Royals Fire a New Year's Eve Dud Against Elmira, 4-0

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

ELM:              0          0          4= 4 

REA:              0          0          0= 0

Records

ELM:  16-12-0-3=35 (5th East Division)

REA: 17-10-1-1=36 (4th East Division)

Goaltenders

ELM: Marotta (win) 7-8-0-1 (25/25)

REA:  Ouellette (loss) 9-5-1-1 (21/25)

Power Play:

ELM: 2-3

REA: 0-3

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 17-10-1-1=36) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Elmira Jackals (win, 16-12-0-3=35), 4-0, at Santander Arena in Reading, PA.

In the first game ever on New Year’s Eve at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, the Royals came out flat, never really got things going in the right direction and were shutout for the first time this season. Despite the lackluster effort, Reading still entered the third period in a 0-0 tie. Unfortunately, late in the second the Royals’ Brandon Anderson took a double-minor for high sticking while Reading was on the power play. The Jackals capitalized on both ends of the resulting power plays in the early stages of the third period—and bagged a total of four goals in a span of just 6:32—to get all they would need (and more) to snap the Royals five game win streak in the final game of Calendar Year 2014.

First Period (0-0, Tie)

NO SCORING

There weren’t very many fireworks in the first period of the first game ever on New Year’s Eve in Reading—well except for a couple of scrums and a tilt between Adam Hughesman of Reading and Justin Daniels for Elmira—and a waived off goal for the Jackals. 9:02 into the first, a scrum around the Royals net ended with Elmira’s Matt Tassone kicking one in; but the referee was right on the spot and waived that one off.

Second Period (0-0, Tie)

No Scoring

Although the Royals created several Grade-A opportunities down the stretch in the second frame—and found the goalposts twice—the end result was the same as the first: nobody scored. As a result of the late period push, the Royals received the team’s second power play of the game with 59 seconds remaining in the second. However, rather than capitalize, the tide tilted in the wrong direction when Brandon Alderson picked up a four-minute double minor while the Royals were on the power play with six seconds left in the period for high sticking, which would prove to be the turning point of the game.

Third Period (4-0, Elmira)

1:54 (1-0, Elmira) Elmira Goal (Power Play)

Tassone (13); Jacobs and Bloodoff (snap shot off the top of the crease)

After the two teams played 1:02 of four-on-four to start the third, Elmira went to work on their second power play of the game—the fifty-three seconds remaining on the front end of Alderson’s double-minor. The Jackals hit paydirt with one second left in that portion of Alderson’s penalties, when Colin Jacobs slipped a pass from behind Reading’s net to a soft seam at the top of the crease, where Matt Tassone stepped in and snapped a quick shot up and over the catching glove of goaltender Martin Ouellette for his thirteenth of the year.

3:36 (2-0, Elmira) Elmira Goal (Power Play)

Shamanski (7); Jacobs and Hart (slap shot from the high slot)

Elmira then stuck a dagger in the Royals’ collective heart on the back-end of Alderson’s double-minor, when defenseman Steven Shamanski stepped up in the high slot and fired a low, hard shot that snuck under and through Ouellette for his seventh of the year.

7:02 (3-0, Elmira) Elmira Goal

Jacobs (3); Buehler (breakaway finish on the back-hand)

The Jackals made the Royals pay in pretty short order when Reading pressed in the offensive zone and Keith Buehler freed Colin Jacobs on a long breakaway. Jacobs carried through the neutral zone and into the offensive end, shook a Reading back-checker, and broke to the net where he stick-handled three times and pulled the puck to his back-hand and chipped it up and over the blocker of Oullette for his third of the year.

8:26 (4-0, Elmira) Elmira Goal

Bronner (1) Bloodoff and Tolkinen (deflection of a shot from right point)

1:24 later, the Jackals put the final nail in Calendar Year 2014 for the Royals when defenseman Zach Tolkinen fired a shot from the right point that deflected off of Phil Bronner and then hit Oullette in the left arm and fell into the cage.

NOTES:

• The scratches for the Royals tonight were: (d), Andrew Johnston (f), and Ian Watters (f) (ECHL Reserve), and Joe Howe (g) (ECHL Reserve).

• The loss snapped the Royals season long five-game win streak; as well as the team’s four game win streak on home ice, dropping Reading to 9-7-0-1 at Santander Arena.

• The loss also snapped a five game personal win streak for goaltender Martin Ouellette.

• This marked the first game ever played in Reading on New Year’s Eve.

• This was only the second time this year that Reading has entered the third period tied with the opposition and lost in regulation (7-2-1-0).

• The Royals ended the Calendar Year 2014 48-22-2-3. The 48 wins in Calendar Year 2014 tied a team record established in Calendar Year 2005, when Reading went 48-19-3-5.

• This marked the first time that Reading has been shutout this season. It marked the thirty-seventh time in the fourteen year history of the team that the Royals have been shutout during the regular season.

• The power play was blanked for the seventh time in the last eight games, the tenth time in the last twelve, and the eleventh time in the last fourteen games played. Over that fourteen game span, Reading’s power play has gone 4 for 52 (7.7% scoring ratio).

• This marked the fourth time this year that the Royals’ penalty kill has allowed more than one power play goal against in a single game. The last time that Reading did that was when the team gave up three PPGA to the South Carolina Stingrays ten games ago (December 7, 2014).

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

Reading Royals @ Evansville Icemen

@ Ford Center – Evansville, IN

Friday, January 2, 2015 (8:15 pm et)

NEXT UP: The Royals take off on a two-game road trip to Evansville and Indianapolis, Indiana. On Friday, the Royals will travel to Ford Center in Evansville to take on the Evansville Icemen for the third time this year. Friday’s 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 7:45 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.

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