Royals Announce 2014-15 Regular Season Schedule

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL today announced the team’s 2014-15 regular season schedule. The Royals will open the team’s fourteenth season on Saturday, October 18, at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the team will face the Wheeling Nailers. This marks the eleventh time in team history that the Royals have opened on the road, and the first time Reading has opened the regular season at WesBanco Arena, since October 11, 2002, when the Royals beat the Nailers, 7-3.

One week later, after a game against the Elmira Jackals in Elmira, New York on Friday, October 24, the Royals will open the home portion of the schedule with a two-game set against the Jackals at Santander Arena in Reading, on Saturday (October 25 @ 7:05 pm) and Sunday (October 26 @ 5:05 pm). The 72-game regular season schedule will conclude on Saturday, April 11, at Santander Arena when the Royals will face the latest entry into the ECHL, the Indianapolis Fuel.

The Royals 2014-15 regular season schedule is set out in full below and is available on the team’s website, www.royalshockey.com.

The two games in the home opening weekend for the Royals are part of what are thirty-one weekend and holiday games on the Royals’ home schedule this season—six Fridays, thirteen Saturdays, and eight Sundays. The holiday games at home this season include: (i) a Thursday night Halloween Eve game on October 30 against the Nailers; (ii) a Thanksgiving Eve game on Wednesday, November 26, against the Jackals; (iii) a 5:35 pm start on New Year’s Eve against Elmira, and (iv) our eighth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday matinee game (1:05 pm et) on Monday, January 19 against the Jackals.

With respect to start times, the Royals schedule this year makes a couple of changes, as games scheduled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will start at 7:30 pm, while the opening face-off for games on Saturday night will remain at 7:05 pm. For the eight Sunday games at home this season, the game time will move back an hour with the puck dropping on the opening face-off at 5:05 pm.

This season’s home schedule will include the longest home stand in team history, which stretches for ten games starting with the Royals’ first game ever against Indianapolis on Saturday, November 22. During this extended home stand, Reading will face six different teams including the Fuel, the Jackals, the Greenville Road Warriors, the Toledo Walleye, the South Carolina Stingrays, and the Nailers—against whom the home stretch will conclude on December 13.

The Royals will face all thirteen opponents in the Eastern Conference this year, although three of those teams will not visit Santander Arena: the Cincinnati Cyclones, Gwinnett Gladiators and Orlando Solar Bears. On the flip side, the Royals visit every building in the East except Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The Royals will become most familiar with the home ice for the Elmira Jackals—First Arena in Elmira, New York, where the team will be hosted by the Jackals seven times—and that of the Wheeling Nailers—WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the Royals will play six times.

The road portion of the team’s schedule includes three separate stints of five straight away games, including a somewhat circuitous trip in late January that starts down South—at the North Charleston Coliseum against the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday, January 24—and continues through Duluth, Georgia (@ Gwinnett Gladiators, Sunday, January 25) before heading back North to Evansville, Indiana (@ Icemen, Wednesday, January 28), traveling over to Indianapolis, Indiana (@ Fuel, Friday, January 30) and finishing in Cincinnati, Ohio (@ Cyclones, Saturday, January 31).

Although the divisional alignments for 2014-15 are still yet to be determined, the Royals will play twenty-seven total games against teams that have traditionally played in the Atlantic Division: fifteen against the Jackals and twelve against Wheeling. The next most frequent opponent for the Royals will be the Indianapolis Fuel, against whom the Royals will play eight times (four at home—four on the road).

The Royals will play twenty-three games against teams that have traditionally played in the North Division, including four against the Fort Wayne Komets, who knocked the Royals out of the ECHL playoffs last season. The Royals will get their first shot at revenge against the Komets on Friday, November 7, and Saturday, November 8, at Santander Arena in Reading. The Royals will take on the Evansville Icemen six times this year; the Kalamazoo Wings and Toledo Walleye five times each; and Cincinnati three times.

Reading plays fourteen against teams that have traditionally played in the South Division, including six against the Florida Everblades, three against both the Road Warriors and Stingrays, and just one against the Gwinnett Gladiators and Orlando Solar Bears.

The busiest month of the season for the Royals this year will be January, when the team will play fourteen games (four at home and ten on the road). The Royals play twelve games in three of the season’s months this year: (i) November (seven at home and five on the road) (ii) December (seven at home and five on the road), and (iii) March (six at home and six on the road). The team has eleven games in the twenty-eight days in the month of February (six at home and five on the road). The fourteenth season of Royals’ hockey starts with five games in the month of October; and, as with last season, continues through second week in April with the Royals once again playing a late season three-game trip through Florida (Wednesday, April 1 @ Florida Everblades; Friday, April 3 @ Everblades; and Saturday, April 4 @ Orlando Solar Bears).

The Royals 2014-15 ECHL Regular Season Schedule is set out below. Please note that all game dates and times are subject to change.

