Royals Sign Goaltender Matt Skoff to ATO

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed goaltender Matt Skoff to an Amateur Tryout Agreement. In a separate transaction previously completed, goaltender Martin Ouellette was recalled from Reading to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League.

Skoff (6’1/191) (24), who recently completed his senior season at Penn State University, compiled a record of 8-5-3 with a 3.26 goals against average and a .902 save percentage in eighteen games with the Nittany Lions this past season. Skoff, who started the first game in PSU’s NCAA hockey history on October 12, 2012, recorded the school’s first win in Big-10 Hockey with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Michigan Wolverines on February 8, 2014. A three-time honoree as a Big-10 Star of the Week, Skoff was selected as the team’s Most Valuable Player in the 2013-14 season. In seventy-seven career games with PSU, Skoff went 32-32-7 with a 2.88 goals against average, a .909 save percentage, and three shutouts.

For Ouellette, a second year pro from Saint-Hippolyte, Quebec, this is his eighth recall of the season to Lehigh Valley. Oullette, who is riding a six game winning streak (and seven game unbeaten streak) for Reading, has compiled a record of 17-9-3-0 with a 2.07 goals against average (fifth best in the league), a .923 save percentage and four shutouts in thirty games with the Royals this season. Ouellette has appeared in three games for Lehigh Valley (0-2-0-0, 4.50, .877).

The Royals return to action on Wednesday (March 23 @ 7:00 pm) when the team will face the Kalamazoo Wings at Santander Arena in Reading. On Wednesday, the Royals will celebrate a ‘Wednesday Night Rivalry Game’ with over 250 t-shirts fired into the crowd to build the frenzy.  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; 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.