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Hockey Staff

Anthony Peters - Head Coach & General Manager

Peters, 34, a Blyth, ON-native and the 10th head coach in Reading’s 24-season history, joined the Royals on June 19th, 2025 from the Florida Everblades, where he was an assistant coach under three-time Kelly Cup Champion as Head Coach and General Manager of the Everblades, Brad Ralph, each of the last two seasons.

With Peters on staff, the Everblades hoisted an 89-38-17 record in 144 regular season games, a 26-12 record in 38 Kelly Cup Playoff games and garnered their third-consecutive Kelly Cup Championship in 2024, as well as their fourth-straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2025.

Prior to beginning his coaching career in 2023-24 with Florida, Peters played eight full seasons of professional hockey as a goaltender with stints in the American Hockey League (AHL), ECHL, as well as overseas in Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Slovakia. He opened his professional career in the ECHL with Florida in 2015 and went on to play 100 regular season games in goal for the Everblades over parts of three seasons through the 2016-17 campaign. The 6'1" netminder compiled a regular season record of 60-31-4 in his time with the team and made 12 Kelly Cup Playoff game appearances for Florida between their postseason runs in 2016 and 2017.

In parts of four AHL seasons, Peters appeared in 51 games between the Rochester Americans, Charlotte Checkers and Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins. Following five professional seasons in North America, Peters backstopped HC Slovan Bratislava to the Slovakian Extraliga Championship in 2021-22. Prior to his professional playing career, Peters was a netminder at St. Mary's University where he earned the accolades of a selection to the CIS all-rookie team in 2011-12, all-Canadian team and CIS Goaltender of the Year honor in 2014-15 and captured a gold medal at the 2013 Winter Universiade in Italy, where he went 4-0 in net for Team Canada.

Justin Stevens - Assistant Coach

Stevens, 34, a Brantford, ON-native and the 26th assistant coach in Reading’s 25-season history, joined the Royals on July 7th, 2026.

Prior to Reading, Stevens was an Assistant Coach and Assistant of Director of Hockey Operations for the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) during the 2025-26 season. With Stevens on staff, the team hoisted the fifth most points (65) in the regular season, going 28-21-6-3, and reached the President's Cup Playoffs.

Prior to Pensacola, Stevens served six seasons as an Associate Head Coach between the University of Guelph (2019-23) and the University of Ottawa (2023-25) of U Sports. Under Stevens' direction, the Gryphons earned both a Western Conference and an Ontario University Athletics Queen's Cup title in 2019-20, and the Gee-Gee's won their first ever national championship in 2025.

Additionally, Stevens served two seasons as an Assistant Coach at the University of Guelph before moving into the Associate Head Coach position ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. He was also invited to the Los Angeles Kings coaches summit as a guest coach for the team's annual development camp in 2019.

Prior to his coaching career, Stevens played seven games professionally in the SPHL with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dogs following a five-season collegiate career between Mercyhurst University (2012-14) and Carleton University (2014-17).
 

Jason MacDonald - Head Equipment Manager & Dir. of Hockey Operations

A native of Detroit, Michigan, MacDonald has been Reading’s Equipment Manager since the start of the 2015-16 season. In 2018-19, MacDonald was named the ECHL’s Equipment Manager of the Year. The distinction, determined in a vote of the league’s equipment managers and athletic trainers, marked MacDonald’s first and the Royals’ fourth Equipment Manager of the Year selection. MacDonald has worked as an equipment manager since 2000-01, when he started as an assistant for the USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. In 2001-02, MacDonald was an assistant equipment manager for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and the team won the Calder Cup. MacDonald’s experience includes stints in the NHL, AHL, ECHL and CHL.

Jake Garwood - Head Athletic Trainer

A native of LaPorte, Indiana, Garwood joined the Royals on August 13th, 2026. He graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Kinesiology and Exercise Science, as well as a Master of Science Degree in Athletic Training from Purdue University, Garwood brings clinical experience garnered in high school, collegiate, tactical, industrial and professional environments. Additionally, Garwood completed a nine month long immersive internship with the Indy Fuel.