The Maine Mariners fought hard but had their season come to an end on Monday night. Jacob Pritchard scored a powerplay goal with 12:51 left in the third period, and the Reading Royals took a 2-1 win in game six of an ECHL Northern Division playoff series at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. Reading wins the series 4-2 to advance to the next round.
Nick Master gave Maine a 1-0 lead when he scored his third playoff goal at 9:08 of the first period. Reading evened things on a tally from Trevor Gooch at 7:27 of the second. The game winner came after the Mariners Alex Kile was called for hooking 5:28 into the third that led to the series deciding tally by Pritchard. Maine, who had won two of the three games in Portland to get back in the series, lost all three games played in Reading.
Callum Booth made 31 saves in the loss in his third straight start between the pipes. Mathew Santos and Michael Kim had the assists on the goal by Master. Pat Nagle stopped 30 shots in net in the victory for Reading in his first playoff start. The Royals (49-19-2) will play either Trois-Rivieries or Newfoundland in the Northern Division Finals. Those two teams will play a game seven of their series on Tuesday night. Maine, who was playing in the ECHL Playoffs for the first time since being announced as a new franchise in 2018, end with a final record of 35-35-3. The Mariners were led by first year head coach and former University of Maine player and assistant coach Ben Guite.
