April 1-3

The fourth month of the year began on a sunshiny Tuesday, Jenny was still with us while her mother was in New Jersey. On Wednesday it was rainy in the morning which provided the perfect bookend for Helen's return trip since Sunday had been a lousy weather day as well. Jenny and I were at the mall when the call came that Helen's train had arrived, she was due in at 12:05 and we were at the station by 12:30 to get her. Later in the afternoon Jamie Burkholder joined us for the drive north as the Royals hosted the Orlando Solar Bears. The regular season is heading down the home stretch, with six games remaining on the schedule every night is a big one. This was the first of two meetings between the Solar Bears and the Royals this season, the other is in Orlando on April 12. You might not expect the "hate" factor between two infrequent opponents to be that high but this was a rugged game. The Solar Bears took the lead in the first period and extended the lead to 2-0 in the second. From there it was all Royals emphatically and without question. In the latter moments of the period newcomer Greg Wolfe (recently added from Michigan State University) netted his first goal as a pro to get the Royals on the board at 2-1. As the third period started the Royals took command quickly, thirty-four seconds in Matt Campanele knotted it at 2-2. Just over a minute later Kevin Walrod scored to give the Royals the lead, two minutes after that Wolfe struck again to make it 4-2. Walrod's second goal of the night extended the lead, T.J. Syner's late-game score closed it out as the Royals won it 6-2. Riley Gill picked up the win in net and the game's #3 star, Wolfe and Walrod (former MSU teammates from 2010-2013) were #2 and #1 respectively. The Royals finish the home portion of the regular season with a back-to-back against Kalamazoo on Friday and Saturday. After three nights away from home Jenny and Helen had the pleasure of sleeping in their own beds, on Thursday we had our usual lunch date in Quarryville. That was the extent of the day's activities which was just as well, the rain returned in late afternoon and continued into the evening. Take care, thanks for reading.