Game 38 Preview: Brampton at Reading

Wiener Dog Races start the home weekend

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (17-12-3-5, 42 pts., 3rd North), proud ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, hope the Brampton Beast (17-17-3-1, 38 pts., 6th North) will be barking up the wrong tree on Pucks N' Paws Night featuring the annual Wiener Dog Races Friday at 7:00 p.m. Friday marks the first matchup of a five-game season series. Three of the games against Brampton are at Santander Arena. Wednesday vs. Manchester, the Royals had a season-long seven-game home point streak snapped in a 3-1 defeat. Josh MacDonald scored his 17th of the season, putting him six behind his single-season high. Reading was tied at one entering the third before allowing consecutive goals in a 2:14 span.Brampton last played Sunday vs. Maine and demolished the Mariners, 7-3. Artur Tianulin registered his first career hat trick and Daniel Ciampini recorded a professional-best five points (1g). Sat., Jan. 19 against Wheeling (7:00 p.m.) is a Family Four Pack game, Mascot Mania and Reading’s Pediatric Cancer Awareness game with a mini-THON dance party. Get four burgers, four sodas and four sodas for $48. The first 2,500 fans will receive a PA Lottery Voucher, pres., by the PA Lottery. Plus, enter for a chance to win a 2017 Toyota Camry, courtesy of AutoRide of Reading. After the game, join Royals players at the DoubleTree across the street for a party at Cheers! Restaurant.The Royals return from the ECHL All-Star break Jan. 26 at 7:05 p.m. at Wheeling.Listen to today’s game on the Mixlr App and Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals, with pregame coverage starting 15 minutes before puck drop.

Not every day, but a lot of daysRoyals leading goal scorer Josh MacDonald ripped his 17th of the season Wednesday, giving him goals in 14 of the team’s 37 games this season. He has registered three multi-goal games this season after netting one in 2016-17 and another last season. He had a personal-best five games with multiple goals as a rookie in 2015-16.MacDonald has scored a point in 18 games this campaign and is tied for second on the club with 28 points.For his ECHL career, the fourth-year professional from London, ON has scored 65 goals and 130 points in 182 games. Including his time playing in Norway last season, the 5-foot-11, 190-lb. winger has competed in 193 games.Coach comparisonSecond-year Royals Head Coach Kirk MacDonald faces off against Brampton’s Colin Chaulk, who is in his fourth campaign leading the Beast. MacDonald, 35, played two seasons with Reading and won the 2013 Kelly Cup Championship, while Chaulk took home six championships for Fort Wayne (3 IHL, 2 UHL, 1 CHL) and skated in 10 seasons for the Komets.The 42-year old Chaulk is 108-113-33 with Brampton and he is the only Head Coach the team has had since the Beast joined the ECHL in 2015-16. On the other side, MacDonald owns a 59-36-17 mark.Streak endsRoyals forward Frank DiChiara had a three-game goal scoring streak snapped Wednesday vs. Manchester. The three-game run was the longest of his career and gave the second-year forward 11 goals, the most he’s had in a season since junior hockey. DiChiara had scored two of Reading’s last three goals and leads the team with five power-play goals this season.Brampton turnaround

Since enduring a season-long six-game losing streak, the Beast have points in six of the last seven (5-1-1-0) to dig out of last place in the North Division. Over the seven-game uptick, the Beast have outscored opponents, 29-20. Daniel Ciampini leads the team by factoring in on 11 points (2g) during the run. Prior to the last seven, Brampton averaged 2.3 goals a game during a six-game losing streak.For the season, the Beast are averaging 3.3 goals a contest. 2019 CCM ECHL All-Star David Pacan leads the squad with 17 goals and 35 points. Erik Bradford and Brandon Marino are one point behind Pacan for the squad lead. Eight Beast players have produced at least 20 points.

Like the Royals, six netminders have gotten in at least one game for the Beast. Étienne Marcoux leads the active netminders with 15 games played, going 7-5-1-1 with a 2.75 goals against average and .913 save percentage. Former Royals netminder Austin Lotz is 3-3-0-0 with Brampton, netting a 3.30 goals against average and .892 save percentage.  Last season series The Royals went 5-4-0-0 against the Beast and Reading won the final two matchups. The last time the clubs played was Mar. 17, 2018 and Reading won, 5-1, on the same night the Royals retired Yannick Tifu’s #10. The Royals took five of the final seven series matchups. Reading went 2-0 against the Beast in games decided past regulation, winning once in overtime and another in a shootout. Adam Schmidt topped Reading with four goals (6 pts.) against Brampton. Chris McCarthy also recorded six points (2g) and player/assistant coach Tyler Brown recorded two of his five goals vs. the Beast.Brandon Marino notched seven points (2g) vs. Reading, which ranked second on team to Alex Foster (9 pts.). 2013 Kelly Cup Champion David Vallorani had six points (1g).We’ll play you close The Royals have played the Beast 27 times and 15 games have been decided by a goal. Reading is 6-2-7-0 in those contests and the Royals earned a 4-1-0-0 mark in one-goal decisions last campaign vs. Brampton. Current Royals Chris McCarthy and Tyler Brown each scored a game-winning goal in the contests decided by one  last season, while Brampton blue liner Jordan stung the Royals  in the Beast’s only one-goal win.Reading owns a 10-6-5-0 record in the all-time series against Brampton. 

All-Star Break looming This is the second-to-last game before the CCM ECHL All-Star Classic, which will take place Monday in Toledo. Following Saturday’s game vs. Wheeling, Royals players will be off until the following Friday. The Royals are off from Jan. 20-25 and return to action Jan. 26 at Wheeling. 

About the RoyalsThe Royals have been owned by serial entrepreneur Jack Gulati since 2014 and are entering their 18th ECHL season. Proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Reading plays in the Santander Arena, located in downtown Reading, PA at 700 Penn Street. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and are four-time division champions.Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play.