Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with forward Joe Rehkamp. The Royals have announced seven players as signed to ECHL Standard Players Contracts for the 2016-17 season. In addition to Rehkamp, Reading has announced the signing of forwards Justin Crandall, Olivier Labelle, Mike Pereira and Ian Watters and defensemen Derik Johnson and Mike Marcou.
Last season, Rehkamp (5’11/191) (25), who hails from Plymouth, Minnesota, scored four goals and assisted on nine others (thirteen points) and registered twenty-five penalty minutes in twenty-six total games with the Royals. Rehkamp began the year with Reading and registered ten points (3g-7a) in his first eighteen games with the team, earning in late November what proved to be a forty-one game call up to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, where he tacked on three points (1g-2a) and sixteen penalty minutes during his first career trip to the AHL. Rehkamp was returned to the Royals on March 21, 2016, and completed the regular season with Reading. He then finished the year by playing in thirteen of the Royals’ fourteen playoff games, scoring his first pro playoff goal and assisting on two others.
Rehkamp kicked off his pro career late in the 2014-15 season when he joined the Royals in early April of 2015 after the completion of his senior season at St. Cloud State University. In that stint, Rehkamp played three games with the Royals without registering any points and penalty minutes. Prior to joining Reading, Rehkamp put up career numbers at St. Cloud, registering nineteen points (5g-14a) and sixteen penalty minutes in thirty-eight games for the Huskies, who earned a berth in the NCAA tournament but were eliminated in the West Regional by the University of North Dakota. A two time All-NCHC Academic Award recipient, Rehkamp recorded thirty-one points (8g-23a) and forty-four penalty minutes in 116 career games at St. Cloud.
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.