January 31

The last day of the first month of 2011. In the afternoon we were at McCaskey for the bus ride to Lebanon. Every year we travel to Cedar Crest HS since they are in our division, the trip to Lebanon is exactly the same route except it's about three miles longer (the school districts border each other). We visit there every other year since it's a crossover game, I missed the trip in '09 because of a Royals game. Lebanon was once a member of our division, in those days JPM had many a knock-down battle in that gym and this game was no different. The club scored a big victory at Penn Manor on Friday but whatever momentum there may have been died a painful death on this night. Three players hit double figures but it was all for naught as the team suffered a critical 68-64 loss. The record is now back to .500 at 9-9 (8-4 in the league) and if they don't pull it together in a big hurry the club will miss the district playoffs for the first time since 2004 and the league playoffs for the third straight year. There are four games left on the schedule (two at home and two on the road), on Tuesday Warwick will come to Lancaster. There is a forecast for freezing rain and snow on Tuesday into Wednesday so obviously it's all "weather permitting". Keep your fingers crossed. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 29-30

Jenny obviously slept well overnight, I was up at 3:30 for a nature call and heard her snoring away in the other room. After breakfast we headed to her place so she could get a shower and some fresh clothing. We had lunch at the shopping plaza in Quarryville, after that Helen came back to the city with us. Jamie Burkholder joined us for the trip north to Reading in the evening, he wanted to see the Greenville Road Warriors since they're new to the ECHL. Although the Greenville franchise is the former Johnstown franchise there are only two ex-Chiefs on the current roster. When Charlotte moved from our league to the AHL their NHL affiliation moved to Greenville, there are five former ECHL Checkers playing for the Warriors. It took from October 23 to January 28 (ninety-eight days) for the Royals to play their first eighteen home games, the second half of the home schedule runs from January 29 to April 2 (sixty-four days). This night was Pennsylvania State University night, the Royals wore sweaters modeled after PSU's well-known football jersey which were auctioned for charity after the game. The club made amends for the Friday shootout loss with a regulation 4-2 victory before a crowd of 6019. Andrew Sarauer, Chris Blight, Casey Haines and Eric Castonguay (the game-winner) scored in support of winning goalie Michael Hutchinson. The boys are at home on Wednesday the 2nd as the Wheeling Nailers visit for the first time this season. Sunday was the proverbial day of rest as we gear up for a busy week. JPM plays in Lebanon on Monday and at home on Tuesday, the Royals are at home on Wednesday and Friday and for good measure we'll be in Hershey on Saturday the 5th. According to the newspaper we had twenty inches of snow during the month of January, with a full week coming up we certainly don't need any more. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 27-28

The Wednesday night snow was gone by midnight, in the morning we dug out the cars in the parking lot. It wasn't as difficult and uncomfortable as those days in February 2010 had been but it was close enough. Headed to Jenny's house for a visit and lunch, the main roads to Quarryville were a mixed bag but on the whole there were no problems. The Lancaster school district was closed so the girls' game with Lebanon was postponed to the following week. On Friday there were flurries in the morning but schools were open, I went over to McCaskey to drop off our scorebooks at the athletic office. The boys were playing at Penn Manor in the evening but I would be absent as Jenny and I were at the Sovereign Center. The Royals went 1-1-1 on the road trip to Florida, the final game featured a major brawl involving fines and suspensions. On this night the Greenville Road Warriors made their first-ever appearance in Reading. Greenville, South Carolina has been in the ECHL before but not since 2006, the current franchise was formerly known as the Johnstown Chiefs. Between injuries, callups to the AHL and suspensions from the Florida incident the Royals managed to field a full team but it wasn't enough as Greenville won in overtime shootout 4-3. Jared Ross, Casey Haines and Chris Blight scored in regulation time, Michael Hutchinson was the goaltender of record. The club earns a point in the standings which is not a bad thing under the circumstances. Greenville stays in town for a rematch on Saturday night. On the way home it was decided that Jenny would stay the night in Lancaster, we had discussed it earlier since the roads south of town were expected to be slick late at night. There was one bit of good news on this day, saw on the internet where JPM won at Penn Manor 75-66. A huge win at a point in the season where every win counts, the boys are back at it on Monday in Lebanon. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 25-26

