ECHL: Meet the Reading Royals: Joseph Nardi

This week, the spotlight falls on Royals’ forward, Joseph Nardi. Nardi has spent the entire 2023-24 season so far with the Royals, however, his hockey story didn’t start here in Reading.

Before Nardi made his presence known in Reading, Pennsylvania, his professional career started in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose last season. He played in four games with Manitoba acquiring one goal in his time there before making his way to the ECHL where the would spend 56 games with the Toledo Walleye. In Toledo, Nardi acquired a total of 23 points spread between five goals and 18 assists.

Though Nardi has only been in the professional scene for his second season, he did make a heavy presence in the NCAA at Northern Michigan University. He played in a total of 170 games racking in 113 points that came from 41 goals and 72 assists from the 2017-18 season to the 2021-22 season. Nardi is not one to spend much time in the penalty box, however, in his first season at Northern Michigan University, he received a total of 39 penalty minutes in the 43 games he played that season.

Now in the 2023-24 season, Nardi is currently sitting in second in top forwards for Reading with 17 points across his 17 games making his points per game a perfect one. He’s currently sitting behind Matt Brown who has him beat by one goal. Although, Nardi is beating Brown by one assist. There is still plenty of season to go for Nardi to take that top forward spot and by the looks of his play style, he’s bound to take that spot in no time. Nardi and the Reading Royals will by back in action at home this coming Friday and Saturday against first in the division rival, Trois-Rivières. Will Nardi manage to maintain his points per game or will he surpass Matt Brown for that top forward spot?