Game 14 Preview: Newfoundland at Reading

Royals host Growlers for exciting promotional weekend, including 3-D Jerseys

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (5-3-1-4, 15 pts., 3rd North), proud ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, start a back-to-back vs. the Newfoundland Growlers (11-5-0-0, 22 pts., 1st North) Friday at 7:00 p.m. Friday is Special Olympics Night. Tickets are available here.

The Royals have points in two of their last four games, dropping a shootout at Worcester, 3-2, Wednesday.

Reading and the Growlers have played once this season, with the Royals falling, 3-1, Oct. 24 at Santander Arena. Frank DiChiara netted Reading’s only strike. Including that meeting, the Growlers have won eight of ten. The squad has outscored opponents, 24-10, during a season-long six-game win streak. Brady Ferguson tops the league with 20 points and is in the top-five of goals (9) with teammate Giorgio Estephan.

On Sat., Nov. 17, the Royals rematch the Growlers for Reading’s Veterans Day Game, featuring hockey’s first-ever 3-D Jerseys, a rally towel giveaway to the first 2,500 fans (UGI Utilties) and a special national anthem by Sixers anthem singer Ron C. Brooks.

Listen to today’s game at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals, with coverage starting 15 minutes before puck drop.

Rare 4 shootout lossesThis is the first time in team history five of the Royals’ first 13 games have gone to the skills competition. Reading has dropped four of them after going 4-0 in shootouts last season.

Swavely destroys Worcester againSteven Swavely scored the tying goal with 53 seconds to go in the third period Wednesday at Worcester, giving him his second career multi-goal game. Both have been against the Railers. On Feb. 22, 2018, Swavely scored two goals vs. Worcester, scoring his second goal on a net-front pass by Mark Bennett with eight minutes left in the third in a 6-3 Royals win.

Swavely is the third Royals player to reach ten points this season, trailing Michael Huntebrinker and Alex Krushelnyski. He has four goals this campaign. Prior to his multi-goal outburst, he hadn’t scored since the fourth game of the season at Manchester.

He and older brother Jon are the only two Reading natives ever to play for the Royals. For his ECHL career, the third-year forward has registered 78 points (35g) in 91 career games.

First series matchup: Oct. 24In a first-place battle, Frank DiChiara scored the game’s first goal in the middle frame, but Newfoundland answered with two second-period strikes to outflank the Reading Royals, 3-1, Oct. 24.

The loss was Reading’s first in regulation.

Following DiChiara’s goal, Growlers forward Sam Babintsev and defenseman Anthony Cortese struck in the last half of the second. Giorgio Estephan netted an empty-net goal with 2:30 remaining.

Branden Komm blocked 26 shots (loss). It was his fifth straight start to begin the campaign.

Newfoundland’s Michael Garteig solved Reading with 26 saves for his third win. He made six denials in the third to keep the Growlers ahead.

Goaltender matchupMichael Garteig is the reigning CCM ECHL Goaltender of the Week and leads the ECHL’s best defensive squad (2.44 GA/gm). Garteig is coming off a career-best 44-save shutout performance vs. Manchester Oct. 10 to extend to a league-best eight wins. He went 3-0-0-0 last week and allowed three goals. He has won four straight starts and six of seven. For the season, the third-year netminder sits 8-4-0-0 with a 2.26 goals against average and .930 save percentage. He has made at least 40 saves in five ECHL games, winning three of them (3-0-2-0).

This is the second straight week the Royals are set to oppose the reigning Goaltender of the Week. Last week, the Royals played Adirondack’s Cam Johnson once and scored two goals in the final 1:58 of regulation to force overtime.

The Royals have Angus Redmond and Austin Lotz to back stop the squad. Redmond has helped Reading earn a point in two of four games (0-2-0-3, 11 GA in 5 GP). Lotz has yet to play a game this season and led Jacksonville with 19 victories and 42 games played last season. He is in his third professional season.

Back on track at homeThe Royals have dropped back-to-back regulation games at Santander Arena for the first time this season. Last season, Reading fell in regulation in consecutive contests twice.

By contrast, Reading’s 3-0-0-3 start on the road is reminiscent of the Royals’ history of road success. Reading has made the playoffs in nine straight seasons, averaging 20.1 road wins per campaign. Last season marked the first since 2009-10 the Royals have won fewer than 20 games on the road in a season, but the club still finished above .500 with a 15-14-7 mark.

All time, Reading is 302-248-67 away from Santander Arena.

Hockey’s first-ever 3-D jerseys

The Reading Royals and Athletic Knit partnered to create hockey’s first-ever three-dimensional jersey, which the Royals will wear on the Veterans Day Game Sat., Nov. 17 at Santander Arena. The jerseys are presented by Classic Harley Davidson and the Royals will hand out 3,500 3-D glasses at the game against Newfoundland leading up to 7:00 p.m. puck drop. Fans can bid on the jerseys by using the LiveSource App.

Most-notably, the jerseys have been covered on NHL on NBC Sports, ESPN’s Uni Watch, NHL Network and TSN.

Athletic Knit and the Royals teamed up to create the first-ever “Ugly Christmas Sweater” jerseys in 2013.

The Royals will also hand out rally towels (first 2,500 fans) at the Nov. 17 game, pres. by UGI Utilities.

Veteran’s Day Game with rally towel giveaway vs. Newfoundland: Nov. 17, 7:00 p.m.First 2,500 fans receive a rally towel, pres. by UGI Utilities. First 3,500 fans receive 3-D Glasses. First-ever 3-D jerseys. Double-amputee, Eagle Scout and Sixers anthem singer Ron C. Brooks will perform the Star Spangled Banner.

About the RoyalsThe Royals have been owned by serial entrepreneur Jack Gulati since 2014 and are entering their 18th ECHL season. Proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Reading plays in the Santander Arena, located in downtown Reading, PA at 700 Penn Street. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and are four-time division champions.

Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play.