Royals Acquire Forward Yannick Tifu

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, today announced that the team has acquired forward Yannick Tifu from the Brampton Beast of the ECHL in exchange for future considerations.

This will mark the fourth stint in Reading for Tifu (5’11/203) (31), an eleventh year pro from Brossard, Quebec This season, Tifu, who has recorded 500 career ECHL points (162g-338a) and 586 penalty minutes in 486 games in the league, scored one goal and added an assist in five games with the Beast this year. Last season, 2014-15, Tifu played for Ducs d’Angers in France, where he led the team with thirty-five points in twenty-six games.

In Tifu’s most recent season with the Royals, 2013-14, he was second on the team with forty-eight points (19g-28a) in sixty games with the team. That season marked the third consecutive year in which Tifu received the ‘Fans Choice Award’ at the conclusion of the regular season. Tifu is third on the all-time career scoring ladder for the Royals with 179 points (66g-113a) in 184 games with the team. He trails only Ryan Cruthers (86g-187a=273pts in 278 games) and Olivier Labelle (101g-100a=201pts in 228 games) in that category.

A three-time captain of the Royals, Tifu has had many spectacular moments with the Royals, most notably perhaps during the 2012-13 Kelly Cup championship season, which is considered by many to be the best single season ever put together by a Royals’ player. The only Royal to play in all 94 games it took that year to capture the Kelly Cup (72 regular season – 22 playoff), Tifu led the team in scoring during both the regular season and playoffs. His thirty-nine total goals (27 in regular season and a league-leading and team record 12 in playoffs) is as many as any player has ever scored in a single season of Royals’ hockey. (Brian McCullough also scored 39 in 2002-03). Tifu recorded a team record 97 total points (72 in regular season and 25 in playoffs) and played to a collective plus-27 (+27) through the championship year.

In the regular season, Yannick Tifu led the Royals in goals (27), assists (45) and points (72), which placed him seventh in league scoring. That year, Tifu’s season hit high gear in December of 2012 when he racked up sixteen points (8g-8a) and played to a plus-7 (+7) with three game winning goals in eleven played. At the conclusion of the month, he became only the second player in team history to be selected as the league’s Player of the Month, joining Ben Gordon, who won that award in December, 2009. Tifu, who is one of only ten players in the history of the team, to dress for all 72 games in a particular regular season, received the team’s 2012-13 Ironman Award at the Fan’s Choice Awards Banquet. He was also selected as the team’s Most Valuable Player, and he received his second (of three) Fans Choice Award.

Of course, during the championship season, Tifu may have saved his best for last. He led the ECHL post-season with twenty-five points (12g-13a) in twenty-two playoff games. His twelve playoff goals led the league and his thirteen assists placed him fourth in that category. Tifu, who racked up a team-leading 63 shots in the post-season (fourth most in the league), scored a league-leading five game winners in the playoff season, including the late-game tie-breaking power play GWG in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cincinnati Cyclones—perhaps the most pivotal moment of that series, if not the entire championship run of the Royals. Tifu, who played to a plus-10 (+10) in the playoff season, led the Royals with six power play points in the post-season (3g-3a). Tifu also led the Royals with seven post-season multi-point performances.

Tifu, who has led his team in scoring six times during his pro career, has racked up 638 points (208g-430a) and 792 penalty minutes in 648 career pro games. In 91 career post-season contests—which include two separate trips to the Kelly Cup Finals---Tifu has generated seventy-five points (30g-45a) and seventy-two penalty minutes.

Prior to turning pro, Tifu played four seasons with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he registered 248 points (99g-149a) and 129 penalty minutes in 279 total major junior games.

The Royals take on the Elmira Jackals for the third straight time tomorrow night (Wednesday, October 28 @ 7:00 pm), when the Royals will have their first T-Shirt Fired-Up Frenzy, when the Energy Crew will fire 250 t-shirts into the crowd to help generate the excitement that will be needed to bounce back against Elmira. The game night broadcast for Wednesday’s matchup 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 6:30 pm Eastern Time. 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.

Season Tickets for the 2015-16 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. For more information about the Royals, call 610-898-7825 or log onto www.royalshockey.com.