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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Fall in Season Finale Against Greenville, 3-2

February 26, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (26-24-3-459, 3rd Atlantic Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Greenville Road Warriors (33-20-2-270, 2nd South Division), 3-2, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. For the tenth straight game, Reading scored first; but the Road Warriors' offense woke up for a four minute span in the second period to ring off three straight-two on the power play-and defeat Reading for the first time in the sixth of six regular season games between the two teams.

Goaltender Jussi Rynnas (loss, 8-5-0-1, 26/29) had his personal five game unbeaten streak snapped by the Road Warriors. Greenville's Jason Missiaen (win, 15-12-0-2, 25/27) beat the Royals for the first time in four appearances against Reading this season. Reading scored the first goal of the game while playing with the man advantage (1-5). The Road Warriors broke through for back-to-back power play goals in the second period, the second of which proved to be the game winner (2-5).

No one was credited with a goal in the first period-but that wasn't because there weren't chances. One of those chances came on a penalty shot for Greenville's Jason Wilson who was awarded the free shot 8:04 into the first period, but Rynnas rejected the five-hole bid to become the second goaltender this season (Mark Owuya being the other) to stop a penalty shot attempt. That was the twenty-second penalty shot against Reading goaltenders in the eleven year history of the team-fifteen of those attempts have been rejected.

Late in the first, it appeared that a hot shot from the high slot by Dale Mitchell beat Missiaen and got the Royals on the board; but when the dust cleared from a big scrum out front, the referee gave the 'no goal' signal, drawing the ire of the Royals and the team's fans in the Sovereign Center.

Reading got one that counted forty-six seconds into the second period while the Royals were playing on the power play. Matt Caruana gained possession in the neutral zone, slipped a perfect pass between the legs of a Road Warrior directly to Denny Urban who filled the gap down the middle of the ice, carried inside the blue line and ripped a bullet low blocker on Missiaen for his seventh goal of the year-his third on the power play (and his twentieth power play point of the year).

Things opened up at that point, and Greenville capitalized on the frenetic pace, when Justin Bowers slipped a pass to Jeff Prough just inside the offensive blue line. Prough made a bee-line to the top of the crease, cut left to right and slipped the puck through the legs of Rynnas to get the Road Warriors on the board for the first time in 85:43 of play over the last two games against the Royals.

Reading's Dale Mitchell expressed his displeasure regarding the sequence leading to the Greenville goal, and he was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct minor, which Greenville used to their power play advantage forty-one seconds later. An attempted pass from the right point by Jeff Caister deflected off a Royals' stick and-by the good fortune of Greenville-bounced Brandon Wong who was wide open and all alone in front of the Royals' net. Wong didn't waste the gift, slipping it by Rynnas for his nineteenth of the year.

Greenville got the game winner on their next power play chance 9:52 into the second period. Sean Berkstresser gained possession in the right corner, walked the goal-line, powered his way to the top of the crease and tried to jam the puck through Rynnas. He rejected the original bid, but Berkstresser followed the shot and forced the second effort by Rynnas for his eighth of the year.

Reading made a game of it in the third, when a strong forecheck by Ryan Cruthers and Dennis McCauley forced a defensive zone turnover by the Road Warriors. Kyle Neuber gained possession deep on the left side and quickly shot from a sharp angle, deflecting the puck off the body of Missiaen and into the net for his first as a Royal. But that would be all in this one for the Royals, who pressed down the stretch but couldn't solve Missiaen, as he and his Greenville teammates snapped the Royals three game home unbeaten streak.

Reading is off until Friday night (March 2, 2012 @ 7:35 pm) when the team will travel to First Arena in Elmira, New York, where they'll kick off fifteen games of hockey action in March with three in a row against the Elmira Jackals. Friday's game night broadcast will start at 7:05 pm with the Red Robin Gourmet Burger Pre-Game Warm-up Show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Reading. Streaming audio is available free of charge courtesy of America One through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com. As with all Royals' road games this season, Friday's game will be televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

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