ECHL Reading Royals

Waiting For The Break of Day...

December 10, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Teams of expert witnesses on Court TV analyzing alleged backwards masking in Judas Priest records aside, in modern times a rather vibrant cottage industry has thrived around seeking to decipher the 'inner meaning' of cryptic lyrics penned by our generation's rock n' roll 'geniuses'. This was particularly popular in the 60's and 70's when it was presumed that virtually every epic rock tome had to contain some essential mystical message cloaked in over-wrought iambic pentameter-how else could you explain the seemingly indecipherable gibberish on many of these records (see e.g., "I Am The Walrus" by John Lennon). The absolutely irrefutable rock classic "25 or 6 to 4" written by Robert Lamm and performed by his band, Chicago, has certainly not been immune to such speculation. Theories abound regarding the inner meaning that Lamm was seeking to elucidate with lines like "searching for something to say/flashing lights against the sky/giving up I close my eyes/sitting crosslegged on the floor/25 or 6 to 4...." Wow. It turns out, according to Lamm himself, there was no hidden meaning at all. He really was just sitting cross-legged on the floor trying to think of something to say in the song he was writing-and it just happed to be really late (or really early depending on your perspective)....3:34 or 3:35 am. And, I think there's a cautionary tale somewhere in there about trying to put too much meaning into stats and trends in a pro hockey season. Sure, in the last five games, the Royals have outscored their opponents 25 to 13-okay so it wasn't 25 or 6 to 4, but it was close-perhaps more importantly, this team which had experienced considerable difficulty scoring goals in many of the first eighteen games of the season, broke out of the scoring doldrums and, in the process, rang off a five wins in a row. Of course, it's hard to ignore that the scoring dam broke fast on the heels of a trade which brought two skilled forwards to the team, Marc Cavosie and Brett Hemingway. But experience (and common sense) would lead us to conclude that all of these ups (and downs) are somewhat consistent with the ebb and flow of a long and winding 72 game regular season. When you isolate a few games or a few numbers or a few players, it's easy to overlook a bigger and more important point-great hockey teams aren't about isolating anything at all-they are about everyone coming together. So with this in mind, I think it might be time to take a deep breath and remember that we don't necessarily have to figure it out-like a well-written song that strikes you in the bottom of your soul, it's okay just to sit back-at least for a moment-and enjoy it....

TOP TEN NOTES OF THE WEEK

1. The Royals extended the team's winning streak to a season high five games this week. Last year, the Royals longest win streak went six games (02/17 - 03/02/07); and the longest win streak in team history stands at nine (11/07 - 11/26/04). All three wins for the Royals this week came at the Sovereign Center, extending the team's home unbeaten streak to a season high eight games (7-0-1). The longest home unbeaten streak in the history of the team stands at 23 games (20-0-3) (11/14/03 - 02/24/04).

2. During the course of the Royals five game win streak, the team's offense has scored twenty-five goals (5.00 goals/game). In the five games leading up to the start of the current win streak, the Royals scored just eight goals (1.60 goals/game) and the team went 1-3-1 in those games. Over the course of the season, the Royals have now scored 72 goals, which translates into a 3.13 goals per game average (17th in the league).

3. Rookie defensemen Mike Salekin and Kevin Schaffer scored the first two goals for the Royals in last Wednesday's 4-1 win over Wheeling. For Salekin, that was his first pro goal. Salekin also assisted on the Royals' game winning goal that night to register his first multi-point game as a pro. For Schaeffer, his goal proved to be his first professional game winner. Schaeffer has played to a "plus" in four consecutive for the Royals (+9) and is playing to a team leading (+11) in seventeen games this year.

4. Dany Roussin scored the Royals' fourth goal on Wednesday night, as well as the team's second goal in the 5-2 win over Trenton on Friday, to extend his personal goal scoring streak to three games (3g - 0a). All three of those goals were scored while the Royals were playing on the power play. Roussin's goal scoring streak was snapped in Saturday's 6-3 win over Wheeling.

