Royals outplay Blades 2-1
It took the Florida Everblades too long to get started, and once they did it was too little, too late. The Blades lost 2-1 Saturday night to the Reading Royals at Germain Arena.
The Blades were outplayed for the first half of the game, and just couldn’t catch up once they finally got it going.
“You can’t say we were tired because we had plenty of energy in the third period,” Blades coach Greg Poss said. “We’ve got to come out in the first period with that kind of energy. We can’t spot a team like that two goals. The first period we got totally outplayed, and that can’t happen.”
The Germain Arena crowd, stuffed animal toys in hand to take part in the annual Teddy Bear Toss, had to wait and wait to part with the toys. They were to be tossed after Florida’s first goal. That didn’t happen for quite a while.
Florida (18-9) came out without the intensity and crispness of the night before. Reading took a quick 2-0 lead, while the Blades only had five shots on goal in the first period. The Blades continued sloppy play through the second period.
The Everblades host Orlando in the last home game of 2015 on Wednesday.
An announcement late in the second period that the bear toss would take place during the second intermission if Florida didn’t score was met with some boos.
Finally, Blades team captain Matt Marquardt scored with 1:55 left in the second period to set off the teddy bears cascading onto the Germain Arena ice.
“It’s great,” Marquardt said of the Teddy Bear Toss. “It’s become such a big thing in hockey in general, not just our league or organization. This time of the year is a time for giving and donating, spreading some holiday cheer for families and children that are less fortunate.”
A few of the Royals joined Everblades players and others to gather up the bears and other stuffed animals that will be delivered to Golisano Children’s Hospital and other Southwest Florida charities. Three pickup trucks brought onto the ice hauled away the teddy bears quickly, overloaded with many more toys being bagged up and carried off by hand. The result was a lengthy delay in the game.
“It was a great response by the fans,” Poss said. “It’s Christmas time. It’s a chance to help the kids out. I’m sure the kids will appreciate it and the players will enjoy doing it.”
Fort Myers native Blades defenseman Logan Roe had an assist on Marquardt’s goal, along with Mark Nemec. It was Marquardt’s ninth goal of the season and third this week.
“It was a great pass by Logan Roe and a good goal by Marquardt,” Poss said.
“However, the goal and ensuing delay didn’t turn out to be that much of a momentum shift.”
Seconds after play resumed, the Blades went on the power play. Reading’s Ian Watters received double minor penalties, giving Florida four minutes with the man advantage spanning the end of the second period and opening of the third. The Royals killed off all four minutes.
Adam Comrie appeared to make it a 3-1 Royals lead in the third, but the goal was waived off for another Reading player making contact with Blades goalie Daniel Altshuller.
The Blades put pressure on Royals goalie Connor Knapp during the third period, outshooting Reading 15-4, but couldn’t force the third overtime in this three-game series. Altshuller was pulled for a sixth attacker with 51 seconds left, to no avail.
“That’s our issue,” Poss said. “We played 40 minutes. We need to play like that for 60 minutes. You win a couple of games, and you think it’s going to be easier than it is. You have to realize that you’re only as good as your last game.”
The net result of the three-game set was that, even though Florida won two of three, the teams each wound up with four points. Reading got a point for each of their two overtime/shootout losses.
Altshuller, second in the ECHL with a 1.54 goals-against average entering Saturday’s contest, took the loss to slip to 10-3 for the season.
For the third time in this three-game series, a team took a 2-0 first-period lead.
Reading beat Altshuller just 1:26 into the game. Royals journeyman Yannick Tifu, who played for the Blades in 2008-09, scored on a rebound to Altshuller’s left side.
“The first (goal) was just too easy. We were pretty lackadaisical out there,” Poss said.
Mike Pereira scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0 Royals with 12:48 left in the first.
A Blades official estimated that the teddy bears and other stuffed toys collected totaled somewhere around 7,000. If that is the case, there were more toys on hand Saturday night than fans. The official attendance Saturday night was 6,812, which would have been a near-sellout of Germain Arena (7,181), but in actuality there still were plenty of empty seats.