February 6-9

Wednesday evening at the Lancaster Ice Rink for high school hockey. Don Tankesley's son Devyn is a senior at Hempfield, this was the final game of his high school career. Over the last few seasons I've tried to get to his games whenever I could but the opportunities tended to be few and far between. Shortly after I arrived I was approached by a Hempfield parent who is familiar with my work. He said that the volunteer who was supposed to do the PA wasn't coming and asked if I could step in. Since this was Hempfield's final "home" game it was also their Senior Night, before the game we had a brief ceremony not unlike McCaskey's on Tuesday. There were five seniors on the roster (a young lady named Caitlin among them), as they were introduced they entered the ice from the locker room and met their parents at the bench area. This was the first time I ever worked in that building in any capacity but I wasn't too far out of my element, the setup at the penalty bench was not unlike what I'm accustomed to at the Sovereign Center. The biggest difference was that it was much smaller and directly against the wall, all the seating is on the opposite side of the building. In the game itself Elizabethtown defeated Hempfield 7-5, Devyn scored four goals and assisted on the one he didn't. A nice sidelight came on the final goal he scored as Caitlin was credited with an assist, I was told it was her first scoring point in her two years on the squad. Deyvn is planning to attend college and continue playing hockey, Don said he wants to stay close to home so we'll see what develops. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were very slow, on Friday evening we had some snow and rain but nothing too terribly severe. The coming days will be somewhat busier, the Royals return home on Sunday from a five-game road trip and will stay in town for games on Wednesday and Saturday. JPM starts league playoffs on Monday, with good fortune they may play Wednesday and Friday as well. Take care, thanks for reading.