FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
The Royal Playoff Road Ahead
First Round Best of Seven Series Tied at One –
Shifts to Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario for Games Three, Four and Five
READING ROYALS @ BRAMPTON BEAST
Powerade Centre – Brampton, Ontario
Game Time 7:15 PM et – Royals Broadcast: 6:45 PM et
GAME THREE NORTH DIVISION SEMIFINAL BEST-OF-SEVEN FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF SERIES
Series Tied at One
Game One – Brampton @ Reading: Reading 2 – Brampton 1 (REA led series 1-0)
Game Two – Brampton @ Reading, Brampton 2 – Reading 1 (OT) (Series Tied 1-1)
Game Three – Reading @ Brampton, Tuesday, April 18 @ 7:15 pm et
Game Four – Reading @ Brampton, Thursday, April 20 @ 7:15 pm et
Game Five – Reading @ Brampton, Saturday, April 22 @ 8:30 pm et
Game Six – Brampton @ Reading, Monday, April 24 @ 7:00 pm et, if necessary
Game Seven – Brampton @ Reading, Tuesday, April 25 @ 7:00 pm et, if necessary
ROYALS BROADCAST
AUDIO: iHeartRadio – Rumba 1340 in Reading
TELEVISION: Royals’ Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania
on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15,
Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965
STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)
ROYALS PRE-GAME NOTES
• Tonight, the Royals take on the Brampton Beast in Game Three of the North Division Semifinal Best-of-Seven first
round playoff series at Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario.
o Tonight’s game will be the first ever ECHL post-season game played in Brampton. (This is the third season
in which the Beast have played in the ECHL; but Brampton did not qualify for the playoffs in the team’s
first two seasons in the league.)
o Reading and Brampton split the first two games of the series, which were played at Santander Arena in
Reading, Pennsylvania.
o The Royals took Game One on Thursday, April 14 (2-1); and the Beast bounced back to claim Game Two
on Saturday, April 17 (2-1 in overtime).
o Games Three (tonight), Four (Thursday, April 20), and Five (Saturday, April 22) will be played here at the
Powerade Centre; and if Games Six (Monday, April 24) and Seven (Tuesday, April 25) become necessary,
those will be played at Santander Arena in Reading.
• The Royals and Beast met up three times during the regular season—and two of those games were played here at
Powerade Centre.
o The two teams split the two games played in Brampton in the regular season with the Beast claiming a 7-6
win in overtime on Thursday, March 8, and the Royals bouncing back the next night to take the second
game in that two-game set, 6-2.
o Historically, Reading has played seven regular season games at Powerade Centre over the past three
seasons, compiling a record of 4-0-3-0 in those games.
• In Game Two of this playoff series on Saturday, the Royals scored first 2:32 into the game and the two teams
settled in for the next 53:42 with the Royals protecting a 1-0 lead. However, with 3:46 remaining in regulation
time, the Beast tied the game at one. After playing out regulation time in a 1-1 tie, the two teams went to the
first overtime session of the 2017 ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs, where the Beast prevailed 14:47 into the extra
session.
• Saturday’s OTL marked the thirteen game of the year in which Reading ended regulation time in a tie with the
opposition. During the regular season, the Royals went 6-6 in games that ended in a tie (3-2 on home ice; and 34 on the road).
o Nine of the twelve regular season games that ended in a tie for the Royals during the regular season were
resolved in the overtime session with Reading compiling a 5-4 record in those game (3-2 on home ice;
and 2-2 on the road).
o Saturday’s game, which was the 119th playoff game in Royals’ history (64-45-10) marked the twentysecond time in team history that Reading has played in a post-season game that has gone to overtime.
Reading has compiled a record of 12-10 in those games (7-4 on home ice; and 5-6 on the road).
Reading has not won an overtime game in playoffs since May 18, 2013 in Game One of the 2013
Kelly Cup Championship Finals when Nikita Kashirsky scored (from T.J. Syner and Yannick Tifu)
9:42 into the first overtime against the Stockton Thunder.
Since that time, Reading has lost five straight overtime decisions in playoffs. In addition to
Saturday’s OTL, the others are:
• 2-1 double-overtime loss to the Fort Wayne Komets in a decisive Game Five of the 2014
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (April 27, 2014);
• 2-1 double-overtime loss to the South Carolina Stingrays in Game One of the 2015 East
Division Semifinals (April 15, 2015);
• 2-1 triple-overtime loss to the Wheeling Nailers in Game Four of the 2016 Eastern
Conference Semifinals (May 5, 2016); and
• 4-3 overtime loss to the Nailers in a decisive Game Seven of the 2016 Eastern Conference
Semis (May 11, 2016).
