Royals Open Regular Season against Growlers in St.John’s
October 21, 2022 – ECHL (ECHL) – Reading Royals News Release
Reading, PA – The Reading Royals, proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, open the regular season against the Newfoundland Growlers on Friday, October 21 at 5:30 p.m. EST at the Mary Brown’s Centre. Today is the first of three-straight games in St.John’s, Newfoundland between both teams. The Royals and Growlers face off at 5:30 p.m. EST Saturday and then close out the series at 2:30 p.m. EST Sunday.
James Henry talks with Erik Jesberger before the Royals season opener against the Newfoundland Growlers on October 21, 2022.
The Royals hold a 9-8-3-0 record all-time in season openers. Against the Growlers in the 2019-20 season opener series in Newfoundland, Reading won the first game, 6-5, before dropping the second game in overtime, 3-2, and the third game in regulation, 7-3.
Reading fell to Newfoundland in their last meeting, 4-2, in Game 7 of the North Division Final series on Monday, May 16. Five players on the Royals current roster competed in the seven-game series against the Growlers. Goaltender Pat Nagle, and defensemen Dominic Cormier, Garrett McFadden and Mason Millman played the entirety of the series. Defensemen Mike Chen appeared in six of the seven games.
The Royals finished the 2022 preseason 0-2 for the first time since the 2016 preseason against the Elmira Jackals. Reading fell in the preseason opener to the Adirondack Thunder in game one, 4-1, at Cool Insuring Arena on Friday, October 14. The Royals and Thunder faced off again in the preseason finale on Saturday, October 15 at Santander Arena where Reading fell to Adirondack, 3-1. Forwards Shane Sellar and Kamerin Nault scored Reading’s goals in games one and two respectively. Goaltenders Justin Kapelmaster and Nolan Maier split the preseason games in net. Kaplemaster stopped 31 of 33 shots faced in game one while Maier saved 19 of 21 shots faced in game two.
The Royals scored on one of fifteen total power play opportunities while the penalty kill unit killed off seven of Reading’s nine penalties across both preseason games.
In the 2021-22 regular season, the Royals finished as the first place in the North Division with a 45-17-7-2 record and a .697 point percentage. Newfoundland finished second in the North Division and the Eastern Conference, behind Reading in both standings. The Growlers posted a 42-20-4-1 record and a .664 point percentage in the regular season. The Growlers 2021-22 season came to a close in the Eastern Conference Finals of the Kelly Cup Playoffs where they fell to the Florida Everblades four games to one.
Today’s game will be streamed on the Royals Broadcast Network available on the following platforms:
FloSports: flosports.link/3yarTg4
Mixlr: mixlr.com/readingroyals
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