Saturday, May 4, 2013
May 3-4
Friday evening at the Sovereign Center for the opening game of the ECHL Eastern Conference finals as the Royals hosted the Cincinnati Cyclones. To say that these franchises have a playoff history is an understatement, Royals fans can recall the pain of playoff losses to the 'Clones in 2008 and 2010. Sometimes unheralded players become key figures in postseason play, this game was a classic example. In March the Royals' defense corps was depleted by injury and reassignments, the club signed two youngsters from the collegiate ranks as reinforcements. Dominic Jalbert joined the team from the University of Ottawa, fellow blueliner Bobby Shea arrived from Bowling Green State. In the playoffs they have been playing regular minutes partly by necessity but also because they've earned their spots. On this night in Reading the Royals went one-up in the series with an epic 5-4 win in double-overtime. The Royals never led in this game until they won it, on four occasions the Cyclones took the lead and four times the Royals fought back to tie. Evan Barlow pulled the club even at 1-1 in the first period, T.J. Syner's marker tied it at two in the second stanza. Later in the period Barlow struck again to make it 3-3. In the final two minutes of regulation play the Royals once again found themselves down by one, with the pressure on Jalbert found the back of the net thanks to a weird carom to tie the game at 4-4. Into overtime we went, the first twenty-minute period resolved nothing. After nine minutes of play in the second overtime Shea took a pass from Yannick Tifu and ripped it home for the game-winner as the Royals faithful exploded in relief. It was Bobby's first goal as a professional and it came at just the right time. Riley Gill picked up the win in net as the Royals take a 1-0 series lead, the game from start to finish took three hours and fifty-four minutes. Game #2 is at the SC on Sunday the 5th as the Royals seek to go two-up. Since Friday and Sunday are game days Jenny and I did our Saturday lunch a day early, Saturday itself was a day of quiet. I hadn't planned on anything special and the events of Friday evening clinched it. Take care, thanks for reading.