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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Weekly

March 3, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


If you have any interest in golf at all, it's hard not to get caught up in the mystery and mystique (and maybe even a little myth) regarding the life and times of Ben Hogan. Clearly, under any standard of evaluation that you choose to apply, 'The Hawk' was one of the greatest ever to tee it up. After all, he won no fewer than sixty-four PGA Tour events and nine majors, placing him fourth all-time that category behind a couple of guys named Nicklaus and Woods (and Walter Hagen). But, even in light of his success in tournament golf, Hogan is perhaps best known for his unwavering and seemingly unending search for perfection in the golf swing. He genuinely believed that such eminence was attainable and there was only one way to get it: dig it out of the dirt. Consistent with his pronouncements, Hogan's work ethic and legendary practice habits make V.J. Singh's hands hurt just thinking about it. But an often overlooked element of Hogan's career was that it was twice interrupted by cataclysmic events-one you might have heard, they call it World War II, and the other was (with his wife in the passenger seat) running head long into wayward Greyhound bus on a deserted Texas highway in February of 1949. As they say down south, the "Wee Ice Mon" was ‘busted up real good' in that wreck, which left his very life in the balance, much less his golf career. And yet, not only did Hogan walk out of the hospital (about two months later) he went on to hit what is still considered to be one of the greatest golf shots in history (the 1-iron at Merion Golf Club on the 72nd hole of the 1950 U.S. Open) and have perhaps the greatest golfing season in the history (in 1953) winning not only the Masters and the U.S. Open, but also the only British Open he ever entered. Alas, it was really Hogan's heart-and his ability to bounce back-not some alleged downward twist of the wrist, that was his real ‘secret'. And in a sport where one bad round, one bad hole, or even one bad swing, can send the meek of heart spiraling out of control, the ability to let go of what has already passed by and bounce back into the present is the real sword (and shield) of a champion. (See also, goaltenders in hockey.) And it has been this ability to bounce back after a difficult moment that has really been the hallmark to this point of the 2007-08 version of the Royals. Case in point was this past weekend, when a highly motivated Johnstown Chiefs team brought playoff hockey to the Sovereign Center on the first day of March and stifled, stilted and ultimately steam-rolled the Royals- and in the process snapped the team's 9 game unbeaten streak. But consistent with this year's pattern, Reading bounced back the following day with a playoff-styled 3-1 win of their own over the Dayton Bombers, in which the game winner was scored with around 6:30 remaining in regulation. That marked the 13th time this year that Reading has won the game immediately following a game in which they sustained a regulation loss. In short, the Royals have done a pretty good job of wiping the mind's eye clear of negative back-wash and focusing on the task at hand. And maybe somewhere in there is the lesson that we all can take from Hogan (and maybe even more so from one Tiger Woods), as George Harrison so famously noted on his epic solo project...all things must past...

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. Despite suffering an overtime loss in Johnstown on Wednesday, the Royals extended the team's season long unbeaten streak to 9 games (7-0-2) (02/09 - 02/27/08), which was snapped on Saturday when the Chiefs beat the Royals 5-3 at the Sovereign Center. That loss also snapped a seven game home unbeaten streak (6-0-1) (02/01 - 02/22/08). The Royals are 11-2-2 in the team's last fifteen games, and the team has compiled a record of 14-3-2 since January 13, 2008.

2. Reading's 3-1 win over the Dayton Bombers on Sunday was the team's 33rd win of the year (in the team's 56th game), surpassing the total number of wins that the Royals had in the 2006-07 season. (This win total also exceeds the total number of wins that Reading compiled in each of the three seasons that the team did not make the playoffs: 2001-02; 2002-03; and 2006-07.) Sunday's win was also the 18th home victory (18-7-3) of the season for Reading which tops last year's total number of wins at home (17-15-4). Reading currently has 71 points in the standings, which ties last year's point total.

3. Joe Zappala is currently riding a six game goal scoring streak for the Royals (7g). In his last eleven games, Zappala has scored ten goals, and seven of those goals have come on the power play. Zappala currently leads the Royals with eight power play goals. Zappala's goal on Sunday broke a 1-1 tie with Dayton with only 6:32 remaining in regulation time. That goal proved to be Zappala's second game winner of the season.