All quiet on Tuesday, nothing of note besides the morning run. There was talk of snow in the forecast for Wednesday, the prediction was for late afternoon/early evening. It arrived overnight, in the morning there was already an inch of the white crap on the ground. It was announced that the basketball game in Lebanon was postponed until Monday the 31st. I found it curious that our girls team's home game with Lebanon was rescheduled immediately for Thursday night, maybe the gym at Lebanon HS is unavailable for the boys until Monday. It will give me another opportunity to see the girls play, I have nothing else going on Thursday night. The snow stopped for a few hours during the afternoon but by 5:00 or so it was back and blowing around. The forecast is calling for an additional two to four inches overnight, I guess we'll see what the morning brings. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 23-24

Sunday afternoon: to Quarryville for Jenny and Helen, then on to Hershey for AHL hockey. The Adirondack Phantoms (from Glens Falls, New York) were in town, as a Flyers fans I look forward to seeing the AHL affiliate on their rare visits to Hershey (the Phantoms visit four times this season, this was the only one I could make it to). The Flyers were affiliated with Hershey from 1984-1996 but the saga of that relationship is another story for another time. The Phantoms have not had a good season, they started poorly and have only recently begun to right the ship, any chances at a postseason playoff berth are long gone. Hershey won the game 5-1 which wasn't entirely surprising given the Phantoms' struggles this year. On Monday evening we were back at McCaskey for another crossover game with Section II, Conestoga Valley was the opponent. After three consecutive wins followed by three straight losses the boys got back into the win column with a 67-57 verdict over CV. It wasn't the most dominating performance but we'll take it, a win is a win. We only had one player in double figures (Brian Newsome had 19) but there was good balance underneath, Tyler Martin had nine points while Luis Fuentes and Shaki Staten had eight apiece. The win improves the league record to 7-3 and brings us back to .500 at 8-8 overall. There are six games left in the regular season, on Wednesday we finish the crossover portion with a game in Lebanon. The club is still in contention for league and district playoff berths but as the Hollies once sang "the road is long with a-many a winding turn". We'll see what happens on Wednesday. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 21-22

The snow predicted for Thursday never arrived until almost midnight, by Friday morning it was over. With daytime temperatures in the teens, gusting winds and nothing on the schedule it was a good day to stay in. On Saturday Jenny and I had lunch at the shopping plaza in Quarryville, she was able to eat her entire lunch so whatever had her down last weekend is long gone. In the evening we were at McCaskey for the club's third game in four days, a week to forget ended with another overtime loss as Octorara won 73-70. Octorara HS is in Chester County, just over the border from Lancaster County in the borough of Atglen. The officiating was not a major factor in this game, it wasn't great but it wasn't nearly as egregious as Thursday in Denver. On that occasion we were jobbed pure and simple, on this night we just didn't get the final break. Diante Cherry and Luis Fuentes tied for high scorer with 19 points each. This was the last of our six non-league games, we went 1-5 against excellent competition. Playing good opposition is the whole point of non-league play, going 6-0 against weak opponents wouldn't prove anything. After fifteen games the boys are 7-8 overall and 6-3 in league play, the exact same mark we had at this point in 2010. This coming week will feature another three-game gauntlet, after a home game with Conestoga Valley on Monday we'll be in Lebanon on Wednesday and at Penn Manor on Friday. It definitely will not get any easier. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 20

Jenny was in town in the morning for an appointment, I took her home and we had lunch at our usual pizza haunt in Quarryville. In the evening we were back on the bus, the destination was Denver, PA for a game at Cocalico HS. Cocalico has been an infrequent opponent over the years but there is some history, we played them for the league title each of the first two years the league existed (we won in 1973, they returned the favor in '74). The league realigns by enrollment every two years, in 2006 Cocalico moved into Section II replacing Lebanon. In '08 they dropped back into Section III (and off our schedule), this year they are back in II replacing Garden Spot. After the tough game at Hempfield on Wednesday we knew this game would not be easy (Cocalico has an excellent record thus far this season) but I doubt anyone expected what occurred in this night. They say it's bad form to complain about the officiating after a loss but there is no other way to say it: we lost in overtime 61-57 in a game that featured some of the most "creative" refereeing you'll ever see. I talk little about officiating on this blog because it's not my place to argue cases but this game was incredible. I was in school at JPM when the league started in 1972, I was involved with the basketball program for five years after that. In 1988 I came back after an eleven-year absence, I have seen some questionable refereeing over the years but there are no words to describe what happened on Thursday, January 20, 2011. From this point forward nothing will ever surprise me again, I can now say "I Have Seen It All". Losing clean "fair-and-square" is one thing, this was something else. This alleged loss drops us to 6-3 in the league, 7-7 overall. The boys are back in action on Saturday at home against Octorara, it's the final non-league game on the schedule. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 18-19

