READING, PA – While the Reading Royals are busy trying to forget last season’s very forgettable season, this year’s version of the team looked eerily familiar in the team’s 4-1 loss to Kalamazoo, but redeemed themselves, for the most part, in game two where the Royals came from behind to get a point in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Elmira Jackals.
Larry Courville’s team did not live up to the early season hype that surrounded the team but the Elmira game should have fans a bit more optimistic. Ben Gordon and Ben McLeod have two goals each, while Stefano Giliati and Scott Langdon have a goal apiece.
Goaltender Kevin Regan played in both games for the Royals and hasn’t looked as bad as his .859 save percentage shows. The Royals have allowed 10 goals total but special teams, one of the major reasons for their poor season last year, have allowed three of their goals on the power play. The Royals are only 2 of 19 on the power play but it is way too early to evaluate not only the special teams but the team overall only two games into the season.
The pressure might not be so much on Courville as it is on General Manager Gordan Kaye this time around. Courville is a popular former Royals player so you can be the fans will give him a break for the most part.
With sliding fan attendance and the overall atmosphere in the building tamed, this can only go upward one would think. What was once a huge part of the team’s early success is being diminished by poor team play and a more sanitized feeling in the arena. Video clips on the arena’s jumbotron, especially those from hockey movies, have diminished greatly. Also, the removal of the fans “theme” music, aka, Billy Idol’s cover of Mony Mony is gone as well. The song was used to incite the fans rage against the referees after a bad call by a choreographed chant during certain parts of the song.
While the teams theme this year is “Unleash the Roar”, the team needs to help bring the roar back from time to time. It sounds like a great slogan, but if nothing else, it might be a good idea to bring back some of the things that made coming to the Sovereign Center fun. If the team isn’t going to win on a consistent basis, at least give them something to have fun about.
The Royals need to take a lesson from Readings “other” minor league franchise, the Reading Phillies. There is a reason the Phillies religiously lead the Eastern League in attendance, and trust me, it’s not because of how well the team has done on the field. Six of the past seven seasons, the Phillies have led the league in attendance. On the field, the team during the same time period, has had only two winning seasons and one of those seasons the team was only two games over .500.
The bottom line is, the Phillies make it a fun experience to come to the game, win or lose. Hockey fans do admittedly take winning and losing more serious that minor league baseball fans do, but when it comes to a sports crazed town like Reading, which is your typical eastern city where sports is religion, not just a game, the Royals have to make what makes coming to the game great, even if it does tick off a couple of “soccer moms” who aren’t use to a hockey atmosphere. It is what it is and it is time to do whatever it takes for everyone in the building to have fun again, no matter how good or bad the team is doing on the ice. The season is young still, but so far the locals need a reason to roar again. One gets the feeling that one way or another, it will in some way, shape or form. The play on the ice will improve. They might not win the title this year, but they should win back the hearts and minds of the ones buying the tickets.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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