On Thursday, July 30th, the Reading Royals announced the re-signing of defensemen Rob Michel to a standard player agreement. In a video statement posted by the hockey club, Michel noted that he hopes to “pick up where we left off” – referring to the now-cancelled 2019-20 ECHL season.
Before the 2019-20 season came to an abrupt halt due to COVID-19, Michel played 51 games where he scored eight goals along with 14 assists. Six of those eight goals were scored in the final month of the season. Michel closed out the season with a +17 rating, ranking him the second highest rated defenseman on the team behind Eric Knodel.
Michel is Reading’s fifth signing so far for the upcoming ECHL season, all five of which have been players returning to the Royals hockey club. Michel will be joined on the blue line by Garrett Cecere, but will also once again play alongside forwards Brayden Low, Hayden Hodgson, and Frank DiChiara.