Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Justin Crandall

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 Justin Crandall. Crandall is the third player announced as signed by the Royals to an ECHL Standard Players Contract for the 2016-17 season, joining forwards Olivier Labelle and Ian Watters.

Last season, Crandall (5’11/189) (24), who hails from Lakeville, Minnesota, led the Royals with fifty-five points (17g-38a) in fifty-four regular season games with the team. His points total with Reading placed him fourth in the scoring race amongst first year pros in the ECHL. (His thirty-eight assists was second amongst rookies.) Crandall, who was selected as the team’s Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, also earned two separate call-ups to the American Hockey League, playing seven games with the Chicago Wolves (1g-1a=2pts) and two with the Albany Devils (0g-1a=1pt). Crandall, who led the Royals last season with nineteen power play points (7g-12a), finished the year by racking up eight points (3g-5a) in fourteen playoff games in the Royals’ 2016 post-season run.

Crandall actually first joined the Royals when he signed an Amateur Tryout Agreement late in the 2014-15 season after completing a stellar four year career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. That year, he played four games with the Royals and registered three points (1g-2a). Crandall closed out his collegiate career at UMD by racking up twenty-three points (13g-10a) in thirty-eight games, while serving as an alternate captain for the Bulldogs in his senior season. In 145 career games at UMD, Crandall recorded seventy-nine points (40g-39a) and 120 penalty minutes with the Bulldogs.

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.