Royals Announce Training Camp Roster

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, today announced the team’s 2015-16 Training Camp Roster. The Royals’ Training Camp Roster, which is currently comprised of seventeen players (nine forwards, six defensemen, and two goaltenders), is set out below. The team roster currently on the Royals' website includes player numbers.

In transactions previously completed, forwards Robbie Czarnik and Cam Reid and defenseman Sam Windle have rejoined the Royals after being released from AHL Training Camp with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In separate transactions, also previously completed, forward Geoff Walker and defenseman Adam Comrie have been loaned by the Phantoms to the Royals.

Reading Royals 2015-16 Training Camp Roster

Forwards

Adam Berkle (ECHL)

Justin Crandall (ECHL)

Robbie Czarnik (ECHL)

Tyler Gjurich (Tryout)

Mike Pereira (ECHL)

Joe Rehkamp (ECHL)

Cam Reid (ECHL)

Geoff Walker (AHL – Loan) (LHV)

Ian Watters (ECHL)

Defensemen

Clinton Atkinson (Tryout)

Adam Comrie (AHL – Loan) (LHV)

Derik Johnson (ECHL)

Curtis Leonard (ECHL)

Stephen Tellier (Tryout)

Sam Windle (ECHL)

Goaltenders

Louie George (Tryout)

Tate Maris (Tryout)

Players on ECHL Contract Currently in AHL Training Camp

Jordan Heywood – D  (Springfield)

Kevin Sundher – F  (Lehigh Valley)

Jonathan Parker – F (San Jose)

Walker (6’3/236) (27), an eighth year pro who hails from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, split last season between the Ontario Reign and Missouri Mavericks of the ECHL, collectively registering forty-three points (18g-25a) and fifty-one penalty minutes in fifty total games. Prior to being traded by the Reign to the Mavericks, Walker actually won the Sherwood Hockey / ECHL Player of the Week Award for his performance in late December and early January when he racked up seven points (4g-3a) over the span of four games for Ontario.

Walker is no stranger to that award, in fact, in the one series of games during which he previously faced the Royals—as a member of the Florida Everblades late in the 2014 season after being loaned to Florida from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL—he torched Reading. Over the course of three games in that stint against the Royals, Walker racked up four goals and a pair of assists. Three of those goals came when he bagged all three in the Everblades’ 3-2 win over Reading on April 11, 2014. His performance late that month also earned him the ECHL’s Player of the Month Award for April of 2014.

Walker’s first full pro season came in 2008-09, when he led Ontario in that organization’s first year in the ECHL (under former Royals’ Head Coach Karl Taylor) with forty-eight points (21g-27a) in sixty-eight games. Walker actually made his first appearance in Reading that year—as a member of the National Conference squad in the 2009 ECHL All-Star Classic held at the then-Sovereign Center in Reading. Since that season, Walker has played principally in the American Hockey League with the Manchester Monarchs, Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, Lake Erie Monsters and Crunch. In 269 career AHL games, Walker has registered 116 points (45g-71a) and 382 penalty minutes. He has also made a couple of deep runs in playoffs in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre. All told, Walker has logged 429 pro regular season games (97g-142a=239pts and 494 pims).

Prior to turning pro, Walker played four seasons of major junior in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Gatineau and Prince Edward Island, racking up 215 total points (94g-121a) and 258 penalty minutes in 228 regular season games.

For Comrie (6’4/226) (25), a sixth year pro who hails from Great Falls, Virginia, this marks his third stint with the Royals. Last year, he began the season under an ECHL contract with Reading, but was signed by Lehigh Valley to an AHL deal on November 6, 2014, and then loaned back to Reading. He was then recalled by the Phantoms from the Royals on December 27 and remained in Lehigh Valley through the conclusion of the AHL regular season, rejoining the Royals for the post-season.

While with the Royals last season, Comrie registered fourteen points (7g-7a) and twenty-eight penalty minutes in twenty-one games. His seven goals were fourth on the team for a defenseman. (Reading had three d-man last year who scored nine goals: Brett Flemming, Jordan Heywood, and Maxime Lamarche.) Five of his goals were scored while the team was on the power play, which led the team for PP goals by a defenseman. Comrie also generated 68 shots in his time with the Royals for a team-leading average of 3.23 shots per game.

In seven playoff games last year with Reading, Comrie had four points (2g-2a) and ten penalty minutes. His playoff goals came on back-to-back power plays late in the second period to blow open what proved to be a 6-1 win for the Royals in Game Six of the East Division Semi-Final Series against the South Carolina Stingrays.

