March 29-31

Saturday morning in Quarryville for lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon we made the drive north for the final home game of the regular season. The Elmira Jackals were looking for a win to improve their playoff position, the Royals were looking to build some momentum for the postseason. Stanislav Galiev gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead but Elmira replied quickly to tie it. In the second period Julien Cayer lit the lamp to make it 2-1 but the Jackals scored late in the third period to send the game into overtime. After a scoreless extra period Elmira outscored the Royals three goals to none in the shootout and won the game 3-2, Riley Gill took the loss in net. The Royals finish with a record of 46-19-7 (26-8-2 at home), it is the best record in the club's twelve-year history. It was an interesting year to say the least, after starting 1-5-1 in October the club went 22-2-1 through the rest of the calendar year. After the New Year the usual roster attrition began to settle in, in January and February the record was a somewhat pedestrian 13-10-4 but in March the ship was righted as the club went 10-2-1 down the home stretch. The annual players' award winners were announced, Yannick Tifu was the recipient of the Ironman Award, team MVP and fan's choice as most popular player. Stanislav Galiev was Offensive Player of the Year, Ethan Cox won Defensive Player. David Vallorani was Top Rookie, Julien Cayer won the Heart Award. Defenseman Bryant Molle won the Unsung Player Award, fellow blueliner Dustin Stevenson was Scrapper of the Year. Guys like Molle and Stevenson don't usually make headlines because they're not big scorers, they are the physical stay-at-home defensive presence every good team must have. With the regular season in the books the focus shifts to the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Royals meet the Greenville Road Warriors in the best-of-seven series starting at the Sovereign Center on April 5 and 6. The middle three will be in Greenville, if the series returns to Reading those games would be on the 16th and 17th. Take care, thanks for reading.