October 19-20

Saturday lunch with the ladies in Quarryville, in late afternoon we headed north on 222 for the beginning of the Reading Royals' thirteenth year in the ECHL. The South Carolina Stingrays were the opponent for an opening-weekend doubleheader. The pregame ceremonies on Saturday night included the formal home-ice presentation of the Kelly Cup by ECHL commissioner emeritus Patrick Kelly (the man for whom it is named). The championship banner was brought onto the ice by members of the Junior Royals youth hockey program (coached by former Royal Ryan Cruthers), from there the returning members of the 2012-2013 team passed it on to members of the booster club. It finally found its way into the hands of the Santander Arena's operations crew who raised it to its position at the east end of the building. The momentum from the celebration carried over into the game as T.J. Syner scored early on to make it 1-0. The Stingrays took a 2-1 lead into the third period before newcomer Louie Caporusso (a third-year pro from the University of Michigan) knotted it at 2-2 and set the stage for overtime. In the OT the Royals played short-handed by two men for a full two minutes but were able to escape it, in the shootout the Royals outscored SC two goals to one to nail down a tough 3-2 win. Kelly Cup playoff MVP Riley Gill got the start in goal and earned the victory. On Sunday we were back for game #2, South Carolina turned the tables and left town with a 3-2 win in regulation time. Stanislav Galiev and David Marshall scored for the Royals, Brandon Anderson took the loss in net. The boys return to home ice on Saturday the 26th when the Elmira Jackals come to town. Take care, thanks for reading.