Photo Credit: The Reading Royals
After a great 5-2 win over the Admirals on Friday, the Royals looked to carry that momentum into Saturday night’s tilt against them. That they did and just like Friday Nagle had some more key early saves. At the 11:16 mark in the 1st the Admirals led 4-0 in shots. However, in the second half of a back and forth defensive period, with some passing flaws by both clubs, the Royals started to make a push. By the 4:41 mark of the first, they were only down two in shots 5-3 with some additional chances on top of the shots. Plus they were by far the more physical team as Josh Winquist had a fight only 1:46 into the game and later in the period after a beautiful blocked shot where Mike Chen sacrificed himself for the team, Brayden Low and others got into it behind the net with the Admirals. Low took a roughing minor. The minor was canceled quickly though as the Royals had a 2-1 shorthanded breakaway that led to a hooking minor on Norfolk. At the end of the frame, the Admirals led in shots 6-3 however the Royals had the better push in the second half of the first. All in all, it was a back and forth physical low shot total first that Nagle again when needed was sharp.
Now onto the second period where the Royals were up a man often to start the period. On one of their powerplays after Norfolk almost scored shorthanded on the other end, Frank Dichiara came down and scored an unassisted wrister picking his spot well to give the Royals the lead. Then moments later on a rush Thomas Ebbing smartly shot the puck for a rebound of which Kenny Hausinger then potted for the second Royals goal. The Royals took control of their offense and ended up leading in shots at the 5:54 mark of the second. They too still dominated the physical game in their favor plus pressed the Admirals well. The Shots were 13-13 in the period with the Royals in my view, controlling the pace of play and forcing Admirals’ mistakes leading to Royals chances. Now just like last game all the Royals had left to do was play the final 33% of the game well and they would walk away with back-to-back wins against a good Admirals team.
That they did as the Royals closed out this game very well. The Admirals got an early power play in the first but that was nullified by star netminder Pat Nagle who was the MVP of that kill shutting them down on 4 chances by my count. Then later on after the play balanced out after the Norfolk power play the Royals due to another nice pressure play got a 2 on one as Ebbing got his second assist of the night on Frank Dichiara’s second of the game. Dichiara the fan favorite continues to own the ice he is on. Then Ebbing too was a huge factor in this Royals 3-0 lead making some very nice aware plays throughout the night. At the 9:17 mark in the 3rd Norfolk led in shots but not spunk as Reading out pressured and battled them to a physical tee all night. Not to mention Nagle again was sharp but the Royals also did a great job at limiting Norfolk’s shots to the outside 90% of the time.
This overall was a very nice complete game by the Royals as they and Pat Nagle earned the shutout. The only thing in Norfolk’s favor was the shots. Which as all great Royals and hockey fans know means nothing without any goals. Then to cap off a physical game fists flew again with 6 seconds left and after the final buzzer. What a great lively effort by the Royals to capture a 4-0 shutout. Then of course as expected Nagle was electric yet again. All that is left to say is Go Royals plus name the three stars.
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Well, tonight the first star goes to Nagle yet again as he had a 38 save shutout dominating his crease yet again. Then the second star will go to fan favorite Frank Dichiara who picked his spot well on his first and capitalized on a 2 on 1 on his second. That second goal was assisted by our third star Thomas Ebbing who also had an assist on Hausinger’s goal when he perfectly shot the puck for a rebound chance. Also Brayden Low continues to impress as he was an absolute brute force in this game backing down from no one. The Royals are on a 3 game point streak and a 2 game winning streak. They look to keep their winning ways going when they come back next Friday against the Growlers.
