ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Knock Off Steelheads for First Home Win

November 1, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - In the first ever appearance at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, for the Idaho Steelheads, the Reading Royals (2-4-0 = 4; 7th North Division) of the ECHL built an early lead and refused to let a resilient Steelheads back into the game, as the Royals won, 6-2. In registering the team's first home win of the season, the Royals racked up three third period power play goals to reject the Steelheads' comeback effort. Royals' goaltender, Danny Taylor (win, 1-3-0; 36/38) continued his stellar play for Reading and was finally rewarded with the win. Goaltender Matt Climie (loss, 2-1-0; 23/29) sustained his first loss as a member of the Steelheads. The Royals ended 3-7 on the power play; while Idaho went 2-7 with the man advantage.

Reading got on the board 9:42 into the first, when Dan Rudisuela slipped the puck to Kevin Harvey, who carried deep on the left wing side into Idaho territory. Harvey then threw the puck to the top of the crease, where a crashing Jeff Corey re-directed for his third of the season. The Royals stretched the lead to 2-0 forty-three seconds later, when Royals' captain Matt Herneisen made a nice move in the neutral zone to free Mac Faulkner into the offensive end. Faulkner dropped for the trailing Shawn Snider, who fired a low hard snap shot that beat Climie for his third goal of the year. At the end of the play, Herneisen and Idaho's Kyle Radke squared off for a toe-to-toe tilt. Herneisen then completed the first period 'Gordie Howe Hat-Trick' at the 18:46 mark of the first when a clearing attempt by goaltender Climie hit the Royals' Snider and ricocheted to Herneisen at the top of the right circle. Herneisen quickly shot and beat Climie, who was struggling to get back into the net, for his first goal of the year.

Idaho got on the board at the 7:11 mark of the second, when Ben Nelson bagged his third of the season while the Steelheads were on the power play. Idaho created a barrage of sustained pressure and, despite Danny Taylor's best efforts to keep the Steelheads at bay, Nelson was the beneficiary of a loose puck in the left circle and ripped it behind the sprawled out Taylor to make it 3-1, Reading. The Royals got a power play goal of their own at the 3:44 mark of the third, when Mike Salenkin's low slap shot from the left point slipped through a maze of players and into the net for Salekin's first of the year. The Steelheads bounced back again with another power play goal-this one by Steve Gainey-at the 12:30 mark of the third. Once again, Idaho's power play opened up the shooting gallery and created a bunch of scoring chances and Gainey finally jammed it in at the right side of the net to cut the lead to two once again (at 4-2).

The Royals responded however with a pair of power play goals down the stretch to pull away. The first came with 2:29 remaining when Rudiesuela re-directed a Salekin slapper for his third of the year; and a minute later Mac Faulkner picked up his third of the season when drilled a one-timer out of the right circle high and hard behind Climer to send the big crowd at the Sovereign Center into a long-awaited euphoria.

Reading heads out on the road for four in a row, starting Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Cyclones at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. That night the Royals will host a 'Viewing Party' at the Works at Wyomissing, which will broadcast the games live on a number of television monitors by virtue of the B2 Networks streaming video. Tuesday's game will be also broadcast live on the Royals' Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast (WRAW 1340 am in Reading; and WLAN 1390 am in Lancaster). The pre-game show presented by the Works at Wyomissing will kick off at 7:00 pm. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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ECHL Stories from November 1, 2008


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