Zion’s hat trick leads Royals to win

Defenseman Jon Zion nets three goals and coach Derek Clancey gets a win in his Reading debut in a rout over Trenton.

By Julie Pelchar Reading Eagle

TRENTON, N.J. — Trenton celebrated the start of its fifth ECHL season with a video featuring Titans of the past, many of whom helped Trenton hand Reading 13 losses in two years.
   Jon Zion wasted little time in crashing the party.
   The defenseman had a hat trick to lead the Royals and new coach Derek Clancey to a 6-1 victory Friday night at Sovereign Bank Arena.
   The Royals might want to thank newly named captain Brad Church, who all summer called Zion, his former Richmond Renegade teammate.
   Zion became a free agent after Richmond folded and was heavily recruited by ECHL teams, but Church successfully lured him to join Reading’s star-studded, overhauled roster that saw all but one new player on the ice Friday.
   Zion, an ECHL All-Star last season, seemed as if he was on the ice the whole game. He played on the penalty kill and the power-play units and scored three times during the first 37 minutes and 16 seconds to give Reading a 4-1 lead after two periods.
   "It’s nice, obviously, if you can help the team out," Zion, who’s fighting a head cold, said of his second pro hat trick. "That’s the best part. That’s the satisfaction you get from it."
   The Titans dominated the first period, giving goaltender Adam Hauser no time to ease into his second pro season. But Hauser, another one of Reading’s five former all-stars, stopped 13 shots to keep it a 1-1 game.
   After Zion scored the opening goal 5:16 into play, Hauser allowed a score by Devin Rask, but was perfect the rest of the way. He finished with 30 saves.
   "It’s better that way when you think about it because it gets you into it right away," Hauser said of facing a lot of shots early. "It’s tough to go the whole game with a lot of space between shots."
   In the second period, the Royals found the simple game that Clancey preached throughout training camp.
   "Our mistakes we made we recovered from," Clancey said, "because we were working hard and keeping it simple, versus the first period, when we were making mistakes, being lazy and maybe we were a little nervous."
   Newcomer Graig Mischler, a third-year pro who joined the Royals Friday, backhanded a weak shot past Andrew Allen 4:22 into the second to make it 2-1. Zion scored two unanswered powerplay goals to give Reading the three-goal lead after two.
   In the third, Leon Hayward scored on a two-on-one with Dave Stewart and Church deflected in a shot by Mischler.
   Clancey wants to see more of what transpired over the last two periods tonight, when the Royals play the expansion Texas Wildcatters, who lost 7-3 at Atlantic City, at the Sovereign Center.
   "When you get home, guys want to do a little extra," Clancey said. "But I think our fans will appreciate a blue-collar effort and wins more than anything else."
   Contact Julie Pelchar at 610-371-5065 or japelchar@readingeagle.com.