Royals head into holiday break with 4-1 loss at Railers

Worcester, MA - The Reading Royals took four out of six points on the weekend and dropped at the Worcester Railers, 4-1, Sunday at the DCU Center. The Railers scored two empty-netters in the final 2:01 to ice it.Reading’s Marly Quince scored at 3:14 of the third, his second in Reading, to make it a 2-1 game, but Ian Milosz won his first professional start with 31 denials. It was his first start since his freshman season at Boston College.Kirill Ustimenko faced 27 shots and stopped 25 in defeat.Worcester’s Nic Pierog scored one of the empty-net strikes and tallied a short-handed goal with 3:52 to go in the opening frame. Worcester took a 1-0 lead into first intermission. Jordan Samuels-Thomas assisted, hitting it off Ustimenko’s pads before Pierog swept it in net front. It was the first short-handed goal Reading has surrendered this season.The Royals attempted 12 on net in the second but were stonewalled; on the other side, Drew Callin slammed a right-post rebound-door step rebound by Ustimenko, assisted by Jack Stander with 6:06 remaining in period two.Reading continues the four-game road trip in 12 days, returning from the ECHL Holiday Break with a 3-in-3 at Maine, Adirondack and Brampton. The next Royals home game is Tues., Dec. 31 at 4:00 p.m. vs. Maine and the Royals will give away a 2019 Jeep Compass Limited to one lucky fan, courtesy of Savage Auto Group, if a Royals player registers a hat trick.Box ScoreComeback weekend, except for Sunday The Royals erased deficits for wins on Friday and Saturday vs. Brampton, but were unable to do it for a third straight day. Reading trailed, 2-1, early in the second Friday and scored four unanswered to rally and win. On Saturday, the Royals erased a pair of deficits; down 2-0 and 4-3, quick goals in the first and third helped Reading take leads. Garrett Mitchell scored the game-winning goal Saturday.Reading has five come-from-behind wins this season.Holiday breakThe Royals start their longest holiday break ever and are the first North Division team off. Newfoundland (36 points) plays twice this week before going on break.  Reading is 8-3-0-0 the last 11 games they’ve played before a holiday break.Single-game tickets and mini-plans are on sale by visiting royalshockey.com/promotions, calling 610-898-7825 and visiting Santander Arena and The Weidenhammer Box Office at 700 Penn Street, Reading, PA.About the RoyalsThe Royals are in their 19th ECHL season and are proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs 14 times, and are four-time division champions. The Berks County Convention Center Authority (BCCCA), founded in 1996, owns the Royals and oversees operations at Santander Arena and the Santander Arena Performing Arts Center.Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play. All Royals away games are broadcasted on BCTV (Ch. 15 Comcast, Ch. 19 Service Electric) and Mixlr.