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Reading Royals

Royals Strike Gold Again on St. Hattrick's Day, 4-3

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


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (31-27-3-469, 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 (35-23-4-377, 2nd Atlantic Division), 4-3, in overtime at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Royals' Mikael Bedard completed a dramatic hattrick with the overtime game winner, snagging the two points for the Royals and a $10,000 check for Royals' fan Mickey Kerchner as part of the Royals' annual 'St. Hattrick's Day' Celebration. The win pushed the Royals' record to four games over .500 for the first time this year-and into a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the ECHL's Eastern Conference.

Reading's Mark Owuya (win, 12-4-1-2, 37/40 in 62:11) had another exceptional outing, as he gave his teammates a chance to pull out the critical win. The Nailers' Nick Niedert (otl, 2-1-1-1, 22/26 in 62:11) also made several spectacular saves, but sustained the overtime loss in his first career start against Reading. Both the Royals and the Nailers broke through for a power play goal, a short-handed goal, and a five-on-five goal-and, of course, the Royals won it while the two teams were playing four aside in overtime.

Wheeling struck for an early short-handed goal. Reading was awarded a power play on the first shift of the game, when Tyler Brenner was run into the Nailers' net 29 seconds in. Brenner left the game with an apparent injury and did not return. The Nailers quickly pounced on a long short-handed breakaway for Matt Schepke, which fizzled at the end. Shortly thereafter, however, Schepke struck again--this time carrying the puck deep into the right corner where he fed to the top of the crease. Defenseman Peter Merth charged to that critical spot of real estate, where he got off a quick shot, forcing it through Owuya for his third of the year.

Bedard took the first step towards his hattrick 11:19 into the first, when Matt Caruana sprang him for a break through the neutral zone and into Wheeling's end. Bedard pierced through the Nailer defense and ripped a hot bullet from twenty-five feet that beat Niedert high glove for his eighteenth of the year.

The Royals took their first lead of the game 7:37 into the second with a power play goal by Bedard. Shortly after he misfired on a back-door feed from Chris Doyle, Bedard and Doyle worked to get the puck to the top of the crease, where Bedard back-handed it and over Niedert to make it 2-1, Reading.

The Nailers bounced back with a power play goal of their own 13:34 into the second. After an extended sequence of puck possession in the offensive end, Wheeling's Zach Torquato settled on the left side of the Royals goal and slid a cross-crease pass to a waiting Andrew Hotham who had an easy back-door tap for his eighth of the year, which tied the game at two.

In the third, the Royals' took their second lead of the game with a short-handed goal by Marc Cantin. Yannick Tifu stole in the neutral zone and fed Cantin, who charged to the top of the left circle where he uncorked a bomb that blew through Niedert, slipping under his left armpit trickling over the goal line for Cantin's second of the season.

Once again, however, Wheeling bounced back to tie with an even strength goal 6:58 into the final period. After a defensive zone turnover got the Royals pinned in their own end, Wheeling's Chris Barton gained possession and slid a perfect pass from low on the right wing side to the mid-slot, where Louke Oakley stepped in and fired one through of maze of players that slipped by Owuya to make it 3-3.

Despite several scoring opportunities for both teams down the stretch, neither team could resolve it in regulation. 2:11 into overtime, Yannick Riendeau battled his way down the left wing wall and threw a perfect cross-ice pass to the low slot where a hard-charging Bedard beat everyone to the puck and angled it up and over a sprawling Niedert to complete the hattrick, win the game, and bag the $10,000 for Kerchner, who was one of the sixteen fans selected to participate in the St. Hattrick's Day Celebration-and it was his luck of the Irish to select Bedard as the skater playing for him! This marked the second time in five years that the St. Hattrick's Day Celebration had a $10,000 payout. On March 15, 2008, the Royals Ned Lukacevic bagged a hattrick against the Nailers to win the late Julie Deam the big pay-day at the Sovereign Center.

The Royals return to action tomorrow (Sunday, March 18, 2012 @ 4:05 pm) when Florida Everblades make one final regular season appearance at the Sovereign Center. It's a Family Day with the first 1000 kids twelve and under receiving a Royals' cereal bowl. There will also be a post-game skate with the players presented by Body Zone Sports & Wellness Complex. Sunday's game day broadcast will start at 3:35 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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