Resilient Royals get hat trick against Florida, tie record with 11th straight win

Reading, PA -- There are only three things I know for sure following Sunday night's game between the Florida Everblades and Reading Royals.

First, is that the league desperately needs a replay apparatus to review goals such as the one Evan Bloodoff scored literally as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Second, is that the Everblades must be damn sick of seeing their opponents after they completed a three-in-three sweep this weekend.

Third, that the Royals eventually hung on to win this contest by a 3-2 score after taking the shootout in the ninth round, matching a franchise record with their 11th straight victory set two years ago by the Kelly Cup champions.

In the end, Andrew Johnston beat Andy Iles and Martin Ouellette stopped Mike Aviani in the game's final segment and a home crowd of 4,007 had a better reason to let their feelings be known than at the end of regulation. Reading officially moved into first place by two points over Florida in the East Division with the clean sheet, although the latter has three games in hand.

Royals head coach Larry Courville wasn't around to celebrate the positive result, having been given a game misconduct for a heated disagreement with referee Andrew Wilk after Bloodoff's second goal of the contest was allowed to stand.

Things might have been different had the hosts not blown a 2-0 first-period lead. Ryan Cruthers opened the scoring just 3:06 in at the tail end of the game's first power play by redirecting Mike Marcou's point shot, before David Marshall doubled the edge with 6:10 gone and Bryant Molle just out of the penalty box to end a two-man disadvantage.

Bloodoff got one back for the Everblades, at 12:07 and finally cashing in on their third advantage of the opening period. He got enough of the puck from a Mitch Wahl cross-ice dish to slide it past Ouellette.

Iles was on the bench for an extra skater when chaos ensued. Cameron Burt managed to fire a puck through a screen, where it was hidden for a moment before emerging behind Ouellette and slithering across the goal line as the buzzer sounded and light to indicate the end of the game was lit.

With no other means to accurately review the play -- if the off-ice goal judge cannot provide certainty -- than the officials' discretion, Wilk signaled the score would stand, touching off Courville's intense and negative reaction.

Once things calmed down a bit, the Royals were given a power play just 18 seconds into overtime thanks to an Adam Brace boarding call, but failed to do anything with it.

Ouellette ended up with 36 saves and Iles stopped 23 pucks. Reading's next chance to set a new franchise record occurs in Cincinnati on Wednesday night.

Courville also coached the Royals two years back during their Kelly Cup run and guided an early-season 11-game win streak which turned a 1-5-1 team into a contender. That year's club saw their win streak halted at home by Evansville by a 4-2 count on Nov. 24, 2012.

Phantoms and Royals: Minor League breakdown

by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor 

As of this evening, with the Phantoms finishing up their pre-All-Star road schedule with a 4-2 loss to the Syracuse Crunch, the Flyers' highest minor-league affiliate is scraping against respectability with a (19-16-5) record.

That's good enough for third place in the East Division, three points behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and five ahead of Binghamton.

In the conference playoff race, Lehigh Valley sits tied for 11th place with Bridgeport and four points back of the eighth and final playoff spot. Problem is, the team which occupied that slot before tonight, the Albany Devils, have beaten the Phantoms handily three straight times in a four-game season series and have the primary tiebreaker wrapped up if it comes down to that. Worcester dropped to eighth, and the Phantoms have split two games already with only two more on tap.

Thanks to a beneficial early-season schedule with plenty of Wednesday matchups that preclude the dreaded three-in-three weekend sojourns common to the league, the Phantoms have two games in hand on the Devils and three each on the P-Bruins and Baby Pens whom they're chasing for playoff positioning. It's something Andrew Gordon cautioned against, the cushion and luxury of games in hand, which are only valuable with wins and points.

Next weekend, following the All-Star festivities in Utica, the club has a 3-in-3 with two at home and one on the road, but escapes for one week only before a two-road, one-home weekend set from Feb. 13-15. They've finished 4-3-2 over nine games in three previous 3-in-3s this season after dropping two of three last weekend (Albany, Binghamton, at Hershey).

Terry Murray has spent the bulk of his direction since taking over as head coach in 2012 concentrating on defense and puck pursuit inside all three zones to aid a transition game. Before last season's collapse, a mid-season run of stinginess had the club in the top 10 of fewest goals allowed and lowest average goals-per-game, before the bottom completely dropped out.

This season, it's been a similar story with veterans Brandon Manning, Oliver Lauridsen along with defensive prospects Mark Alt, Robert Hagg, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jesper Pettersson and including Steven Delisle with injury replacements Adam Comrie and Max Lamarche.

Gostisbehere suffered a torn ACL, Alt is working through a shoulder injury and a broken hand while Hagg is enduring some issues of game-to-game consistency, and the backline has yielded 116 goals -- third fewest among the East's non-playoff teams at present and ninth in the conference -- which is good, considering. In 17 of 40 games, the defense has yielded two goals or fewer, but just gave up a season-high seven scores to Hershey on Wednesday night.

