NOTES OF THE WEEK 1. The Royals swept the four game North Division road trip this pastweek: (i) tying a season high by racking up eight goals against the FortWayne Komets in the team’s first trip ever to Allen County WarMemorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, onWednesday (March 20); (ii)winning for the second time in two tries at the Ford Center in EVansville, Indiana on March 22; (iii) defeating the Toledo Walleye for the first time this season at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, on March 23; and (iv) racking up the team’s fifth shutout of the year in Toledo on March 24 to extend the team’s win streak to eight (8-0-0-0)-and the team’s road win streak to six (6-0-0-0).
2. Reading has won the team’s last eight consecutive games. It’s the third time this season that the Royals have won eight or more in a row this year. Reading set a team record with eleven consecutive wins (11/02 -11/26/12) earlier this season.
3.The Royals have compiled a record of 9-1-0-0 in the last tengames; 11-2-0-0 in the last 13; 12-4-0-0 in the last sixteen;and 45-13-3-2 over the last 63 games since starting the season with a team record worst 1-5-1-0.
4. The Royals completed the road portion of the regular season on March 24 in Toledo on a six game road winning strea. Overall, Reading went 20-11-3-2 on the road this season, marking the third consecutive season – and the fourth time in the 12-year history of the team – that the Royals have won 20 or more road games.
5. Wednesday’s victory in Fort Wayne served to clinch the Atlantic Division title for the Royals. This is the third regular season divisional title for Reading, joining the 2004-05 team (North Division) and the 2010-11 team (44-23-5=93).
6. Friday’s victory in Evansville served to push
the Royals’ point total in the standings to 94 for the first time in team history. The previous team high water mark of 93 points in thestandings was established in 2004-05 (43-22-7=93) and 2010-11 (44-23-5=93).
7.Saturday’s win in Toledo established a newteam record for regular season wins for theRoyals at 45, surpassing the previous teamrecord of 44 wins in 2010-11.
8.Saturday’s victory also served to clinch the Eastern Conference title for the Royals. This marks the first time in team history that the Royals have won a regular season conference title in the 12-year history of the team.
9. After Sunday’s win in Toledo, the Royals’ pushed the team’s record to 28 games over .500 (46-18-3-3=98), which establishesthe high water mark with respectto .500 in the twelve year history of the team.
10. The Royals completed the regular season portion of the schedule against teams from the North Division this past week. The fourwins against North Division opponents thispast week pushed the Royals record to 12-3-0-0 in the 15 games against the North. (Reading went 10-2-0-0 against the South; 2-0-0-0 against the Pacific; and is currently 22-13-3-3 against the Atlantic -with two moregames to go inside the division.)
MORE NOTES OF THE WEEK 1. The Royals scored six first period goals against the Fort Wayne Komets (on ten total shots) last Wednesday. That marked the first time in team history that the Royals have scored six goals in a single period. The team has racked up five (or more) goals in a single period on five times in teamhistory-three of which have come this season. (The others this year were: a five goal third in Evansville on November 18, 2012; and a five goalthird in Orlando on March 2, 2013).
2. The eight goals scored by Reading on March 20 tied the team high for this season; and the six goal margin of victory also tied the team’s high water mark with respect to goal differential.
3. Wednesdays’ (March 20) game marked the fifth time this season that Reading has scored seven or more goals in a single game-and three ofthose games came in a span of eight contests from March 2through March 20. Reading has compiled a record of 28-1-0-1 in the 30 games in which the team has scored four or more goals.
4. Reading has scored 240 goals in seventy games this year, which is an average of 3.43 goals per game (fifth best in the league).
