Royals Agree to Terms with Defenseman Mike Marcou

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, today announced that the Royals have agreed to terms with defenseman Mike Marcou. Marcou is the fourth player announced as signed by the Royals to an ECHL Standard Players Contract for the 2016-17 season, joining forwards Justin Crandall, Olivier Labelle and Ian Watters.

This marks the third stint in Reading for Marcou (5’10/177) (26), who hails from Kings Park, New York. Last season, Marcou began the year with the Graz 99ers in Austria, where he recorded six assists and sixteen penalty minutes in twenty-two games prior to returning to North America in mid-December when he was signed to a two-way American Hockey League deal by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was then loaned by the Phantoms to the Royals, where he registered nineteen points (4g-15a) and seventeen penalty minutes in forty-seven regular season games, which placed him fourth amongst defensemen on the team in scoring. His eleven power play assists and 125 total shots on goal led all d-men on the squad. Marcou, who served as an alternate captain for the Royals last season and earned the team's "Heart Award," completed the year by registering five points (3g-2a) in the fourteen post-season games played by the Royals.

In his first stint with the Royals (2014-15), Marcou led all defensemen on the team with a career personal high thirty-five points (6g-29a) in sixty-four games, which placed him tied for twenty-first amongst defensemen in league scoring. That year, Marcou also led all d-men on the Royals with eighteen power play points (2g-16a). His sixteen power play assists tied for the team lead and was fourth most amongst defensemen in the league. Marcou’s 137 shots on goal also led all defensemen on the Royals. In the seven playoff games played by Reading against the South Carolina Stingrays in the 2015 East Division Semi-Finals, Marcou generated five points (2g-3a) and two penalty minutes.

Marcou, who will be entering his fifth season of pro, has led the defensemen on his team in scoring three times, including 2013-14, when he racked up twenty-nine points (8g-21a) in sixty-five regular season games with the Greenville (then-) Road Warriors of the ECHL. Marcou, who was signed to an AHL deal that year by the Hartford Wolf Pack, also played two games for Hartford without registering any points or penalty minutes. Marcou added five-points (1g-4a) in eighteen post-season games for the Road Warriors, who advanced all the way to the ECHL’s 2014 Eastern Conference Finals before being eliminated by the Cincinnati Cyclones.

In his rookie season, 2012-13, Marcou led Greenville defensemen with twenty-five points (6g-19a) in fifty-four games for the Road Warriors. In January of that season, Marcou was selected to represent Greenville at the 2013 ECHL All-Star Classic in Loveland, Colorado, on a team that was led by the Royals’ Head Coach Larry Courville. That year, Marcou also logged a pair of AHL games with the San Antonio Rampage. In playoffs that year, Marcou played one post-season game in the Road Warriors’ Eastern Conference Quarterfinal first round series against Reading, which the eventual Kelly Cup Champion Royals won four games to one.

In 258 career pro games, Marcou has registered 114 points (24g-90a) and one-hundred and seven penalty minutes. In forty career pro post-season games, he has fifty points (6g-9a) and twenty-four penalty minutes.

Prior to turning pro, Marcou played four seasons at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. In his sophomore season, he was selected as the team’s co-Most Improved Player, and in his final year with the Minutemen, Marcou was second in scoring amongst defensemen on the team with twenty-one points (6g-15a) in thirty-four games. In 117 games for UMass-Amherst, Marcou recorded forty-three points (17g-26a) and seventy-seven penalty minutes.

Season Tickets for the 2016-17 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.