Royals fall, 4-2, at Adirondack

Glens Falls, NY – The Reading Royals received goals from Alex Roos and Tyler Bird in a 4-2 loss to the Adirondack Thunder Friday at Cool Insuring Arena. The Thunder scored four times in the third period, including a pair of short-handed goals, and Mike Szmatula buried the game-winning strike with 2:15 left.Reading’s Alex Roos scored first with helpers from Chris McCarthy and Frank DiChiara to give Reading a 1-0 lead. Tyler Bird scored his first professional goal in the second period to provide insurance, 2-0.Callum Booth faced 22 shots and allowed three goals in defeat.Alex Sakellaropoulos won with 17 denials (2 GA).The Royals return home for a back-to-back against Manchester starting Sat., Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m.  Box ScoreRoos’ ninth of the season provided Reading the first goal. DiChiara stole the puck and nicked the it to McCarthy at the left circle. He darted low left dot and shoveled it to Roos, who quickly unleashed a top shelf goal with 7:19 to go in the first.Shots were 6-4 in Adirondack’s favor after one. In the second, Reading out shot the Thunder, 9-7, and scored at :31 of the second. Bird redirected a right-point shot from Frank Hora. The rookie Bird scored seven times as a senior at Brown last season.With the Royals on a five-minute major power play after a match penalty from Matias Cleland, the Thunder rose and scored twice. First Brian Ward scored at :23 of the third with a short-side snap shot. Next, Desmond Bergin tied the game at 2:48. The Royals killed off a five-on-three Thunder man-up chance early in the third after the tying goal. Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.Szmatula scored the game-winning goal, assisted by James Henry. Szmatula deked to the bottom of the left circle and slid the puck past Booth. Cullen Bradshaw put it away with an empty-net goal one minute later. Next Home GamesSat., Feb. 2, 7:00 p.m. vs. Manchester: MARVEL Super Hero Night and Diamond Credit Union Wall of Honor Night. The Royals will wear Black Panther jerseys and honor broadcasters Mark Thompson and Pat Richards. The team will give away Thompson/Richards puck to the first 2,000 fans.Sun., Feb. 3, 2:00 p.m. vs. Manchester: Family Four Pack (4 burgers, 4 sodas and 4 tickets for $48).About the RoyalsThe Royals are in their 18th ECHL season and 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.