March 7-9

When the 2013-2014 ECHL schedule was released in June I noted the weekend of March 7-9 and figured it would be a workout. In thirteen years of Royals hockey I can't recall another occasion when we played home games on three consecutive days. It all started on Friday with the Wheeling Nailers as the opponent. The Nailers took a 2-0 lead in the first period before Michal Cajkovsky put the Royals on the board, in the second period goals by T.J. Syner and Cajkovsky sixty seconds apart gave the Royals the lead. Wheeling knotted it at 3-3 late in the period, early in the third Ethan Cox found the net to restore the Royals' lead. The pesky Nailers replied once more but in the final minutes Josh Brittain batted home the game-winner, Brandon Anderson was the goalie of record as the Royals took it 5-4. On Saturday night the Evansville Icemen visited for the opener of a two-game set, the Royals took this one going away 5-1. First-period markers by Brandon Blandina and Sean Wiles made it 2-0, Yannick Tifu struck twice in the second to extend the lead to four. A third-period score by Kevin Walrod put the ribbon on the package as Riley Gill picked up the win. It was a testy game and on Sunday there was carryover, several players on each club were posturing at the red line during the pregame warmup. One second into the game itself the Royals' Bryant Molle squared off with his pregame tormentor and was ejected for being the aggressor. The teams would combine for sixty-six penalty minutes and nine goals as the Royals emerged victorious 5-4. The Icemen took the early lead but two goals by Domenic Monardo and single tallies from Matt Campanale and Kevin Walrod made it 4-1 after two periods. The Icemen fought back to within 4-3 but Yannick Tifu's insurance goal squelched the comeback as Riley Gill won for the second straight day. The weekend sweep extends the club's unbeaten streak to six games, the overall mark is 36-19-2 (18-10-1 at the Arena). The boys play twice on the road during the week before returning home for another back-to-back on March 15-16. All in all the weekend was every bit the endurance test I figured it would be, not just for me but Jenny and Helen as well. By the time we were all home we were more than happy to call it a night. Take care, thanks for reading.