ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Suffer Second Consecutive Shutout, 4-0, To Florida

Published on November 28, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - For the second consecutive game, the Reading Royals (5-12-1= 11; 6th North Division) of the ECHL were held off the scoreboard-this time by the Florida Everblades, who won 4-0, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. Reading, who dropped to 2-8-0 on home ice, has not scored in 136:23, and has only scored one goal in the team's last three games. Florida has now registered three consecutive shutouts. Royals' Goaltender Danny Taylor (loss, 3-11-1; 36/40) continued his strong play and fought to the bitter end; while rookie netminder David Leggio (win, 5-1-0; 21/21) registered his second shutout of the season-and the fifth for the Everblades this year. Reading had six chances with the power play; while the Everblades went two for ten with the man advantage.

The first twenty minutes was a hard-fought scoreless battle during which the Royals killed off 42 seconds of five-on-three against in the opening moments of the game. The Royals pushed in the early going of the second, but it was Florida who struck with a counter-punch on a long stretch pass from the defensive zone by Ernie Hartlieb who found Jacob Micflikier breaking behind the Royals' defense at the offensive blue-line. Micflikier bolted to the Royals goal where he laid down a beautiful deke fore-hand to back-hand and roofed his shot for his fifth of the season at the 3:04 mark of the second.

Florida took a 2-0 lead 11:54 into the second on a power play goal by Kevin Baker. The Royals' Kirk MacDonald had clean possession behind the Royals' net, and attempted to send a clearing shot up the gut. Baker stepped to the left side of the goal, picked off the clearing attempt with the shaft of his stick, and deftly slipped the puck under Taylor for his thirteenth of the year. Three minutes later, Florida took a 3-0 at the conclusion of a Royals' power play chance. The Everblades' Michael Grenzy went off the glass and out of the defensive zone, and as the puck landed in the neutral zone, Doug O'Brien took control just as he was coming out of the penalty box. O'Brien charged to the Royals' goal, and despite being nearly tackled by a Royals' defenseman, still got a shot off that slipped under Taylor and into the net for his first goal of the year. Florida got their fourth goal at the 13:25 mark of the third, while on the power play. Baker and Micflikier conspired for a multi-rebound opportunity in tight on the Royals' goal; but it was Yannick Tifu, who ended up with the puck and the opportunity to put it into a virtually empty net after Taylor had made several good stops in the sequence, but had spun out of position. The Royals pressed late in an attempt to break up the shutout, but couldn't break through as they suffered their second straight shutout against.

The Royals travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on the Dayton Bombers tomorrow night (7:30 pm) at Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio. Saturday's game will be broadcast live on the Royals Radio Network Presented by Transmissions by Arbogast (True Oldies WRAW 1340 am in Reading; and The Ticket WLAN 1390 am in Lancaster), as well as on the internet via webcast hosted by Sportsjuice.com, which can be accessed through the Royals website. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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ECHL Stories from November 28, 2008


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