March 29-31

Thursday and Friday were quiet for me but for the Royals they were busy days indeed. After his stalwart performance on Wednesday it was announced that Mark Owuya was recalled to AHL Toronto, the Royals signed collegian Brad Eidsness (from the University of North Dakota) to fill his roster spot. With Owuya absent it was up to Karel St. Laurent to carry the load in goal over the final two regular-season games. Karel has been used sparingly over the last two months but as Coach Powell at McCaskey would say "you have to be ready when your number is called". On Friday the boys lost in Elmira 3-2 in overtime setting the stage for the Saturday night win-or-else finale against Trenton at the Sovereign Center. The Royals fulfilled their part of the bargain with a 6-4 win, newcomer Ethan Cox netted three goals as Denny Urban, Yannick Tifu and Ian O'Connor added solo scores. The win itself did not clinch a playoff spot, that was accomplished shortly after our game ended when Cincinnati defeated Chicago in overtime. The boys had that game on TV in the locker game, I was in there watching it with them. When the winning goal was scored the room erupted with joy as the season-long goal of a playoff spot was finally realized. The final record: 36-28-8, 15-17-4 at home, 21-11-4 on the road. The opponent in the best-of-five first round with be a familiar one as the Elmira Jackals will visit the Sovereign Center for the first two games on Tuesday and Wednesday, the last three are in Elmira over the weekend. It's often been said that there are three seasons in hockey-the preseason, the regular season and the Real Season. As the lower seed the Royals are the underdog but stranger things have happened. Take care, thanks for reading.