ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Find Some OT Luck on Friday the Thirteenth, 3-2

January 13, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (15-14-3-336, 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, defeated the Elmira Jackals (23-11-1-047, 1st Atlantic Division), 3-2, in overtime at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. For the fourth time in the past five games between the Royals and Jackals, the game ended regulation time in a tie, but unlike the other three, the Royals took the two points out of this one. Tyler Brenner's first goal as a Royal proved to be an OT GWG, serving to snap a nine game winning streak for the Jackals, who lost for the first time in twelve trips beyond regulation time (11-1).

Karel St. Laurent (win, 3-7-0-0, 33/35 in 62:56) registered his first pro overtime win with an exceptional performance that snapped his personal six game losing streak. Elmira's Timo Pielmeier (otl, 7-5-1-0, 31/34 in 63:01) fell to 1-1-1-0 in three decisions against the Royals. Neither the Royals (0-2) nor the Jackals (0-2) broke through on the power play.

Elmira opened the scoring 13:46 into the first period when Artem Demkov won an offensive zone face-off to Mario Laroque at the right point. Laroque's shot from there was stopped by St. Laurent, but the puck fell out in front of him, where Jean Bourbeau corralled, settled and gained space by backing away from the net deeper into the slot. Bourbeau then turned, wheeled and fired high glove on St. Laurent for his fifth of the year.

Reading tied the game with 31.8 seconds left in the second period. With time ticking down in the period, Yannick Tifu gained possession behind the Elmira net and slipped a diagonal-up pass to the left point where Derrick LaPoint settled and fired. Pielmeier made the save, but the rebound fell out in front of him, where Ryan Cruthers forced it across the top of the crease to a waiting Dennis McCauley, who stuffed it in for his seventh of the year.

The Royals took their first lead of the game 6:08 into the third, when Yannick Riendeau dug the puck out of the left corner and fed towards the mid-slot where a waiting Casey Haines was set for the one-timer. Riendeau's pass went through the swinging Haines, but ended up on the stick of Denny Urban who was behind Haines in the high slot. Urban ripped it high glove side for his fourth of the year to make it 2-1, Reading.

A minute-and-a-half, later, however, Elmira tied the game again after a wild scramble around the Royals' net. The puck ended up in the left circle, where Demkov fired a hard, high shot that ricocheted off the upper body of St. Laurent and fell to the low right circle, where a waiting Josh Brittain swept a one-timer home from a sharp angle to re-tie the game at two.

St. Laurent made several big stops down the stretch to get the game to overtime-and then continued his strong play in OT, which included thwarting a slam-dunk chance for Nick Schaus from the top of the crease by batting it out of mid-air with the paddle of the stick. When St. Laurent kicked out another point blank chance in OT, Haines took control of the rebound in the mid-slot and carried all the way into Elmira's end. Haines then slid a pass to the top of the crease, where a slicing Tyler Brenner redirected the puck by Pielmeier for his first as a Royal to give Reading the team's second OT win of the year (2-3) and snap a four game winless streak against the Jackals.

The Royals travel to Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey tomorrow (Saturday, January 14, 2012 @ 7:00 pm) where the team will face the Trenton Titans. The game night broadcast on Saturday will start at 6:30 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 year, Saturday's game in Trenton 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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ECHL Stories from January 13, 2012


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