ROAD WARRIORS STUMBLE AGAINST ROYALS 

VERSUS    

READING, PA – The Greenville Road Warriors could not keep up with a Reading Royals offense that started off quickly on Saturday night. The 4-2 loss dropped the Road Warriors’ record to 27-15-2 on the season.

The Road Warriors’ night got off to a rocky start thanks to a quick strike by the Reading offense. Andrew Sarauer took a loose puck in the Reading end and skated up ice unimpeded by the Road Warriors’ defense. Sarauer carried all the way to the slot before firing a wrist shot past Dov Grumet-Morris 40 seconds into the game. The Royals weren’t done there and scored twice more to extend the lead to 3-0. Their second goal of the night came at 9:47 on the power play from Chris Blight. Eric Castonguay then finished off a play at the net front for his eighth goal of the season at 11:04. Facing the large deficit, the Road Warriors hiked up their boots and went to work chipping away. Thanks to a turnover by Reading goalie Michael Hutchinson, Sean Berkstresser set up Shane Harper‘s eighth of the season at 16:40. Just nine seconds later Marc-Olivier Vallerand nudged a loose puck across the goal line after Hutchinson couldn’t corral a shot by Paul McIlveen.

If all of the offensive fireworks in the first period resembled a Fourth of July celebration, then the second period was more like a quite summer evening as the Road Warriors and Royals were stymied by the respective goalies. The Road Warriors’ two best chances of the period came on point shots by Blake Parlett. The first was padded away by Hutchinson, but the rebound was right on the doorstep for Berkstresser. The Road Warriors’ forward was unable to hit pay dirt, however. A few shifts later, Parlett tried to use a redirect from Harper to beat Hutchinson, but that attempt failed, as well. Grumet-Morris turned in 11 saves in the frame, and help from the cross bar on the one shot that got behind him. Louis Liotti had a backhander from the slot strike iron, and the rebound skipped away to safety. Greenville did have one power play chance in the frame, but was unable to convert.

Looking to battle back from the one-goal deficit in the third period, the Road Warriors found themselves in the best possible situation to try to tie it early in the frame. John Scrymgeour took a high-sticking minor 1:35 into the period and put the Road Warriors on the power play. Jimmy Kilpatrick let loose a wicked shot from the point that struck iron, but did not cross the goal line and Hutchinson fell on the disc in the crease. Greenville was unable to create many more scoring chances in the frame, and actually fell behind by two shortly after penalty to Scrymgeour expired. Off of a turnover Blight hit an open Casey Haines in the slot and the rookie fired a wrist shot past Grumet-Morris 3:45 into the third. That was more than enough for the Royals who got 14 saves in the final frame from Hutchinson to salt away the win.

Grumet-Morris took the loss while making 29 saves for the Road Warriors. Greenville ended the night 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors will return home from a seven-game road trip on Wednesday, February 9 to take on the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. The Road Warriors will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with special games and promotions throughout the evening. Group seating remains available for the game and you can call 864-674-PUCK to book your group outing and save off the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and enjoy other great benefits.