Which leads us to the million-dollar question: who can help the Flyers soonest? It's a loaded one at that. Gostisbehere has the most tools in his arsenal but after ACL surgery, there are questions if he can fully regain form. Lauridsen has the size but little range. Manning holds the most experience in the Show and will also have a second All-Star appearance in his pocket, while Hagg sports the most raw potential. Of course, the only true measure is keeping all involved at the AHL level and letting them work the kinks out themselves in the course of this season and into the next.

The goaltending tandem of Rob Zepp and Anthony Stolarz, recently accompanied by ECHL call-up Martin Ouellette, have had to deal with an average north of 30 shots per game.

That was the case before Gostisbehere and Alt were felled by injuries and that's the case now. It has driven Murray so far up a wall that, last Friday after a 3-2 loss to Albany -- one in which the Phantoms led 1-0 after two but allowed the Devils a third-period comeback -- he declined to offer postgame comments, leaving it entirely up to the players to explain themselves. That never happened in the dark days of Glens Falls.

Zepp (11-5-4, 2.57 GAA), Stolarz (6-9-2, 2.91) and Ouellette (2-2-0, 2.41) all have save percentages well over .900, and that's a good sign. As long as it remains in the .920 range, they collectively have a shot to steal crucial games down the stretch. It will be needed to maintain a steady continuation of a 10-3-5 record in one-goal games.

That's why the question of offense hangs in the balance. Despite picking up two-time Calder Trophy winner and long-time AHL forward Gordon for scoring prowess, adding Brett Hextall from North Dakota and Kevin Goumas (2G in 33 games) from New Hampshire, and retaining both Petr Straka and last season's leading scorer Jason Akeson for a majority of the year, the club is still looking for a spark.

They are 10th in the East with 107 goals, and yes, the loss of Scott Laughton on what seems like a permanent basis to the Flyers will hurt, but Murray's club has passed through slightly more than half a season with Gordon, Cousins and Straka in double digits.

If any speculation about Cousins getting a look with the Flyers -- be it one game or an extended look -- becomes true, it will likely be a dagger in the heart of a playoff berth. The Phantoms may be able to survive defensive injuries and call-ups, but are still painfully thin up front. Taking the leading goal scorer on the club out of the mix and expecting the rest to pick up the slack appears to be a non-starter.

This club absolutely needs offense and to learn how to properly nurse leads, having racked up a 2-11-1 record when trailing after two periods.

LV has totaled two goals of fewer in 21 of their 40 contests so far and topped out at six at St. John's two weeks ago. To even get over the 100-goal mark, the club had to use a recent run of success during which they tallied 21 times -- though they've only been shut out twice this year, at Portland and at Hershey within the first 11 games. 

Discipline has been an overall obstacle to success. Owing to the additions of Jay Rosehill (119), Manning (95) and Zack Stortini (78), the Phantoms became the first AHL team to trip over the 1,000 PIM mark last night (1,013). And that's without the return of fan favorite enforcer Zack FitzGerald, who signed in Scotland. The next closest team to four digits is Syracuse (876), while the Worcester Sharks are tops in the league with a paltry 396 PIM.

Special teams outlook: Not very promising. The power play stands 20th at 15.2 percent efficiency (29-of-191), while the penalty kill is slightly worse at 22nd in the league after giving up 36 goals in 194 chances (81.4 percent).

The brand-new building in Allentown and attendance which often scrapes records when not setting them, has been a clear advantage. Despite just 18 home dates, the Phantoms rank second in the league at an average of 8,036 fans and have repaid that with a 12-7-2 record where seven games have lasted beyond regulation which is more bang for the buck.

But unlike Glens Falls, Allentown is not a fan base versed in minor-league hockey, nor will PPL Center be filled near capacity simply by the Phantoms being there. Murray and Ron Hextall have their work cut out to develop talent but keep them winning in this brand-new environment. Can't see interest remaining constant if the playoffs aren't reached by this season or next.

In the ECHL, any team which tries to keep an even keel throughout the regular season has to be mentally

tough to deal with near constant roster upheaval. Injuries, in-season trades between clubs, emergency signings and call-ups to the AHL are a constant threat -- not to mention the brutal travel for a league whose imprint stretches from New York's Southern Tier to the Deep South and out along the West Coast.

Somehow, Reading Royals head coach Larry Courville has been immune to these pitfalls, through three different sets of NHL affiliations during his six-plus seasons guiding the club.

Through Boston, Washington and now the Philadelphia Flyers ownership, the soon-to-be 40-year-old bench boss has guided the Purple Lions to at least 30 wins in each of his five full seasons and to at least 40 wins in three of those years -- including a 46-win campaign two years ago which ultimately led to the franchise's one and only Kelly Cup championship.

Heading into Saturday's road contest with South Carolina, the Royals sport a 23-13-2 record, which places them in third place out of seven in the East Division and firmly in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. That's three points behind Greenville and a comfortable five ahead of Elmira and seven from their next opponent, and thanks to a 6-3-0 record in January with five games remaining.

Reading has reached the postseason a franchise-record five straight times and is in line for a sixth, yet the residents of Berks County has ignored the team for quite a while. And in a league where teams are essentially born to die by contraction or relocation, winning seems to be what keeps them afloat. Due to the last-minute absorption of the struggling Central Hockey League, all the Royals have to do is remain in the division's top four to keep their playoff streak alive.

