Beast's Vallorani Back Among League's Scoring Elite After 'Toughest' Pro Year

It was a bad break in the midst of a tough season.

Brampton Beast forward David Vallorani was all set to make his American Hockey League debut after being called up from the ECHL on Feb. 7, 2018. But the 29-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., never officially suited up for the Laval Rocket.

Vallorani was ruled ineligible because of an AHL rule that prohibits players who began the season in a league outside North America from joining a team after Feb. 1.

“You go from a really big high. You know getting called up. I was there travelling with (Laval), going out for morning skate and then I got the news there was a February 1st deadline — and I got called up February 7th — so it was kind of disappointing,” said Vallorani, who played 23 games to start the year with Altuna IS in Sweden before returning to the Beast for his second stint with the club.

Brampton's director of hockey operations, Frederic Lemay, recalled speaking to Vallorani on the phone shortly after and picking him up at two in the morning from a hotel in Syracuse, N.Y., where the Rocket were playing, so he could be on the ice the next day for the Beast in Adirondack.

“...It's the rule. There was nothing we could do at that point,” said Lemay.

Lemay said Vallorani's dismay at the missed opportunity was evident in his play. He finished the season with 30 points in 46 games, well behind his production in his first season with the Beast, when he came fourth in league scoring with 83 points.

But Vallorani has bounced back in 2018-19. His 56 points in 59 games put him one back of David Pacan's team-leading 57 points. He also has six goals and four assists in the Beast's last five games, punctuated by a hat trick against the Newfoundland Growlers on March 1.

“Some games you really feel or really don't feel it, and that was a game where everything works out,” he said about his outburst against the Growlers.

“Every shot is going in. Every pass is hitting your teammates' tape. So you go through stretches of ups and downs, and fortunately, I'm on the up right now. So I just want to keep going up and up.”

Vallorani sits in the top-20 in league scoring, putting him on pace for a fourth top-25 campaign in five ECHL seasons, including a Kelly Cup victory with the Royals in 2013. He's also had stints in Germany and Italy.

His linemate, Nathan Todd, said Vallorani had difficulty getting back into rhythm last year after returning mid-season from Sweden, but the biggest difference between his play this year and last is his willingness to fire the puck.

“I think (he was) a little bit in his head, whenever he'd hear someone yell, he passed the puck, but this year is different — he's starting to shoot it,” said Todd.

“It's a pretty simple game when you know what you're doing out there. He's got a great shot and he's been using it, and as you can see it's been going in,” he added.

Vallorani has 26 goals thus far, tying him with Todd for first on the Beast.

Lemay said Vallorani has also taken his less-seasoned linemates — Todd, 23, and Artur Tianulin, 22, — under his wing.

“He won with Reading a couple of years ago — he won a Kelly Cup — so he knows what it takes,” said Lemay. “He knows what it takes to go to the playoffs and he's helping the young guys right now to make a push...”

While Vallorani has rebounded from what he called probably his “toughest year” as a professional hockey player, he isn't making any excuses.

“A lot of guys experience being on three or four teams in one year, and that was only two and it was an adjustment for me,” he said, conceding it was hard getting in sync with teammates halfway through the season.

“I'm used to sticking with the same team every year and doing well that way.”

And that's what the veteran scorer is trying to help the Beast do this season as they aim to lock down a spot in the playoffs.

“Right now, I'm at the end of my career, I think,” he said. “It'd be nice to go as far as we can in the playoffs, and obviously, our ultimate goal is to win a Kelly Cup championship.”