ECHL Reading Royals

The Royal Road Ahead: Reading Royals at Adirondack Thunder

Published on December 31, 2016 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


The Royal Road Ahead Reading Looks to Close Out Calendar Year 2016 With a Win in Adirondack

READING ROYALS @ ADIRONDACK THUNDER Glens Falls Civic Center - Glens Falls, New York Game Time 5:30 PM et - Royals Broadcast: 5:00 PM et

REA Game No. 31: 17 -11 - 1 - 1 = 36 (3, NORTH) Road Game No. 18: 8 - 7 - 1 - 1 ADK Game No. 28: 15 - 7 - 2 - 3 = 35 (4, NORTH) Home Game No. 13: 5 - 3 - 2 - 2

Head-to-Head Game No. 2 of 11 (6 @ REA) (5 @ ADK) REA v ADK: 1 - 0 - 0 - 0

NEXT GAME BETWEEN READING AND ADIRONDACK Friday, January 6, 2017 SANTANDER ARENA - READING, PA @ 7:00 pm ROYALS BROADCAST

AUDIO: iHeartRadio - Rumba 1340 in Reading

TELEVISION: Royals' Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15, Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965

STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)

ROYALS PRE-GAME NOTES -

Tonight, the Royals visit Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, to face the Adirondack Thunder. o

This is the second game of the season between the Royals and Thunder. In the first game between these two teams on Friday, December 23, the Royals defeated the Thunder, 5-2, at Santander Arena in Reading. o

Reading and Adirondack were scheduled to face one another here at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Tuesday, December 20, but that game was postponed due to maintenance concerns at the GFCC. That game has now been rescheduled for Tuesday, January 24 @ 7:00 pm. o

Reading will play Adirondack eleven times this season-more than any other opponent with the exception of the Norfolk Admirals against whom the Royals will also play eleven times. Six of Reading's games against the Thunder will be at Santander Arena in Reading-and five will be played here in Glens Falls. o

The next three games for the Royals-and six of the next ten-will be against the Thunder. The two teams will next meet up in Reading for a back-to-back two-game set this coming Friday (January 6) and Saturday (January 7).

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This is the second season in the ECHL for Thunder in Glens Falls. Last year, Reading faced Adirondack thirteen times, and the Royals compiled a record of 5-6-0-1 against the Thunder, going 3-3-0-1 here at the Glens Falls Civic Center. o

This marks the second consecutive season that the Royals and Thunder have played in Glens Falls on New Year's Eve. Last year, the Thunder beat the Royals in a shootout (2-1) in the GFCC on the final day of Calendar Year 2015.

o

Adirondack is a continuation of the ECHL membership that used to be based in Stockton, California-a team also known as the Thunder. Prior to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Thunder moved from Stockton to Glens Falls, while an American Hockey League team, then known as the Adirondack Flames, who had played in Glens Falls for one season (2014-15)-moved to Stockton and changed their name to the "Heat".

The Thunder and Stockton Heat are both part of the affiliation chain of the Calgary Flames of the NHL. o

The Thunder was based in Stockton for ten years (2005-15). Prior to that, this ECHL membership was based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and was known as the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies from 2001-05. Prior to that, the membership was based in Birmingham, Alabama from 1992 through 2001 and played as the Birmingham Bulls.

And, for two seasons (1990 - 92), this membership played as the Cincinnati Cyclones at what is now US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. o

While this membership was based in Stockton, the Royals played the Thunder three times in the regular season and went 3-0-0-0 in those games. Reading also faced Stockton in the 2013 Kelly Cup Championship Finals, defeating them four games to one to capture the Cup. o

Reading played the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies thirty-seven times in team history, going 12-19-6 against Bullies when they played at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Convention Hall.

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The Royals are coming off 4-2 win over the Wheeling Nailers on Friday night in Reading. In that game, Reading struck first, but the Nailers bounced back twice to tie the game at 1-1 and 2-2 before the Royals' Chris McCarthy notched what proved to be a third period tie-breaking game winner 11:41 into the final frame. Justin Crandall, who scored the game's first goal, notched a late power play goal for Reading to tack on a bit of insurance at the end.

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Last night's win was the third consecutive victory for Reading, marking the third time this season that the Royals have won three or more in a row. Reading won eight in a row from November 25 through December 10.

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The 4-2 victory over Wheeling on Friday elevated the Royals' record back to a season-high six games over .500 (17-11-1-1=36) and served to jump Reading over Adirondack into third place in the North Division. o

With Friday's win, the Royals have now compiled a record of 7-6-1-0 against teams in the North Division with twenty-seven more games to go-including the next ten in a row-against teams from the North.

