Royals Sign Forward David Toews

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, today announced that the organization has agreed to terms with forward David Toews . The Royals now have seventeen players announced as signed for the 2013-14 season. In addition to Toews, the others are: Mike Banwell (d), Matt Campanale (d), Louie Caporusso (f), Julien Cayer (f), Ethan Cox (f), Damon Kipp (d), David Marshall (f), Bryant Molle (d), Ian O’Connor (f), Ryan Santana (f), Bobby Shea (d), Yannick Tifu (f), Brad Walch (d), Ian Watters (f), Sean Wiles (f), and Marc Zanette (f).

Last season, Toews (5’11/203) (23), a third year pro who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, split the season between three teams in the ECHL. He started the year with the Bakersfield Condors and recorded six points (2g-4a) and sixteen penalty minutes in twenty-six games before being released on January 3. He was promptly picked up by the Idaho Steelheads, for whom Toews scored nine goals, assisted on fourteen others (twenty-three points), picked up twelve penalty minutes and played to a plus-7 (+7) in thirty-one games before being released on March 26. He then joined the Utah Grizzlies where Toews closed out the regular season with an assist in two games.

In his first year of pro, 2011-12, Toews, registered fourteen points (3g-11a) and thirty-four penalty minutes in forty-two games with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. He also played a pair of games for the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL that year. Prior to turning pro, Toews, who was a third round pick of the New York Islanders in 2008, played a year with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League, where he registered forty-eight points (20g-28a) in sixty regular season games. Prior to that, Toews, who is the younger brother of Chicago Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews, played two seasons of college hockey at the University of North Dakota, where he scored nine goals and assisted on seventeen others in fifty-five total college games. Before joining UND, Toews was a member of back-to-back Tier-1 U-18 national championship teams at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minnesota.

The Royals kick off the defense of the team’s 2013 Kelly Cup Championship with a two-game weekend set at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, against the South Carolina Stingrays. On Saturday, October 19, 2013, the Royals open the 2013-14 season against the Stingrays at 7:35 pm, followed by a 4:05 pm start against South Carolina in Game Two of the season on Sunday, October 20. Season Tickets for the 2013-14 Reading Royals are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 or visit www.royalshockey.com for more information.