It started snowing late Monday night, with freezing rain following into the morning Tuesday was a sloppy day. In the afternoon we learned that the evening's basketball game was postponed to Wednesday. That news rendered the rest of the day meaningless except for NHL games in TV in the evening. Wednesday started with the usual morning errand run, in the late afternoon we went over to JPM and got on the bus for the ride to Hempfield. The three-game winning streak ended on this night, Hempfield won 75-70. The boys fell behind early, battled back to within one point in the third quarter but couldn't get over the hump. Diante Cherry led the club with 23 points, Brian Newsome had 21 while Tyler Martin just missed double figures with nine. There were some positives to take from this loss, the club fought to the bitter end and never once gave up. It is also noteworthy that the roster is finally back to full strength, with Aaron Swinton back from the ankle injury all twelve players were in uniform. The club now stands at 7-6, 6-2 in league play. There will be no rest for the weary, thanks to the snow on Tuesday we now have a back-to-back scenario with the game at Cocalico on Thursday. This is another crossover game against Section II, it will be interesting to see what the boys have left in the tank. They are talking about more wintry weather on Thursday night into Friday. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 17

On the road in the morning for the Sovereign Center as the Royals hosted the Trenton Devils in the annual Martin Luther King Day matinee game. With no school because of the holiday the game was marketed as a "Kid's Day", we had better than 5300 in attendance for the 1:05 faceoff. This was the second consecutive year the T-Devs were the opponent for this game, in 2010 the Royals won 4-3 on a score with 1.2 seconds left in regulation play. There would be no such occurrence on this day as Trenton won it in the overtime shootout 2-1. The Royals trailed 1-0 after two periods, defenseman Cody Wild scored on the power play to tie it 1-1 in the third period. In overtime the Royals were shorthanded by two men but managed to kill the penalties and force the shootout, Trenton won the shootout three goals to two and claimed the victory. The T-Devils have one of the poorer records in the league but a game against them is never easy, the Royals are 4-2-1 in the season series with nine game remaining (six of those at the Sovereign Center). This game marked the midpoint of the season, the Royals stand at 23-10-3 (10-5-2 at home, 13-5-1 on the road). The club plays in Estero, Florida on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, the next home game is on Friday the 28th when the Greenville Road Warriors come to town. Until then we'll be focusing on basketball as JPM plays six games in eleven days. The boys play at Hempfield on Tuesday, at Cocalico Thursday and at home against Octorara on Saturday. Next week the gauntlet is Monday at home, Wednesday and Friday on the road. Looks like "make-it-or-break-it" time is here. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 15-16

Saturday morning in Quarryville with Jenny, she wasn't feeling well. She said it hit her overnight and she had hardly slept. We had lunch and she was unable to finish it for lack of appetite, she said she just felt tired and weak. We had tickets for the game in Hershey in the evening, I asked her if she'd rather stay home and get some rest. I think she might have gone had I not asked but when you're sick the idea is to get better, not worse. There's been a lot going around, I had a touch of something last week. Our friend Mazi was going to join us for this game but canceled out because she's fighting illness as well, I guess it's just a bad time all around. Earlier this week Jamie Burkholder asked about going to this game, since he was coming along I still made the trip (had it been just me I would have turned the tickets back for a future game). Jamie bought Mazi's ticket and I sold Jenny's outside the arena when we arrived, the game was sold out so it wasn't hard finding a taker. The Lake Erie Monsters (from Cleveland, Ohio) were Hershey's opponent on this night, they are the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. Hershey had an early 2-0 lead before Lake Erie rallied to tie it in the last minute of regulation time, the game was decided in the overtime shootout when the Monsters claimed the victory 3-2. I called Jenny when I got home but not surprisingly she was already in bed. Saw on the web where the Royals lost in Elmira 6-3. I talked to Jenny on Sunday afternoon, she was disappointed in missing the game in Hershey but at least she was feeling a little better. Not much happening on Sunday which wasn't a bad thing since this week will be busy. The Royals play at home on Monday afternoon and McCaskey plays this week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 12-14

