Royals Sign Goaltender Riley Gill

Leading Goaltender from Southern Professional Hockey League Joins Reading

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed goaltender Riley Gill to an ECHL contract. In other transactions announced today: (i) forward Ian O’Connor has been loaned by Reading to the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL; (ii) Hershey has loaned forward T.J. Syner to Reading; (iii) forward David Marshall was returned to Reading from the Binghamton Senators of the AHL; and (iv) goaltender Frederic Cassivi was released from his ECHL contract. Gill (6’1/211) (28), a third year pro from Northfield, Minnesota, has played 38 games this season—and a league-leading 2293 minutes—with the Louisiana IceGators of the Southern Professional Hockey League. He currently leads the league with 25 wins (25-10-3)—five of which have come by shutout. Gill, who has made 1043 saves for the IceGators this year (second best in the SPHL), has the fourth best goals against average in the league (2.43). Last season, Gill played 44 games for the Kalamazoo Wings and recorded the fifth most wins in the league (24), as he helped the K-Wings advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Gill may be best remembered by Royals fans for his playoff performance as a member of the K-Wings in the 2010 American Conference Quarterfinals against Reading. Gill joined Kalamazoo late that year—after the completion of his senior season at Western Michigan University—and, during the first round playoff series, took over the starting role in the K-Wings net (from veteran Ryan Nie) and was nothing short of spectacular in four playoff games against the Royals, despite the fact that Reading would defeat Gill and his Kalamazoo teammates in overtime in a decisive game five at Sovereign Center. Gill had a record setting four year collegiate career at WMU, where he earned All-CCHA All-Rookie team honors in a freshman year, and concluded his time in college with the most games played (111) and the best all-time save percentage in WMU history. For O’Connor, a second year pro from Londonderry, New Hampshire, this marks his first call-up of the year to the AHL. O’Connor has thirty-one points (18g-13a) and picked up thirty-eight penalty minutes in fifty-five games with Reading this season. O’Connor, who leads the Royals with 148 shots on goal, played two games last season in the AHL with the Worcester Sharks. This marks the fifth trip of the year to Reading for Syner, a first year pro from Springfield, Massachusetts. Syner, who is currently riding a six game point streak with the Royals (3g-6a=9pts), has ten points (3g-7a) in nine games with Reading. Syner has seven points (3g-4a) and fifteen penalty minutes in thirty-four games with Hershey this year. For Marshall, a fourth year pro from Buffalo, Minnesota, he returns to the Royals after a six game stint in Binghamton, where he registered twelve penalty minutes. He was loaned to the Senators on February 14 after recording forty-seven points (17g-30a) and eighty-five penalty minutes in fifty-two games with the Royals. Cassivi, a fifteenth year pro who was born in Sorel, Quebec, came out of retirement to play in the Royals 5-3 loss to the Trenton Titans on Sunday, February 24. Cassivi made 21 saves on 26 shots that day. The Royals kick off a three game road trip in Florida tonight (Wednesday, February 27 @ 7:30 pm) against the reigning Kelly Cup Champion Florida Everblades at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. The Game Day Broadcast tonight kicks off at 7:00 pm on CBS Sports Radio (1240 am and 98.5 fm). As with all Royals road games, Wednesday’s game will be televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on BCTV courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations. Royals multi-game flex plans for the 2012-13 season presented by Steve Moyer Subaru are available at 610-898-7825 and through the Royals website: www.royalshockey.com. Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook at Reading Royals and "Follow" us on Twitter @RRoyalshockey for the latest team information!