Game 34 Preview: Adirondack at Reading

Royals have won back-to-back games against Thunder

Reading, PA –  The Reading Royals (16-9-3-5, 40 pts., 3rd North), proud ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, return home to Santander Arena for a mid-week showdown against the division rival Adirondack Thunder (20-9-3-2, 45 pts., T-1st North) Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.Wednesday promotionsCollege Night - $5 tickets when tickets purchased with a valid college email at http://bit.ly/Jan9CollegePostgame player autographs, pres. by Rieck’s PrintingThe Royals are 2-2-0-1 against the Thunder this season and have won the last two matchups. The squads dual 12 times this season (five at Santander Arena). Reading seeks its first home victory of the season series.Reading last played Saturday at Manchester and denied the Monarchs for the first 54 minutes before allowing two goals and dropping in overtime, 2-1. Reading has points in two of its last three games (1-1-1-0).The Thunder travelled overnight from Glens Falls after scoring twice in the final three minutes to overcome a deficit and defeat the Monarchs, 3-2, Tuesday. Kevin Lough tied the game with 2:18 to go and Blake Thompson scored the game-winning goal 1:01 later.Reading embarks to Manchester and Worcester this weekend, starting with a game Friday at 7:00 p.m. vs. the Monarchs. On Sat., Jan. 12, the Royals and Railers battle at 7:05 p.m.Next home games The Royals host three home games next week, starting Wed., Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m. vs. Manchester with postgame player autographs, pres. by Rieck’s Printing.On Fri., Jan. 18 at 7:00 p.m., the Royals battle Brampton on Pucks ‘N Paws Night with the annual wiener dog races.Sat., Jan. 19 against Wheeling (7:00 p.m.) is a Family Four Pack game, Mascot Mania and Reading’s Pediatric Cancer Awareness game with a mini-THON dance party. Get four burgers, four sodas and four sodas for $48. The first 2,500 fans will receive a PA Lottery Voucher, pres., by the PA Lottery. Plus, enter for a chance to win a 2017 Toyota Camry, courtesy of AutoRide of Reading. After the game, join Royals players at the DoubleTree across the street for a party at Cheers! Restaurant.Listen to today’s game on the Mixlr App and Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals, with pregame coverage starting 15 minutes before puck drop.Roos continues hot pace Rookie Alex Roos has goals in four of his last five games after netting for the second straight game Saturday at Manchester. The native of Prairie Grove, IL has seven goals this season, all coming in the last month (11 pts., 10 GP).  Prior to the run, the 5-foot-9, 174-lb. winger had one assist in six games. He has shown a propensity for accuracy, scoring five goals on his first 15 shots. In total, he has seven goals on 29 attempts (24.1% shooting percentage).Last season, Roos scored three goals as a graduate transfer at the University of Michigan and the school qualified for the Frozen Four. The most goals he notched in a single season during his freshman campaign at Colorado College. Roos competed for three seasons at Colorado College before transferring.In games he has scored, Reading is 4-0-1-1.McCarthy and Luukko closing in on recordsChris McCarthy has 49 goals, one away from tying Matt Willows for 7th on Reading’s all-time list. If he scores five more goals, McCarthy will pass Ben Gordon, Brad Rooney and Andrew Sarauer and be fourth on Reading’s list for goals (54). Olivier Labelle is the Royals’ franchise leader (128), with Ryan Cruthers (86) and Yannick Tifu (84) next in line. McCarthy is one point away from tying Brad Rooney (139) for fifth on the team list.Nick Luukko ranks fourth in games played (235), needing ten more to tie Tifu. Additionally, the fourth-year native of West Chester, PA has scored 68 points, placing him fifth among blue liners. With six more points, Luukko will pass Reagan Rome for fourth in Royals history. Luukko needs 18 more points to tie Simon Tremblay (86) for the most points by a Royals defenseman.

Last two gamesReading’s last two games against the Thunder, both victories, have provided interesting, and differing, goaltending story lines that have helped shape Reading’s season.Two contests ago in Glens Falls on Nov. 24, a 2-1 win, goaltender Nick Niedert blocked a career-ECHL-high 38 shots and earned his first ECHL victory in 1,032 days to stymie the Thunder. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak vs. Adirondack.One week later, the Royals had netminder Callum Booth reassigned from Charlotte (AHL) by Carolina and he made 31 saves (1 GA) for a 3-1 victory. The win started a season-long seven-game winning streak for Reading.Including the Nov. 24 game, Reading is 10-4-1-1 over its last 16 games.Head-to-head numbers Through five games, Chris McCarthy tops active Royals with four points (1g) in the series. Alex Krushelnyski and Michael Huntebrinker, recalled to Lehigh Valley, each have two goals to lead Reading in the series.Huntebrinker, McCarthy and Schmidt scored in the last series matchup on Dec. 31 to drive Reading past Adirondack, 3-1.Callum Booth is 1-0-0-0 against Adirondack, the only active Reading netminder to play against the Thunder.Conor Riley has scored three goals against Reading and tops Thunder players in goals this season series. Mike Szmatula (2g, 5 pts.) and Dennis Kravchenko (2g, 4 pts.) are the top point scorers vs. Reading.Knotted upReading has won two straight games over the Thunder, giving Reading 21 wins and 21 losses all-time against Adirondack (21-16-2-3). The last three season series have been defined by back-and-forth runs. From the start of Dec. 23, 2016 to Dec. 30, 2017, the Royals went 13-2-1-1 vs. Adirondack. That included a seven-game winning streak vs. the Thunder. Since New Year's Eve last year, the Royals have dropped nine of 11 to Adirondack. The Thunder joined the ECHL at the start of the 2015-16 season. 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.