ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Drop Messy Kookfest In Elmira, 5-2

February 3, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Elmira, NY - The Reading Royals (25-17-3=53, 3rd North Division) of the ECHL fell behind early and were unable to muster a comeback, ultimately losing 5-2 to the Elmira Jackals in a fight filled game that included a full-on line brawl in the second period at First Arena in Elmira, New York.. Elmira struck on their first shift and had Reading down 3-1 five and a half minutes into the game. The first fight of the game came shortly after that, and the kookiness didn't calm down until the final buzzer. Jon Quick (17-11-2; 31/36) had to battle off the early onslaught from the Jackals, but settled down and made several big stops in the third period to when the Royals still had hope; but it was Joe Martin (22-6-3; 27/29) who picked up his league leading twenty-second win of the year for the Jackals.

The Jackals came out firing on all cylinders and hit pay dirt 33 seconds into the game, when Benoit Doucet tried to jam the puck in from behind the goal, starting a mad scramble around the Royals' net. The puck ultimately popped free low in the left circle, where Tomas Kudelka stepped up and fired it into an essentially empty net as Quick attempted to regain his balance and positioning. Elmira took a 2-0 lead 2:52 into the game, after another aggressive fore-check spun the Royals' defensive zone coverages completely out of sorts. The Jackals exploited the defensive zone breakdown, and Doucet ended up with a wide open, point blank chance which he buried for his thirteenth goal of the year.

The Royals bounced back 1:35 later when Dany Roussin created a turnover in the Elmira end and fed Ned Lukacevic mid-way into the left circle. Lukacevic was well guarded, but he was still able to rip off a rocket that beat Martin high to the glove side for his twelfth goal of the year. 1:05 after that, the Jackals regained the two goal advantage with a power play goal on their first chance with the man advantage. Kudelka took a hard slap shot from the right point that bulleted through a crowd out in front of the Royals' net for his second of the night. Elmira took their first three goal lead of the night with another power play goal with 4:41 remaining in the first. This one developed from an odd-man rush, when Chris Busby carried deep into the Royals' zone on the right wing side and sent a beautiful cross-ice, back-door pass to Brett Pilkington, who re-directed the puck behind Quick, who made a dramatic lateral move in the splits in an attempt to stop the puck.

The second period had no scoring, but had plenty of activity-mostly of the pugilistic variety. The main event started with 6:02 remaining in the period, after Johnson sent Royals' defenseman Steven Later tumbling, as Later attempted to keep the puck in at the left point. The Royals' Malcolm MacMillan stepped in and aggressively engaged Johnson, and the two tough guys squared off. The short-hand version of that one had MacMillan handling his end of the bargain with considerable success. As the referee began to sort out that situation, several other skirmishes began to break out in the neutral zone, and it appeared that two Elmira players went after Later-and naturally, at that point, it was on. The end result was a line brawl that amassed 149 penalty minutes between the two teams. The Royals, who were on the power play at the time of the mass brawl, received an extra five minute power play as the result of an elbowing major assessed against Johnson. However, Reading failed to capitalize on that opportunity to get back in the game as the power play was kept out of sorts through virtually the entire man advantage sequence.

But the Royals did ultimately bag one on the power play 11:03 into the third period, when Chris Blight charged down the left wing side and ripped a low snap shot that eluded Martin for his team leading eighteenth goal of the season. After that, Reading had several solid chances to claw within one of the Jackals, including a clean short-handed breakaway for Brock Hooton, but Martin and his teammates refused to open that door; and the second goal of the game for Doucet with 5:34 remaining doused the hope of Reading's faithful fans-the Road Warriors-who had made the trek to Elmira.

The Royals don't return to action again until next Saturday night (February 9; 7:05 pm), when the Jackals make the trek to Reading's Sovereign Center. The Royals host "Ladies Night" that evening, and the first 1500 ladies 21 years of age and older will receive a cosmetic case courtesy of All-Star Distributing. The game night broadcast next Saturday will begin at 6:35 pm with the pre-game warm-up show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Ephrata, as well as on the internet through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com. Streaming video is available on a pay per view basis through the B2 Networks.

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