February 15-16

There was a slight dusting of snow overnight into Saturday but nothing that was especially worrisome. Had lunch with Jenny and Helen in Quarryville, later in the day we drove through some flurries on the way north to Reading. The Royals split a pair of games on the road during the week, on this night the Evansville Icemen visited for the opener of a two-game set. The Icemen are in their second year as an ECHL franchise, this was their first appearance at the Arena since November 2012. This was our annual "Pink In The Rink" game for breast cancer awareness, always one of the more popular dates in the home schedule. The Royals won 4-1 on the strength of a two-goal performance from Domenic Monardo, Sean Wiles and Marvin Degon added single markers in support of winning goalie Brandon Anderson. The teams combined for over one hundred penalty minutes, half of them in a late-game melee that featured three players ejected. On the way home we stopped at a convenience store so Helen could get a few things, on the way out she slipped and fell on a patch of ice. She needed some help to get up but she said she was OK, it was just upsetting especially for Jenny (she's still sore from her recent spill). On Sunday Jamie Burkholder joined us for the afternoon rematch, after the fireworks from the night before this game was mundane by comparison. The Icemen scored a third-period goal to break a scoreless tie, the Royals tied it on a Mike Banwell tally to force overtime. The matter was resolved in the shootout, Evansville outscored the Royals three goals to one to earn the 2-1 win. Riley Gill got the start in goal and took the tough-luck loss. The Royals' record stands at 28-17-2 (13-9-1 at home), the boys are home on Wednesday the 19th against Wheeling. Take care, thanks for reading.