This year, they're attracting 3,797 on average (20th in league of 28 teams) which is down from 4,087 last season and 4,023 from their championship season under the Capitals' banner. While it's true the Royals' home arena is a single-level anachronism and can't compete with newer, larger venues as in Toledo, Salt Lake City and Ontario, CA, the bloom is long off the rose. Once the losing sets in, not even healthy corporate sponsorship wouldn't likely save the team.

In contrast to their brothers up the chain, Reading has had little trouble putting the puck into the net, operating fourth in the conference with 131 goals in 38 games (3.44 per game) so far. Undrafted winger Olivier Labelle leads the way with 14 scores -- one of six players in double digits -- while two-time NCAA champion with Boston College, Pat Mullane, tops the list with 24 assists and 37 points. Mullane, a cast-off from Toledo, sits just outside the top 15 in scoring.

In addition, Courville has the entire team playing level-headed hockey thanks to a league-low 414 total penalty minutes. It's a far cry from the Royals teams I observed as a league stats official in the first three years of the club's existence, when Ryan Flinn, Remy Royer, Dave Stewart and Dean Arsene plied their trade and made the club interesting to watch despite their struggles in the standings.

Reading beat Jason Guarente will have a column tomorrow outlining just how mild the ECHL game has become in recent years.

Free-agent defensive prospect Lamarche leads all players with a plus-12 rating and is fourth among defensemen with 10 points. Mike Marcou leads the attack with 20 assists and 24 points, with Zach Davies adding 19 points and Comrie at 14 points in 21 appearances. As a unit, the offensive thrust has cost them on the back end, with 118 goals against (3.11 per game) ranking 11th out of 14 in the conference.

It's taken some toll on the goaltending. Though Ouellette (11-6-2) and Connor Knapp (11-7-0) and Joe Howe (4-3-2) all possess decent records, Ouellette's goals-against average is the only one below 3.00 while each man's save percentage is below optimal (.907, .896 and .889, respectively).

The Royals' power play sits dead in the middle of the league standings, ranking 15th at 17 percent (29-of-171 with seven SHG against) while the penalty kill has slipped to 19th place at 81.7 percent efficiency (24-of-131 with six SHG for), although they're currently in a second-place tie with Kalamazoo for the fewest times playing a man down. Toledo (121) tops the list. 

Reading finishes the month of January at Gwinnett Sunday, at Evansville on Wednesday, at Indianapolis on the 30th then Cincinnati on the 31st before finally coming back to Penn Street Feb. 4 against Wheeling. It's the first of four straight home dates, including three in a row against Florida, and then the Royals go back out on the road until Feb. 27.

The final column of 2014: Voracek, Scoracek.

Courtesy of Amy Irvin

On Monday, for the first time all season, a member of the Philadelphia Flyers was recognized with some kind of award by the National Hockey League.

It was Jakub Voracek, the current team and league points leader, who came away with Second Star honors. The previous week which saw him tied for second among all players with seven points (3G, 4A) in four games to help the Orange and Black wring to five out of a possible eight points including back-to-back road wins in Toronto and Winnipeg on Saturday and Sunday to kick off an eight-game road trip.

Claude Giroux was the last Flyer to gain recognition, with a Third Star mention for March of last year, but Voracek was the club's last weekly winner as First Star for the week ending February 25, 2013. 

After being held off the score sheet in a 3-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning Dec. 16, Voracek potted his 12th goal of the season – and also provided his team's lone marker -- in a 2-1 home shootout loss to the Florida Panthers last Thursday. He then took the reins and did the greatest part to help over the weekend, matching a career high with four assists and set a season high by collecting as many points in a 7-4 decision in Toronto then coming up with two goals -- including the overtime winner only 10 seconds in -- to produce 4-3 triumph in Manitoba's capital.

The dynamic 25-year-old Czech has posted 14 multi-point efforts already this season, and, along with third-ranking scorer, team captain and line mate Giroux, comprise the league's deadliest 1-2 punch at the moment.

A European-trained player, a big part of Voracek's ascension is the confidence he displays with the puck. At the start of his Flyers career, he seemed at times unsure of whether to distribute or shoot, but this season that decisiveness has been on display. It doesn't hurt to have Giroux as a teammate or that others on the ice are able to capitalize.

For example, no way the Voracek of two seasons back has the laser-like focus to snap off a one-timer from Giroux and place it on the short side as he did to open the scoring on Sunday night against the Jets. Similarly, his OT winner was a pure solo effort -- forechecking hard enough to get behind Ondrej Pavelec, smart and quick enough to gather the puck once Dustin Byfuglien was separated from it, then confident enough to not immediately look for a supporting teammate to pass -- his instinct to carry out and face the goaltender one-on-one is something which everyone should be looking for on a consistent basis to complete his game.

He also lucked into an assist on Saturday, when Scott Laughton took a simple drop pass after Voracek did all the work in traversing behind the Toronto net and rocketed a shot past Jonathan Bernier from the left circle. On the power play, he is no longer adrift in his usual perch in the right circle, taking control of puck movement instead of playing decoy for a stray rebound or cross-ice pass poorly defended.


