Royal Recaps (3/4/16-3/6/16)

After a decent weekend away in Elmira and Adirondack & earning four out of six points, the Royals were ready for another 3-in-3 weekend trio but this time on home territory. Wheeling and Norfolk were the teams in town for a crucial three games for the team who is just inside the playoff picture. They were hoping to climb up in the standings and well it was not the weekend coach Courville wanted. Just a single win and two points and not much ground covered doomed this Royals and are now in a two-way tie with Elmira with Wheeling hot on their trails. Time to slap shot into the game summaries.

(3/4/16)

The Royals and Nailers series have been back and forth with the home team usually winning but the Royals ended that as they finally won at WesBanco the last time these two match-ed up which ended a long loosing drought for a couple of seasons. The Royals did take a bump a few days before this as they lost Martin Ouellette who lately has been solid and giving the team chances to win. Alex Vazzano was brought back for a second stint with the team but this was Knapp’s game. The Royals would strike first in this one 7:11 into the game as Brandon Alderson stole the puck and found Cam Reid walking in the slot which Reid snapped her right by Palazzese for the (1-0) lead. Of coarse that lead did not last long as just two and half minutes later Riley Brace would tie the score (1-1). The Royals coughed up the puck and Brace found it and walked right in on Knapp to sneak it by him. Wheeling would get their first lead of the game a couple minutes later as James Melindy took a snapshot from the right circle which beat Knapp to make it (2-1) in favor of the Nailers which stood through the first twenty minutes. Cam Reid would get his second of the game early in the second to tie the score (2-2) after a nice pass from Tifu which found Reid all alone in front of Palazzese which he laid down but could not stop the puck in time. Royals would get their second lead of the game on a 5-on-3 goal from Brandon Alderson who just snapped the puck on goal and went right by Palazzese for the (3-2) lead. Thet would pretty much do it for the second. Are you now ready for goals because this is the period to talk about. We saw the puck go in the net a total of six times. Wheeling’s period as I would put it started with Cody Wydo’s first of the game at 6:13 mark of the third to tie the score (3-3). Thirty one seconds later recent addition from baby Pens Tyler Biggs got his first of the season to give the Nailers the lead back at (4-3). Wheeling turned this game around and now the Royals who were up by one, are now down by one. The Royals have had troubles all season long holding onto leads and this was a perfect example of the rails falling off the tracks for the team. It didn’t get much better as Wydo would score his second of the game late in the game for much needed insurance for Wheeling to give them a (5-3) lead. The Royals were getting good chances prior but Palazzese came up when needed as he has most of the season against Reading. The Royals would get some life back on a extra attacker goal for Cam Reid to complete the hat trick and have the Royals trail (5-4). That was the last gasp of air for the team and could not get any closer than that the rest of the way. Wheeling got two empty net goals in which Wydo completed his hat trick to take this one by a (7-4) score. The Royals peppered 47 shots on Palazzese which was a season high for the team (15-16).

(3/5/16)

After a disappointing loss, the Royals and Nailers would go at it again on scout night inside the jungle. Vazzano would get his first official start as a Royal in this one. Wheeling would get on the board first in this one as Clark Seymour would bomb a snapshot right through Vazzano for the (1-0) lead 12:41 in the game. Reading would knot the score (1-1) a few minutes later as Tifu picked up his thirteenth goal of the season. Cam Reid found Tifu right in front of Palazzese in which no one was covering and Tifu snuck the puck in on a sprawled out Palazzese. Both teams were squared at a goal apiece after one period. A bunch of hard hits came most of the second with both teams playing stellar defense and shutting one another down. Wheeling would finally break through on Vazzano again late on a two-on-one goal by Matthew Maione for the (2-1) Wheeling lead. Wheeling would get insurance early in the third period where Seymour would get his second to make team up (3-1). Seymour instead of snapshot bomb used a seeing eye wrister that went right by Vazzano. Vazzano did not like that one according to the tape and it is probably one he wish he could of had back. The Nailers would tack on another as Krause snuck a off the board pass in which Vazzano could not get back in the net on time to make it (4-1) in favor of Wheeling. The Royals again had good pressure and chances after but again Franky Palazzos was pretty stellar in net and kept his team in it. The Royals would get a late power play in which belated birthday boy Joey Sides struck to make it (4-2). They would make it a one-goal game with two seconds to go on a goal by Alderson but it was too little to late and Wheeling takes this one (4-3) and swept the weekend set with the Royals. Lately the Royals only can score late in the game and it seems to be far too late at this point. This is definitely something that needs to change for the team. They need to want to care and score much earlier than that. Next up is a team where Reading has had success with this season and hope to at least salvage two points in the weekend.

