ECHL Reading Royals

The Royal Road Ahead: Reading Royals at Wheeling Nailers

November 11, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


The Royal Road Ahead Reading Seeks to Close Out Season-Long Eight Game Road Trip with a Win in Wheeling

READING ROYALS @WHEELING NAILERS WesBanco Arena - Cincinnati, Ohio Game Time 7:35 PM et - Royals Broadcast: 7:05 PM et

REA Game No. 11: 6- 3 - 0 - 1 = 13 (2, NORTH) Road Game No. 9: 5 - 2 - 0 - 1 WHL Game No. 9: 4 -3 - 1 - 0 = 10 (4, NORTH) Home Game No. 6: 2 - 2 - 1 - 0

Head-to-Head Game No. 2 of 7 (3 @ REA) (4 @ WHL) REA v WHL: 1 - 0 - 0 - 0

NEXT GAME BETWEEN READING AND WHEELING Wednesday, November 30 @ 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 face the Wheeling Nailers at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, for the second time this season. These two teams are scheduled to face off seven times in the 2016-17 regular season with three of the games being played at Santander Arena-including the next matchup on November 30-and four played here in Wheeling. o

Reading won game one in the seven game set, 4-3, here at WesBanco Arena on October 20. In that game, the Royals fell behind by two early in the first period, but were able to battle the team's way back thanks to four straight goals-two on the power play-and some stingy goaltending down the stretch from Martin Ouellette. The game winner came off the stick of rookie Matt Wilkins which was his first goal as a pro. o

This is the 156th matchup in the respective histories of the Royals and Nailers. Reading, who has played Wheeling more than any other team in the ECHL, has compiled a record of 85-56-14 against the Nailers. o

The two organizations have faced off three times in playoffs with the Nailers winning two of those series: (i) 2006 North Division Finals (Best of Five: 3-1); and (ii) last year's (2015-16) Eastern Conference Semi- Finals (4-3). The Royals won the 2004 Northern Division Semi-Finals (Best of Five: 3-2) against Wheeling.

-

Tonight's game is the final game of an early season-but season-long-eight game road trip for the Royals, who crossed back over east of the Mississippi River to Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday (November 9) after a six-game western swing (during which the Royals compiled a record of 4-1-0-1). -

On Wednesday, however, in Cincinnati, the Cyclones scored the game's first four goals, and despite a strong mid- game push by the Royals which brought the team within one (at 5-4) mid-way into the third period, Reading was simply unable to climb out of the early deficit and ending up losing 7-4, which included a late game empty netter. That loss pushed the team's record to 4-2-0-1 through seven games on the roadie. o

The Royals early season road trip began with three in a row against the Idaho Steelheads in Boise, Idaho (10/26 - 10/29) where the team went 1-1-0-1; continued on Wednesday (November 2) when Reading defeated the Colorado Eagles, 4-3, a the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado; and then traveled to Rapid City, South Dakota where Reading defeated the Rapid City Rush in back-to-back games, 6-3, on Friday (November 4) and 5-3 on Saturday (November 5) before falling to Cincinnati (7-4) on Wednesday in the first game the team has played at US Bank Arena since February of 2015. o

The Royals will return home for the first time since October 21-a span of twenty-two days-tomorrow (Saturday, November 12), when the team will face the Manchester Monarchs for the second time this season; and will complete a stretch of four games over five days on Sunday (November 13), when the Royals take on the Atlanta Gladiators for the only time this season. o

This road trip marks only the second time in team history that the Royals have gone for as long as eight consecutive games on the road. In the 2004-05 season, Reading played eight straight away from home ice in cities as geographically disparate as Toledo, Ohio; Jackson, Mississippi; Lafayette, Louisiana; Beaumont, Texas, and Pensacola, Florida (12/18/04 - 01/04/05). The team had considerable success on that jaunt, running off a record of 6-1-1 in those eight games

-

Wednesday's loss in Cincinnati served to snap a season-long three game win streak for the Royals and drop the team's record back to three games over .500 at 6-3-0-1=13, which places the team in the North Division's second position. o

The Royals five road wins (5-2-0-1) are third most in the league with Toledo leading the way with seven (7-1-0-0) and Adirondack remaining undefeated in six games so far on the road (6-0-0-0).

-

The Cyclones scored the game's first goal 3:37 into the first period snapping a string of two consecutive games (both against the Rapid City Rush) in which the Royals scored first. The Royals are 3-0-0-0 when scoring the FG.

