Photo Credit: Reading Royals
The Flyers ECHL affiliate Reading Royals kicked off their 20th Anniversary season at home with a bang. They defeated a good very competitive Norfolk Admirals team after coming up short against them the night prior in Norfolk. The offense was buzzing yet again as the Royals scored four goals in game one, and tallied six goals on Saturday to include an empty netter.
It was not all roses and gumdrops last night however, as top netminder Kirill Ustimenko was pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots faced Never fear though as we have already seen Ustimenko, Usti as they call him bounce back before. Just take a look at his 2019-20 season where he struggled with Phantoms, then lit the world on fire the rest of the season in Reading. So safe to say the Royals still have a stellar top netminder who just had an off first game which happens from time to time during a long season.Â
Going off of Usti being pulled; what doesn’t always happen, however, is a great veteran netminder coming on to just calm the shores. That is exactly what Pat Nagle did making 18 saves on 19 shots coming on in relief of Ustimenko. That is exactly what you want to see from a veteran. A veteran who his coach said was quote “awesome he made 45 saves last night and wasn’t supposed to play, we got in at 4:15 last night”. Who needs rest? Not Pat Nagle. The quote goes on to say more, but that’s the part needed to prove just how important a good backup netminder is no matter what level. The Royals and Nagle proved that on Saturday night.
So to wrap up this piece, let’s close by talking about that high-powered potent Royals offense early on. In the first period, Reading had a solid pace and out shot the Admirals, but were not able to escape with the lead as 1/3 on the power play was the difference for the Admirals in the first. The Admirals were a team of opportunity as Chase Lang got their scoring started picking his spot over Usti’s glove. Then later on in the period, they got that lone aforementioned power play goal by Daniel Brickley capped off with an even strength goal at 11:55 by Alex Tonge. The Admirals were a team of opportunity early on but also the Royals could have been sharper on defense as well in the first frame. The Royals themselves potted two in the first. One by Joshua Winquist and the other by Patrick Bajkov.
Now the second period is where it really started to open up for the Royals. The Royals played with good pace again but this time really pushed the pace on offense really well in the first half of the second on a goal by Bajkov on the PP and then again Bajkov at 12:01 for his Hatrick Goal. So how bout that Royals fans? A hatrick in Bajkov’s first home tilt for the Royals. Who said hockey was hard? In all seriousness though, the Royals established the offensive zone leading to a 29-20 lead in shots at the end of the 2nd. While also tiring out the other team as coach Kirk MacDonald pointed out brilliantly in the post-game presser. For the Admirals, they again were a team of opportunity as Reading pushed the play a lot better in the second but on the Admirals lone A+ scoring chance they were able to even it up 4-4 on the El-Mir Goal. Wells even giving up 4 made some huge saves especially for the Admirals in the second otherwise Reading would have skated off with the lead.
Now onto the 3rd and final period the period where the good guys finally got the results they deserves and earned all night. The Royals in the 3rd had an amazing pace of play. It was an impressive offensive and the best defensive period from the Royals as Matthew Strome was able to pot the game winning goal, and Nagle came in and really shut down the fort well only allowing one goal in relief. The team continued to push the pace and really did not allow Norfolk to get many at all hight octane chances in the 3rd period leading them to a two goal 6-4 victory sealed off by Patrick McNally’s full ice empty net goal.
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Overall, just an impressive pace from the Royals. After playing a very tough long grueling battle the night before against the same Norfolk team, Reading flipped the script and really pushed the pace well themselves throughout this game and got the result they deserved. Norfolk could only be a team of opportunity for so long as Reading being the better team prevailed in this one to get the 6-4 victory in no small part due to Pat Nagle in relief. Then of course in no small part due to that Winquist, Bajkov, and Strome killer line. A line in which Bajkov has chemistry with Strome from the Swamp Rabbits and Winquist from juniors. I thank Bajkov for that information in the postgame presser. Â
Now all we have left is our three stars:
1. Patrick Bajkov: Hatrick, five shots, +4Â
2. Tied with Josh Winquist: 1G,2A, five shots on goal, +4 and Matthew Strome: 1G,3A, +5, six shots on goal
3. Pat Nagle: Great in relief making 18 of 19 saves.Â
