Royals Agree to Terms with Defenseman Nick Luukko

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Nick Luukko. The Royals have announced nine players as signed to ECHL Standard Players Contracts for the 2016-17 season. In addition to Luukko, Reading has announced the signing of forwards Justin Crandall, Olivier Labelle, Mike Pelech, Mike Pereira, Joe Rehkamp and Ian Watters and defensemen Derik Johnson and Mike Marcou.

Luukko (6’2/191) (24), who hails from West Chester, Pennsylvania, signed an American Hockey League contract with the Flyers prior to the start of last season and was loaned by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to the Royals in early October. He proceed to rack up fourteen points (4g-10a) and twenty-two penalty minutes in sixty-five regular season games with Reading. Highlights for Luukko from last season included scoring his first goal as a pro—the lone goal for the team in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Adirondack Thunder on New Year’s Eve at the Glens Falls (NY) Civic Center. He also scored the game winner for Reading in a 4-1 victory for the Royals over the Thunder on February 13. Luukko closed out the year by playing a pair of post-season games (0g-0a) for the Royals in his first taste of playoffs at the professional level.

Luukko, a sixth round pick of the Flyers in 2010, kicked off his pro career late in the 2014-15 season when he joined Lehigh Valley for six games (0g-0a) after the conclusion of his senior season at the University of Vermont. In his final year of collegiate play, Luukko registered a career-best fourteen points (2g-12a) and fourteen penalty minutes in forty-one games with Catamounts. In four seasons at Vermont Luukko racked up thirty-five points (8g-27a) and seventy-two penalty minutes in 131 college games. Luukko’s father, Peter, is a former executive with Comcast-Spectacor in Philadelphia and is currently the executive chairman of the Florida Panthers of the NHL and Sunrise Sports & Entertainment.

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.