5.Despite being outshot in only twenty-one of the 70 gamesplayed so far this season, the opponent has had more shots thanthe Royals in five of the last six games. Fortunately, Reading has hadconsiderable success in games in which the team has been outshot,compiling a record of 16-3-2-0 (10-0-0-0 at home; and 6-3-2-0 on
the road) in those games. 6. The only game in the last six that Reading has outshot the opponentwas Saturday’s 3-1 win in Toledo, when Reading held the opposition to just 16 shots. That night the Royals held the Walleye to just two shots in the first period, marking the third time this year that Reading has held the opponent to two shots in a single period,which is the season low.
7. Despite the recent tendency to give more shots than the team gets, Reading is still second in the league with repect to shots against, averaging 26.76 shots allowed this year.
8. Reading’s power play struck pay-dirt in three of the four gamesplayed this week, including going three-for-three in the first period against Fort Wayne last Wednesday. That game marked the 13th time thisseason that the Royals’ power play has struck for more than one goal in a game- and the fifth time the team PP has bagged three or more.
9. The power play also struck for one goal in each of the two games played against Toledo this weekend-and those power play goals proved to bethe game winner in each of those games.
10. Over the past 13 games, the Royals’ PP has socred at least once in eight of those games, going 16-for-53 in that time span, which translates into a 30.2% scoring ratio. Overall, Reading is scoring power play goals at a 17.8% clip (55-for-309) (13th in the league). However, the Royals’ power play has performed considerably better on the road (20.4%) than at home (15.4%).
11. Toledo’s power play touched the Royals up for their only goal in Saturday’s 3-1 win for Reading. Thatsnapped a streak of eight games (and 27 straight power play chances for the opposition) in which the Royals did not allow a PPG. Over the last 12 games, the Royals’ PK has knocked off 40 of 42 chances with the man advantage, which is a 95.2% kill ratio.
12. Overall this season, Reading has killed penalties at an 84.4% clip (44 PPGA in 262) which is tied for fourth best in the league. The Royals PK has performed considerably better at home (88.9% kill ratio) than on the roadl (80.3%).
13. Yannick Tifu is riding a five game point streak (3g-5a=8pts). In his last 23 games, Tifu has 28 points (11g-17a). This past week he recorded multi-point games in three of the four played for the Royals and now leads the team with 22 multi-point games this year. His goals last week included his fifth game-winner of the year (in Toledo March 23). Tifu, who leads players on the active roster in plus minus (+19) and shots on goal (182), also leads the team in goals (27), assists (44) and points (71) in 70 games played. He is tied for fifth in the league in scoring. This marks the fourth time – and the last three consecutive – in Tifu’s eight year pro career that he has had seventy or more points. In 122career regular season games with the Royals, Tifu now has 130 points (47g-83a), which places him tied (with Olivier Labelle and Andrew Sarauer)for fourth all-time in the Royals’ career scoring list. In Tifu’s last 23 games played for the Royals in the month of March (the last 12 inMarch during the 2011-12 season and the first eleven this year), he has recorded 30 points (15g-15a).
14. David Vallorani racked up his third multi-goal game of the year – and his 16th multi-point performance of the season-when he scored theteam’s first (his first ‘FG’ as a pro) and third goals in the 3-1 win in Evansville on Friday. That game extended his personal point streak to a careerhigh seven games (4g-7a), which was snapped in Toledo March 23. Vallorani has 58 points (17g-41a) in sixty-six games with Reading,which places him second amongst first year pros in the league in scoring. His 41 assists leads all rookies.
15. Joel Champagne recorded his 10th multi-point game of the year (and fifth game of the season with three or more points) in Fort Wayne on March 20 (2g-1a). His first goal that night proved to be his third game winner of the year.
MORE NOTES OF THE WEEK 1. Stan Galiev is riding a five game point streak (4g-3a=7pts). Two of his three goals this past week were scored on the power play, and he nowleads all first year pros (and the Royals) with 14 PPGs. He also leads the Royals and is second amongst first year pros with 23 PPpoints (14g-9a). Two of Galiev’s goals this past week (in Evansville on Friday and Toledo on Saturday) proved to be game winners. He leads the Royals (and is tied for the lead amongst first year pros – and is tied for third overall in the league) with eight GWGs. In 44 games with the Royals,Galiev has 45 points (21g-24a), which places him ninth in rookie scoring. Galiev’s 168 shots is third best amongst first year pros in the ECHL.