While with Lehigh Valley last season, Comrie racked up eighteen points (5g-13a) and fifty penalty minutes in forty games. His five goals with the Phantoms were second most amongst defensemen on the team. His eighteen points were third most among defensemen on the team.

Comrie has to been considered among the all-time most effective defensemen to ever play for Reading. He has played sixty-six career games with the team, recording forty-seven points (24g-23a) and 134 penalty minutes. Comrie’s twenty-four goals is second only to Denny Urban (28g in 117 games) for regular season goals scored by a Reading defenseman in the history of the team. In his first stint with the Royals, Comrie’s performance was nothing short of spectacular, as he was a significant contributor to the team’s 2013 Kelly Cup Championship team, although he was long gone to the AHL by the time the Royals captured the playoff championship.

In that 2012-13 season, Comrie started the year with Reading and racked up thirty-three points (17g-16a) in forty-five games prior to being loaned to Worcester on February 5, 2013. Despite spending the last two months of the regular season in the AHL, Comrie’s seventeen goals still ended up leading all defensemen in the ECHL. Comrie, whose thirty-three points was tied for the league lead amongst d-men in the ECHL at the time of his loan to Worcester, ended up leading the Royals in 2012-13 with 106 penalty minutes, which included a team record thirty-nine PIMs in his final game with the team on February 2, 2013, in Toledo. He also led the Royals by playing to a plus-22 (+22).

The special moments for Comrie in that 2012-13 season included bagging the game winning goal in four consecutive victories for the Royals (over a span of five games) from January 18 through January 27, 2013. As of that time, he was only the second player in team history to accomplish that feat. (Colin Pepperall had also done it over a span of nine games in the 2002-03 season). In a somewhat bizarre twist that season, Stanislav Galiev also proceeded to score the game winning goal in four straight wins for the Royals—over a span of nine games—immediately after Comrie did it (from February 1 through February 14, 2013).

After the completion of the 2012-13 ECHL regular season, Comrie became one of only four players in Royals’ team history to be honored with a post-season league award when he was selected to the ECHL’s All-Second Team. (The others who have been bestowed with post-season awards are Michal Cajkovsky, who was selected to the league’s All-Rookie Team in 2013-14; David Vallorani, who was selected to the 2012-13 ECHL All-Rookie Team; and T.J. Kemp who was selected to the 2005-06 All-Rookie Team.)

A third round pick of the Florida Panthers in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Comrie has recorded 118 points (43g-75a) and 286 penalty minutes in 250 regular season pro games. Prior to turning pro, Comrie played three seasons of major junior in the Ontario Hockey League, recording ninety-eight points (33g-65a) and 239 penalty minutes in 178 total OHL games.

The Royals remind fans that the team’s Fifteenth Anniversary Pre-Season Training Camp will kick off with a fan friendly practice tomorrow: Saturday, October 3, 2015, (10:00 am – 12:00 noon) at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. All persons attending Saturday’s practice session should enter the Arena through the Lion’s Den Team Store on the Penn Street side of the Arena. Doors will open at 9:30 am. Please also note that the seating in the Arena will be limited to sections 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110.

The Royals 2015-16 Pre-Season Training Camp Schedule is set out below. Please note that all times and dates are subject to change.

Reading Royals Pre-Season 2015-16 Training Camp Scheduled

Saturday, October 3, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Sunday, October 4, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Monday, October 5, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Tuesday, October 6, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Wednesday, October 7, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Thursday, October 8, 2015: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm (Body Zone Sports & Wellness Complex)

Friday, October 9, 2015: (7:05 pm) Pre-Season Game One – Royals @ Elmira Jackals (First Arena)

Saturday, October 10, 2015: (7:00 pm) Pre-Season Game Two – Royals v Norfolk Admirals (Santander Arena)

Sunday, October 11, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Monday, October 12, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Tuesday, October 13, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Wednesday, October 14, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

Thursday, October 15, 2015: 10:00 am – 12:00 noon (Santander Arena)

The Fifteenth Anniversary Season of Royals’ hockey kicks off with back-to-back games against the South Carolina Stingrays at North Charleston Coliseum on Saturday (October 17) and Sunday (October 18). Reading opens the home portion of the team’s schedule on Saturday, October 24, (7:00 pm) when the Elmira Jackals visit Santander Arena. The home opener will be preceded by a Block Party complete with a FREE concert by the Gin Blossoms. Season Tickets for the 2015-16 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.