Voracek's continued production is absolutely vital to the relative success the club finds on its remaining six games that will take them across the continent and back to the East before it's over.

At What Price Voracek?

Anyway, it may come to pass that the fate of the Flyers from a personnel standpoint will be decided as early as the point at which they finally reach home on January 6. The question we should be asking is not whether they should focus on "tanking" for a high draft pick or make deals the minute they become available to facilitate a playoff push.

We should be asking GM Ron Hextall which kind of non-playoff team the Flyers should want to be: the kind that lets this unorganized bunch of forwards and defensemen who, depending on the day and mood and game result -- cannot hit, cover their marks, move the puck, produce points consistently, win faceoffs, kill penalties or not be a total Gomer Pyle in general -- limp towards whatever final record becomes them, or does he want to make the kind of deals which ease cap burdens, logjams at center and gives the remaining players time to adjust to one another in order to build towards next season?

For those who wish to just grit through the rest of the year intact, I ask the following:

Is it really worth more to you to have two of what may be the top five scorers in the NHL on the roster while the rest of the supporting offense fails to click consistently and where they can finish in the bottom half of the Metro?

Do you believe Craig Berube simply hasn't found the trick to this morass of a lineup because he hasn't worked through all possible combinations with this roster as it currently stands?

Will you quit complaining game to game, period to period, shift to shift when an R.J. Umberger makes a mistake or Andrew MacDonald fails to carry the puck out of his own end, be happy with whatever will be, and then adjust your expectations accordingly for next year?

What if I were to tell you that Voracek's value in trade is higher than any single player on the team (excepting Giroux whose contract extension and installation as team leader precludes it), and that he would bring at the very least two fresh bodies and possibly three in return given a willing sucker on the other end of the phone?

Under duress on social media yesterday, I used the hypothetical situation of a Voracek to the Nashville Predators in a 3-for-1 swap. Based on the club's needs which are a) a reliable top-pairing defenseman, b) a fourth-line center who has decent faceoff ability and c) a dedicated scorer to round out the first forward lines, I thought I came up with something at least meriting debate, if not for the specific team but for the over-arching idea.

For those who don't wish to raise your noses, sniff the air and dismiss the mere thought as unworthy, I vouched for Derek Roy, Seth Jones and James Neal. Neal's credentials are self-evident. Jones gives Berube a young player NHL-ready who takes the pressure off wondering when the anointed Phantoms/Canadian junior players will be ready, while Roy gives this club slightly more overall than strict defensive-zone specialist Adam Hall did on the last legs of his career.

If you recall, the Mark Recchi to Montreal swap in February of 1995 was not engineered as the blockbuster it became. Bob Clarke simply needed to make a trade which would upshift a team wallowing sixth in a seven-team division and make them playoff-worthy in the short term during a lockout-compressed schedule.

John LeClair, though a playoff record holder thanks to his back-to-back road overtime winners in 1993 against the Kings, wasn't projected to be more than a 25-30 goal man at his peak. Eric Desjardins, despite his Cup-game-winning hat trick at the Forum, wasn't considered a game-changer for the Habs. And Gilbert Dionne was a capable third-line player for Montreal.

Even after LeClair was placed on a line with Lindros and Mikael Renberg, who could have thought he would eventually be placed in the Pantheon of goal scorers along with Reggie Leach and Tim Kerr? Who thought that Rico would not only be the best blueliner on the team, but be worthy of a night in his honor as one of the franchise greats?

And the sucker at the time was Serge Savard, who felt the relentless heat and weight of history as the Canadiens slid to the bottom of the Northeast Division less than two years from winning their last Stanley Cup. That deal did more than anything else to seal the end of his 12-year tenure as Habs GM.

At the time, Recchi was coming off two straight 100-point seasons but was struggling mightily to score at the outset of the year (five points in 10 games), so his value wasn't as close to being as scorching hot as Voracek's is right now.

So we might have a lineup that looks like this, provided the mythical deal comes through:

Forwards
Raffl-Giroux-Neal
Simmonds-Lecavalier-Laughton
Schenn-Couturier-Read
Bellemare-Roy-Rinaldo

Defensemen
MacDonald/Coburn/Jones/Grossmann/Schultz/Colaiacovo/Del Zotto/Schenn

Do it or don't do it, the possibility is too tantalizing not to let it haunt you for a few moments. If that's no better than what the club ices night after night on its roller-coaster ride towards irrelevance, and you think Hextall needs to deal, which team provides the right pieces and who would be the next subject of P.T. Barnum's famous quote?

Just like in high school math, show your work.

Going over like a lead balloon

No horrible puns here, nor will there be fawning, praiseful human-interest content on Rob Zepp winning his NHL debut on Sunday in Winnipeg. It was memorable that his teammates picked him up and erased a two-goal deficit at the outset of the third period to win and we hope he has about 20 more of those up his sleeve for Lehigh Valley.

