Royals Sign Defenseman Zach Davies

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed defenseman Zach Davies to an ECHL Contract. Davies is expected to join the Royals’ training camp, which gets underway today, sometime later next week. In separate transactions, the Royals anticipate adding forward Brock Higgs and defenseman Jordan Heywood to the team’s training camp roster. Yesterday, Higgs was released from AHL training camp with the Hershey Bears, and Heywood was released from AHL camp with the Worcester Sharks.

Davies (6’0/183) (26), a second year pro from Smithers, British Columbia, began his rookie season last year with the Alaska Aces, where he led all defensemen on the team with seven goals (7g-10a=17pts, 19 pims, +7) in thirty-one regular season games prior to earning a call-up to the Abbottsford Heat of the AHL in early March. Davies, who stuck with the Heat through the month of April, played fourteen AHL games and bagged three goals, including the game winner in a 3-0 win for Abbottsford over the San Antonio Rampage on April 18. Davies returned to Alaska in early May, where he played thirteen post-season games with the Aces (1g-4a=5pts) on their run to capturing the Kelly Cup Championship.

Prior to turning pro, Davies had a stellar four year career at Quinnipiac University which was capped with an exceptional senior season when he led all defensemen on the Bobcats with seventeen points (2g-15a) in forty-three games. For his efforts in his final year at Quinnipiac, Davies was honored as the ECAC’s Best Defensive Defenseman, as the Bobcats advanced all the way to the NCAA Men’s Hockey Division I championship game before being defeated by the Yale Bulldogs. In 158 total collegiate games at Quinnipiac, Davies racked up fifty-six points (9g-47a) and fifty penalty minutes.

The Royals open the 2014-15 season on Saturday, October 18, at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the team will face the Wheeling Nailers. The home portion of the schedule will kick off the following Saturday (October 25, 2014 @ 7:05 pm) when the Elmira Jackals travel to Santander Arena. Royals’ season tickets are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.