Royals Blanked in Pre-Season Finale in Elmira, 6-0

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              0          0          0 =0

ELM:              1          3          2 =6

Pre-Season Records

REA: 0-2-0

ELM: 3-0-0

Goaltenders

REA: Ouellette (12/18)

ELM:  Parks (33/33)

Power Play:

REA: 0 - 3

ELM: 2 - 3

Elmira, NY – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 0-2-0) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Elmira Jackals (win, 3-0-0), 6-0, at First Arena in Elmira, New York, in the pre-season finale for the Royals.

The Royals outshot Elmira 33-18, but the Jackals struck on 33.3% of their shots, while Reading went for an 0-fer. Reading had any number of chances to break through on goaltender Tyler Parks, who made a number of quality saves, but it seemed every time Reading was thwarted, the Jackals would head in the other direction and capitalize.

The Jackals struck on their first power play chance of the night 10:11 into the first. With the referee’s arm up and poised to call a second penalty against the short-handed Royals, Elmira’s Todd Christian gained possession behind the net and carried out on the right side of the cage where the left-shot forward was able to tuck it under goaltender Martin Ouellette for his first of the pre-season.

Despite a flurry of fifteen second period shots by the Royals, it was the Jackals who would make the most of their chances in the middle frame, bagging three goals on just six shots. The first came on their first shot of the period 6:13 in on a snapper from between the hash-marks by Christian that beat Ouellette low blocker for his second of the game.

Elmira then counter-punched on one of the many chances that Reading had in the second period. This one came immediately after a two-on-one break between Mike Pereira and Alex Gogolev came up empty. The Jackals skated quickly up ice and Joel Wetmore had a chance in tight, which was rejected by Ouellette; but Zach Luczyk was right on the doorstep for a put-back rebound bid from the top of the crease for his third of the pre-season at 14:00.

Then late in the period, Reading generated another great chance on a redirect by Ian Watters of a Miles Liberati shot from the left point. But that effort went just wide, and Elmira’s Ryan Wilkinson went all the way the other way for a bar-down snapper from 35 feet to make it 4-0 with fifty-four seconds left in the period.

Elmira continued to make the most of their chances in the third. 11:10 in, Royals defenseman Derik Johnson misplayed a puck in the low slot directly to the stick of Luczyk, who buried a snapper behind Ouellette for his second of the night and fourth of the pre-season.

The Jackals stretched their lead to six with their second power play goal of the night, when the Royals penalty killers got caught standing around and a loose puck found defenseman Chris Joseph wide open and all alone deep on the left side. Joseph slid it behind Ouellette as he was scrambling across for his first of the pre-season.

Season Sixteen of “Hometown Hockey” kicks off for the Royals on Saturday, October 15, (7:00 pm) when the Elmira Jackals visit Santander Arena. Season Tickets and individual game tickets for the Royals’ 2016-17 ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

End 16 10-08