December 14

Friday night hockey at the Sovereign Center as the Royals hosted the Fort Wayne Komets for the first time ever. Fort Wayne, Indiana is new to the ECHL but the franchise has been around since 1952. The "Ks" played for many years in the old International Hockey League, in recent seasons the club played in the Central League. Before the game I had the honor of meeting Komets radio broadcaster Bob Chase. Words like "legend" are often used freely but this man is truly worthy of the designation. Bob has been the Ks broadcaster virtually from the beginning of the franchise, he is 86 years of age and still going strong. When I was a youngster the Fort Wayne radio broadcasts were on a powerful station that could be heard over most of the nation, that was my first exposure to Mr. Chase's work. Earlier this year he received the Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. During a stoppage of play we formally announced his presence and the fans gave him a very warm reception. In the game itself the Royals upped their winning streak to four with a 6-4 victory. David Vallorani scored two goals, the club also got single tallies from Denny Urban, Yannick Tifu, Ian O'Connor and Joel Champagne. Philipp Grubauer picked up the win in net. Saw on the Internet where McCaskey defeated Ephrata in the league opener, the boys play again on Saturday (and I'll be absent again because the Royals are at home as well). Take care, thanks for reading.