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Tonight's game is the seventy-second (and final) regular season game of Calendar Year 2016 for the Royals. Since January 1 of 2016, Reading has compiled a record of 38-26-5-2 (.585 win percentage) in the regular season. o

Reading played fourteen playoff games in 2016, going 7-5-2 in the post-season.

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Last night's game marked the third consecutive game-and the fifteenth time this year-that Reading has scored the game's first goal. The Royals have compiled a record of 10-4-1-0 in those games, which is a .700 win percentage.

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The Royals struck on the team's final power play chance of the night on Friday, going 1-5 with the man advantage. o

Reading has scored at least one power play goal in ten of the last fourteen played, going 11 for 45 in that time span, which is a 24.4% scoring ratio.

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Reading's penalty killers blanked the Nailers power play on four chances with the man advantage on Friday and have now kept the opposition's PP off the board in nine consecutive games (twenty-eight consecutive kills) and in thirteen of the last sixteen games, knocking off 48 of the last 51 chances with the man advantage (over sixteen games), which is a 94.1% kill ratio.

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Justin Crandall scored the game's first and last goals last night. That was his third 'first goal' of the year. His second goal came while the team was on the power play with 42.3 seconds left in regulation. That was Crandall's first power play goal of the season. Last night's game marked the second time this season that he has scored two (or more) goals in a single game. o

Friday's two-goal performance was Crandall's third consecutive multi-point game (5g-3a=8pts), and fifth multi-point performance of the season. o

Crandall has nineteen points (9g-10a) and has played plus-15 (+15) in his last fourteen games.

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Robbie Czarnik scored Reading's second goal 17:04 into the second period to give the Royals a 2-1 lead. He also picked up the primary assist on Crandall's late game power play goal. o

Last night's two-point game (1g-1a) for Czarnik was his fourth multi-point performance in his last five games played (4g-5a=9pts).

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Chris McCarthy scored the tie-breaking game winner 11:41 into the third period last night. That was his team-leading thirteenth goal of the season-and his first game winner. He is the thirteenth different skater to record a game winning goal for Reading this season. o

McCarthy, who also recorded the primary assist on the game's first goal (by Justin Crandall), leads the Royals with twenty-eight points (13g-15a) in twenty-seven games. o

McCarthy, who is riding a three game point streak (2g-2a), has recorded a team-leading six multi-point games.

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Olivier Labelle picked up a pair of assists (0g-2a)-including the primary assist on the game winner by Chris McCarthy-last night. That was Labelle's fifth multi-point game of the year-and his first since November 26. o

For Labelle, who was playing in his 258th game as a Royal last night (twenty short of Ryan Cruthers who is the team's all-time leader in that category), he now has 113 goals and 113 assists (226 points) in his career as a Royal (forty- seven shy of Cruthers).

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Playing in his 799th career game last night, defenseman Florian Iberer, who leads all d-men on the Royals with nineteen points (6g-13a), picked up an assist on the game winner by Chris McCarthy. o

Iberer's nineteen points places him tied ninth in scoring amongst defensemen in the ECHL.

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Ryan Penny picked up his first power play assist of the season on Crandall's late game PP goal. Penny has thirteen points (3g- 10a) in his last fourteen games.

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Kevin Sundher snapped a four game streak without a point when he picked up the primary assist on the goal scored by Robbie Czarnik in the second period of last night's contest.

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Defenseman Michael Boivin, who registered the secondary assist on Czarnik's goal last night is riding a three-game assist streak (0g-3a). Boivin has fifteen points (2g-13a) in nineteen games with the Royals.

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In his first game as a Royal, goaltender Austin Lotz made twenty-six saves-many in spectacular fashion-to record his first win as a pro last night.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS 12/28/16 Add Matt Hilbert (g) Signed as Emergency Back-Up Goaltender (am) Delete Matt Hilbert (g) Released as Emergency Back-Up Goaltender (pm) Add Austin Lotz (g) Loaned from Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) 12/29/16 Delete Miles Liberati (d) Traded to Allen Americans (ECHL) (Completion of Futures Due) 12/30/16 Delete Mark Dekanich (g) Placed on 21-Day Injured Reserve Delete Mike Pereira (f) Placed on 21-Day Injured Reserve Delete Matt Wilkins (f) Placed on ECHL Reserve List Delete Tyrell Goulbourne (f) Placed on ECHL Reserve List

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017 v ADIRONDACK THUNDER Santander Arena - Reading, PA (7:00 pm)

Flyers Friday with Philadelphia Legend Bill Clement

End 16 12-31

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

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ECHL Stories from December 31, 2016


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