Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Nikita Kashirsky

Fifth Year Pro Has Two Kelly Cups to His Credit

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Washington Capitals of the NHL and Hershey Bears of the AHL, today announced that the organization has agreed to terms with forward Nikita Kashirsky . Kashirsky (6’0/196) (28), who will be entering his fifth season of pro, is the fourth player announced as signed for the Royals for the 2013-14 season, joining forwards Ethan Cox and Yannick Tifu and defenseman Bryant Molle. Kashirsky, who was born in Moscow, Russia, played sixty-three games for the Royals last season—forty-one in the regular season and all twenty-two it took for the Reading to capture the Kelly Cup. That marked the second ECHL championship for Kashirsky, who was a member of the 2009 Kelly Cup champion South Carolina Stingrays. Kashirsky began last year in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, playing one game with Moscow Spartak. He returned to North America and was signed as a free agent by the Royals on December 27, 2012. Kashirsky proceeded to record forty-four points (17g-27) (sixth on the team) in just 41 regular season games—a 1.07 points per game average. Kashirsky’s seventeen regular season goals came on just 92 shots—an 18.5% scoring ratio, which led the team for any player scoring ten or more goals. Kashirsky, who tied Yannick Tifu for the most ‘first goals’ on the Royals with six, closed out the regular season on a tear, recording at least one point in ten of the thirteen games played March (6g-11a=17pts, +3). He registered forty-one points (17g-24a) in his last thirty-four games of the regular season. Kashirsky played all twenty-two post-season games for the Royals, racking up twenty-points (5g-15a), which was third best on the team in playoffs. His fifteen assists tied for the league lead in that category. Kashirsky, who generated 60 shots on goal in the playoffs (second most on the team), played to a plus twelve (+12) in the post-season, which was fourth best in the league. Perhaps most importantly, Kashirsky scored two critical, late-game-tying goals for the Royals in: (i) the pivotal Game Five of the ECS against the Florida Everblades (with just 1:17 left in regulation)—which Reading ended up winning in overtime; and (ii) Game Three of the ECF against the Cincinnati Cyclones (with just 1:37 left in regulation)—although the Royals ended up losing that game in overtime. Kashirsky was also one of the five Royals to bag an overtime game winner in playoffs, scoring the OT GWG in Game One of the Kelly Cup Finals against the Stockton Thunder. In 2011-12, Kashirsky led the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL with forty-nine points (16g-33a) in sixty-four games. In his two pro seasons prior to that, Kashirsky played primarily with South Carolina, but also logged considerable time in the AHL, playing thirty-nine total games with the Springfield Falcons, Manitoba Moose, and Hershey Bears. In 2008-09, Kashirsky completed a stellar four-year collegiate career with Norwich University with a selection as an RBK Hockey First Team All-American. During his time at Norwich, Kashirsky registered 144 points (73g-7a) and 111 penalty minutes in 110 total collegiate games. Upon completion of his collegiate career, in March of 2009, he joined South Carolina for thirteen regular season games (3g-4a) and then proceeded to become a critical member of the Stingrays’ 2009 ECHL Kelly Cup Championship run, racking up eighteen points (6g-12a) in the twenty-one games it took for South Carolina win it all. Over the course of four separate appearances in the ECHL post-season, Kashirsky has recorded forty-one total points (13g-28a) in fifty-two playoff games. Season Tickets for the 2013-14 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.