2. Nikita Kashirsky had a pair of multi-point games this past week, which included a four point performance (1g-3a) in Fort Wayne onWednesdaywith all of his points coming in the first period of that game. Kashirsky racked up a three point game to extend his personal point streak to four games (3g-6a=9pts) on March 23 in Toledo. He scored his sixth ‘first goal’ (FG) of the year (tied with Yannick Tifu for the team lead in that category)that night. Kashirsky has 39 points (17g-22a) in his last 32 games.
3. Kirk McDonald returned to the Royals on March 24 in Toledo after being loaned to the Houston Aeros of the AHL on March 20. MacDonald promptly engaged in his fifth fight of the season for Reading (against Toledo’s Joey Ryan) and scored an empty-netter with 3.1 seconds left to ice the game and extend his personal point streat to four games (2g-3as=5pts). MacDonald has 17 points (6g-11a=17pts) in his last 17 games with Reading.
4. Barry Almeida was loaned to the Royals by Hershey on March 20 and promptly recorded his second multi-goal game as a Royal when hescored a pair in Fort Wayne that night. His goals against the Komets included his first short-handed goal as a pro-and the sixth SHG of the seasonfor Reading. Almeida, who also assisted on the Royals first goal in Evansville on Friday, has 22 points (9g-13a) in twenty-five games withthe Royals.
5. Defenseman Mark Mitera assisted on the Royals’ game winninggoal on Saturday night in Toledo. He has nine assists and has playedto a plus-10 (+10) in 11 games in March. Mitera is the leading scoring defenseman on the Royals’ active roster with 16 points (2g-14a) in 33 games.
6. Alex Berry returned to the Royals line-up on Saturday in Toledo after missing 14 games to injury (dating to Feb. 16) and promptly engaged in his sixth fight of the season when he took on Toledo’s Joey Ryan in a tilt. Berry has 15 points (6g-9a) and 56 penalty minutes in 27 games with the Royals.
7. Dustin Stevenson returned to Reading’s line-up on Friday in Evansville after missing two games to injury. He played to a plus one in that game. Stevenson, who leads players on the active roster with 101 penalty minutes, is second amongst defenseman on the team in
plus-minus, playing to a plus-15 (+15) in 64 games.
8. Bryant Molle played to a plus-four (+4) in the games the team played this past week. He has played to even or better in 10 of the last 11 games the Royals have played in the month of March, playingto a plus-6 collectively in that time span. Molle leads all active defensemen on the Royals’ roster, playing to a plus 18 in 52 games with Reading.
9. Danick Paquette recorded his third multi-point game of the year (and first three point performance) for Reading in Fort Wayne on Wednesday(1g-2a). Both Danick Paquette’s goals for Reading this season (2g-5a=7pts in 18 games) have been scored on the power play.
10. Brock Shelgren bagged his first multi-point game as a pro when he recorded a pair of assists in Wednesday’s win in Fort Wayne.
11. David Civitarese assisted on the Royals’ short-handed goal against the Komets on Wednesday. That broke a five game pointless drought andwas his fourth assist of the season.
12. Dominic Jaulbert has recorded an assist in three of his last four games with the Royals, picking up helpers on the game winner in Fort Wayne on March 20 (by Joel Champagne) and the game winner in Toledo on March 24 (by Stan Galiev). Jaulbert is playing to a plus-6 (+6) in nine games withthe Royals.
13. Bobby Shea, playing in his second pro game on Saturday in Toledo, engaged in his first pro fight when he took on Stephon Thorne of the ToledoWalleye.
14. Chris Saracino made his pro debut with the Royals this past week and played to a plus-1 (+1) in three games with the Royals.
