Reading Royals Review

The Royals Review

(Jan. 25-Feb. 7)

READING, Pa. – The difficulties of maintaining a winning minor-league hockey team are becoming much more evident for the Reading Royals. With about two months left in the regular season, the ECHL affiliate of the Maple Leafs and Marlies has lost players to call-ups at an alarming pace over the past several weeks – a rate that has made what looked like a fairly steady route to the playoffs much rockier. Reading has lost three straight, six of its last seven and is on a 5-10-0-1 skid. The Royals have slipped out of first place in the division for the first time since Dec. 4 and are five points behind East leader Elmira and four points out of a playoff spot.

More specifically, for the first time since the Leafs started their affiliation with Reading prior to the 2008-09 season, there are no Toronto-contracted players on the roster. As such, the Royals have resorted to waiver claims, and players from the International and Southern Professional leagues to keep a full lineup. Regular player movement from the Boston Bruins, a co-affiliate of Reading with the Leafs, also hasn’t helped the situation.

Here are some notes of interest concerning players with Marlies connections (with this season’s ECHL statistics).

Ben Gordon – The LW, who spent a couple weeks with the Marlies in late December and early January, had a third AHL call-up of the season, this time to Abbotsford. He’s returned to Reading but has gone into his first extended slump of the year. He needed a short-handed assist in a loss to Trenton on Feb. 6 to stop a four-game pointless streak, his longest of the season. His frequent call-ups, along with his having to adjust to a different lineup almost every night, have hurt both his performance and the team’s win-loss record. The good news is he continues to lead the team in goals, assists, points and shots (156) and plus/minus and is seeing plenty of ice time in all situations. In a three-game span between Jan. 27-31 he had 20 shots – but no points. (40GP-19G – 32A –+9 – 35 PIM) (Under contract to Reading.)

Eric Werner – The fifth-year pro defenceman must have seen the writing on the wall. As the only Toronto player in Reading who had yet to be recalled this season, he left the Royals and signed with Oslo Vålerenga in the Norwegian elite league. He has a pair of assists and is a plus-1 in his first four games in Norway. (Incidentally, another defenceman on that team is Regan Kelly, who played with the St. John’s Maple Leafs from 2002-05.) The Royals will struggle to find someone to absorb Werner’s quality ice time. (38GP-3G – 15A – +17 – 25 PIM)