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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Pitch-Forked By Devils, 4-1

February 18, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Trenton, NJ - The Reading Royals (16-32-4= 36; 7th North Division) of the ECHL were swamped early and were never able to make a credible counter-punch in a lackluster loss to the Trenton Devils, 4-1, at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey. Despite the Devils' early waves of attack, the Royals were able to tie the game at one in the first period-albeit for only twenty-eight seconds-before the Devils bounced back to re-take the lead for good. Goaltender Michael Ouzas (15-14-1; 35/39) battled throughout the game, but could only do so much; while Gerald Coleman (win, 19-4-2; 21/22) made it look rather pedestrian at the other end. The Royals power play was kept off the board in two third period chances (0-2) with the man advantage. The Royals' penalty killers returned the favor to the Devils, blanking them on their two first period power plays.

Trenton came storming right out of the gates, but Ouzas responded with a number of quality stops, particularly during an early game power play for the Devils. However, the Royals couldn't keep the Devils at bay for long. 7:53 into the first, Kevin Cormier landed a soft saucer on the right wing side that Trevor Kell skated into and took for the power move to the Royals' net. As Kell converged toward the Royals' goal, he ripped a perfect snap shot short side on Ouzas for his eighteenth of the season.

The Royals tied the game, for a brief moment, at the 15:13 mark of the first when Brock Hooton flipped a seemingly harmless seeing-eye back-hander from the high slot that slipped through everybody, including Coleman, for his sixteenth of the season. But twenty-eight seconds later, Trenton charged down the ice and re-took the lead. Matt Radoslolvich settled in the left corner and passed behind Reading's net to Jeremy Akeson, who settled with space below the goal line at the right side of the Royals' goal. Akeson then found Jeff Prough wide open and all alone out front; and Prough didn't waste the chance, burying his twenty-first of the season.

The Devils added two more in the second period on beautiful shots by David Leaderer (from the high slot that went bar and in 12:24 into the period) and Matt Radoslovich (short-side from the left circle with 38 seconds left in the period); but it was almost as if they didn't really need those two. After the Royals fell behind for the second time late in the first period, the team never really seemed to muster the energy necessary to make any sort of credible comeback effort. With this loss, the Royals dropped to 3-5-2 (with four more games to play) against the Devils this year.

The Royals return home on Saturday night for the ‘Pink In The Rink' game against the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday night (February 21 @ 7:05 pm). 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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