The 33-year-old Phantoms starter did place himself in elite company as far as the Philadelphia Flyers are concerned, one of just a handful of goaltenders to don the orange and black and record a victory in his first NHL start. The others:

Sergei Bobrovsky: 29 saves in a 3-2 win at Pittsburgh on Oct. 7, 2010.
Antero Niittymaki: 20 saves in a 5-1 win against Washington on Feb. 4, 2004.
Ron Hextall: 22 saves in a 2-1 win against Edmonton, October 9, 1986.
Bob Froese: 24 saves in an 8-4 win against Hartford, Jan. 8, 1983.
Robbie Moore: 22 saves in a 5-0 win against Colorado, Mar. 6, 1979.
Pete Peeters: 16 saves in a 4-1 win against St. Louis, Dec. 17, 1978. 

Down with Disease

The Flyers -- their players, coaches, trainers, support staff and their equipment -- are about to land in Minnesota, one of the four clubs which was hit hard by the mumps early in the season after an October road trip which took the team to Southern California. It's the third stop of this elongated run between the calendar years, and the last one before a four-day holiday break and return to Nashville.

Ron Hextall was asked for his feelings on the matter, apropos of nothing, last week.


“It’s a concern. Absolutely. It’s been rampant around the league. And it’s not a one-day thing. I’ve talked to other managers too that it had gone through their team and their docs have told them that everybody on their team has been exposed to it but only certain people are susceptible for whatever reason. We’ve talked long and hard about it. Talked to our medical staff numerous times and we’ve addressed it as best as we can.”

The following is what should concern us most about the team's overall future health. 

 “We’ve got it covered as much as we can. Clean buildings and wash your hands and vaccines and everything else you can do. "We’ve done everything we can do to protect our players and our staff.”

Extra vaccinations are smart. Not to be trite, but you can't catch mumps from sitting in your stall or on a leather couch. And yes, dumping gallons of chemicals all over the place and encouraging repeated hand-washing takes care of a lot of psychological or psychosomatic issues.

Where players can be afflicted without much notice is in close contact on the ice. Hextall missed an obvious way in which mumps can be spread: aerosolized droplets of saliva that escape whenever someone speaks. That means keeping a close watch on what spills out when mouth guards are removed. It also extends to the nastiness which results from face-washes and spittle that can be transferred when trash-talking between whistles.

But what do you do about it as a head coach? Short of playing mommy and reminding his charges about manners, or adopting college rules where full plastic face shields are the norm, it seems odd for Berube to encourage his team to hit hard, but embrace a "say it, don't spray it" mindset when you've got a hold of an opposing player.

Actually, there is one thing Chief can do, he can tell Giroux to quit the juvenile antics of biting another player's jersey just for kicks.

The Penguins just sent three more players home to be tested, and there are an untold number of other players who may become infected in the near future. Luckily, the Flyers don't play Pittsburgh until late January. They do, however, face the Devils, who claim two players stricken, at the end of the road on January 3.

By the way, did I happen to mention that mumps can cause sterility in the adult male population?

Third-period comeback sends Royals past Fuel

by Rob Riches
Phanatic Hockey Writer
Twitter: @Riches61

READING, Pa. -- Despite finding themselves down by three goals, the Reading Royals on Saturday night roared back with four goals in the third period to top the Indy Fuel, 4-3.

Olivier Labelle’s fourth goal of the season with 2:42 to go in the third turned out to be one of his biggest, as it gave the Royals their first lead of the game. Labelle scored on a loose puck in front of the net from Mike Marcou and Adam Hughesman to provide the hosts a memorable game winner.

“It was a very emotional game, and I’m just happy to get the two points,” Labelle said.

The comeback started 4:28 into the final stanza, as Maxim Lamarche scored his first of the season for the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate. Pat Mullane and Adam Comrie then added two power play tallies, with Zach Davies assisting on both. 

Undisciplined, reckless play by the Fuel (3-7-2-1) set up both power-play tallies, as Garrett Bembridge took a minor for boarding and Anders Franzon sat two minutes for shooting the puck over the glass in his defensive zone.

The Fuel’s three-goal lead all came in the second period. First-year Fuel defenseman Kirill Gotovets scored his first two goals of the season, while Justin Holl -- back in the region for the first time since participating in the 2014 NCAA final with Minnesota -- scored his first of the season as well. Robert Czarnik added primary assists on both tallies.

Trailing by a goal with 10:20 on the clock, the Royals looked to inspiration from David Marshall. After former Flyers prospect Garrett Klotz threw a late, blindside hit on captain Bryant Molle, Marshall and Klotz dropped the gloves. The 6-foot-5, 234-pound Klotz had no problem getting his shots in on the 5-foot-11, 183-pound Marshall, but Marshall ultimately wrestled Klotz down.

“I like what Marshall did in the end,” Royals head coach Larry Courville said. “That was a pretty cheap hit by [Klotz]. I though Marshall stepping up went a long way on our bench and in our locker room. It doesn’t matter if you win a fight, it matters that you were there for your teammate.”

Ultimately, a third-period comeback may not have been necessary, had two Royals goals been able to stand. The goals were called back in the first and third periods, after incidental contact with Fuel goalie Cody Reichard. Unlike their partnering NHL, the ECHL doesn’t have the luxury of a centralized “command center” for video review, so the referee’s calls had to stand de facto.

