ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Knocked Out By Trenton Power Play, 5-3

Published on February 15, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (16-31-4= 36; 7th North Division) of the ECHL bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit, but fell victim to the Trenton Devils' power play, which scored three times in a 5-3 win over the Royals at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The two teams combined for four goals in a 2:01 stretch in the first period, but that flurry seemed to zap the energy of the Royals, who were unable to muster a credible come back effort once the Devils took a lead in the second period. Goaltender James Reimer (loss, 8-6-3; 32/37) dropped to 1-1-1-1 in four starts against the Devils this year; while Charlie Effinger (win, 6-9-1; 22/25) won for the third time in four games against Reading. The Royals scored one power play goal in six chances with the man advantage; while the Devils made the Royals pay on the power play (3-5).

Trenton struck first 10:27 into the game and just 12 seconds into their first power play chance of the night. Jim Henkel took control on the right side of the Royals' net and bumped a pass to Trevor Kell who was wide open and all alone in the low slot. Kell fired a quick one-time snap shot behind Reimer for his seventeenth goal of the year. 1:10 later, the Devils took a 2-0 lead when defenseman Dylan Quaile fired a slap shot from the left point that was deflected by Jeff Prough-and then appeared to be double-deflected off a Royals' stick-and went five-hole on Reimer for his twenty-first of the year.

The Royals bounced back twenty-four seconds later when defenseman Matt Curley threw the proverbial seemingly harmless wrister from the high slot that Ryan Gibbons deflected behind Effinger for his third of the season-and first as a member of the Royals. Twenty-seven seconds after that, the Royals tied the game at two when Tim Branham fired a shot from the left point that Effinger stopped; however the rebound fell to the right side of the crease and Dan Rudisuela punched it in for his twelfth of the year.

Reading took the team's only lead of the night (3-2) at the 17:01 mark of the first period with their lone power play goal in the game. Dinos Stamoulis took a bump pass from Patrik Hersley and fired a slap shot from the high slot that Kirk MacDonald deflected in for his nineteenth of the year. However, the Devils took the lead back with a pair of power play goals of their own in the second period. The first came 8:04 into the period, when Jim Henkel slipped a rebound of a Brad Snetsinger shot back into the net for his twelfth of the year. 4:14 later, Snetsinger did the same on a shot from the high slot by Ryan Gunderson to bag what proved to be the game winner. The Devils picked up some insurance with 2:57 remaining in the third period when Matt Radoslovich stole the puck off Curley's stick in front of the Royals' net and buried the tight shot for his ninth of the season. However, from the time that the Royals fell behind for the second time (mid-way into the second period), the team never really mustered the offensive chances necessary to pull off a comeback.

The Royals take on the Devils again-this time at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton New Jersey-on Wednesday (February 18 @ 7:00 pm et) Wednesday'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

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from February 15, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central