The snow was gone overnight into Wednesday, the morning errand run was about all that happened. Up early on Thursday for an 8:30 appointment at the health campus, I had some dental work done. It was a procedure similar to the one I had about a year ago, I slept through the whole thing. I absolutely loathe dental work, I told them I wanted to be put as far out as they could get me (another time zone would have been acceptable). I was home by 10:00, took a nap and spent the rest of the day zoning in and out from the anesthesia. By Friday I was back to 100% (or at least what I accept as 100% at my age), Jenny was in town on business. At 3:00 I picked her up and we headed south to Q-ville for Helen, from there it was north to Reading for the Royals' first home game of the calendar year. The boys last played at home on December 30, they went 2-0-1 on their most recent road swing. The Toledo Walleye were the opponent on this night, the Royals scored four goals in the first period and rolled to an 8-2 win. Ben Gordon and newcomer Tyler Murovich scored two goals each as Rob Kwiet, Chris Blight, Eric Castonguay and John Scrymgeor added single tallies for the Royals. Michael Hutchinson picked up the win in goal playing the first two periods (two goals against), Zane Kalemba played a scoreless third period. With Matt Dalton and Ben Scrivens both in the AHL the Royals organization signed Kalemba as a free agent to back up Hutchinson. An excellent Friday night crowd of 5283 in the house as the club improves to 10-5-1 at home, 23-9-2 overall. After a game in Elmira on Saturday the boys are back at home for the annual Martin Luther King Day on the 17th, game time 1:05 against Trenton. Saw on the Internet where McCaskey won at home on Friday over Cedar Crest, the score was 93-53. This was my last home absence of the season, I'll miss two more road games on the 28th and February 4th. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 8-11

Saturday started much the same way as Friday with snow overnight into the morning, the only difference was it stayed overcast most of the day. Went to Quarryville in the morning for Jenny and Helen, at 12:00 we were meeting my mother for lunch at a local eatery. At 12:25 she finally got there, can you believe she had ANOTHER flat tire? It was the right rear once again, the new tire just installed on Tuesday. Needless to say she wasn't happy about it but at least it was replaced free of charge. The occasion for the lunch was a pseudo-celebration for my birthday but to me January 4 is no big deal anymore. Sunday and Monday were quiet with little going on. On Tuesday there was talk of snow later in the day, in the morning it was announced that the evening's basketball at JPM was being reshuffled. The Junior Varsity game at 6:30 was canceled, the Varsity game was moved up from 8:00 to 6:00 (a little deja vu from last season when we played Manheim Township at home). The forecast was calling for the snow to start after 4:00 and continue well into the overnight hours, I guess they just wanted to make sure everybody got home early. It started snowing around 4:30, by the time I left at 4:50 it was falling steadily. The crowd was sparse at game time, a lot of people probably didn't know about the early start. The boys got the victory over Township 74-61 to go over .500 for the season at 6-5, 5-1 in the league. Brian Newsome continued with the hot hand scoring 24 points, Diante Cherry had 19 and Tyler Martin added 12. The club is in action again at home on Friday against Cedar Crest, I'll be absent because the Royals are at home. With it all we were done by 7:30, the snow was still coming but with no wind it was straight down. I guess we'll see what the morning brings. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 7

Out of bed at 4:30 for a nature call, the snow was falling. By the time I went out in the morning it was all but over, bright sunshine helped melt it off nicely during the afternoon. At 4:45 I was over at JPM as we boarded the bus for the first time since December 20. The destination was Lititz and that house of horrors known as Warwick HS. Over the years Warwick has always been a difficult place to play, for some reason you just never feel comfortable there. After the egg the boys laid on Tuesday against Penn Manor it was anyone's guess which McCaskey team might show up for this game, as it was we saw the best and worst at various points. The club came out smoking and looked like world beaters, after one quarter it was 30-15 JPM. The second period was the polar opposite, at halftime the score was tied. In the third period the club was ice-cold, scoring only eight points and trailing by four at the quarter. In the decisive fourth period the boys pulled it out, outscoring Warwick 25-17 and holding on for a huge 76-72 win. Key to the victory was foul-shooting, the club went 15-22 at the line in the last quarter and 26-37 for the game. Eight of the ten players in uniform got into the game, only five scored but they all hit double figures: Brian Newsome 22, Calvert Gantz 17, Luis Fuentes 16, Tyler Martin 11 and Diante Cherry 10. The league record improves to 4-1, overall we're back to .500 at 5-5. The rematch with Warwick comes at home on February 1st but for now the concern is the next game on Tuesday the 11th when Manheim Township comes to JPM. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 5-6

