December 27

Friday afternoon on the road north to Berks County as the Royals returned home from a three-game trip. The club has played well away from home, they won all three on the trip to run the road mark to 8-2-1. By contrast the boys have struggled at home with a record of just 5-7-0 including four straight without a win. That streak would reach five on this night as the visiting Kalamazoo Wings notched a 4-1 victory, Dustin Gazley scored the lone Royals goal as Riley Gill took the loss. The K-Wings have been a strong road club in their own right, they are 8-3-0 away from home including six straight wins. The franchises have been infrequent regular-season opponents over the years but there is a playoff history, the teams met in postseason in 2010 and 2011 (ironically, Riley Gill was a K-Wing during those days). The club meet again on Saturday in the back end of the weekend set (Kalamazoo visits twice during the regular season, both times for a back-to back series). Saw on the Internet where JPM defeated Franklin Learning Center, that sets up Saturday's game with York as the de facto tournament championship game. As it stands right now the FLC game was the only home game I'll miss, my next absence overall would be on January 8 when the boys play at Cedar Crest. Take care, thanks for reading.