(3/6/16)

The Royals were looking to at least salvage a couple points and in front of a not-so good team in Norfolk Admirals. The team got a boost as Ouellette was assigned to the team prior to the game. The first period was a back and forth affair as each team traded shots. But something rare from the Royals in the shots department. They outshot Norfolk (15-3) after one in which Riopel had to be very alert because the Royals really wanted a win this afternoon. Riopel made sporadic saves in the first period and half of this second before the Royals got on the board. But Norfolk would get on the board in this one at 3:20 0f second as Davis Vandane’s shot from the blue line beat Ouellette glove side for the (1-0) Admirals lead. The Royals finally broke through on Riopel late in the period to tie things (1-1). As a Royals penalty expired, Czarnik gave a spot on pass to Pettersson out of the penalty box in which he was all alone on Riopel and backhanded the puck right by him. The two teams would be knotted at one through two periods. The Royals defense held Norfolk to only three shots in the second for six overall to this stage. Needless to say Ouellette was not seeing much the first two frames of action. The Royals got their first lead of the game at (2-1) early in the third. Kevin Young walked right in and bombed a shot that easily blasted by Riopel for his fourth of the season. Then minutes later the Royals would get some insurance from Joey Sides who was in the middle and snapped one by Riopel for the (3-1) Royals lead. Sides now has a two game goal scoring streak. That would prove to be the game winner in the end. The Royals defense held strong down the stretch as they held Norfolk to nine shots which was the most for them all game. The Admirals would not give up though and cut the lead to one on a goal by Greg Chase in which Ouellette did have but it snuck by him. One Ouellette would love to have back. Not much push came after from Norfolk and they picked up a too many men minor late to ultimately seal the win for the Royals. It was a a tough weekend for the team but they managed to get a win and two points after a long home loosing streak. Ouellette picked up his fourteenth win of the season. Just three games from tying his record with the Royals (seventeen in 14-15). The crowd of 3,377 went home happy not just because of the win, but their goal horn was brought back for the third (Another Story At Another Time). The next three won’t be easy for the team.

Next Up: For the third weekend in a row the Royals will have a 3-in-3 but now all on the road. The Royals will have a tough task as they play both the Thunder & Monarchs. These two teams are very good and the Royals will have to at least get two wins & four points as these teams have not been very easy opponents for the Royals. Sunday will mark a special game as the team will travel to world famousHerb Brooks Arena. Hopefully the luck of team USA will be on our side and we can create some Miracle magic not just for that game but all weekend. “GO ROYALS” “BLEED PURPLE”

Player Of The Game: (3/4/16)
REA: Cam Reid (3G, +1, 10SOG)
WHL: Cody Wydo (3G, +4, 4SOG, 1st Star)

Player Of The Game (3/5/16)
REA: Brandon Alderson (1G, 1A, +1, 6SOG)
WHL: Matthew Maione (1G, 2A, +2, 2SOG)

Player Of The Game: (3/6/16)
REA: Kevin Young (1G, 1A, +2, 2SOG)
NOR: Nic Riopel (36SA, 3rd Star)

Pest Of The Game: (3/4/16)
REA: Jesper Pettersson (3A, +1, 3SOG)
WHL: Franky Palazzese (43SVS)

Pest Of The Game: (3/5/16)
REA:  Nikita Kashirsky (2A, +1, 1SOG)
WHL: Tyler Biggs (-1, 1SOG, 14 PIM)

Pest Of The Game: (3/6/16)
REA: Martin Ouellette (13SVS)
NOR: Wes Cunningham (-2)