FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
The Royal Playoff Road Ahead
Reading Squares Off With South Carolina Stingrays in Game Seven at North Charleston Coliseum Tonight
READING ROYALS @ SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS
North Charleston Coliseum – North Charleston, SC
Game Time 7:05 PM – Royals Broadcast: 6:35 PM
2015 EAST DIVISION SEMI-FINAL BEST-OF SEVEN
Series Tied at Three Games Apiece
@ SC (04-17-15)
SC 2 - REA 1 (Double OT)
GWG: F. Simonelli
REA: Knapp (OTL) (37/39)
@ SC (04-18-15)
GWG: J. Heywood
SC: Jakaitis (win) (34/35)
REA PP (0/3)
SC PP (2/6)
SC: Jakaitis (loss) (16/20)
REA PP (0/1)
SC PP (0/4)
SC: Jakaitis (win) (25/27)
REA PP (0/3)
SC PP (1/4)
SC: Jakaitis (loss) (23/27)
REA PP (1/5)
SC PP (1/7)
SC: Jakaitis (win) (24/27)
REA PP (1/6)
SC PP (0/1)
SC: Jakaitis (loss) (18/22) (37:06)
Witt (ND) (10/12) (22:54)
REA PP (1/6)
SC PP (0/1)
REA 4 - SC 2
REA: Knapp (Win) (33/35)
@ REA (04-23-15) SC 5 - REA 2
GWG: S. Dolan
REA: Knapp (loss) (22/26)
@ REA (04-25-15) REA 4 - SC 2
GWG: J. Heywood
REA: Knapp (win) (25/27)
@ REA (04-26-15) SC 4 - REA 3
GWG: D. DeBlois
REA: Knapp (loss) (36/40)
@ SC (04-28-15)
REA 6 - SC 1
GWG: A. Johnston
REA: Knapp (win) (18/19)
2015 EAST DIVISION SEMI-FINAL SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, April 17
@ South Carolina
(SC 2 – REA 1, 2ot)
Saturday, April 18 @ South Carolina
(REA 4 – SC 2)
Thursday, April 23 @ Reading
(SC 5 – REA 2)
Saturday, April 25 @ Reading
(REA 4 – SC 2)
Sunday, April 26
@ Reading
(SC 4 – REA 3)
Tuesday, April 28
@ South Carolina
(REA 6 – SC 1)
Wednesday, April 29 @ South Carolina
7:05 pm
2014-15 REGULAR SEASON RECORDS
Reading:
45 – 21 – 4 – 2 = 96 (3rd EAST)
Road Record:
South Carolina: 45 – 20 – 1 – 6 = 97 (2nd EAST)
Home Record:
24 – 8 – 4 – 0
20 – 11 – 1 – 4
2014-15 REGULAR SEASON HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS
2014-15 Head-to-Head Games (Three) (2 @ REA) (1 @ SC)
REA v SC: 2 – 1 – 0 – 0
@ REA (12-06-14)
GWG: W. Simpson
@ REA (12-07-14)
GWG: D. Marshall
SC: Jakaitis (win) (40/42)
REA PP (0/3)
SC PP (3/4)
SC: Anderson (loss) (22/24)
REA PP (0/7)
SC PP (0/3)
SC: Jakaitis (loss) (17/19)
REA PP (0/2)
SC PP (0/3)
REA 2 - SC 0
REA: Ouellette (win) (24/24)
@ SC (01-24-15)
GWG: I. Watters
SC 4 - REA 2
REA: Knapp (loss) (29/33)
REA 2 - SC 1
REA: Knapp (win) (38/39)
ROYALS BROADCAST
RADIO: CBS Sports Radio (WIOV – AM) 1240 am and 98.5 fm in Reading
TELEVISION: BCTV (Berks Community Television) in Berks County, PA
Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15,
Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965
INTERNET AUDIO: NeuLion via www.RoyalsHockey.com (headset icon) (free)
STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)
ROYALS PRE-GAME NOTES
• Tonight, the Royals and South Carolina Stingrays play a decisive Game Seven in their best-of-seven East
Division Semi-Final playoff series at North Charleston Coliseum.
• Reading and South Carolina split the first two games of the series played here in North Charleston with
the Stingrays winning Game One in double-overtime on April 17 (2-1). The Royals bounced back the
next night to tie the series at one game apiece with a 4-2 victory. The series then moved to Santander
Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, where South Carolina took two of the three games played, winning 5-2
on Thursday, April 23; before losing 4-2 on Saturday, April 25; and then taking Game Five on Sunday by
a score of 4-3.
• Last night, the Stingrays opened the scoring early in the second period; but the Royals responded by
ringing off six straight goals, five of which came in the second period—and three of which were power
play goals. The Royals then added a fourth power play goal in the third period to close out Game Six
with a 6-1 win.
• Reading’s victory last night ran the team’s record to 2-0-1 in the three games played in this series (and 30-1 in the season including regular season games) at North Charleston Coliseum. Historically, the
Royals have played eleven regular season games in North Charleston and have compiled a record of 27-1-1 in those games.
• Tonight’s game marks the 103rd playoff game in Royals’ team history. Reading has compiled an overall
record of 56-39-7 in the team’s ten trips to the post-season, going 28-17-2 on home ice and 28-22-5 in
the opposition’s rink.
