ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Fall Short In Johnstown, 5-4

November 9, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Johnstown, PA - In a twist on a recent theme for the Reading Royals (3-7-0 = 6; 6th North Division) of the ECHL, the Royals scored first and held two leads before falling behind and being forced to mount a comeback effort that ran out of time at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where the Johnstown Chiefs beat the Royals, 5-4. The Royals got short-handed goals from Mac Faulkner and Shawn Snider, as well as third period goals from Dan Rudisuela and Ned Lukacevic; but, once again, gave up several odd man rushes at inopportune moments, which helped the Chiefs build an insurmountable lead. Goaltender Danny Taylor (loss; 1-6-0; 23/28) sustained his third consecutive loss; and Ian Kesterich (win, 3-30-0; 16/20) became the third Johnstown goaltender to beat the Royals this season. Reading went 0-5 with the man advantage, while the Royals' PK held the Chiefs power play off the board in five chances and scored two short-handed goals.

For only the third time in ten games this year, the Royals scored the game's first goal 2:39 after the opening face-off. While playing a man short, Mac Faulkner took possession and broke from the Royals' defensive zone. Faulkner carried all the way into the Chiefs' end and used teammate Jeff Corey as a decoy before ripping a shot high and hard behind Kesterich for his team leading sixth goal of the year and to extend his personal goal scoring streak to three games. The Royals held the 1-0 lead through the first period; but 27 seconds into the second-just after the expiration of a power play chance for Johnstown-the Chiefs tied the game at one when Matt Robinson made a brilliant feed from low on the right wing side to Ryan Del Monte who was wide open and all alone between the hash-marks. Del Monte quickly fired behind Taylor for his second goal of the year.

Reading re-gained the lead at the 8:23 mark of the second with the team's second short-handed goal of the game. Shawn Snider stole, broke and beat Kesterich with a perfect shot (high to the stick side) for his fourth goal of the year. The Chiefs then rang off four consecutive goals to pull away. The first two came from Andrew Sarauer: (i) one went in as he was charging towards the Royals' goal and attempted a pass that went off a Royals' defender and into the net at the 10:42 of the second; and (ii) on the other, he easily tapped in a loose puck that popped out of Taylor's glove and into the crease at the 14:12 mark of the second. The Chiefs extended their lead to 4-2 at the 2:27 mark of the third, when Randy Rowe finished on an odd-man rush; and then went up 5-2 when defenseman Kyle Bushee did pretty much the same thing at the 7:31 mark of the third.

The Royals pushed hard down the stretch and came up with a couple of goals to make it a nail biter. The first came on a shot by Dan Rudisuela after he corralled the puck which fell to the ice in the mid-slot after Matt Curley's slap shot hit a Johnstown defender; and the second when Ned Lukacevic finished a two-on-one break by tapping in a brilliant feed off the left wing side by Kevin Harvey. But that would be it for the Royals on this night, as the team dropped its third consecutive game for the second time this season.

The Royals now return home to the Sovereign Center on Sunday (November 9; 5:05 pm) for Military Appreciation Night. Sunday's game will be broadcast live on the Royals' Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast (WRAW 1340 am in Reading; and WLAN 1390 am in Lancaster). The pre-game show presented by the Works at Wyomissing will kick off at 7:00 pm. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 9, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central