ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Roll a Lucky Seven in Gwinnet, 7-1

March 26, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Duluth, GA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (1st Atlantic Division, 41-22-2-3=87), 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 Gwinnett Gladiators (4th South Division, 30-31-2-5=67), 7-1, at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. Reading rang off five straight-starting with a short-handed goal late in the first period-to build what proved to be an insurmountable lead and pick up the team's twentieth road victory of the season (20-11-1-2).

Daren Machesney (win, 5-15-0-0, 29/30) made some spectacular stops in the early going to allow the Royals the time they needed to get the offense going and picked up his third win as a Royal (3-3-0-0). Garrett Zemlak (loss, 7-10-1-3, 35/42) made a number of wild, athletic stops as well but sustained his first loss in three career starts against the Royals. Reading scored a pair of goals, including what proved to be the game winner, while playing with the man advantage (2-4). Gwinnett's lone goal came while on the power play (1-2); but Reading's penalty killers came through for what might have been the most critical goal of the game-the first.

The two goaltenders traded mind-blowing stops in the early going-particularly Zemlak who thwarted several chances for the Royals (who outshot Gwinnett 18-9 in the first) that looked like no-brainer slam dunks. Reading finally broke through with 34 seconds left in the first on a short-handed breakaway for Casey Haines, who picked off a d-to-d pass at the point in Reading's defensive zone and was off to the races. He ripped one through the five-hole of Zemlak for his sixteenth of the year.

In the second, the Royals opened the flood gates at the 7:10 mark when Chris Blight set up on the back door and buried a cross-crease pass from Andrew Sarauer for Blight's nineteenth of the year. 1:53 later, Haines scored his second of the game, when he gained possession behind the Gladiator net, walked out front, created space at the left side of the crease and wheeled one over top of the prone Zemlak for his seventeenth of the year. 1:59 after that, Blight stretched the Royals lead to 4-0 when he battled at the top of the crease to punch a loose puck through Zemlak for his twentieth of the year. 16:31 into the second, Reading won an offensive zone face-off, and John Scrymgeour and Rob Slaney battled to force the puck on net. Zemlak made the save, but the rebound slipped to the top of the crease, where Ian O'Connor stepped in to back-hand the puck into the net for his first as pro.

Gwinnett got on the board while playing with the man advantage late in the second when Matt Duffy ripped one from the high slot. Machesney made the save, but the rebound slid to the low slot, where Dustin Cameron corralled and slid a puck to the left side of the net where Michael Forney tapped it in for his nineteenth of the year with just 54 seconds left in the second.

Before time ran out in the second, Gwinnett created another scoring chance when Dallas Jackson ripped one from the left point that went through a pile of traffic out front and the upper body of Machesney. The puck fell behind Machesney but above the goal line. Before the Gladiators could punch it in, Machesney covered, and Gwinnett forward Ian McKenzie picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct minor arguing that play. The Royals capitalized on that power play chance 43 seconds into the third-when Rob Kwiet finished a back-door feed from Ryan Cruthers deep in the right circle to make it 6-1, Reading. Olivier Labelle added an exclamation point with his eighteenth of the year at the 12:57 mark of the third. But, for the most part, the Royals played a simple, defense-first style in the third to pick up the team's first win of the season over the Gladiators (1-2-0-0).

The Royals complete the team's five game road trip on Sunday (March 27 @ 4:05 pm) when the team will return to The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, where they will face the Gladiators for the final time of the regular season. The Royals game day broadcast will kick off with the pre-game warm-up show presented by The Works at Wyomissing on the Royals Broadcast Network (WRAW 1340 am in Reading, www.1340wraw.com) at 3:35 pm. You can also catch all of the Royals away games this season on Royals TV exclusively on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Season tickets for the Royals' 2010-11 season are currently available. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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ECHL Stories from March 26, 2011


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