-

The seven goals (which included an empty netter) allowed the by Royals in Cincinnati on Wednesday is the season-high against Reading. The Royals, who have not yet held the opposition to fewer than two goals against in a single game this year, have allowed a total of 34 goals against, which translates into a 3.40 team goals against average (eighteenth in the league) o

Wednesday's game marked the first time that Reading has made an in-game goaltender substitution. Martin Ouellette started the game and played 27:35, making 13 saves on 17 shots, but was a no- decision. The goaltender of record in the loss was Mark Dekanich who allowed two goals on fifteen shots-but the first of those two goals against him (Cincinnati's fifth) proved to be the game winner.

-

After recording the team's first unblemished performance on the penalty kill (5 for 5) of the season last Saturday (November 5) against the Rapid City Rush. The Royals PK gave up a power play goal against on the first power play chance of the night for the Cyclones on Wednesday. o

Nick Huard made it 2-0 Cincy with that power play goal with seventeen seconds remaining on a tripping minor to Olivier Labelle 9:24 into the first period. o

The Royals penalty kill, which has given up at least one PPGA in nine of the ten games played so far this season, is killing at a 72.1% clip (12 PPGA in 43 opps), which is twenty-seventh in the league. o

However, for the third straight game, Reading's killers did come through with a short-handed goal. On Wednesday, it was defenseman Nick Luukko who banged the SHG home 16:15 into the second period to make it 5-2, Cincy. o

For Luukko, who has scored two goals in the last three games (including the game winner a week ago Friday in Rapid City), that was his first professional short-handed goal.

-

Reading snapped a string of nine consecutive power play chances-over a three game span-without a goal when Florian Iberer bagged his first PPG as a Royal-and his second goal of the season 1:15 after Luukko's short- handed goal. o

Reading has scored at least one goal on the power play in five games played this season, and the team has gone 3-1-0-1 in those games. o

Overall, Reading is scoring PPGs at a 22.5% clip (9 PPG in 40 opps), which is seventh in the league.

-

Chris McCarthy bagged his first two-goal (2g-0a) performance as a Royal in Wednesday's loss. That was his third multi-point game of the year, which is tied with Olivier Labelle for the team lead. For McCarthy, his goals on Wednesday give him five on the year, which is also tied with Olivier Labelle for the team lead. McCarthy, who is riding a four game point streak (3g-3a), also leads the Royals with seven assists and twelve points (5g-7a=12pts), which places him tied eleventh in league scoring.

-

Rookie Steven Swavely, who has recorded at least one point in nine of the Royals' ten games (4g-6a=10pts), is riding a four game point streak (2g-3a=5pts). He is currently tied second in rookie scoring in the ECHL.

-

Kevin Sundher, who is riding a three game point streak (2g-3a=5pts), racked up back-to-back multi-point games in Rapid City last Friday (0g-2a) and Saturday (2g-0a), but was unable to play on Wednesday in Cincinnati due to illness. Sundher leads the Royals with thirty-four shots on goal through nine games played.

-

Robbie Czarnik is currently riding a four game point streak (2g-2a).

-

Mike Pereira racked up his first multi-point game of the year on Wednesday (0g-2a). Pereira is currently riding a four game point streak (2g-3a).

-

Todd Perry recorded his first fighting major of the year on Wednesday when he took on the Cyclones' Shawn O'Donnell 4:50 into the second period. That was the seventh career fight as a Royal for Perry, who has played 137 career games with the Royals (thirteenth most in team history-three behind Dinos Stamoulis and Jon Franscisco).

-

Justin Crandall, who had fifty-five points (17g-38a) in fifty-four games with Reading last season, registered his first point of the season (playing in his fourth game of the year) when he assisted on the PPG by Florian Iberer on Wednesday.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS 11/06/16 Traded Adam Morrison (g) ECHL Playing Rights (to Rapid City Rush for Future Considerations)

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 (@ 7:00 PM) v MANCHESTER MONARCHS

VETERANS - ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY APPRECIATION NIGHT Army - Navy Game @ 2:00 pm (One Ticket Gains Admission to Both Games) Rally Towel Giveaway Courtesy of UGI Team Wears Veteran-Themed Specialty Jerseys Post-Game Auction to Benefit Local Veterans Causes

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 (@ 5:00 PM) v ATLANTA GLADIATORS

SONIC SUNDAY FAMILY FUN GAME Four Tickets - Four Hats - Four Combo Meals - For Just $44.00!

End 16 11-11

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 11, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central