ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Weekly

Published on November 10, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


TOP NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals current win percentage (.273) represents the lowest win percentage through the first eleven games of the season in the eight year history of the team. In the inaugural season (2001-02), the team started 3-6-2, which translates into a .364 win percentage. The best start ever for a Royals team after eleven games was in 2005-06, when the team started 8-2-1, which was a .772 win percentage.

2. Reading is currently riding a four game losing streak. The longest losing streak in team history stretched six games from March 19 through March 30, 2003.

3. On average, the Royals are currently the second most penalized team in the league, having been assessed with an average of 27.82 pims per game. (The most penalized team in Royals history was the 2002-03 team, which averaged 24.7 pims/game). In the first 11 games this year, the Royals have received 93 minor penalties-second only to the Mississippi Sea Wolves (95 through 11 games); and Reading has been involved in 16 fights (with corresponding major penalties), which is second in the league to the Fresno Falcons (18 major penalties through nine games). Eight different players for the Royals have been involved in a fight this season. Matt Herneisen leads the team in that category with four fights through the first eleven games.

4. The Royals lead the ECHL in short-handed goals, having bagged six SHGs in the first eleven games. (The team record for SHGs in a season was set in 2004-05, when the Royals led the league with 16 short handed goals). In the past week, four different Royals (Kirk MacDonald, Shawn Snider, Mac Faulkner, and Brock Hooton) scored short-handed goals for Reading. Hooton's SHG, his second of the year and eighth as a Royal over the past two season (5 in the regular season and three in the playoffs), came on a penalty shot which was awarded while the Royals were playing two men short in the middle of the first period in Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Dayton Bombers.

5. Brock Hooton's penalty shot on Sunday was the seventh PS taken in Royals history. On the first three penalty shots taken by Royals (Brent Ozarowski, 12/22/01; Leon Hayward, 10/18/03; and Dany Roussin, 12/13/05) were all stopped by the opposing goaltender. The Royals have scored on their last four penalty shot opportunities (Greg Hogeboom, 11/12/06 and 01/01/07; Ned Lukacevic, 01/05/08; and Hooton).

6. Brock Hooton was also the only player to score out of the nine shooters for the two teams in the shootout held at the conclusion of Tuesday night's 3-2 win in Cincin- nati. That game marked the first time this season that the Royals have ended a game in a tie in regulation time; and marked the first pro shootout experience for goal- tender James Reimer, who stopped all five Cincinnati shooters he faced.

7.The Royals scored the game's first goal on Saturday in Johnstown and Sunday against the Dayton Bombers. The team has now scored the FG in four games this year and compiled a record of 1-3-0 in those games. Coming into this season, the Royals had scored first in 244 of the 504 (48.4% of games) and had compiled a win percent- age of .754 in those games (172-48-24)..

8 The team goals against average for the Royals is currently 4.18, which is 23rd out of the 23 teams in the league. The team record of GAA was established by the 2004- 05 Royals, who led the ECHL (which that season had 28 teams) with a 2.14 goals against average.

9. In the five games played last week, the Royals only scored one power play goal in twenty-five chances with the man advantage, which translates into a 4.0% scoring ratio. Over the course of the season, the Royals have scored 8 PPG in 57 chances with the man advantage, which is a 14.0% scoring ratio (18th in the league).

10. For the first time this season, the Royals penalty killers kept the opposition off the board, when Reading blanked Johnstown's PP (0-1) in Friday's 4-2 loss. The Royals also held the Chiefs PP off the board (0-5) in Saturday's 5-4 loss. The penalty killers kept up their string of kills for the first ten power play opportunities for Dayton on Sunday; but then the Bombers struck for 3 straight PPGs in a 2:12 span in the third period, marking the fifth time this season that the Royals have given up multiple power play goals to the opposition. Reading's PK has allowed 17 PPGA in 76 chances this year, which is a 77.6% kill ratio (20th in the league).

CLOSING NOTES

1 Mac Faulkner currently leads the Royals with six goals. This week Faulkner put together a team long three game goal scoring streak 11/05 - 11/08 (3g), which included scoring his first "first goal" and first short-handed goal simultaneously at the 2:39 mark of the first period in Saturday's 5-4 loss in Johnstown. Faulk- ner leads the Royals with forty-eight shots on goal through the first 11 games.

2. Shawn Snider currently leads the Royals with eleven points (4g-7a=11pts). This past week, Snider put his second point streak of the season together, registering at least a point in three consecutive games (1g-3a=4pts) 11/05 - 11/08. Earlier this season, Snider racked up at least one point in the first four games of the season (2g - 3a = 5pts) (10/17 - 10/26/08), which is tied (with Tyler Doig and Brock Hooton) for the team's longest point streak this season. Snider (and Doig) lead the team with three multi-point games this season.

3. Ned Lukacevic is currently riding a two game goal scoring streak. In his first game with the Royals this year, Lukacevic scored the Royals' fourth goal with 2:32 remaining in the team's 5-4 loss in Johnstown on Saturday (his first game this season with the Royals. He then scored the team's (and game's) first goal 2:14 into the Royals 5-2 loss to Dayton on Sunday. Last year, Lukacevic led the Royals with five "first goals".

4. Kirk MacDonald put together back-to-back multi-point games in the first two games this past week. MacDonald scored a goal and picked up an assist in both games played against the Cincinnati Cyclones (on Tuesday and Wednesday). MacDonald bagged the third period game tying goal with just 10:58 remaining in regulation in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout win for the Royals. On Wednesday, Mac- Donald racked up his first short-handed goal of the year..

5. Kevin Harvey is currently riding a two game assist streak (0g-2a). Harvey currently leads the Royals with fifty-five penalty minutes, which includes three fighting majors (second on the team)-all of which came last week.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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