Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Derek Whitmore

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 forward Derek Whitmore. He becomes the tenth player announced as signed by the Royals to a standard player’s contract for the 2017-18 season.

In addition to Whitmore, Reading has also announced the signings of Chase Golighty (d), Michael Huntebrinker (f), Nick Luukko (d), Mark Naclerio (f), Ryan Penny (f), Emil Romig (f), Matt Salhany (f), Adam Schmidt (f) and Matt Wilkins (f).

Whitmore (5’11/191) (32), who hails from Rochester, New York, will be entering his tenth season of professional play. Last year, he registered fifteen points (6g-9a) and four penalty minutes with the Straubing Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany. That marked Whitmore’s third consecutive season in elite European leagues after spending the bulk of his first six pro seasons in the American Hockey League. A veteran of some 505 total regular season pro games, Whitmore has registered 172 career points (95g-77a) and 107 penalty minutes in 369 regular season AHL games with the Rochester Americans, Portland Pirates, St. John’s IceCaps, Hershey Bears and Adirondack Phantoms. Whitmore, who signed an entry level contract with the Buffalo Sabres in 2008, has also played in two NHL games, making his big league debut on December 20, 2011, for the Sabres against the Ottawa Senators. That same season, Whitmore served as alternate captain for Rochester and had his most productive career goal-scoring season racking up twenty-eight goals in seventy-five games for the Americans. The year prior, 2010-11, he notched a career high forty-seven points (27g-20a) in eighty games for the Portland Pirates, who advanced to the Atlantic Division Finals before getting knocked off by the eventual 2011 Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators.

Prior to turning pro, Whitmore had an outstanding collegiate career at Bowling Green State University, where he was twice named the school’s Most Valuable Player. In his junior season, he led the Falcons with nineteen goals in thirty-eight games and, in addition to being selected as the team’s MVP, was bestowed with the Dr. Ron Zwierlein Leadership Award. He followed that up with an explosive senior season, during which he served as a team captain. That year, Whitmore struck for a team-leading twenty-seven goals in thirty-eight games and earned a selection to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s All-Second Team. In 143 total games at BGSU, Whitmore recorded 102 points (70g-32a) and 84 penalty minutes.

Full Season Tickets and Mini-Plans for the Royals’ 2017-18 ECHL season are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.