Royals Falter in Morning Matchup in Manchester, 4-1

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              0          1          0=1

MAN:             1          3          0=4

Records

REA: 6-7-0-1 = 13 (t-4, North Division)

MAN: 8-4-1-0 = 17 (1-1, North Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Dekanich (Loss, 3-5-0-1) (33/37) (55:41)

MAN:  Brittain (Win, 5-1-0-0) (23/24)

Power Play:

REA: 0 – 5

MAN: 1 – 3

Manchester, NH – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 6-7-0-1 = 13) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Manchester Monarchs (win, 8-4-0-1 = 17), 4-1, at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

In the team’s lone morning game of the season, Reading appeared to score first but that was disallowed as kicked in, and Manchester responded by running off four straight, including three in a span of 3:32 in the second period to send the Royals spinning. Reading did break through late in the second, but couldn’t get any closer, as the morning legs when combined with a stingy Manchester defense served to keep the team at bay and extend the Royals current losing streak to five.

It appeared that Reading had scored first 12:35 into the opening frame while working on the team’s second power play. A shot from the right point was partially deflected on the way towards the Monarchs’ net and trickled to the left side of the crease where it appeared that Justin Crandall redirected the puck with his skate to the stick blade and in; but the officials ruled that the puck was kicked directly into the net and waived it off.

The Monarchs struck 16:04 into the first when Justin Agosta fired a shot off the right half-wall that was rejected by goaltender Mark Dekanich; however the rebound fell out in front of the goaltender, and Manchester’s Kevin Morris was able to punch it back under and through Dekanich as he was falling backwards to the ice for his first of the year.

Relatively early in the second, the Monarchs rang off three straight. The first came 4:06 in when a shot taken by defenseman Michael Boivin from the right point was blocked by Joey Diamond, who quickly turned it into a break up ice for the Monarchs. Diamond led out Derek Arnold who carried deep into the Reading zone before slipping a cross-ice pass to Agosta, who had joined the rush on the weak side, for an easy tap-in and his fourth of the season.

Manchester took a 3-0 lead 2:08 later on their second power play chance of the night when Daniel Doremus slipped a diagonal-up cross-ice feed from deep on the left side to Teddy Doherty who came hard down the weak side for the back-door tap-in and his second in as many games against the Royals.

The Monarchs stretched the lead to 4-0 1:24 after that when another blocked shot—this one from the right point by defenseman Mike Marcou—turned into a breakaway when Daniel Ciampini sprang Cory Ward through the neutral zone and into the offensive end. Ward didn’t waste the chance, burying his snapper low to the glove side for his sixth of the year.

Reading finally broke through with 1:03 remaining in the second, when Olivier Labelle powered his way off the left half-wall, breaking below the Monarchs’ defenders and ultimately slipping a pass back up into the middle where Justin Crandall joined for a quick snapper from the low slot that slipped under and through goaltender Sam Brittain for his first of the season.

But that would be it on this morning for the Royals, who simply could not penetrate the defense of the Monarchs who won for the third time in three tries over Reading.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18 (@ 7:00 PM PM)

@ MANCHESTER MONARCHS

SNHU ARENA – MANCHESTER, NH

ROYALS BROADCAST

AUDIO: iHeartRadio – Rumba 1340 in Reading

TELEVISION: Royals’ Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania

on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15,

Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965

Courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations

STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)

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