• This is the twenty-first playoff series in the fourteen year history of the Royals, who have compiled a
record of 12-8 in the previous playoff series. This is the eleventh best-of-seven series for Reading. The
team has gone 6-4 in best-of-seven series.
• Tonight’s game is an elimination game for both teams. Reading has played in fifteen elimination games
in the team’s history (including last night’s game) and has compiled a record of 7-8-0 in those games.
The Royals are 2-4-0 when facing elimination in a best-of-seven series. In addition to last night’s
victory, the other win for the Royals in a best-of-seven elimination game came in Game Seven of the
2013 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Florida Everblades when both teams faced
elimination in a Game Seven won by the Royals.
• Last night’s win marked the first time in the fourteen year history of the Royals in which Reading staved
off elimination when the Royals were the lone team that could have been eliminated from a best-ofseven playoff series. Reading lost in the two other best-of-sevens in which the team faced those
circumstances: (i) Game Four of the 2011 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Kalamazoo Wings
(when the Royals trailed the series 3 games to 0); and (ii) Game Five of the 2014 Eastern Conference
Quarter-Finals against the Fort Wayne Komets (when the Royals trailed in the series 3 games to 1).
• The Royals have played in eight ‘penultimate’ playoff series games, i.e. Game Five in a best-of-five or
Game Seven in a best-of-seven, including one ‘Wild-Card Play-In Game’ on April 5, 2004 against the
Johnstown Chiefs (which Reading won). Reading has compiled an historical record of 4-4-0 in those
‘penultimate’ playoff games.
• Reading has played in three previous Game Sevens and has gone 1-2-0 in those games: (i) a 6-1 loss to
the Cincinnati Cyclones in the 2008 North Division Finals; (ii) a 1-0 loss to Cincinnati in the 2010
American Conference Finals; and (iii) a 4-1 win over the Florida Everblades in the 2013 Eastern
Conference Semi-Finals.
• Last night’s win marked the second come-back victory in this series for the Royals, who also came from
behind to win Game Four at Santander Arena.
• In the last four games of this playoff series, the team that scored the game’s first goal has lost. In Game
Three, Reading scored first and fell 5-2; in Game Four, South Carolina scored first and lost 4-2; in Game
Five, the Royals scored first and lost 4-3; and last night in Game Six, the Stingrays scored first and lost
6-1.
• Last night’s game marked the first time in a span of fifteen games (regular season and playoffs) that the
Royals scored six or more goals, dating back to an 8-3 win over the Brampton Beast on March 22. Over
the course of the regular season, Reading scored six or more goals ten times and went 9-1-0-0 in those
games.
• The five goals scored by Reading in the second period last night was a season high. The team scored four
in a single period twice during the regular season: (i) in the third period of a 4-3 win over the Indy Fuel
on November 22, 2014; and (ii) in the second period of a 5-3 win over the Florida Everblades on
February 7.
• The 6-1 win last night marked the first time in this series that the Royals held the Stingrays to one goal or
less. In the regular season, Reading held the opposition to one goal or less eighteen times (18-0-0-0).
• Last night’s game marked the first time in this series that Reading out-shot the Stingrays with Reading
generating 34 shots on goal and holding South Carolina to 19.
• Reading scored four power play goals on six opportunities with the man advantage in Game Six last
night. The Royals scored a season-best four PPGs twice this season: (i) in a 6-3 win in Gwinnet against
the Gladiators on January 25; (ii) in a 7-3 win over the Elmira Jackals at First Arena on February 14.
• The Royals, who went 444:46 of game time (and twenty-three consecutive power play chances) without
scoring a PPG against South Carolina, have now scored a power play goal in each of the last three
games against the Stingrays, going six for the last thirteen power play chances against South Carolina.
• Reading’s PK held the Stingrays’ power play off the board for the second straight game last night and
have killed nine power play chances in a row over the last three games against South Carolina.
• Five different players registered multi-point performances in last night’s win for Reading: (i) Cam Reid
(2g-0a); (ii) Adam Comrie (2g-0a); (iii) Mike Marcou (0g-2a); (iv) Brett Flemming (0g-2a); and (v) Ryan
Cruthers (0g-2a).
• David Marshall, who scored the Royals’ sixth goal last night, is riding a six game point streak (4g3a=7pts). He is tied for eighth in the ECHL playoff scoring race.
• Mike Marcou extended his point streak to four games (2g-3a) with his two-assist performance last night.
Marcou is tied for fourth amongst defensemen in playoff scoring.
• Jordan Heywood leads all rookie defensemen with six points (3g-3a). He has had a point in three straight
games (1g-3a).
• Cam Reid, who has recorded a pair of multi-point games in this series, has six points (3g-3a) in four
playoff games.
• Andrew Johnston scored his first pro playoff goal in last night’s game and it proved to be the game
winner.
• Goaltender Connor Knapp pushed his record to 3-2-1 in this playoff series with the 6-1 win last night.
Knapp’s 2.34 goals against average is eighth best in the league. He has stopped 173 of the 188 shots
he’s faced in the first round series for a .920 win percentage. In his career, Knapp has compiled a
record of 4-5-1 in ten ECHL playoff games.
End 15 04-29