“When we went over our game plan, we had a sheet that says that goalie likes to get involved in the scrums,” Courville said. “He intentionally gets involved in the scrums, looks like he’s getting in position.

“Whether those two goals could stand, I’d have to look at the video.”

The Royals (7-5-1-0) have accumulated points in nine of their past 10 games, and are riding a 4-0-1-0 unbeaten streak. They have a chance to move forward with a quick turnaround, with a second crack at the Fuel again at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.

 Both teams had never met before Saturday, and it subsequently led to a character win for the Royals.

Phantoms set roster, ship seven to Royals

Opening night for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms is less than a week away, and the club announced its final roster ahead of that contest, scheduled for this coming Saturday, against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Forwards: Brandon Alderson, Nick Cousins, Austin Fyten, Andrew Gordon, Kevin Goumas, Brett Hextall, Scott Laughton, Taylor Leier, Darroll Powe, Jay Rosehill, Zack Stortini, Petr Straka and Chris VandeVelde.

Defensemen: Mark Alt, Steven Delisle, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg, Oliver Lauridsen, Brandon Manning and Jesper Pettersson.

Goaltenders: Anthony Stolarz and Rob Zepp. Zepp,33, has been named the team's starter heading into the season.

Lehigh Valley also shipped the following players down to Reading of the ECHL, per Bob Rotruck and also in alphabetical order: Matt Hatch, Andrew Johnston, Connor Knapp, Max Lamarche, Derek Mathers, Marcel Noebels, and Martin Oullette.

The home opener for the third iteration of the Phantoms franchise is Friday, October 17 against the Adirondack Flames.

Royals hanging tough in ECHL's long game

Reading's 2013 Kelly Cup champs

The Reading Royals have staying power.

Nestled in the Schuylkill Valley, the 2013 Kelly Cup champions have stayed in one place for nearly a decade and a half, holding court on Penn Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets since the Autumn of 2001.

Since the franchise's arrival, only three other teams have matched the Royals' longevity in the ECHL: the South Carolina Stingrays, Florida Everblades and Wheeling Nailers.

The Cincinnati Cyclones disappeared and were resurrected, while one Toledo franchise went under and another arrived to take its place. All other teams -- Trenton, Atlantic City, Johnstown, Charlotte, Roanoke, Richmond, Greensboro, Greenville, Pee Dee, Columbia, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Pensacola, Mobile, Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Arkansas, Peoria, and Dayton have disappeared from the landscape. Lexington has come and gone, Long Beach and San Diego from the WCHL were absorbed then disbanded, and the league continued to drift Westward, necessitating a brand shift from "East Coast Hockey League" to the acronym we know today.

If there's one thing we can thank Columbus' NHL entry for, it's that there has been high level minor-league hockey just an hour up the road from Philadelphia. If not for the Ohio capital's successful bid to earn an expansion franchise, the Chill might still be there.

Instead, once the Blue Jackets gained entry into the highest level of the game in North America, the Chill packed up for good in 1999, laid dormant for two seasons, before relocating to Pennsylvania. In the 14 years since, the Royals have welcomed the Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals as NHL affiliates, and it's under the banner of the latter one where the franchise claimed its first title two seasons back.

However, in a move that makes geographic sense with the demise of the Titans in 2013 and the shenanigans surrounding the Greenville Road Warriors dropping the Orange and Black mid-season and signing on with the Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers agreed to a two-year affiliation beginning this year. It could have been a joint affiliation had the Capitals not decided to divest their interest.

Reading are winners. The club has posted a record of .500 or better in nine of their last 11 seasons, after spending their first two years under two separate head coaches getting their bearings and finishing out of playoff contention. The Royals have posted five consecutive seasons of 30-or-more victories and three of the last four have been 40-or-more win campaigns, culminating in back-to-back franchise record 46-win seasons the last two years.

That run of on-ice success stands in sharp contrast to the actual fan support, which has slipped to the tune of almost 2,000 per game since the club's first year of existence and inversely proportionate to their win-loss record. Ron Hextall and his front office have a prime opportunity to boost the profile of all the Flyers' affiliates, but it looks to be easier with a new building in the Lehigh Valley than it will in a 15-year-old edifice located literally on the other side of the tracks.

Architect of this renaissance at the on-ice level is Larry Courville. Courville, who will turn 40 towards the end of the regular season, took over in the middle of the 2008-09 season for Jason Nobili and has completely reversed the fortunes of the Purple and Black. A former draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1993 who suited up for 33 games over parts of three seasons in the late 90s with the Vancouver Canucks, the Ontario native has a connection to the early days of his team. Though not one of the first Royals to take the ice in the club's inaugural contest, Courville arrived in Reading late in the 2001-02 season from Hershey. Despite brief stops with Johnstown and Cincinnati, Courville returned to Reading in 2004 and ended his career there in 2008.

Courville's method of coaching and the way he constructs a roster are revealed in greater depth over here by Reading Eagle beat writer Jason Guarente. It's been enough to warrant the club's trust in the long term.

