February 23

It was misty and foggy on Saturday morning, at 9:15 we left from McCaskey for the drive to the Giant Center in Hershey. Every year the district quarterfinal games involving the top three seeds are played in Hershey, we were in the quarterfinals in 2012 but we were in the #4 game which was played elsewhere. This was our program's first appearance at the Giant Center since the quarterfinals in 2007. The coaching staff had been there before, I had been there before but for our players it was a whole new thing. If there were any pregame jitters they disappeared quickly as the boys ran out to a quick 10-0 lead and were never headed as they defeated Reading HS 89-66. All five starters hit double figures: Devonne Pinkard 22, Aaron Swinton 18, Sha-ki Staten and Keyon Cowan 14 each and Diante Cherry 10. The win puts the club into the semifinals on Tuesday the 26th in Hershey, the game will feature another regular-season rematch as we'll meet York for the second time this season. We beat York in our holiday tournament but December victories mean nothing in February. A win would put us in the district title game on March 2nd, a loss would consign us to the third-place game on the 28th. We got back to town around 3:30 or so, I grabbed a quick shower and headed to Quarryville for Jenny and her mother. From there we made our way back onto route 283 and the return trip to Hershey for the evening hockey game as the Hershey Bears hosted the Adirondack Phantoms. As a Flyers fan I've always followed the Phantoms because they are the Flyers' AHL affiliate. On the other hand I never cared one way or another about Hershey but now that the Bears and Royals are co-affiliated I view Hershey in a somewhat different light. On this night the Bears' roster featured eight players who have also appeared in the ECHL for the Royals. The only ex-Royal who played a major role in this game was goaltender Philipp Grubauer who earned his first AHL shutout in a 3-0 Hershey victory. The Phantoms return for the second of their two visits on March 17, we'll be there as well. Take care, thanks for reading.