December 28-29

The rainy conditions moved out overnight, Wednesday was cold and windy. Jenny and I were on the road north in the afternoon for the Sovereign Center in downtown Reading. The Royals went 2-0 on their most recent road swing, on this night the Elmira Jackals were the opponent. The Royals held two separate one-goal leads but could not hold the advantage as the Jackals won it in OT shootout 4-3. Todd Griffith, Yannick Riendeau and Rob Kweit scored for the Royals, Mark Owuya took the tough-luck loss in net. It was a milestone night for Ryan Cruthers, his assist on Kweit's goal was his 96th as a Royal tying him with Graig Mischler (2003-2005) for the all-time franchise lead in that category. That point was also his 145th overall which makes him the club's all-time leading scorer surpassing the mark established last season by Ben Gordon (currently playing in Dusseldorf, Germany). The Royals had won four straight after ending that nine-game winless streak earlier in the month, they'll look to get back into the win column on Friday at home against Trenton. Saw on the internet where McCaskey defeated York in the championship game of the tournament by the eye-catching score of 104-85. Winning a holiday week tournament means little in the long run, what matters is recording a solid win over a quality opponent. The club's record improves to 5-3 (2-1 in league play), the next game is on January 3rd when we play at Penn Manor. Not much going on Thursday besides lunch with Jenny, in the afternoon some snow flurries were blowing around but it amounted to very little besides making the streets wet. Take care, thanks for reading.