Like their new parent club in Philadelphia, the Royals have also been a part of an historic playoff comeback, albeit at their expense. In the 2010 Kelly Cup semifinals, Reading jumped out to a 3-0 series lead against Cincinnati, only to see it implode into a Game 7, 1-0 road loss to end the series. After back-sliding in the postseason the next two years by being eliminated in the second round and then the first, Courville and his charges finally put it all together in a five-game defeat of the Stockton Thunder two Junes ago.

Old League, New Goals

The ECHL itself is a completely different animal in 2014 than it was in 2001 when the Royals came onto the

Courtesy of the ECHL

scene.

Its footprint just after the turn of the Millennium was defined as the East Coast ad Central Midwest, generally East of the Mississippi River with a few exceptions, featuring more clubs in the South -- due to the rush to emulate the NHL's arrival in the Sun Belt -- than in the Northeast. Back then, the "E" was one of three leagues at, for lack of any better comparison than with professional baseball, North America's Double-A level.

Included in that mix were the West Coast Hockey League and the Central Hockey League. From the bones of those two late, lamented businesses, the ECHL gained Alaska, Idaho and Bakersfield, while the CHL offered up Colorado and Evansville to the current ranks.

With only seven franchises left after Denver and Arizona abruptly announced they were folding last week, the CHL appears to be on the brink of either ruin or absorption. That falls in line with the NHL's plan to tier their farm systems with just one league per level, as in Major League Baseball. At one time, the IHL existed parallel to the AHL and NHL parent clubs found affiliates in each until the 2001 shuttering of the former which resulted in several clubs jumping to the AHL.

If that plan comes to fruition, and it appears likely that next season would be the target, there will be just one league servicing the top two levels in minor hockey acting as feeder systems. There are 22 ECHL clubs at present, and if the health of all seven CHL franchises is deemed well enough to be folded in, then simple math tells us only one more franchise is required to bump the Double-A level up to 30 so that each NHL franchise can claim affiliation with one ECHL and one AHL team.

Since the Trenton Titans and Johnstown Chiefs have folded, Reading's natural rival is Wheeling -- the Penguins' farm club -- 300 miles away, while its closest rival is Elmira, approximately 210 miles to the North. Should absorption of the CHL be off the table, there aren't many smaller towns left that haven't either failed at the ECHL level or already support an AHL team. A potential franchise earmarked for Burlington, Vermont never materialized, and somehow the E was skipped over before legitimate minor-league hockey returned to Glens Falls five years ago.

Roll Call

Ryan Flinn was the first member of the Royals to make it to the Show, debuting in late January of 2002 with the Kings, after a rocket ride of 57 games between Reading and Manchester. His fourth career fight occurred against the Philadelphia Flyers' Todd Fedoruk in LA.

Over the years, Jeff Finger, Barry Brust, George Parros, Rich Peverley, Deryk Engelland, Jonathan Quick, Ben Scrivens and Philipp Grubauer have also risen from Reading to the NHL for various clubs. Chris Bala, a Hill School graduate and Harvard product who was a second-round pick of the Senators in 1998, also spent several years at the end of his career with the Royals.

Reading's season opener takes place in Wheeling on October 18, and its home opener one week later to complete a home-and-home set with the Elmira Jackals.

Flyers lock down Royals as ECHL affiliate

Photo courtesy of WFMZ

The move was made official on Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Reading Royals of the ECHL have agreed to an affiliation, with the parent club providing a two-year contract.

Reading had most recently been joined with the Washington Capitals for the last two seasons, but the club let that agreement lapse following the end of last season, in spite of the Caps and Hershey Bears aiding in the Royals' 2013 Kelly Cup championship with an influx of talent including Drew McIntyre, T.J. Syner, Barry Almeida Philipp Grubauer and Riley Gill -- the former netminder who saw time in the NHL this past season and the latter goaltender who stoked the fires of the successful playoff run.

The Royals were unable to defend their crown in 2013-14, bowing out in the first round against Fort Wayne despite winning the three-team Atlantic Division with a 46-22-4 record.

"I’m looking forward to working with the Flyers coaching and scouting staffs," Royals’ Head Coach  Larry Courville said in a statement issued shortly after the announcement was made. “Our goal in Reading has not changed—to put a championship team on the ice."

A long-standing Flyers' affiliation with Trenton, begun in 1999 with the Titans' founding and interrupted by the club's purchase and operation by the Devils from 2007-11, finally went belly up in April of 2013 when the Titans revealed the franchise would fold. The Flyers then transferred their players to the Greenville Road Warriors at the start of last season, only to see that agreement dissolved upon Greenville's request so that it might align itself with the New York Rangers.

“We are pleased to announce an ECHL affiliation agreement with the Reading Royals,” Flyers GM Ron Hextall stated. "We’re excited to be entering a new era for the Flyers with respect to player development and look forward to working closely with them in a winning environment. "The geographic proximity of our minor league affiliations in the Lehigh Valley and Reading will give our coaches and scouting department the best possible platform to monitor, and promote the growth and advancement of our young prospects.”