Wednesday morning featured the usual rounds, in the evening I was at the Lancaster Ice Rink. The LIR is one of two ice facilities in the immediate area, a lot of high school games are played there. Don Tankesley's son Devyn is a sophomore at Hempfield HS, he plays on the varsity ice hockey team. On this night they had a game against Warwick, it was a rare opportunity for me to see Devyn play. He takes the game seriously, even as a tenth-grader he's one of their top players. The league they play in is called the Central Penn Interscholastic Hockey League, since McCaskey does not have an ice hockey program I guess it's OK for me to watch another school's team without being labeled a traitor or a turncoat. Don and wife Brenda were there, Don was telling me that Hempfield was missing one of their better players and Warwick is a more skilled team so it was likely to be a long night. His prediction was right on the mark as Warwick won the game 6-1, Devyn scored the lone goal for Hempfield. In this league they play three 15-minute periods with a two-minute break after each period, the game started at 9:10 and was over before 10:30. The temperature outside was below freezing but it may have been warmer than inside, I know ice arenas are supposed to be cold but it was just frigid in there. On Thursday morning my mother and I drove west on route 30 to York, she had business there in the afternoon. She's not entirely familiar with the area so she asked me to do the driving, we had our destination's address and some online directions so it was no issue at all. They're calling for some snow overnight Thursday into Friday but it's not expected to be anything major. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 3-4

Not much going on Monday besides the morning errand run. On Tuesday my mother left early in the morning, she and a friend were going shopping. After arriving at her friend's house she went inside for a few minutes, came back outside and discovered her right rear tire was flat. What are the odds that could happen to her four days after it happened to me, that's just eerie. She called to tell me about it, the tow truck was on its way so everything was working out. I headed down to Quarryville to see Jenny, we had lunch at the pizza parlor as usual. In the evening I was at McCaskey, the night started with a surprise. I was absent from our last game on December 30 because of a Royals game, on the Internet that night it was reported that we had lost 73-72. It turns out we actually WON 64-63 over Franklin Learning Center. I don't know how such inaccurate information got out but obviously somebody was asleep at the switch. On this night at JPM we hosted Penn Manor in the first game of the divisional portion of our league schedule. There are some nights when things happen that simply cannot be explained, this was one of them as Penn Manor took us to the woodshed. PM scored more points in the first half than we did for the entire game, it was 36-15 at the half and it ended 64-35. We have four players who average in double figures in scoring, on this night nobody for JPM had more than seven points. It was just one those games, everything PM did was right while everything we did was wrong. This loss drops the league record to 3-1, 4-5 overall. I'm sure practice will be interesting over the next two days as the boys get ready for the game at Warwick on Friday, we all remember what happened up there last February. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 1-2

Hello everyone, welcome to the first entry of the new year here at "Frenchy's Journal". We began our original Internet blog almost one year ago, at that time we had a different cyberspace address. In mid-November we moved into our new neighborhood here at blogger.com, with the beginning of 2011 we'll consider this our unofficial "Grand Re-opening". The New Year has been rather quiet thus far, with little going on over the weekend I never got out of the house. With rain in the area on Saturday and into the morning on Sunday that was probably just as well. Between college football games on Saturday, the pro games on Sunday and some NHL games thrown in for good measure there was no shortage of television fare available. High school basketball continues at McCaskey on Tuesday when the boys host Penn Manor, on Friday we'll travel up to Lititz for a game at Warwick. The Reading Royals are on the road until Friday the 14th, the club plays twenty-one of its thirty-six homes games from that date forward. In recent seasons the Royals' home schedule has been back-loaded so this year is no exception. Take care, thanks for reading.