5. Marc Cavosie scored two goals and assisted on another in Friday's 5-2 win over Trenton, to register his second multipoint game with the Royals. In six games with Reading since being acquired from the Columbia Inferno, Cavosie has scored four goals, assisted on two others (six points) and is playing to a plus 7. Brett Hemingway, who was acquired at the same time as Cavosie, had a pair of assists on Friday (his second multi-point game for Reading) and scored the Royals' first goal on Saturday. Hemingway is currently riding a five game point streak for the Royals (3g-5a=8pts, +7).

6. Brock Hooton scored what proved to be the game winning goal for the Royals in Friday's 5-2 win over Trenton. That goal, which was Hooton's fifth of the season and the first that wasn't scored on the special teams (he has 2 PPG and 2 SHG), snapped a seven game goal scoring drought for Hooton and was his third GWG of the year. Hooton is tied with Chris Blight for the team lead in GWGs after Blight scored what proved to be the game winner in Saturday's 6-3 win over Wheeling. In that game, Blight scored two goals (for his fourth multi-goal game of the year) and an assist (for his fourth game with three points or more).

7. Rookie defenseman Patrik Hersley scored his first pro goal in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Wheeling Nailers. Hersley also assisted on three other goals that evening to register a career high of four points. Hersley also assisted on two goals in Friday's 5-2 win on Friday to pick up his first multi-point game as a pro. Four of Hersley's six points this week, including his goal, were registered on the power play.

8. Bracken Kearns scored an empty netter to make it 5-2 in Friday's win over Trenton and scored Reading's last goal in the 6-3 victory over Wheeling on Saturday. Kearns also registered two assists in Saturday's win for his fifth multi-point game of the year with the Royals. In his last nine games, Kearns has 13 points (5g-8a).

9. During the current five game win streak, the Royals power play has scored at least once in each of those games and has had multi-goal performances in three of those contests. In that time span, the Royals PP has gone 10-29 (34.5% scoring ratio). (The Royals power play had been held off the board in the four games immediately preceding the current win streak). Over the course of the season, the Royals have scored 19 goals in 133 opportunities, a 14.3% scoring ratio which ranks 21st in the league.

10. Goaltender Danny Taylor extended his personal win streak to three games for the Royals with the 4-1 win over Wheeling on Wednesday. Taylor was recalled to Manchester after that game and won back-to-back games for the Monarchs this weekend. Goaltender Terry Denike, who was acquired in a trade on December 4 from the Wheeling Nailers became the fourth goaltender to appear in a game for the Royals this season, when he started and won Friday's game against Trenton. Denike followed that up with a win on Saturday against Wheeling, running his record with the Royals to 2-0-0 with a 2.51 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

CLOSING NOTES

1. In all three games this week, the Royals scored at least four goals, a feat that the Royals have accomplished ten times in the first twenty-three games. The Royals have maintained a perfect record in those games (10-0-0). In fact, the Royals record remains unblemished when the team has scored three or more goals (13-0-0)

2. . The Royals scored the game's first goal in all three games played this week. Reading scored first in twelve of the twenty-three games played so far and have compiled a record of 10-1-1 in those games

3. Reading out-shot the opposition in the first two games played this week and both teams ended up with 32 shots in Saturday's 6-3 win over Wheeling. Reading has now had more shots than the opponent in eighteen of the team's 23 games, and the Royals have only been out-shot three times this year. The Royals average 33.39 shots on goal per game (7th in the league), while the Royals have averaged giving up only 28.04 shots/game (3rd, ECHL).

4.Ned Lukacevic scored his seventh goal (in his 23rd game) in Saturday's 6-3 win over Wheeling. That ties his goal total from last year, when he scored seven goals in 53 games for the Royals.

5. Defenseman P.J. Atherton is riding a two game assist streak, after registering two assists on Saturday, which was his 4th multi-point game with the Royals this year.

6. The Royals scored their league leading seventh short-handed goal of the season in the 6-3 win over Wheeling on Saturday .That goal was scored by Chris Blight, marking his second SHG of the year

7. Goaltender Jon Quick became the third player in team history to play for the Royals and in the NHL in the same season when he and his Los Angeles Kings' teammates defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 8-2, on Thursday, December 6. Quick is the twelfth player (and fifth goaltender) to play in the NHL after playing with the Royals.

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ECHL Stories from December 10, 2007


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