Hextall has stated publicly that one of his main goals in his new position of power is player development, something which was spotty at best in the Orange and Black's second tenure with Trenton, which struggled financially. The Royals, now one of the longest-tenured ECHL franchises which has remained in one place, offer more stability.

Carsen Chubak and Doug Clarkson did end up spending time last year with Reading after the Greenville debacle.

"A big part of our success is linked to having an affiliate who is committed to stocking their minor professional system with young, talented players and getting these players as much game time as possible in the early phases of their career," added Courville, who spent a brief NHL stint with the Vancouver Canucks. "Of course, I’m sure our fans will enjoy watching the Flyers’ prospects assigned to Reading as they pursue their goal of advancing to the highest level of the game, while helping us achieve our team goal of winning another ECHL championship.”

The Royals are entering their 14th season in the ECHL, the primary Double-A league affiliated with the NHL.

Philadelphia and the Schuylkill Valley have a long history of connection through sports, as the Phillies have operated their Double-A farm club in Reading continuously since 1967. 

Flyers to gain a new full-time ECHL affiliate

The Philadelphia Flyers will be taking another crack at a full-time ECHL affiliate.

According to the Reading Eagle's hockey reporter, there will be a press conference scheduled for 11 AM Wednesday morning at which time the Royals and Flyers will officially announce a partnership.

Philly had a long-standing affiliation with the Trenton Titans beginning in 1999, only interrupted by the franchise being acquired by New Jersey and resurrected as the Devils from 2007-11. Three seasons ago, the Titans once again became a Flyers farm club, but that agreement was terminated last April 23 when the Titans shocked many with the announcement they had ceased operations.

This past season, the Greenville Road Warriors agreed to an affiliation, only to dump the Flyers before the midpoint of the campaign in favor of the New York Rangers.

The Royals began operation prior to the 2001-02 season, and were originally affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings. In later years, that switched between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, then in 2012, the Washington Capitals announced that Reading would serve as the franchise's primary Double-A club.

That change paid off better than anyone expected, as the Royals took home the 2013 Kelly Cup in a victory over the Stockton Thunder thanks in large part to goaltender Philipp Grubauer, whose stellar performance in Berks County two years back precipitated his rise to the AHL and NHL in his brief career.

In 2013-14, Reading finished first in the Atlantic Division with a 46-22-4 record, but fell short in its title defense after losing a five-game first-round series to the Fort Wayne Komets.

This past Wednesday, the Royals front office gave head coach Larry Courville a legitimate vote of confidence with a contract extension. Courville, who played briefly for the Vancouver Canucks in the late 90s and was a member of the Royals' inaugural roster, is the winningest coach in franchise history and has led the club to five straight postseason berths.

Phantoms goaltending situation temporarily resolved

Cal Heeter drew the short straw and was sent down to the Trenton Titans of the ECHL on Monday, easing the strain on the Phantoms' crowded crease. That's according to a Philadelphia Flyers insider.

For the second time this season, Adirondack carried three netminders, after Michael Leighton cleared waivers Friday and was assigned to the AHL. Head coach Terry Murray carried Leighton -- who started and lost on Sunday in Glens Falls -- along with Scott Munroe and Heeter this past weekend.

Trenton had goaltending issues of its own, with Scott Wedgewood having taken the starting job away from Niko Hovinen by the turn of the new year, and then the Titans not having a credible long-term backup after Hovinen's release from the organization several weeks ago. 

Now Wedgewood will be spelled by Heeter, who is coming down having played some bona-fide minutes this season in the AHL, going 8-13-2 with a 2.96 GAA in 24 appearances.

Also heading to New Jersey's capital is Shane Harper, who totaled four points in three games in an earlier stint with Trenton this season. The 24-year-old winger had four goals and eight points in 42 games with the Phantoms.

Flyers, Titans renew affiliation

Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they have reached a minor league affiliation agreement with the Trenton Titans of the ECHL, according to General Manager Paul Holmgren. 

“We are pleased to have The Trenton Titans as our ECHL affiliate and look forward to working closely with them on developing future Flyers in a winning environment,” Holmgren said. 

“We are thrilled to be back with the Flyers as their ECHL affiliate,” said Trenton President/CEO Rich Lisk.  “Our relationship has always been strong with the Flyers and we look forward to taking that to the next level.  I am happy to call Trenton – the Home of Future Philadelphia Flyers.”

This will be the second consecutive year that the Titans will serve as the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate.  Under the agreement, players contracted to either the Flyers or the Adirondack Phantoms can be assigned to Trenton, while players contracted to Trenton can be called up by Adirondack.  A total of seven players appeared in games for both Adirondack and Trenton last season, including Trenton’s top two scorers, Andy Bombach and Rob Bordson. 

This will be the tenth overall season that the Flyers and Trenton have worked together to develop Flyers prospects.  The Titans served as the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate from 1999 to 2007 before realigning with the Flyers again last year.  The club plays out of Trenton’s Sun National Bank Center, which is operated by Global Spectrum, Comcast-Spectacor’s facility management company. 

The Trenton Titans returned in the 2011-12 season after a five year hiatus and boasted a 26.1% increase in attendance over the previous year, the largest of any team in the 20-team ECHL.