With no goalies on his roster and three games in three days on his schedule, Kirk MacDonald picked up the phone.
The Reading Royals coach didn’t call an agent or colleague. There wasn’t time. He called the player himself.
Andrew D’Agostini was the one who answered.
Here was the sales pitch:
“Do you want an opportunity to get back to the ECHL?” MacDonald said. “Or do you want to play for $200 a week in the SPHL?”
D’Agostini picked option No. 1 and the Royals suddenly had their man.
Two days later, D’Agostini had two wins while wearing the Purple and Black.
The third-year pro made 27 saves and Reading defeated Allen 4-2 at Santander Arena Saturday night.
“I’m excited to see where this takes us,” D’Agostini said. “I’m going to do absolutely everything in my control to keep my job here.”
How D’Agostini made it to the Royals from the Macon Mayhem is a very minor league story.
The Royals were scrambling. The goalie was desperate. They were really the perfect match.
MacDonald asked Brampton coach Colin Chaulk for D’Agostini’s number.
After the agreement was reached, there were the logistical complications of actually getting to Reading on time.
D’Agostini asked Macon’s equipment manager to open the arena so he could get his gear Thursday at 11 p.m. He was at the Atlanta airport Friday at 4:30 a.m. He was in the Royals net less than 17 hours later.
The 5-10, 173-pound Ontario native didn’t mind the travel. All he wanted was a lifeline out of the SPHL. He wasn’t sure it was coming.
“Those thoughts do creep into your mind,” D’Agostini said. “You wonder if you’re going to find a way to get out of there when the results are going the way they were going.”
D’Agostini, who impressed MacDonald while at Brampton the previous two years, was in camp with Allen before being released. He played nine games for Pensacola before being cut again. Then it was Macon.
The Royals (12-7-6) have struggled to find consistent goaltending. They’re 11-1-2 when someone other than Angus Redmond or Austin Lotz is in net. Both are gone.
“I think we’re one of the best teams in the league when we get a save,” MacDonald said. “The first save. We’re not asking some guy to do cartwheels in the net. Just make the first freakin’ save.”
D’Agostini has done so. He has a .915 save percentage in his two games.
Brayden Low scored the Teddy Bear goal and 2,541 stuffed animals were thrown to the ice to benefit Toys for Tots.
Steven Swavely scored six seconds into the second period, the fastest goal in a period in team history. Swavely is riding a 13-game points streak, which is the longest in the ECHL this season.
Chris McCarthy and Nick Luukko each had a goal and an assist.
The Royals’ goaltending concerns aren’t going away.
Either D’Agostini or Charlie Millen, another player signed out of the SPHL Thursday, could start today.
If it’s Millen, he’ll be the seventh starter the Royals have used this season.
D’Agostini is happy to be on that list.
“It was an interesting couple of months,” he said. “It was a real test of resiliency and keeping positive. It was staying the path and believing in myself.”
And answering the phone.
Contact Jason Guarente: 610-371-5079 or jguarente@readingeagle.com
