December 30-31

Friday afternoon: Jenny and Helen were along for the final home game of the calendar year, the Trenton Titans were the opponent. Jamie Burkholder joined us as well, as a Flyers fan (like me) he wanted to see the Titans since they are the Flyers' ECHL affiliate. The Royals' struggles on home ice continued on this night as Trenton jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was eleven minutes old. Goals by Ryan Cruthers and Yannick Tifu got the Royals back into the game in the second period, Cruthers' second goal of the night evened it at 3-3 early in the third. Unfortunately the comeback had no payoff as the Titans scored a late power-play goal to win it 4-3, Joe Palmer took the loss in net for the Royals. It was a notable night for Cruthers, his first goal was his 50th as a Royal and his assist on Tifu's score made him the club's all-time assist leader breaking the tie with Graig Mischler he had established on Wednesday. In fifteen home games the boys are just 3-9-3, the overall mark is 12-13-6. The club will play its next three games on the road, the next home date is in January on Friday the 13th. On Saturday the ladies and I had our usual lunch date, in the evening we were in Hershey for the annual New Years Eve game. The Norfolk Admirals were the opponent, the game started at 6:00 (one hour earlier than usual for a Saturday) so everybody had extra time to get to wherever they were going to ring in 2012. For me that would be the comfort of my own home with no fanfare whatsoever. Hershey won the game in OT shootout 4-3, we'll be there again on January 7th when the Adirondack Phantoms visit. Take care, thanks for reading.