ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Hold On To Beat Nailers, 3-1

January 30, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (14-27-2= 30; 7th North Division) of the ECHL jumped out to a two goal first period lead and then held on down the stretch to beat the Wheeling Nailers, 3-1, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. With the cowbells ringing on Country & Western Night, the Royals won a prototypical barn-burner to snap a two game home losing streak. Michael Ouzas (14-10-1; 36/37) made a number of big time stops at big moments in the game to win for the fourth time as a Royal. Curtis Darling (15-10-4; 22/24; 1 eng) suffered his second loss in five starts against the Royals this season. Reading's first goal of the game came on the power play (1-4); while Reading's penalty kill kept the Nailers off the board (0-5).

Reading struck first 11:36 into the game, while playing with the man advantage for the second time of the night. Tyler Doig chopped the puck from the left corner to the top of the crease, where Chris Stevens battled for position and batted the bouncing puck with a back-hand that beat Darling glove side for his tenth of the season. The Royals took a 2-0 lead 14:04 into the first when Kyle Hagel fought for possession of a loose puck in front of the Nailer net. Hagel was able to get a shot off from point blank range that Darling got a big chunk of-but not enough to control. The puck slipped through and as it bounded towards the goal line, Joe Cooper stepped in and jammed it home for what proved to be the game winner.

After a scoreless second, the Nailers made a game of it 1:18 into the third with a perfect back-door goal off the transition rush. Jordan Morrison carried deep on the left wing side and slipped a beautiful cross-ice pass to the right side of the Royals' net, where a hard-charging Erik Johnson re-directed it in for his twelfth of the year. The Nailers pressed hard down the stretch; but Ouzas and his teammates held strong-particularly during a late game surge with the goaltender pulled and the sixth attacker on the ice. Steve Ward iced it for the Royals with an empty netter, after Doig tracked down a loose puck and sprang Ward for the tap in.

The Royals return to action tomorrow (Saturday, January 31 @ 7:05 am et) when the team travels to the Cambria County Memorial Arena to take on the Johnstown Chiefs. Saturday'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.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 30, 2009


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