October 22

Lunch in Quarryville with Jenny in the morning, in the afternoon she and her mother were with me as we headed north on 222 to the Sovereign Center. It's hard to believe this is the Royals' eleventh year in the ECHL already, I can remember when the club started like it was yesterday. The Cincinnati Cyclones were the opening-night opponent, they were making their one and only appearance in Reading this season (unless we happen to see them come playoff time in April, we all know the postseason history these two clubs have). On this night in Reading (and for just the fourth time in franchise history) the Royals were victorious in the home opener as they defeated the Cyclones 3-2 in regulation time. Matt Caruana scored the game-winning goal, Casey Haines and newcomer Rob Shearer also lit the lamp. Shearer has played in Europe for several years, before that he played five seasons in the AHL with Hershey. Rookie goaltender Mark Owuya picked up the win, he's a native of Sweden on assignment from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The club's record stands at 2-0-1 in the early going, the boys are at home on Sunday afternoon against the Florida Everblades. The 'Blades played in Trenton on Saturday night and the 'Clones are playing there on Sunday, their team buses will probably pass each other on the Pennsylvania Turnpike sometime overnight. Take care, thanks for reading.