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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Kick Off 2008 On A Sour Note Losing To Elmira, 7-3

January 2, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (17-11-3=37, 3rd North Division) of the ECHL, playing with just ten core skaters, scored a third period goal to tie the game at three, but could not hold off the Elmira Jackals who rang off four consecutive goals down the stretch to defeat Reading, 7-3. Every time the Royals battled to gain some ground, the Jackals quickly pulled the rug out from under Reading. On two separate occasions, Elmira scored a pair of goals about a minute after the Royals had either taken a lead or tied the game. Goaltender Jon Quick (9-7-2; 22/28; 1 eng) had a couple of difficult moments in this one; while Elmira's Joel Martin (18-4-2; 27/30) registered his league leading eighteenth win of the season.

Elmira struck first 7:35 into the game, when a bad defensive zone giveaway handed the Jackals' Chaz Johnson a quick, clean shot from the top of the right circle. Quick appeared to be caught a bit off guard, as the puck slipped under and through him for Johnson's ninth goal of the year. Reading bounced back to tie at the 10:43 mark of the first, when Kevin Saurette stole the puck on the right wall and fed Charlie Kronschanbel between the hash marks. Kronschnabel ripped a low, hard one-timer behind Martin for his fourth goal of the year. Kronschnabel gave the Royals their only lead of the game 15:31 into the first, when newcomer Tom Boudreau stole the puck in the left corner and fed Matt Herneisen in front of the Elmira net. Hersneisen cut left to right and tried to jam the puck behind Martin, who made a great left pad stop. The rebound fell to the top of the crease, however, where Kronschnabel jammed it in for his fifth of the year-and first multi-goal game as a pro. The Jackals quickly bounced back. Twenty-seven seconds later, Dan Kronick battled for a shot from the low slot that went off the stick of a Royals' defender and over a sprawling Quick to tie the game at two. Thirty-five seconds after that, Elmira regained the lead as they charged with numbers into the offensive end, and Luke Fulghum cut towards the right side of the Royals' goal. Quick made a big, splits move towards that right side, while Fulghum simply slid the puck under the left pad of Quick for his ninth of the year.

After a scoreless second, the Royals battled back to tie the game at three 7:22 into the third, when newcomer Peter Ferraro came fresh out of the penalty box and broke behind the Elmira defense after a feed from Brock Hooton. Ferraro went five-hole on Martin for his first ECHL goal. Once again, however, the Jackals responded quickly-fifty three seconds later to be exact. The Royals got caught deep in the Elmira zone, and Joe Grimaldi hit Brett Pilkington for a breakaway opportunity. Pilkington didn't waste the chance, as his chip shot slipped through Quick to make it 4-3 Elmira. The Jackals took their first two goal lead of the game eleven seconds after that, when Pilkington won an offensive zone face-off to Kronick who was deep on the left circle. Kronick took a slap shot that went off a Royals' stick, fluttered into the air and hit the cross-bar and right pipe and ended up in the net for Kronick's second goal of the game. The Jackals closed out with an empty netter (by Fulghum with 1:51 remaining) and a late goal by Jim McKenzie; but the damage had already been done by that point, as the Royals' suffered the team's third regulation loss at the Sovereign Center this year (9-3-2).

The Royals head out on the road for four straight, starting this Friday night (7:30 pm) at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Reading will face the first place Cincinnati Cylcones. The game night broadcast on Friday will begin at 7:00 pm with the pre-game warm-up show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Ephrata, as well as on the internet through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com. Streaming video is available on a pay per view basis through the B2 Networks.

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