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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, joins the Royals 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.

Wes Wolfe - Assistant Coach

Wolfe, 35, a Niagara Falls, ON-native and the 24th assistant coach in Reading’s 24-season history, joined the coaching staff under first-year Head Coach and General Manager Anthony Peters on August 19th, 2025. Previously, Wolfe was an assistant coach for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) each of the last three seasons, along with five prior seasons (2016-2021). Wolfe served his first season, 2016-17, under former Erie bench boss and current Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, culminating in a J. Ross Roberston Cup OHL Championship. During his two tenures with the Otters, he helped oversee the development of over 25 NHL draft picks and signees. His recent coaching history includes one-year stint as head coach & general manager of the Cobourg Cougars in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) in 2021-22, winning the first East Division title in team history. 

Wolfe prepares for his 15th season behind the players bench after two seasons as head coach of the Niagara Falls Rivermen 16U AAA in the South Central AAA Minor Hockey League (2012-14) and two seasons in various coaching and managerial roles with the Pelham Pirates and St. Catharines Falcons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (2014-16) before his eight seasons in Erie (2016-21, 2022-25) and one season in Cobourg (2021-22).

At the international level, Wolfe was an assistant coach for Canada's national under-17 Team Red which earned a silver medal at the 2024 U17 World Challenge. He was also recently announced as an assistant coach for Team Ontario at the 2027 Canada Winter Games.
 

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.

Alyson Vecchia-Spooner - Head Athletic Trainer

Vecchia-Spooner, a native of Danbury, Connecticut, will manage all matters related to the athletic training and medical treatment of the team’s players. Vecchia-Spooner’s services are provided through St. Luke’s University Health Network and will begin immediately.

A graduate of Springfield College with a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Exercise Science, as well as a Master of Science Degree in Athletic Training, Vecchia-Spooner served as the athletic training student for the university’s football, soccer, volleyball teams. Additionally, Vecchia-Spooner gained a plethora of experience through numerous athletic training internships, including stints at Williston Northampton School in 2023, College of Holy Cross and UMass-Amherst’s football program in 2024, as well as the Florida Everblades in 2025 where she was efficient in injury prevention, immediate injury care, assisting team physicians, administration responsibilities, along with other skills.

Vecchia-Spooner also joins Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ head athletic trainer Kedryn Orrison-Pilgrim as two head athletic trainers within the Philadelphia Flyers organization.