READING ROYALS 2014-15 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

(Game Times are Eastern Time Zone)

Saturday, October 18, 2014 @ Wheeling Nailers (7:35 pm et)

Friday, October 24, 2014 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Saturday, October 25, 2014 v Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, October 26, 2014 v Elmira Jackals (5:05 pm et)

Thursday, October 30, 2014 v Wheeling Nailers (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, November 1, 2014 @ Wheeling Nailers (7:35 pm et)

Friday, November 7, 2014 v Fort Wayne Komets (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, November 8, 2014 v Fort Wayne Komets (7:05 pm et)

Friday, November 14, 2014 @ Kalamazoo Wings (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, November 15, 2014 @ Kalamazoo Wings (7:30 pm et)

Sunday, November 16, 2014 @ Toledo Walleye (5:15 pm et)

Friday, November 21, 2014  @ Elmira (7:05 pm et)

Saturday, November 22, 2014 v Indianapolis Fuel (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, November 23, 2014 v Indianapolis Fuel (5:05 pm et)

Wednesday, November 26, 2104 v Elmira Jackals (7:30 pm et)

Friday, November 28, 2014 v Greenville Road Warriors (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, November 29, 2014 v Greenville Road Warriors (7:05 pm et)

Thursday, December 4, 2014 v Toledo Walleye (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, December 6, 2014 v South Carolina Stingrays (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, December 7, 2014 v South Carolina Stingrays (5:05 pm et)

Friday, December 12, 2014 v Wheeling Nailers (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, December 13, 2014 v Wheeling Nailers (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, December 14, 2014 @ Wheeling Nailers (4:05 pm et)

Wednesday, December 17, 2014 @ Indianapolis Fuel (7:05 pm et)

Friday, December 19, 2014 @ Evansville Icemen (8:15 pm et) (GT = 7:15 Central Time Zone)

Saturday, December 20, 2014 @ Evansville Icemen (8:15 pm et) (GT = 7:15 Central Time Zone)

Friday, December 26, 2014 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm pm et)

Saturday, December 27, 2014 v Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 v Elmira Jackals (5:30 pm et)

Friday, January 2, 2015 @ Evansville Icemen (8:15 pm et) (GT = 7:15 Central Time Zone)

Saturday, January 3, 2015 @ Indianapolis Icemen (7:35 pm et)

Wednesday, January 7, 2015 v Wheeling Nailers (7:30 pm et)

Friday, January 9, 2015 @ Wheeling Nailers (7:35 pm et)

Saturday, January 10, 2015 v Evansville Icemen (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, January 11, 2015 v Evansville Icemen (5:05 pm et)

Friday, January 16, 2015 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Saturday, January 17, 2015 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Monday, January 19, 2015 v Elmira Jackals (1:05 pm et)

Saturday, January 24, 2015 @ South Carolina Stingrays (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, January 25, 2015 @ Gwinnett Gladiators (2:05 pm et)

Wednesday, January 28, 2015 @ Evansville Icemen (8:15 pm et) (GT = 7:15 Central Time Zone)

Friday, January 30, 2015 @ Indianapolis Fuel (7:35 pm et)

Saturday, January 31, 2015 @ Cincinnati Cyclones (7:35 pm et)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015 v Wheeling Nailers (7:30 pm et)

Friday, February 6, 2015 v Florida Everblades (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, February 7, 2015 v Florida Everblades (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, February 8, 2015 v Florida Everblades (5:05 pm et)

Wednesday, February 11, 2015 @ Cincinnati Cyclones (7:35 pm et)

Friday, February 13, 2015 @ Wheeling Nailers (7:35 pm et)

Saturday, February 14, 2014 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Friday, February 20, 2015 @ Kalamazoo Wings (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, February 21, 2015 @ Cincinnati Cyclones (7:35 pm et)

Friday, February 27, 2015 v Greenville Road Warriors (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, February 28, 2015 v Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, March 1, 2015 v Elmira Jackals (5:05 pm et)

Saturday, March 7, 2015 v Toledo Walleye (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, March 8, 2015 v Toledo Walleye (5:05 pm et)

Friday, March 13, 2015 @ Elmira Jackals (7:05 pm et)

Saturday, March 14, 2015 v Kalamazoo Wings (7:05 pm et)

Sunday, March 15, 2015 v Kalamazoo Wings (5:05 pm et)

Friday, March 20, 2015 @ Toledo Walleye (7:15 pm et)

Saturday, March 21, 2015 @ Fort Wayne Komets (7:30 pm et)

Sunday, March 22, 2015 @ Fort Wayne Komets (5:00 pm et)

Wednesday, March 25, 2015 v Florida Everblades (7:30 pm et)

Friday, March 27, 2015 @ Indianapolis Fuel (7:35 pm et)

Saturday, March 28, 2015 @ Wheeling Nailers (7:35 pm et)

Wednesday, April 1, 2015 @ Florida Everblades (7:30 pm et)

Friday, April 3, 2015 @ Florida Everblades (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, April 4, 2015 @ Orlando Solar Bears (7:00 pm et)

Wednesday, April 8, 2015 v Wheeling Nailers (7:30 pm et)

Friday, April 10, 2015 v Indianapolis Fuel (7:30 pm et)

Saturday, April 11, 2015 v Indianapolis Fuel (7:05 pm et)

End 14 06-04