January 20-22

Monday morning: left at 10:00 for afternoon hockey at the Arena, the Royals hosted the Elmira Jackals in the annual Martin Luther King holiday game. This was the fourth consecutive game-day in a row for me in Reading (I realize that sentence is redundant but I'm only trying to make a point). There were a lot of youngsters in the house, with no school for the holiday we've always marketed the MLK game as a Kids Day. The Royals got on the board quickly on Brett Flemming's goal in the first minute, a few moments later Ryan Cruthers made it 2-0. The Jackals got one back before newcomer Josh Brittain (on assignment from AHL Hershey) restored the two-goal advantage at 3-1. Elmira would score once more but not again as Brandon Anderson picked up the 3-2 victory. The win is the club's seventh consecutive (and the sixth in a row on home ice) and improves the overall mark to 22-12-1, 11-8-0 at home. The boys play their next six on the road, the next game at home is not until February 8. Snow was forecast for Tuesday, it arrived shortly after sunrise and fell heavy and hard for several hours. The city school district closed for the day and the evening's scheduled basketball game was postponed as well, it was rescheduled for Wednesday. Jenny was supposed to come into town but her transportation cancelled so she ended up stuck at home like me, I never even made it onto the front porch. By Wednesday morning the storm was gone but temperatures were in the single digits with wind chills below zero, I was able to get the car cleaned off and an errand run accomplished. School was cancelled once again, the basketball game was moved to Friday. That sets up a three-in-three week for JPM: Thursday at home against Penn Manor, Friday at home against Elizabethtown and Saturday afternoon at Reading High for a non-leaguer against Penn Wood. The club had a similar stretch a few weeks ago so they should know what to expect. The bad thing for me is I'm out of it on Friday because of soccer at the Arena. Back in December we had a basketball game postponed on a night I was slated to be absent, it was rescheduled for a date I could make. This time it's the opposite so I guess the old expression "what comes around goes around" is applicable. Take care, thanks for reading.