July 6, 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 forward Olivier Labelle (“OH lihv ee AY lah BELL”). Last season, Labelle (6’0/199) (24), who will be entering his fifth season of pro hockey, scored twenty-three goals, assisted on eighteen others (forty-one points) and racked up a team-leading 162 penalty minutes in fifty-five regular season games with the Royals. He also tied for the league lead with eleven post-season goals (fifteen points), while also registering thirty-six penalty minutes, in sixteen playoff games for Reading. Labelle, who had seven fighting majors and was selected as the Royals’ “Scrapper of the Year” for the 2009-10  Fans’ Choice Awards, also played two games with the Providence Bruins of the AHL last season.

Labelle, who hails from St. Eustache, Quebec, hit full stride for the Royals in late December when he went on the first of what would be several point-production tears down the stretch, registering eleven points (6g-5a) over a span of seven games from December 26, 2009 through January 10, 2010. In his last thirty-two games regular season games with Reading, Labelle racked up thirty-three points (18g-15a). Perhaps his most dramatic goal in the regular season came on March 7, 2010, when he scored forty-eight seconds into overtime to give the Royals their first win ever over the Kalamazoo Wings. That goal was Labelle’s fourth game winner of the year, which tied him for the regular season team lead in that category. Labelle’s performance in that victory over the K-Wings proved prescient of his production against Kalamazoo in the post-season, when he scored five goals in the five-game first round showdown against the Wings. Labelle actually registered three multi-goal performances in his first six playoff games last year for the Royals, including a two-goal night in the Royals’ 7-6 victory in Game One of the American Conference Semi-Finals against the Florida Everblades. Labelle topped that performance when he became the first Royal ever to register a post-season hattrick—which included scoring the game’s first two goals—in Reading’s 5-2 win in Game One of the American Conference Finals against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Post-season production has been a consistent theme throughout Labelle’s career. In 2008-09, after a regular season in which he was second amongst the Victoria Salmon Kings in penalty minutes (128) and fighting majors (6), Labelle caught fire during Victoria’s playoff run, during which he racked up a goal in each of the team’s first three playoff contests. That season, Labelle ended up with seven points (4g-3a) in nine playoff games before the Salmon Kings were eliminated by the Alaska Aces in the National Conference Semi-Finals. The year before (2007-08), Labelle racked up eleven points (4g-7a) in fifteen playoff games for the Utah Grizzlies, who advanced all the way to the National Conference Finals before being eliminated by the Las Vegas Wranglers.

Labelle played the majority of the 2007-08 season in Utah, where he established career highs by scoring twenty-six goals and picking up twenty-two assists (forty-eight points) in fifty-two regular season games, which placed him fourth in scoring on the team. Labelle also led the Grizzlies with 169 penalty minutes, which included nine fighting majors (third most on the team). Labelle began his pro career in 2006-07 with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, where he scored eleven goals, picked up twenty-assists (thirty-one points) and was second on the team with 153 penalty minutes (and nine fighting majors) in seventy-four regular season games. Prior to turning pro, Labelle played 273 regular season games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he was a member of back-to-back championship teams with Hull (and later Gatineau) Olympiques in 2003 and 2004. Labelle finished out his QMJHL career in 2005-06 with Acadie-Bathurst Titan where he exploded for 100 points (50g-50a) and 185 penalty minutes in sixty-seven regular season games.

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. Season tickets for the Royals’ 2009-10 season are currently available. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com.