October 6-7

Saturday night hockey in downtown Reading as the Royals hosted the Trenton Titans in the second game of the home-and-home exhibition series. The organization is billing 2012-2013 as a "new beginning" in recognition of the affiliation with the Washington Capitals/Hershey Bears. The change in NHL/AHL partner brings many new faces to the Sovereign Center, the only returnees in uniform for the Royals were Yannick Tifu, Ian O'Connor, Ethan Cox and Derrick LaPoint. Many of the players in this game won't be around when the season starts, there are still assignees forthcoming from Hershey. After winning in New Jersey on Friday the Royals came up short on this night as Trenton won 6-2. Adam Comrie and David Vallorani scored for the Royals, Philipp Grubauer took the loss in goal. Grubauer is a highly-regarded prospect who appeared in an exhibition game with Hershey earlier in the week, he may see AHL time during the regular season as well. The Royals open the season on the 12th in Elmira, the home opener is the 13th when Trenton returns for a game that counts. It was rainy and chilly on Sunday, at 5:00 Don and I talked and decided to try to play the evening's games at the rink. These were the games postponed from September 30, we started at 6:15 and played most the night in light rain (never heavy enough to stop play but just enough to be annoying). We were done by 8:45 so at least for this night we avoided having to schedule make-ups of make-ups. Take care, thanks for reading.