WORCESTER, MA – The Reading Royals scored five goals in a 4:19 span of the second period, Trevor Gooch scored twice in that time and Jeremy Beaudry registered a career-best four assists to sweep the weekend against the Worcester Railers, 6-2, Saturday at the DCU Center. Beaudry’s four assists tied a record for helpers in a game by a Royals defenseman, most recently matching Joe Houk (2018-19). Gooch finished the weekend with five goals and six points.
The Royals are second place in the North with 55 points (25-14-5-0), three points clear of Brampton. Reading has points in four straight games against the Railers (3-0-1-0).
In the second period, Gooch (2:52), Brayden Low (3:55), Matt Strome (5:10), Steven Swavely (5:36) and Gooch (7:11) scored to give Reading a 6-2 advantage. Reading scored on five of their 15 second-period shots, while Worcester netted one.
Reading trailed by one before scoring six of the next seven. Before the second-period craziness, a belligerent first frame featured 49 combined penalty minutes, one game misconduct and 12 total infractions. The Royals and Railers were tied at one after one. Garrett Mitchell (power play goal) redirected a center blue line shot from Garret Cockerill to even the score at one with 8:42 to go in the first.
Kirill Ustimenko made 37 saves to improve to 7-0-1-0 in his last eight decisions (2 goals against). Evan Buitenhuis suffered defeat with 26 denials (6 goals against).
Gooch continues to go crazy: Following a hat trick and four-point effort Friday, Trevor Gooch added two goals in a 7:11 span in the second period to cap the quickest five-goal run of the season.
Gooch finished the weekend with five goals and six points, nearly doubling his tally total to 11 on the season. He has 20 points in 35 games this season. He scored his first professional goal November 24th vs. Newfoundland. In that game, the Royals rattled off three goals in less than four minutes to beat the Growlers.
Coming from behind: Garrett Mitchell’s tying goal in the first period eliminated an early lead for the Railers. The Royals rolled from there to earn the team’s first come-from-behind win in six weeks (December 14th against Brampton). The Royals have won five times this season when allowing the first goal and the team has seven come-from-behind victories this season.
Reading has often rolled when scoring in the first or netting the first strike. The Royals are 15-0-0-0 at home when opening the scoring and 20-1-3 when scoring first.
Second note: The Royals have scored in the second period in each of their last 11 games. Earlier this season, the Royals had a run where the team scored in 13 straight third periods.
The Royals are home for Ladies Night on Friday, February 7th and the team’s annual Pink in the Rink game on Saturday, February 8th, presented by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Alvernia University and Adams & Associates.
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