October 30

The storm system cleared out overnight, the day started clear and sunny with temperatures right around the 40-degree mark. Went to Q-ville for Jenny and Helen, the roads were fine for the most part so there were no travel issues at all. We arrived at the Sovereign Center in good order for the 3:05 faceoff as the Gwinnett Gladiators visited from Duluth, Georgia for the only time this season. Before the game the Royals organization retired the first sweater number in club history as #22 was raised to the rafters in honor of Larry Courville. Larry broke into pro hockey in 1995, he played parts of three seasons in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks. He came to Reading in 2002, retired from playing in 2008 and became the Royals' head coach the following season. In his playing days Larry was the guy that you loved as a teammate but hated as an opponent, the kind of player every good team must have. On this day he was looking for his 100th win as Royals head coach but it was not to be as Gwinnett won the game 2-0, Joe Palmer took the tough-luck loss in goal. The club's record stands at 3-3-1 (a Friday night win in Trenton included), they now head to the road for five games before returning home on November 12. Take care, thanks for reading.