October 5-6

Saturday morning in Quarryville for lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon Jamie Burkholder joined us for the first pro hockey game of the new season. The Adirondack Phantoms were in Hershey as the opponent for the Bears' home opener. Between the summer-like weather and it being only the fifth day of the month it really didn't feel like hockey season but once you're in the arena and the game starts all the other stuff becomes immaterial. Bears/Phantoms games are always interesting for me, on the one hand I follow the Phantoms because they are affiliated with the NHL club I follow most closely. On the other hand the Bears are co-affiliated with the Royals and we all know how well that worked out in the 2012-13 season. Royals coach Larry Courville was in attendance, I had a chance to talk to him briefly before the game. Royals' training camp opened on Saturday morning in Reading, Larry was in Hershey to scout potential additions from the Bears. On this night there were eleven players on the Hershey roster not in uniform, it's entirely possible that a number of them may find their way east in the coming weeks. The Royals have twenty-seven players on their training camp roster so the competition for permanent spots will be intense. In the game itself the Phantoms rallied from a one-goal deficit in the third period to win in overtime 4-3. In recent years the Phantoms have had little success in Hershey, this was the first time I witnessed a Phantoms win there since March of 2010. We'll be in Hershey twice more this season but not again until December. Sunday was the proverbial day of rest with pro football and playoff baseball on TV wall-to-wall. Take care, thanks for reading.