The Reading Royals won their first ECHL championship by routing the Stockton Thunder 6-0 on Saturday night to complete a five-game victory in the Kelly Cup final.
The visiting Royals, a farm team of the Washington Capitals, got goals from six players and a 29-save shutout by goaltender Riley Gill. Reading won the first two games of the series at home and captured Game 3 at Stockton before the Thunder, an affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, stayed alive with a 4-3 victory on Friday night.
Mark Mitera, a 2006 first-round pick by the Anaheim Ducks, opened the scoring for the Royals at 17:05 of the first period. Reading blew the game open by scoring four times in the second. Brett Flemming, a fifth-round pick by Washington (No. 145) in 2009, made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 2:49; goals by Ian O'Connor, T.J. Syner and Stanislav Galinev made it 5-0 after two periods. Joel Champagne completed the scoring with 3:35 left in regulation.
Syner added two assists and was plus-5; he led all players during the playoffs with a plus-22 rating.
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