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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals' Power of Pink Shuts Down Wheeling, 4-0

February 18, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (24-22-3-354, 3rd Atlantic Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, defeated the Wheeling Nailers (29-17-3-263, 1st Atlantic Division), 4-0, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Royals' goaltenders, Karel St. Laurent and Jussi Rynnas, combined to register the first shutout of the season for Reading, which also served to keep the team's record perfect in Pink in the Rink games hosted over the past five seasons at the Sovereign Center (5-0-0-0).

St. Laurent (no decision, 1/1 in 5:31) was penciled in as a last minute starter when Rynnas (win, 7-4-0-0, 31/31 in 54:29) broke his skate during pre-game introductions. Rynnas took over early in the first after his equipment was repaired and proceeded to complete the shutout performance for his third straight win. Peter Delmas (loss, 12-7-1-0, 32/36) made a number of spectacular saves but dropped to 0-2-0-0 in three appearances against the Royals. Reading's power play scored the game's first goal in the team's first opportunity with the man advantage (1-2). The Royals' penalty killers blanked the opposition for the twenty-second time this season (0-3)-and picked up a short-handed goal for some third period insurance.

After a conservative and close-to-the-vest start, the Royals broke through with 1:04 remaining in the first period while the team was playing with the man advantage. Yannick Tifu, who would end up with his third three-assist performance in 32 games played with the Royals, sent a snap-wrister from the high slot that hit the left pipe. The puck fell to the left side of the crease, where Matt Caruana took a whack at it. Delmas rejected that bid, but Denny Urban stepped up and forced it cross-crease, where Caruana-who alertly went around the net and came out on the right side of the goal-punched it in for his fifth of the year.

Reading went up 2-0 6:08 into the second, when the Royals caught the Nailers in a bad line change. Ryan Button picked off the puck in the neutral zone and fed Tifu who carried deep on the left side. Because of the ill-timed change, the Royals had a four-on-two advantage in the offensive zone, and Tifu fed Casey Haines for a quick shot out of the left circle that blew by Delmas for his ninth goal of the year.

The Royals stretched the team's lead to three 13:54 into the second when Dale Mitchell, who along with Wheeling's Andrew Hotham had been sent to the penalty box for coincidental roughing minors, came storming out of the penalty box at the conclusion of the penalties. Mitchell charged down the middle of the slot, and took a brilliant pass out of the left corner from Tifu with his skate and, in one motion, got off a back-hand that beat Delmas for Mitchell's fifteenth of the season.

Reading added some insurance 11:42 into the third with a short-handed goal from Kenny Ryan, who stole the puck at the defensive blue line and charged off to the races. Ryan made no mistake with a beautiful bullet high glove on Delmas for his seventh of the season.

From that point forward, the Royals' focus turned towards protecting the zero on the defensive side of the scoreboard, which the team successfully did for the first time since March 20, 2011 when Daren Machesney blanked the Elmira Jackals at First Arena in Elmira, New York. This marks the second time in team history that two goaltenders combined for a shutout performance for the Royals. Goaltenders Peter Hamerlik and Terry Denike combined for a shutout against the Charlotte Checkers at the Sovereign Center on January 16, 2004.

The Royals return to action with matinee hockey on President's Day (Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 1:05 pm) against the Elmira Jackals at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. It's Kids' Day and the First 1000 kids twelve years of age and younger get a toothbrush holder in the shape of a Royals Jersey courtesy of Deibler Dental. There will also be a post-game skate with the players courtesy of Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex. The game day broadcast on Monday will start at 12:35 pm with the Red Robin Gourmet Burger Pre-Game Warm-up Show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Reading. Streaming audio is available free of charge courtesy of America One through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com.

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