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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Knock Off Nailers, 5-2

January 16, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, Pennsylvania - The Reading Royals (12-25-2= 26; 7th North Division) of the ECHL racked up three second period goals to come back from a first period deficit and beat the Wheeling Nailers, 5-2, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania.. This was the first win of the year for the Royals in four tries against the Nailers this year. This also marked only the second this season that the Royals have won back-to-back games in regulation, and it was also the first win for Larry Courville in his first game in Reading as the head coach of the Royals. Goaltender James Reimer (win, 7-4-1; 23/25) won his second consecutive game for the Royals; while Curtis Darling (loss, 13-9-3; 24/28; 1 eng) suffered his first loss in three games against the Royals this year. Reading was unable to bag a power play goal in five chances with the man advantage. The Nailers scored a five-on-three power play goal in the first (1-5).

The Nailers broke through 11:54 into the game while playing with a two-skater advantage. Defenseman Mitch Ganzack fired a hard shot from the high slot. Reimer made a pad stop, but he rebound fell out in front of the crease where Andrew Lord put it back for his tenth of the year. Reading tied the game 5:02 into the second when Chris Stevens slipped a beautiful cross-ice pass from deep on the right wing side to Brock Hooton who slid down the slot to the left side of the net for the back-door tap-in. For Hooton, that marked his thirteenth goal of the year and extended his personal point streak to seven games (6g-9a=15pts).

The Royals took their first lead of the night 10:58 into the second period with the team's second short-handed penalty shot goal of the season. On this one, Mac Faulkner was awarded the penalty shot when he was hauled from behind on a short-handed breakaway. Faulkner bagged his chance on the penalty shot, when he slipped the puck between the legs of Darling for his twelfth goal of the year. Reading extended the team's lead to 3-1 with just 2:46 remaining in the second period. Hooton banked a perfect pass off the right wall from the neutral zone into the offensive end, where Kirk MacDonald swept in, took control, carried deep into the right circle and ripped a snap shot across the body of Darling into the upper left corner of the net. For MacDonald, that was his eleventh of the year.

In the third, Wheeling cut the lead to one goal (3-2) 4:34 into the third period. With a delayed penalty on, Bryan Ewing carried deep into the Royals' end where he skated into a one-on-three. Despite being knocked to his knees, Ewing was able to get a snap shot off as he slid towards the Royals' net, beating Reimer high to the blocker side for his twenty-fourth goal of the year. Reading got a little breathing room with 3:44 remaining in regulation when Steve Ward fired a wrist shot from the right point that David Nimmo, who was planted at the top of the crease, deflected over Darling for his sixth of the year. The Royals added an empty netter by Kirk MacDonald with just 1:03 left to ice the team's fifth home win of the season (5-12-0).

The Royals go at it again tomorrow night (January 17 @ 7:05 et) when the Trenton Devils visit the Sovereign Center. 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.

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ECHL Stories from January 16, 2009


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