After being assigned to the Reading Royals from Lehigh Valley last week, Matt Miller started pre-season off with a bang.
How a team or player performs in the pre-season isn’t always a reflection on what will happen in the regular season, but a good start never hurts.
For Reading Royals forward Matt Miller, that was the case Friday in the team’s 4-2 road win over the Adirondack Thunder in the pre-season opener for both clubs.
Miller contributed on three of the four scores with a goal and two assists. The Royals opened the scoring with a power play goal 5:48 into the first period off a redirection by Miller from a Brock Caufield wrist shot. The puck deflected off of Miller and over Thunder goalie Jeremy Brodeur's right shoulder for a 1-0 Reading lead. Sam Sedley earned the secondary assist to Miller’s goal.
Caufield potted his own goal at 17:58 into the first with a wrister past Brodeur. Miller picked up a helper along with Tyler Gratton. Both Caufield and Miller had a goal and an assist for a multi-point game in the first period alone.
Miller got his third point of the night in the second period on an assist from Sedley’s wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Brodeur at the 12:58 mark to increase the Royals’ lead to 3-1.
“Matt played obviously well,” head coach Jason Binkley told Royals PR following Saturday’s practice. “He got some good experience in Lehigh Valley at the end of (last) season… His compete and his drive are at a higher level just from what his training was all summer. His ability to come in at this level, and with his size and skating ability, quite honestly we expect him to do that.”
Last week, Miller was assigned to the Royals by their AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 6-foot-3 forward played for the University of Nebraska-Omaha last season, scoring seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in 37 games.
Miller also skated in six games with the Phantoms late last season, posting one goal in six regular-season contests, while also playing two post-season games.
Miller played youth hockey with the Fort Wayne Komets’ AA team before moving to the Canton (Michigan) Victory Honda team for three seasons. He also spent time with U.S. national teams and was drafted into the USHL until 2020, when he began his college career.
The Royals finish the pre-season at home against the Thunder Saturday evening at Santander Arena, so Miller will get another opportunity to shine before play begins for real next week.