke through 11:54 into the third while on the power play. Aaron Slattengren settled just above the goal line on the right wing side. Slattengren ripped a perfect shot that found a space high on the short side for his eleventh goal of the year. Reading responded thirty-five seconds later, however, when Cavosie slipped into the offensive end started a multi-shot sequence that ended when Watson, playing in his first game for Reading, fired the puck from the right circle that got by Munce for his second goal in the ECHL this season (the other coming for the Johnstown Chiefs in late November). From that point forward, the Royals played a solid, defense-first style that paid off with the two points at the end of regulation.

The Royals return to action on Sunday (January 31, 2010 @ 5:05) at the Sovereign Center. The first 2,500 fans tomorrow will receive a Jon Quick bobblehead as the organization will honor the former Royal who was recently selected to the U.S. Olympic team. One luck fan will win a four-foot high figurine of Quick during tomorrow's game. The Royals game night broadcast on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast will kick off with the pre-game warm-up show at 4:35 pm.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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