"Mackin Maniacs" invade Santander Arena

The ‘Mackin Maniacs,’ a group of 30-60 family and friends of Reading Royals forward Corey Mackin, have made the drive from just outside Philadelphia to Santander Arena for the majority of Royals home games since Mackin signed Mar. 7.They were on their way when Mackin scored his first professional goal on his birthday Mar. 29 during the first period of the Royals' 6-2 win against the Maine Mariners. Adam Schmidt sent the puck to the slot where it bounced off of Johnny Coughlin’s skate to Mackin. He then sent the puck past Chris Nell to tie the game at 1-1. 

🚨 GOAL! 🚨Corey Mackin scores his first professional goal...on his birthday!REA 1 | MNE 1 pic.twitter.com/yi4a4lu4bC

— Reading Royals (@ReadingRoyals) March 29, 2019

“I hate to say that we were stuck in traffic on the turnpike,” his father, Francis Mackin said. “We missed the goal but I kind of lost my voice screaming in the car cause we were listening to the game on Mixlr. It was incredible, it was really amazing. It was nice to see him after. But missing that goal was pretty bad.”Mackin has five points across the nine games he has played for the Royals (1g, 4a). He notched his first pro assist on Kevin Goumas’ goal during his Royals debut on Mar. 9, 2019 where the team fell to the Brampton Beast, 5-3.He played collegiately for the Ferris State Bulldogs in hockey-crazy Big Rapids, MI.“His first college game ever, similar to this, we had a bus of about 40 people that went out to western Michigan and then his home game against West Michigan. So that weekend was incredible,” Francis said.During his rookie season at FSU Mackin played in all 41 games and helped the team to a NCAA Regional Final appearance in addition to the team’s first WCHA Tournament Championship. He was named WCHA Rookie of the Year and led WCHA rookies in overall scoring.There were some early signs that Mackin would excel in the sport. He began with roller hockey before transitioning to the ice.“There were certain things he did that people would say ‘Wow, he’s pretty good.’ and that was probably in roller hockey more than anything,” Francis explained.He, like many other hockey players, learned to roller skate at around four years old.“The skating part came from, I hate to say, my brother-in-laws. They both got him introduced to skating and hockey and things like that,” Francis said. “My other son plays, he played Division III at Johnson & Wales University...so his cousins and him played a lot. Him with his brother early on.”Mackin played in a few different little leagues but also tried out other sports.“I was trying to get him into other sports and things like baseball and soccer,” Francis explained. ‘I had him playing football but hockey wound up being the thing that he loves.”Corey Mackin continued to love the sport through his grade school years, playing for his high school team before putting on skates for the Northwood School in Lake Placid.Mackin then played in the BCHL for Coquitlam Express. He was named the 2014-15 Canadian Junior Hockey League MVP after netting 50 goals and 104 points in 58 games played.“His junior career was when it really dawned on us that he was pretty good. What he did in Coquitlam in Canada was kinda amazing. And then it led to Ferris State and what has happened now is just part of this path that he’s on,” Francis said.