David Vallorani: A Familiar Face To Watch For On The Reading Royals

The Washington Capitals will scrimmage their new-ish ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals, today at Kettler Iceplex.  The Royals are currently 2nd in the ECHL in wins and are a top tier squad.

It won't be a full game and Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby will play goalie for each team and switch at the half. More on the game from the Reading Eagle:

"The game will include three 20-minute periods and will have referees. There will be no penalties and no special teams. Admission is free."

Before you head out to Ballston, check out one of our favorite Reading players that we saw playing this summer at Caps Rookie Development Camp.

David Vallorani:  At 5'8"Vallorani is not the biggest guy on the ice.  But he plays hard, shows a lot of heart, and after a great D-Camp he earned a contract with the Hershey Bears.  Vallorani was assigned to start his career with the Royals.  Read how the former UMASS-Lowell forward impressed the crowd over the summer.

He may be small, but Vallorani has been impressive all week, displaying his offensive talent with a number of shot attempts on goal and several great centering passes.  He knows how to get the puck to the net, a skill that most of the other players at development camp are lacking.  The four year senior has scored 3 goals in 3 scrimmages and has made his case for being signed by the Capitals organization at some level.

Vallorani has tallied 25 points in 35 games in the ECHL this season so far, which ranks 11th among all rookies. He is tied for 5th on the team in scoring.  It will be interesting if he can repeat some of the magic from his surprising D-Camp performance against the big boys.


Stanislav Galiev was also at D-Camp and has had a disappointing season for the Hershey Bears.  The Russian was sent down to the ECHL on Monday for the second time this season and has 0 goals and 1 assists in 17 games with the Bears.  He also has 13 points in 12 games for the Royals this year.  Not sure if he is in VA for the game or not, if he is, keep an eye on him.

David Civitarese and goalie Sergei Kostenko were both at D-Camp as well.  Civitarese was recently activated from Reserve and should play.  The Reading goalies are not scheduled to play with Neuvirth and Holtby supposed to man the nets for both teams.  Kostenko, Russian goaltender and 7th round pick in last year's NHL Draft, also had a very good rookie camp which included a nice little showdown with first round pick Filip Forsberg over the summer that was quite interesting.  It's ashame we won't get to see him.  You can read about it here.

D-Camp Day 2: Stand-Out Players

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We will be live at Kettler each day at some point for Development Camp.  So follow us on Twitter @Dru90 @Camcoco10 and @TheDugsSports for live-tweets and check back all week for coverage.

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The second scrimmage at Washington Capitals Development Camp took place on Tuesday afternoon at Kettler Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia with new coach Adam Oates looking on.  The intensity level during this scrimmage was much higher than Monday's iteration and the crowd was larger and louder as well.

One of the fan favorites at camp is Tom Wilson, the first round draft pick out of the OHL.  Wilson towers over most of the other players on the ice and he has provided some of the biggest hits of the camp so far.  At one point in the scrimmage, Wilson was tangled up with another participant and he took his opponent down UFC-style, one step away from throwing the KO punch.  However, during Tuesday's scrimmage Wilson was on the receiving end of a few big shots as well, one such shot laying him out on the ice. (Read about Tom Wilson's first day of camp)

Wilson, who lacked speed when competing in the earlier day's speed drills, can get the puck in good position with his strength, but needs to vastly improve his shooting and passing.

The other player that fans have been extra excited about is the Caps 11th pick Filip Forsberg out of Sweden.  Forsberg clearly needs to add some size to his frame, but he is only 17 years old and was outplaying many of the older guys at camp.  On Tuesday in the course of only a few minutes of ice time, Filip missed 2 "lay-ups", one with a completely empty net.  Forsberg could have easily had 2 goals and been the highlight of the scrimmage.

Andreas Martinsen, a free agent out of Norway, is another big player in the mold of Tom Wilson.  His skill is impressive considering his size, and he seems to have a nose for the puck on the offensive end.  Martinsen did fall down during suicide drills earlier in the day.

One of the quickest and niftiest players that seemed to be able to get off a good number of shots on goal despite his 5'8" size was T.J. Syder.  Syder was a free agent that signed with the Bears in March, so fans will get a chance to watch him up in Hershey this season.

David Vallorani, a free agent that played 4 seasons at UMASS-Lowell, scored an impressive long range goal and put another great attempt on net later in the scrimmage.

Stanislav Galiev looked like one of the most NHL players on the ice in terms of his size and skills, and he should get a chance to put in a lot of minutes in Hershey this season.

The Caps resume D-Camp on Wednesday morning, with no scrimmage scheduled for the day.