Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Willie Coetzee

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed forward Willie Coetzee to an ECHL Standard Players Contract.

Coetzee (5’10/188) (24), a fourth year pro who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, recorded four assists in twelve games this season for Graz EC 99ers in Austria prior to being released. Coetzee, who did not play last season due to injury, led the Toledo Walleye with twenty-eight goals and forty assists (sixty-eight points) in sixty-four regular season games in 2012-13. He picked up four assists in six post-season games with the Walleye. That season Coetzee also played a game during the regular with the Grand Rapids Griffins, who would go on to win the AHL’s Calder Cup Championship. Coetzee, who was signed to entry level NHL contract with the Detroit Redwings in 2010, has registered twenty-seven points (11g-16a) in sixty-four career AHL games, all with Grand Rapids. In one-hundred total ECHL games, Coetzee has recorded eighty-eight points (37g-51a) and twenty-six penalty minutes. Prior to turning pro, Coetzee registered 125 points (49g-76a) in 167 games with the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL.

Tonight, the Royals face the Elmira Jackals at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania (7:30 pm) when there will be a post-game ‘chicken-wing’ shoot courtesy of Redner’s Warehouse Markets. Fans can also take advantage of the Steak-umm Burger Meal & Ticket Deal when $25.00 gets you a burger, fries, large soda and Purple Zone ticket. It is also a College Night with $2.50 select draft beer. Season Ticket Holders are reminded that tonight’s game is a Buddy Pass Game.

The game day broadcast for tonight’s game can be heard live on CBS SportsRadio 1240 am and 98.5 in Reading, Pennsylvania, starting with the pre-game warm-up show presented by Highmark Blue Shield at 7:00 pm. Streaming audio is available free of charge on the Royals’ website (follow the ‘headset’ icon); and streaming video is available on a pay-per-view basis through ECHL.TV.

For more information about the Royals, call 610-898-7825 or log onto www.royalshockey.com.