ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Sign Forward Chris Blight

Published on July 31, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League and the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed forward Chris Blight. Last year, in his second pro season, Blight (6'0"/200 lbs) was the second leading scorer for the Toledo Storm of the ECHL with twenty-six goals and twenty-eight assists (fifty-four points) in seventy-one games. Blight, who will turn twenty-five on October 14, also racked up a career high 105 penalty minutes for the Storm last season. Over the past two seasons, Blight, who hails from Cambridge, Ontario, has been nothing short of a thorn in the Royals' side, scoring ten goals (two of which were game winners) and assisting on eleven others (twenty-one points) in twenty-one total games against Reading.

After earning a selection as the Midwestern Junior B Rookie of the Year with the Guelph Dominators in 2001, Blight was recruited to Clarkson University, where he had a stellar four-year career, scoring a total of forty goals and assisting on fifty-six others (96 points) in 144 college games. The highlight of Blight's collegiate career may have come in his junior season when he led the team with nineteen goals in forty-one games. In the ECAC playoffs that season, the Golden Knights became the first ninth seed in league history to reach the tournament finals by knocking off heavily favored Cornell and top-seeded Colgate in succession, before losing to the Harvard Crimson in the hard fought finals. After the conclusion of his senior season at Clarkson, Blight received the Fran Neragin Memorial Award which is bestowed upon a Clarkson hockey player for sportsmanship and academic performance.

Blight successfully transitioned to pro hockey in 2005-06, when he scored twenty-nine goals and assisted on thirty-two others (and played to a plus-nineteen) in sixty-five games for the Storm. Blight, who led all first year pros in the ECHL with seven game winning goals that year, finished his rookie season with a flourish, scoring seven goals and assisting on thirteen others (twenty points) in sixteen games in March of 2006 to earn the ECHL's Rookie of the Month award. That scoring onslaught continued through the playoffs, as he racked up four goals and eight assists (twelve points) in thirteen playoff games for the Storm, who went all the way to the American Conference Finals prior to being eliminated by the Gwinnett Gladiators.

True to form, Blight came on strong as last season progressed, hitting full stride in late February through March when he scored a total of thirteen goals and assisted on eleven others (twenty-four points) in a stretch of twenty-games. Over the course of last season, Blight racked up thirteen multi-point games, two of which were against the Royals. One of those games-in which he scored a goal and assisted on another-was the (perhaps somewhat infamous) "smashed stick" game on January 27, 2007, when Toledo beat Reading at the Sovereign Center, 5-3. In that game, Blight's infraction on Royals' Captain Chris Bala ignited a rather emotional sequence of events that resulted in, among other things, a fight between Blight and Reagan Rome, as well as the ejection of Royals' Head Coach Karl Taylor.

The Royals' home opener is on Saturday, November 3, 2007, against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Royals' full Season Tickets and Total Choice Flex Plans are now on sale. To obtain more information on becoming a part of Royals' hockey, call 610-898-PUCK to speak with Royals' ticket representative or visit the Royals website, www.royalshockey.com.

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