April 13-14

Thursday night at the Arena in downtown Reading for the opening game of the 2017 Kelly Cup playoffs. For the Royals it marks an eighth consecutive year in the postseason and the twelfth overall in the club's sixteen-year history. This series is a best-of-seven Northern Division semifinal, the Brampton Beast are the opposition making their first postseason appearance in three years as a member club of the ECHL. The teams finished tied for second place in the North with 88 standing points apiece, the Royals earning home-ice on the basis of more wins (the Royals were 41-25-6, the Beast 40-24-8). On this night in Game #1 the Royals drew first blood on a first-period score by Robbie Czarnik, Todd Perry lit the lamp midway through the second to put the club up by two. Brampton got on the board late in the period but from there Mark Dekanich and the defense corps put up the wall and made that lead stand up for the 2-1 win and a 1-0 lead in the series. Game #2 is at the Arena on Saturday the 15th with the middle three in Brampton, a potential Game #6 is back at home on Monday the 24th. Take care, thanks for reading.