• Saturday’s OTL marked the seventeenth time this year (sixteen of which came during the regular season) in which
the Royals held an in-game lead but failed to register the win.
o However, Saturday’s game marked only the second time this year in which the Royals led as the team
entered the third period but failed to claim the victory.
o The other game third period ‘blown-lead’ loss was a 3-2 overtime loss for the Royals to the Norfolk
Admirals on Friday, March 31, when Reading led 2-1 entering into the third period; but gave up a late
game-tying goal to the Admirals, who eventually won the game 24 seconds into the overtime session.
o During the regular season, Reading went 29-0-1-0 when the team led entering the third period. In Game
One of this series, Reading led 2-1 entering the third period and was able to hold off the Beast in the
final frame to secure the win.
• Thursday’s game marked the twelfth time this season that Reading’s offense has been held to one goal—eleven of
which came in the regular season (0-10-1-0).
• Reading was outshot in Game Two, 40-31, and has been outshot in the first two games of the series by a total of
84 – 67.
o The Royals were held to a series low three shots in the second period of Saturday’s overtime loss; and the
Beast outshot the Royals 12-5 in the overtime session.
• The Royals’ power play has yet to score on the Beast penalty kill, going 0 for 5 with the man advantage in
Saturday’s overtime loss and 0 for 8 so far in the series. During the three games played during the regular season
between the Royals and Beast, Reading scored just one PPG against Brampton in ten chances with the man
advantage.
• After getting touched up for a power play goal against in Thursday’s 2-1 win (1 for 2), Reading’s penalty killers
kept the Beast power play off the board on Saturday, killing off all five chances with the man advantage for
Brampton, which included 1:10 of four-on-three PP, which was immediately followed by fifteen seconds of fiveon-three.
• In the first two games of the series, there have been a total of six goals scored between the two teams. Each of
the three goals so far scored by Reading in the series has been registered by a different player: Robbie Czarnik,
Todd Perry, and Ryan Penny. Each of the three goals scored by the Beast have also been scored by a different
player: Connor Crisp, Tim Billingsley, and Jordan Henry.
• Ryan Penny, a second year pro who is playing his first professional playoff series, scored his first pro playoff goal
2:32 into Saturday’s game.
• Chris McCarthy, a third year pro who is playing in his first professional playoff series, is the only Royal so far in the
series to record more than one point, having assisted on the game winner in Thursday’s 2-1 win for the Royals
and recorded the lone assist on Reading’s only goal on Saturday .
• Defenseman Todd Perry, who scored the game winning goal in Thursday’s 2-1 win, played in his thirty-eighth
career post-season game as a Royal on Saturday (1g-6a=7pts, 56 pims). That puts Perry second all-time in the
playoff games played category for the Royals behind only Yannick Tifu (16g-20a=36pts), who played in forty-six
post season games in his career with Reading.
• Olivier Labelle, who is tied for third all-time in career playoff points for the Royals (14g-14a=28pts) (tied with
Nikita Kashirsky: 7g-21a=28pts in 34 games) and is the only player in team history to play in five separate playoff
seasons for Reading, played in his thirty-seventh post-season game for Reading (which is tied third-most with
Alex Berry) on Saturday.
• Goaltender Mark Dekanich made 38 saves in 74:17 of game time in Saturday’s overtime loss and has now made
stopped a total of 81 of the 84 shots he’s faced in the first two games of this series, which translates into a .964
save percentage—second best in playoffs. Dekanich’s 1.34 goals against average is third best.
ROYALS PLAYOFF TRANSACTIONS
04/10/17
Announce Playoff Roster: 21 Players (19 Skaters and 2 Goaltenders) (19 Active / 2 on ECHL Reserve) (3 Playoff Eligible)
04/12/17
Delete
Steven Swavely (f)
Recalled to Lehigh Valley (AHL)
04/13/17
Add
Ian Watters (f)
Activated from ECHL Reserve List
04/14/17
Delete
Martin Ouellette (g)
Recalled to Lehigh Valley (AHL)
04/15/17
Add
Evan Cowley (g)
Signed to Amateur Tryout Agreement
End 17 04-18