Reading railroads the Beast

Royals win season series with dominating victory over Brampton

Justin Donati #16 celebrates Brampton's first goal of the game with teammate David Ling #12. Dario Passarelli/Toronto Observer

BRAMPTON Olivier Labelle scored the first two goals of the game and led the Reading Royals to an 8-3 victory over the Brampton Beast on Sunday.

David Ling had a goal and an assist but it wasn’t enough for the Beast as they suffered one of it’s worst losses of the season.

Newcomer Parker Van Buskirk, having only been signed two days prior from the University of Windsor, made a number of great saves in his first start for the Beast.

His teammates let him down however as Reading had many chances and scored four goals on 19 shots before he was replaced at 15:25 of the second period by Ryan DeMelo.

With the victory, the Royals (41-16-4-2) have won the season series 3-2 and maintained their second place ranking in the East Division of the East Coast Hockey League.

Both teams came out hustling in the first period intent on finishing their checks, but it was the Royals who took the advantage in possession and scoring chances.

It didn’t matter what zone they were in, but the Beast (21-38-3-0) always seemed to be outnumbered where ever the puck was, making it very difficult for them to control any of the action.

Van Buskirk made an excellent save before Labelle opened the scoring at 1:49 with a snap shot from about 10 feet out.

The Royals did get into a bit of trouble with two penalties 18 seconds apart when Brendan Alderson and Bryant Molle received two minutes each for holding and delay of game respectfully.

Despite the quality of chances and the large scramble in front of the net, the Beast were not able to beat goalie Connor Knapp.

On Reading’s first power play, Labelle was able to deflect a shot past Van Buskirk for his second of the game at 16:50 of the opening period.

Reading controlled the puck as they opened the second which led to Mike Marcou’s sixth of the season at 1:35 and a 3-0 advantage.

The game had quieted down for about a 10-minute span until a three goal flurry in less than a minute started with Justin Donati’s 14th of the season at 14:34 to put the Beast on the board.

Brampton pulled within one just 36 seconds later when Jason Pitton scored his 22nd of the season, but the comeback fell short as Reading regained their two-goal lead only 15 seconds after that.

David Marshall doused the home crowd spirit when he netted his 21st at 15:25. Matt Hatch extended the lead to 5-2 when he potted his ninth past new netminder, Ryan DeMelo.

The pain continued into the third period as it became quite ugly, quite quickly.

Within 62 seconds the Royals added another two goals and extended their lead to 7-2 when Michael Caruso scored his fourth at 0:40 and Alderson his seventh, at 1:02.

Both teams exchanged goals to end the scoring with the Royals’ Kevin Walrod notched his ninth at 5:57 and David Ling at 17:39 with his ninth to make it 8-3.

Follow Dario Passarelli @PapaDart

About this article

By: Dario Passarelli
Posted: Mar 24 2015 12:23 pm
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Filed under: Hockey Local Sports Sports
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