The Royal Road Ahead

The Royal Road Ahead

Reading Kicks Off November with a Rematch of Season Opener against the Nailers in Wheeling

ROYALS PRE-GAME NOTES

• Defenseman Brett Flemming was recalled to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after Thursday’s win over Wheeling.

• Defenseman Dan Ford is expected make his debut as a Royal in tonight’s game in Wheeling. Ford, who played four seasons for the Harvard Crimson, played five pro games with the South Carolina Stingrays last season without registering any points (0g-0a) and picked up a pair of penalty minutes.

• This is third match-up of the year for the Royals and Nailers. Wheeling came back from two separate deficits to beat Reading, 6-3, in season opener for both teams in Wheeling on October 18. The Royals beat the Nailers, 3-1, in Reading on Thursday night.

• Reading and Wheeling have faced off 133 times in the respective ECHL histories of the two teams. Reading has a historical record of 76-44-13 against Wheeling.

• Reading has played Wheeling more than any other active team in the ECHL. The Royals played the Trenton Titans/Devils 147 times over twelve seasons of play prior to the Trenton membership in the ECHL going dormant.

• This season marks only the fifth time in Reading’s fourteen year history that the Royals have not played in the same division as Wheeling. The Royals are in the East Division this season, while the Nailers are in the North.

• The goal by Adam Hughesman 34 seconds into Thursday’s win for the Royals is the quickest goal that the Royals have scored into a game this season. The fastest goal ever scored by a member of the Royals in Reading came on April 3, 2005, when Cail MacLean scored ten seconds into a 2-1 win over the Peoria Rivermen.

• Hughesman, who also assisted on the goal scored by Olivier Labelle 10:54 into the third period to give the Royals a 3-0 lead on Thursday against Wheeling, is riding a four game point and assist streak (2g-5a=7pts). Hughesman has registered a team leading three multi-point performances in five games played with Reading.

• Cam Reid’s assist on Labelle’s goal on Thursday extended his personal point and assist streak to four straight (1g-4a=5pts).

• David Marshall’s goal 6:30 into the third period which gave Reading a 2-0 lead over Wheeling on Thursday at Santander Arena proved to be the game winner. Marshall has scored at least one goal for the Royals in each of the last three consecutive seasons.

• Labelle’s goal on Thursday was his second of the season and his all-time team career-leading seventy-third as a Royal in 161 games with the team. Labelle’s 135 career points with Reading (73g-62a) places him fifth in the team’s all-time scoring race (four points behind Brad Rooney for fourth). Tonight, Labelle will tie Malcolm MacMillan for fifth on the all-time games-played list for Reading.

• Defenseman Jordan Heywood recorded his first point as a Royal when he picked up the primary assist in the game winning goal by David Marshall on Thursday.

• After giving up eleven goals in the first two games of the regular season (one of which was an empty netter), the Royals defense has only given up four goals (not including an empty-netter last Sunday against Elmira) in the team’s last three games.

• Goaltender Connor Knapp has made fifty-eight saves on sixty total shots in his last two starts for Reading.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

Reading Royals v Fort Wayne Komets

@ Santander Arena, Reading, PA

Friday, November 7, 2014 (7:30 pm)

NOTES ON NEXT HOME GAME

NEXT UP: The Royals return home on Friday, November 7 (@7:30 pm), when the team will face the Fort Wayne Komets in the first of what will be back-to-back games in Reading. Friday’s game will be the first time that Reading has faced Fort Wayne since the Komets knocked the Royals out in the first round of the 2014 Kelly Cup Playoffs (Eastern Conference Quarterfinals). The games between the Royals and Komets next Friday and Saturday will be the only games of the regular season between these two clubs.

Next Friday, Fans can take advantage of the Sonic Friends and Family Deal when $44.00 gets you four Royals’ tickets, four hats and four Sonic Combos. Please note that there are no day of game sales of the Sonic Friends and Family Deal, so call 610-898-7825 early to take advantage of this offer.

Friday, November 7, will mark the first of what will be six ‘Free Shirt Fridays’ presented by V&M Towing. The first 2500 fans in attendance will receive a t-shirt honoring one of the twenty-nine players who have advanced from Reading to play in the NHL. Earlier this season, fans voted on their six favorite former Royals who have advanced to the NHL—and this Friday the team will honor goaltender Ben Scrivens, who played for the Royals in the 2010-11 season and made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 3, 2011 when he beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1. Scrivens currently plays for the Edmonton Oilers.

Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

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