July 27, 2010

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed defenseman Rob Kwiet (“KWIT”). In his first full season as a pro last year, Kwiet (6’1/218) (21) played the majority of the season with the Providence Bruins of the AHL where he scored a goal and picked up twenty-four penalty minutes in forty-one games. On four separate occasions last year, Kwiet was assigned by Providence to Reading, where he racked up seven assists and thirteen penalty minutes in seventeen regular season ECHL games. Kwiet also played fifteen playoff games with the Royals, scoring two goals, picking up three assists (five points) and registering sixteen penalty minutes. Kwiet led the team by playing to a plus-9 (+9) in his fifteen post-season games with the Royals.

Kwiet, who hails from Toronto, Ontario, began last season in Providence and received his first assignment to Reading on November 27, 2009, where he promptly racked up his first points as a pro by picking up a pair of assists—including one on the tie-breaking game-winner—in a 4-2 win by the Royals over the Trenton Devils at the Sovereign Center. Kwiet kicked off the 2010 calendar year on a positive note while on recall to Providence, as he scored the first goal of the game—and his first as a pro—2:51 into the P-Bruins 4-2 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on January 1. Kwiet’s most productive game of the regular season, however, was saved for the Royals’ seventy-first game of the year—the playoff clinching 7-6 shootout win in Wheeling on April 2. In that game, Kwiet racked up four assists, including one on the game-tying goal (at six-six) by Yannick Riendeau 9:19 into the third period that would ultimately give Reading the one point the team needed to clinch the final available playoff spot in the ECHL.

Consistent with his past history, Kwiet may have saved his best last season for last—during the Royals longest playoff run in team history. He picked up his first pro playoff point by assisting on the game-tying goal (at six-six) 6:24 into the third period in what ultimately proved to be a 7-6 victory for Reading over the Florida Everblades in Game One of the American Conference Semi-Finals. In the Conference Finals against the Cincinnati Cyclones, Kwiet ran off a four game point streak, which included his first goal as a Royal when he scored to give Reading a two-goal cushion (at 4-2) in Game Three of that series against the Cyclones. Kwiet’s most difficult moment during the playoffs, however, may have been sitting out Game Six of the Conference Finals because of a one-game suspension levied against him by the league as a result of a late game melee at the Sovereign Center in Game Five. Kwiet has proved his mettle in the post-season before, as he was an integral member of the 2008-09 Windsor Spitfires, who not only won the Ontario Hockey League regular season and playoff championships, but also took home the most coveted trophy in major junior, the Memorial Cup. That season, Kwiet scored twelve goals and assisted on fifty-five others in sixty-six regular season games—second best amongst defenseman on the team—while playing to a team best plus-54 (+54).

The Royals host the team’s tenth anniversary home opener on Saturday, October 23, 2010 (7:05 pm), when the Elmira Jackals visit the Sovereign Center. Also, be sure to catch the Royals’ season opener live from Trenton, New Jersey, (@ Trenton Devils Saturday, October 16, 2010 @ 7:00 pm)—and all of the team’s away games this year—on Royals TV exclusively on BCTV courtesy of Boscov’s Travel, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Season tickets for the Royals’ 2010-11 season are currently available. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.