Brust impenetrable as Royals record shutout over Bombers
By Matt Malinowski
Reading Eagle
Whether he was kicking away breakaways or erasing defensive breakdowns, Reading Royals goalie Barry Brust made things look relatively easy.
No acrobatic stops. No sliding post-to-post and doing the splits to keep pucks out of the net.
Sure, he had his moments when his brilliance brought rousing cheers from the fans. No doubt his finest display came early in the third period, when he deftly snagged a bullet from the point that appeared destined to get the Dayton Bombers on the board.
But for much of the game, Brust made the majority of his 31 saves in a 2-0 ECHL win over the Bombers at the Sovereign Center look seemingly routine.
That's not to insinuate they were routine. Many - perhaps too many - were quality efforts in prime scoring areas.
And each time Brust swallowed them up or brushed them aside, much of the time controlling rebounds in the process.
But maybe the play that showed exactly how well things are going for Brust didn't even come on an official shot.
About 14 minutes into the second period, Brust came out of his net to glove a fluttering puck. He jumped and missed and the puck bounced into the goal crease, where a myriad of Royals kept it out of the net.
“Yeah, the luck of the Irish must have been on my side on that one,” Brust said. “Any time a puck is above the boards here, it gets real tough to see. I had it, and then kind of lost it.
“It was a bit of a dumb play by me, but fortunately I'm getting those breaks right now because that could have been a game-changing goal.”
Reading took a 1-0 lead with 33 seconds left in the first period when Graig Mischler collected his own rebound and neatly tucked the puck past the goal line for a power-play goal.
The score stayed that way after two periods because of Brust's brilliance - his error on the pop-up not withstanding.
He stopped a breakaway, which was followed by a flurry in front. He turned aside a wrister on a two-on-one. He erased several good opportunities in tight.
Reading got an insurance goal from Preston Mizzi with 6:58 left in the third period.
“There's no question Brust won us the game tonight,” Royals coach Derek Clancey said. “I think they outworked us and we got a couple of lucky breaks.
“I don't think we have played overly well the last couple of weeks, and he has been a big factor in our wins. But you can't ride him forever, and guys have to bring a better effort. He played outstanding, but he got way too much work. I don't want my goalies getting that kind of work every night.”
Well, even if the Royals aren't performing up to Clancey's expectations, Brust is proving he can win games on his own.
He is 6-0-0 with three shutouts in his last six starts. He is 9-0-1 in his last 11 games and improved to 22-8-3 this season.
Another positive from the lockout. Brust is really honing his game down there in the "E", along with Fukufuji, and I think and by the time the NHL is back we could see the 2 of them in Manchester....
Another positive from the lockout. Brust is really honing his game down there in the "E", along with Fukufuji, and I think and by the time the NHL is back we could see the 2 of them in Manchester....
I was pretrty shocked two read that article. The three times I saw Brust in net were very forgettable. Good to see he is turning it around
im not sure if my memory is failing me, but didn't he always do fairly ok int he ECHL but struggled int he A?
Brust is a rookie, never played in the A. And yes, he wasn't the greatest in the beginning of the season but he's playing much better these days. He likes to play the puck A LOT which can be scary as hell to watch sometimes but luck's been on his side and it hasn't hurt him much lately. He's making saves that would've been guaranteed goals earlier this season and hopefully he'll keep it up until and through the playoffs.
Look at the GAA Drop! I wasn't really thrilled when he signed him. Hopefully he can keep it up. Either the scouting staff might have found a gem or we need to give Andy Noweicki more credit
Look at the GAA Drop! I wasn't really thrilled when he signed him. Hopefully he can keep it up. Either the scouting staff might have found a gem or we need to give Andy Noweicki more credit
well, it would be nice if we could give noweicki credit, cuase our franchise is damn due for brigning out a solid #1. COME ON!!! bring up somone good!
memory is hazy but brust had a quick glove and poor everything else. i think he gave up fat rebounds and just iddn't seem to be too solid fundamentally. after seeing him i wasn't expecting him to do much except make the AHL.
i saw fuku, didn't impress me much either. i think he made a few good saves and had quick side to side movement (if ic an remember correctly). i think his positioning was fairly decent, which got him most of his saves, but he had a lota holes that the puck would just seem to slip into. rough around the edges, but from what the coaching staff sounds like, he may be rounding it out slowly. everyone keeps saying he starts off well then ends poorly from lack of stamina. that seems to be the general consensus about him. can't really agree or disagree on that though
I had the luxury of seeing him a fair bit last season with the Calgary Hitmen. The thing that stands out about him most is obviously his ability to play the puck. Aside from that, he seems to be a fairly competent goaltender in terms of positioning and rebound control.
I'm surprised at his recent luck and season in the ECHL, but then again, he's shown flashes of it in Calgary before.
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He was struggling in the Canadian Juniors. Had a rough couple of years with Spokane. He started to turn it around in Calgary.
Look at the GAA Drop! I wasn't really thrilled when he signed him. Hopefully he can keep it up. Either the scouting staff might have found a gem or we need to give Andy Noweicki more credit
Only time will tell if the Kings found a gem but Andy Noweicki has spent time with each of the Kings goaltenders this season. He has visited with Brust at least a couple of times this year. He also spends time with the other goaltenders when he visits the teams [Manchester Reading and Bakersfield] that the Kings have no connection with.
