ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Slaughtered by Gladiators, 6-4

Published on February 27, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (1st Atlantic Division, 35-15-2-375), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Gwinnett Gladiators (4th South Division, 25-25-2-557), 6-4, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Royals scored first and held a 2-1 lead after one-but the Gladiators exploded for four in the second period to drop Reading for the team's second straight loss. This was the first match-up of the year between Reading and Gwinnett. The two teams will meet three times in late March at The Arena in Gwinnett, Georgia. With this loss, Reading is now 6-4-2-1 against teams from the South Division.

Reading's Matt Dalton (loss, 14-8-1-0, 21/27) dropped his second straight. Gwinnett's Edward Pasquale (win, 6-4-0-0, 26/30) won his first start ever against the Royals. Reading scored the team's eleventh short-handed goal of the year to start the scoring, as well a second period power play goal (1-5) to draw within one at 4-3. Gwinnett's first and fourth goals were scored while playing with the man advantage (2-6).

For the second straight night, the Royals started the scoring with a short-handed goal. This one came 8:13 into the game when John Scrymgeour and Rob Slaney charged on a two-on-one short-handed break. Scrymgeour fed Slaney for the one-timer low on the right side, which missed on the short-side. The puck ricocheted off the end wall and came to the left half-wall where Ryan Donald stepped up and fired to an essentially empty net with Pasquale down and out after the Slaney shot. For Donald that was his first short-handed goal as a pro and his third of the year. Gwinnett answered with a power play goal 2:03 later with Donald in the box. Pat Galivan fired a perfect cross-crease pass from deep on the left side to Akim Aliu who had slid up on the back-door for the slam-dunk and his tenth of the year.

Reading re-took the lead at 2-1 when Yannick Riendeau carried into the offensive zone passed to himself through the legs of a Gwinnett back-checking forward and fired out of the right circle. The puck bounced off a Gladiator defender and over Pasquale for Riendeau's eleventh of the year at the 14:30 mark of the first. Gwinnett tied the game at two 5:18 into the second when Danick Paquette blew by a Reading defender down the left wing side, cut across the crease and stuffed it home for his eleventh of the year. Forty-two seconds later, the Gladiators took the lead at 3-2 when Aliu slipped a pass from deep on the left side to Justin Milo in the low slot. Dalton rejected Milo's shot, but the rebound bounced to the mid-slot, where Will Colbert took possession and ripped his sixth of the year home.

The Gladiators took a 4-2 lead 12:29 into the second with a power play goal by Paquette. Sam Roberts fired from the left point and Paquette got a piece of it on the way in, redirecting the puck between Dalton's legs for his second of the night. The Royals pulled within one 16:59 into the second with a power play goal of their own. Jared Ross fired from the right point, and the puck hit a Gwinnett defender on the way in, deflecting by Pasquale for Ross' seventh of the year. Nineteen seconds later, the Gladiators got the puck deep in the Royals' defensive zone, and forced a turnover below the goal line. The puck slid to the left side of Reading's crease where it appeared that a Royals' forward was poised to take control, but the puck slid free to the stick of Kyle Kucharski, who stuffed it in and in the process jammed a dagger in Reading's come-back hopes.

Gwinnett took a three goal lead 6:37 into the third when Matt Duffy ripped one from ten feet inside the offensive blue line on the left side, blowing it by Dalton on the short-side to make it 6-3 Gladiators. Reading got a goal with 5:50 left when Rob Kwiet fired a snap shot from high on the right side that beat Pasquale over the glove hand for Kwiet's fifth of the year. But the Royals chances in the third were few and far between-as the team only mustered eight shots in the final twenty minutes and were never really able to generate a credible comeback effort.

The Royals head out on the road for the next two, starting Wednesday (March 2 @ 7:35 pm) when the team will travel to U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio to face the Cincinnati Cyclones. 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 7:05 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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