April 19

Friday night hockey on Penn Street in Reading as the Royals hosted the Florida Everblades in game #1 of the Eastern Semifinals. These franchises have a playoff history: in 2004 the 'Blades beat the Royals in the conference finals, in '10 the Royals took out Florida in the semifinals. It was an unusually warm day, when we arrived at the arena the seating bowl and rink itself was very dark and cold (all the better to keep the ice surface solid). The game result was not a happy one for Royals fans as Florida won it 4-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The 'Blades scored the first two goals before Stanislav Galiev and Yannick Tifu knotted it in the second period. Florida scored twice more to reestablish their lead, Tifu struck again to make it 4-3 but the Royals could come no closer. Riley Gill was in goal for the Royals and took the hard-luck loss. Game #2 is on Saturday night, it shapes up as a must-win for the club as the next three games in the series are on the road. Going to Estero, Florida down 2-0 would be a rough challenge, it may be rough enough at 1-1. Time will tell. There was heavy rain forecast for the evening hours, it arrived during the game. Most of the drive home was in steady rain, it was supposed to clear overnight and bring cooler temperatures for the rest of the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.