Royals Sign Mark Mitera

[chilly666]

Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League and the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has signed defenseman Mark Mitera ["mih TAIR ah"] to an ECHL contract.

Mitera (6'3/217) (25), a fourth year pro from Royal Oak, Michigan, scored three goals, assisted on ten others (thirteen points) and picked up forty-eight penalty minutes in seventy-six games with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL last season. A first round pick of the Anaheim Ducks (nineteenth overall selection) in 2006, Mitera led all defenseman on the Syracuse Crunch with twenty-two points (6g-16a) in his second full season of pro in 2010-11. Prior to turning pro, Mitera had a stellar collegiate career at the University of Michigan, where he earned the selection as Inside College Hockey's Defenseman of the Year in his junior season. That year, Mitera led the Wolverines' defenders in scoring as the team advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four. In 131 total college games, Mitera, who won a gold medal with Team USA in the U-18 World Junior Championships, recorded four goals and fifty assists (fifty-four points) and 175 penalty minutes.