November 7-9

Friday night hockey at the Arena as the Royals hosted the Fort Wayne Komets for a weekend doubleheader. This was the first meeting between these clubs since the playoffs back in April and no Royals fan needs to be reminded of what happened then. Each team underwent its fair share of roster turnover during the off-season but this weekend's results from a Royals standpoint were hauntingly familiar. In the Friday opener the Ks scored first but goals from Cam Reid and Mike Marcou gave the Royals a 2-1 lead after one period. In the second the Komets would score twice, another goal early in the third put the Royals back by two. Sean Wiles found the net in the closing minutes but that would be the extent of the comeback, Connor Knapp was the Royals goalie of record in the 4-3 loss. In game #2 on Saturday the Royals jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on scores by Adam Hughesman and David Marshall. After Fort Wayne tied it early in the second Ryan Cruthers put the Royals back to top but the pesky Ks replied quickly to knot the score at 3-3. A late second-period tally from Pat Mullane and an early third-period marker by Marshall gave the Royals a 5-3 advantage, the Komets got one back but Adam Comrie's goal with seven minutes left made it 6-4 Royals. Unfortunately the roller coaster ride was far from over, the game boomeranged quickly as the Komets scored three goals within four minutes and escaped with a 7-6 verdict, Martin Ouellette suffered the loss in net. This was Fort Wayne's lone regular-season visit to Reading, many Royals fans are undoubtedly happy about that. The Royals' record drops to 3-5-0 in the early going, the boys play four straight on the road before returning to the Arena on November 22. Not much going on Sunday, I stopped by the rink in the afternoon and did some cleanup work for the start of playoffs on Monday. Take care, thanks for reading.