ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Fall Short In Utah, 5-4

Published on January 7, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (9-24-2= 20; 7th North Division) of the ECHL held two separate two-goal leads but found themselves trailing by two in the latter stages of the third period, before mounting an unsuccessful comeback effort in a 5-4 loss to the Utah Grizzlies at The E-Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Royals showed considerable spark in Larry Courville's debut as the Royals' head coach and created a number of golden scoring chances in the waning moments but just could not bag the game-tying goal and ended up losing the team's third straight. Goaltender Danny Taylor (loss, 3-17-1; 32/37) made a number of quality stops, but sustained his ninth consecutive loss; while Rob Gherson (win, 2-0-0; 30/34) made a couple of highlight reel saves in picking up his second career win over Reading. The Royals went 1-7 on the power play. The Grizzlies scored a pair of goals in seven chances with the man advantage.

Reading struck 7:24 into the first when Dan Rudisuela sprang Tyler Doig for a breakaway into the Grizzlies' zone. Doig shot as he closed in on the Utah net, sliding the puck under Gherson for his seventh of the season. The Royals took a 2-0 lead 14:04 into the first when Kirk MacDonald and Brock Hooton forced a turnover with an aggressive fore-check. Hooton took control and fed Chris Stevens in the mid-slot; and Stevens ripped a hard snap shot that beat Gherson to the glove side for his fifth of the year. The Grizzlies cut the Royals' lead in half with a power play goal by Ryan Kinasewich. Utah moved the puck around the perimeter until Tom May fired a cross-ice feed from low on the left side to Kinasewich, who was waiting in the right circle for a one-timer that blew by Taylor for his sixth of the year.

Reading regained the two-goal lead (3-1) at the 3:20 mark of the second with a five-on-three power play goal by Doig. Hooton slid a pass from the mid-slot to Steve Ward, who was positioned deep on the left wing side. Ward then slipped the puck to the top of the crease, where Doig had battled for perfect position, resulting in a virtual tap in for his second of the night. 2:29 later, however, the Grizzlies and Kinasewich struck with another back-door play to cut Reading's lead to 3-2. On this one, the referee signaled for a delayed penalty against the Royals, and the Grizzlies got the sixth attacker on the ice. Utah did a good job of keeping the puck alive until it popped into the mid-slot in front of Reading's goal, where it appeared that the Royals had gained possession; however, the whistle didn't blow, and the play remained alive until Rob Hennigar found Kinasewich loose on the right wing side for a the one-time blast and goal.

Utah then tied the game at the 10:49 mark of the second with another one-timer-this one by Evan Kotsopoulos while the Grizzlies were once again playing with the man advantage. This time, it was Andy Sertich who slid the puck towards Kotsopoulos, who was in the right circle. Kotsopoulos got all of the shot, which beat Taylor high to the blocker side for his seventh of the year. Utah took their first lead 1:52 into the third period, when Kotsopoulos slid the puck to the top of the Royals' crease, where a crashing Scott Thauwald slipped between a pair of Reading defenders and punched the puck through Taylor for his fifth of the season. The Grizzlies built a two-goal lead (5-3) when Rob Hennigar finished on a tap-in back-door power play goal on a feed from Kinasewich at the 13:10 mark of the third.

The Royals didn't goal away quietly, however. With 3:39 remaining in regulation, Kirk MacDonald walked deep into the offensive zone and fired a hard shot off the back glass that ricocheted to Chris Stevens at the left side of the Grizzlies' goal. Stevens slid a pass to the right side of the crease, where Brock Hooton was waiting to bag his tenth of the season. Reading continued to press down the stretch and had several golden chances to tie including a multi-shot sequence that only ended when the buzzer sounded to end the game.

The Royals return to The E-Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, tomorrow (January 7 @ 9:05 et) to once again take on the Grizzlies. Wednesday's game will be broadcast live on the Royals Radio Network Presented by Transmissions by Arbogast (True Oldies WRAW 1340 am in Reading; and The Ticket WLAN 1390 am in Lancaster), as well as on the internet via webcast hosted by Sportsjuice.com, which can be accessed through the Royals website. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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