Royals Take Front End of Two-Game Set with Greenville, 5-2

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

GRN:              0          1          1= 2 

REA:              1          3          1= 5

Records

GRN: 10-9-0-0=20 (t-4th East Division)

REA:  9-5-1-1=20 (t-4th East Division)

Goaltenders

GRN:  Missiaen (Loss) 2-4-0-0 (34/39)

REA: Knapp (Win) 5-2-0-0 (27/29)

Power Play:

GRN: 0-1

REA: 0-4

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­Win, 9-5-1-1=20) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, defeated the Greenville Road Warriors (Loss, 10-9-0-0=20), 5-2, at Santander Arena in Reading, PA.

The Royals struck first and never trailed in the team’s first game of the year against a team from the East Division other than the Elmira Jackals. The victory pulled the Royals into a tie for fourth place in the Division with the Road Warriors—with the two teams scheduled to play the back-end of the two game set in Reading tomorrow. A three goal second period for the Royals was sparked by the energetic and relentless play of Willie Coetzee, who was playing in his first game as a Royal—and factored in all three of the goals in the second, including the one that proved to be the game winner by David Marshall. Goaltender Connor Knapp, who played parts of the last two seasons with Greenville, stretched his personal win streak to three (3-0-0-0). The victory pushed Reading’s overall unbeaten streak to eight (6-0-1-1).

First Period (1-0, Reading)

15:54 (1-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Walrod (2); Wiles (redirect from top of the crease)

Despite being pinned in the defensive zone for big chunks of the early stages of the game, Reading struck first when Sean Wiles picked off a breakout pass by Greenville from deep in their defensive zone. Wiles quickly slid the puck to the top of the crease, where Kevin Walrod cut in for a deft re-direct that sliced over the right pad of goaltender Jason Missiaen for Walrod’s second of the year.

Second Period (4-1, Reading)

2:21 (2-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Labelle (5); Coetzee (punch in from top of the crease)

Reading built the lead to the two on the strength of extra-effort hustle by newcomer Willie Coetzee, who outraced everyone to nullify an icing infraction, tracked the puck on the end wall, cut to the front of the net, and attempted to bury from in tight. Missiaen rejected that bid, but the rebound fell to top of the crease, where Olivier Labelle came crashing home for his fifth of the year.

4:22 (2-1, Reading) Greenville Goal

Clark (6); O’Donnell (breakaway shot from in tight)

Reading got caught above the puck when Greenville’s Sean O’Donnell slipped a long clear into the deep neutral zone where Emerson Clark was waiting. Clark took it on the fly and beat everyone to the top of the Royals’ crease where he slipped the puck under goaltender Connor Knapp for his sixth of the year.

12:43 (3-1, Reading) Reading Goal

Marshall (7); Mullane and Coetzee (two-on-one break-pass-and-finish on cut-across forehand-backhand)

The Royals rebuilt the two goal advantage when a strong stick-check on a sniping Greenville defender in the high slot of Reading’s defensive zone by Coetzee freed Pat Mullane and David Marshall for a clean two-on-one. Mullane carried down the left side to a spot just inside the offensive blue line and slid a perfect diagonal-down pass through a Greenville defender directly to David Marshall, who cut with speed right to left across the top of the crease for the forehand-backhand stuff.

18:02 (4-1, Reading) Reading Goal

Coetzee (1); Mullane and Alderson (rebound put-back off the rush)

The Royals got further insurance—and Coetzee got his third point in his first game as a Royal (1g-2a)—when Brandon Alderson (who was also playing in his first game as a Royal) set Mullane for a point blank look off the rush right between the hashmarks. Missiaen rejected Mullane’s bid, but the rebound fell right back in front of the Greenville net, where Coetzee refused to be denied on the put-back.

Third Period (5-2, Reading)

3:31 (4-2, Reading) Greenville Goal

Himmelson (1); Saponari and McCarthy (back-hand swat from low in the right slot)

Early in the third, Greenville cut Reading’s lead back to two, when Vinny Saponari fired a shot from the right point that hit a Royal on the way in and took a wild bounce in the low slot to the right of Reading’s net. Defenseman Andrew Himelson stepped in and with brilliant hand-eye coordinator took a back-handed baseball swat at the puck and drilled it under the bar for his first of the season.

7:30 (5-2, Reading) Reading Goal

Wiles (3); Marshall and Comrie (hard snap shot from just below the hash-marks)

Reading rebuilt the three goal advantage on a breakaway goal for Sean Wiles, who had been stoned earlier in the period on a short-handed breakaway. On this one, Adam Comrie fired a pass from the defensive blue line to David Marshall who was cutting at the offensive blue line. Marshall angled the pass through a pair of Greenville defenders and directly to a spot where a charging Wiles took possession behind the defensemen for a clean look. Wiles did not waste this one. He ripped a quick-release hot snapper from just below the hashmarks low blocker on Missiaen for his third of the year.

NOTES:

• The Royals scratches were: Jordan Heywood (d) (healthy), Matt Hatch (f) (healthy) (ECHL Reserve), Andrew Johnston (f) (healthy) (ECHL Reserve), and Ian Watters (f) (healthy).

• This marked ninth time in sixteen games that the Royals have scored first. The team is 6-2-0-1 when bagging the first goal. It was Walrod’s first ‘FG’ of the year.

• Labelle’s goal was his 76th career goal as a Royal in his 172nd game with the team. He is now one point behind Ben Gordon for third in the Royal all-time career scoring ladder (76g-67a=143pts).

• David Marshall’s goal was his seventh of the year, which ties Cam Reid for the team lead. Three of Marshall’s goals have been game winners, which leads the team. (He has scored the GWG in three of the Royals’ six regulation wins.) Tonight was Marshall’s fifth multi-point game of the year, which ties Adam Hughesman for the team lead in that category.

• Willie Coetzee is only the fourth player in team history to score at least one goal and record at least three points (1g-2a) in his first game with the team. He joins Brian McCullough (3g-1a), Dale Mitchell (2g-1a) and Jonathan Zion (3g-0a).

• Sean Wiles’ third period goal snapped an eight game goal scoring drought for him. This marked Wiles’ first multi-point game of the year (1g-1a).

• Goaltender Connor Knapp is riding a personal three game winning streak (3-0-0-0).

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

Reading Royals v Greenville Road Warriors

@ Santander Arena – Reading, PA

Saturday, November 29, 2014 (7:05 pm)

NEXT UP: The Royals take on the Greenville Road Warriors again on Saturday (7:05 pm) at Santander Arena in Reading. That night, we’ll have a special appearance from Mountain Man of Duck Dynasty. Saturday’s game night broadcast 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.

End 14 11-28