The Reading Royals (12-14-1-1) started a three-game series at the Idaho Central Arena on Wednesday night against the Idaho Steelheads (22-8-0-1).
At 13:02 of the first period, Reading’s Nicolas Ouellet put the Royals up 1-0 with assists by Devon Paliani and Shane Sellar. The Royals had eight shots on goal and led 1-0 after one period of play.
Thirty-one seconds into the second period, Reading’s Kenny Johnson extended the Royals lead to 2-0 with assists by Devon Paliani and Shane Sellar.
At 2:10, Idaho’s Willie Knierim cut the Royals lead down to 2-1. Then at 4:35, Reading’s Tyson Fawcett got the goal back which made it 3-1 with an assist by Nicolas Ouellet. The Royals had eight shots on goal and led 3-1 after two periods of play.
At 5:41 of the third period, Reading’s Trevor Thurston extended the Royals lead to 4-1 with assists by Matt Brown and Joseph Nardi. Eighteen seconds later, Reading’s Adam Brubacher made it 5-1 Royals with an assist by Joseph Nardi.
At 6:43, Reading’s Shane Sellar added another goal for a 6-1 with assists by Devon Paliani and Jake Bricknell. Then, Idaho’s Jack Becker scored a pair of goals which made it 6-3 Royals. At 18:18, Reading’s Austin Master put the game away 7-3 with assists by Matt Brown and Kenny Johnson. The Royals had 12 shots on goal and defeated the Idaho Steelheads by the final score of 7-3.
The Royals had 28 shots on goal, committed four penalties for eight minutes, went 1 for 3 on the power play, and Parker Gahagen made 38 saves of 41 shots.
The Royals and Steelheads play game two on Friday night at 9:10 pm on FloHockey. Purchase Reading Royals tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