4. Victor Uchevatov and Vladimir Dravecky each scored their first goal as a member of the Royals in Wednesday's 4-3 overtime loss in Johnstown. Dravecky factored in all three goals that game (1g-2a=3pts) to register his first multi-point game with Reading. Dravecky also picked up two assists in Saturday's 5-3 loss to Johnstown. He has picked up nine points (1g-8a=9pts) in his first ten games with the Royals..

5. Defenseman P.J. Atherton returned to the Royals line-up on Friday after missing five consecutive games due to injury. Atherton promptly racked up his thirteen goal of the season (and his sixth power play goal), which leads all defensemen in the ECHL. Atherton's 39 points (13g-26a) places him tied for fourth amongst d-men in scoring.

6. Shawn Collymore has registered at least one point in all six games that he's played for the Royals this season (4g-6a=10pts). In Sunday's 3-1 win, he assisted on the game's first goal (by Ned Lukacevic) as well as the game winner (by Joe Zappala) to register his second multi-point performance for Reading this year.

7. Ned Lukacevic is currently riding a four game point streak for Reading (1g-3a=4pts). On Sunday, Lukacevic scored his fourteenth goal of the season, doubling the number of goals that he scored with Reading (in 53 games) last season. That goal was the game's first goal (at the 7:53 mark of the second period). Lukacevic leads the Royals with five ‘first goals' this year.

8. Brock Hooton and Patrick Jarrett each registered multi-assist games this week. Hooton picked up a pair of assists in Saturday's loss to Johnstown, marking his eighth multi-assist and twelfth multi-point game of the year. Hooton leads the Royals in scoring with 47 points (17g-30a). For Jarrett, Sunday's two-assist performance marked his seventh multi-assist and ninth multi-point game (in just 28 played) this season. Jarrett has registered sixteen points (4g-12a) in his last 13 games.

9. Sunday's game marked the twelfth time this season that Reading has held the opposition to one goal or less during the 60 minutes of regulation hockey. Goaltender Terry Denike (26/27) became the third goaltender for the team to pull off this feat. Jon Quick did it ten times (8-0-2), while Danny Taylor held the Bombers to one goal in Reading's 5-1 win in Dayton on January 9, 2008.

10. Reading's streak of eight consecutive games in which the team had scored at least one power play goal was snapped in Sunday's win, as the Royals' PP was held off the board by the Bombers in three chances with the man advantage, marking only the third time in the last 22 games that Reading's power play was blanked. During that time period, Reading has scored 33 PPGs in 142 chances with the man advantage, which translates into a 23.2% scoring ratio. Over the course of the season, Reading has scored 56 PPG in 329 chances (18.2%) which is eighth best in the league.

CLOSING NOTES

1. Reading's penalty kill has been touched up for at least one goal in each of the last five games. In the last four games, the opposition has scored five PPGA in 13 chances (61.5% kill ratio). Over the course of the season, Reading is killing penalties at a ratio of 81.0%, which is nineteenth in the league.

2. Wednesday's overtime loss marked only the third time that Reading has held a lead entering the third period and not taken the two points for the win. The Royals have held a lead entering the final period 26 times this year and have compiled a record of 23-0-3 in those games.

3. Saturday's 5-3 loss marked only the third time this season that Reading has scored the game's first goal and lost in regulation time. The Royals have scored the game's first goal 28 times this year and have compiled a record of 22-3-3 in those games .

4. Sunday's game marked the thirteenth time this season that the Royals have rebounded with a victory following a regulation loss. Reading's record in the game after suffering a regulation loss this season is 13-3-1.

5. Last Wednesday's game marked the fourteenth time this season that the Royals have ended regulation time in a tie. The Royals have compiled an overall record of 9-5 in those games. Reading has compiled a record of 5-4 in overtime and 4-1 in the shootout this season. The team record for total number of games ending in a tie was established in 2003-04 when twenty-one games finished regulation time in a tie. (That team went 11-10 in those games). Last year, the Royals went 5-7 in such games (2-2 in overtime and 3-5 in the shootout).

6. The Royals ‘magic number' for clinching a playoff spot currently stands at nine points. Any combination of nine points earned by the Royals or nine points lost by the Trenton Devils will assure Reading of a playoff spot. (The Wheeling Nailers can no longer mathematically catch the Royals).

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