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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Kick Off Western Swing With Win Over Stockton

December 28, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Stockton, CA - The Reading Royals (16-6-2=34) snapped a two game winless streak-while extending the team's win streak on the road to four games-with a 3-1 win over the Stockton Thunder, kicking off the first western swing in team history on a positive note. The Thunder picked up the game's first goal, but the Royals and goaltender, Yutaka Fukufuji (34/35; 3-1-1), regrouped and scored one in each period-the last two by Mike Pandolfo-while keeping an energized Thunder team off the board to win the first game in history between these two teams.

The Thunder notched the first of the night, when defenseman Dave McCullough, trailing the Stockton rush, took control of a loose puck in front of the Royals net after Fukufuji made the original stop on a Jason Kostadine shot from the slot. McCullough fired the rebound into the net for his first goal of the season at the 3:27 mark of the first. The Royals answered with a rebound goal of their own. Shay Stephenson, fresh off the bench, grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone and accelerated quickly into the offensive end, slipping behind the Stockton defense with a power move to the net. However, Stephenson was met by Stockton goaltender, Jake Moreland, who poked the puck off Stephenson's stick-but right back into the slot, where Doug Christiansen corralled it and fired it home for his tenth goal of the season 8:24 into the game.

In the second, the Royals scored what turned out to be the game winner when Mike Kompon and Mike Pandolfo worked a brilliant give-and-go at the 15:21 mark. Pandolfo was able to track down a loose puck in open ice high on the left wing side of the Stockton defensive zone. He broke towards the net with Kompon joining him on the rush. As Pandolfo moved deep in the zone, he slid the puck to the high slot to the trailing Kompon, who immediately returned the pass to Pandolfo on the back-door. Pandolfo quickly fired the return pass behind Moreland to give Reading the 2-1 lead.

In the third, Pandolfo picked up his second of the night while Reading was on the power play 5:51 into the period. Reading forward John Morlang took control of the puck deep in the offensive end and dropped a feed up the wall to defenseman Reagan Rome, who was planted at the left wing point. Rome fired the slap shot through traffic, and Stockton's Moreland made a nice kick stop but left a rebound at the side of the net, where Pandolfo was able to take control and thread the puck home from an extremely sharp angle low along the goal line to give Reading the 3-1 lead. As the third progressed, the Thunder turned up the heat, but Fukufuji was to the task winning in his first outing for the Royals since rejoining the team on re-assignment from the Manchester Monarchs earlier this week.

The Royals' five game western swing continues tomorrow in Stockton for the second of three in a row against the Thunder. Game time is 7:00 pm (pst) (10:00 pm est), and the broadcast can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1240 am and on the internet at www.royalshockey.com.

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ECHL Stories from December 28, 2005


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