January 10-11

Saturday lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the evening we were back in downtown Reading for a weekend double-dip with one of the league's newest franchises. The East Coast Hockey League began with five teams in 1988, when several western-based clubs joined in 2003 the league became officially known as the ECHL. During the offseason in 2014 the league absorbed several franchises from the now-defunct Central League, on this night the Brampton Beast made their first appearance at the Arena. Brampton, Ontario is only the second Canadian city to field an ECHL club, from 2004-2011 Victoria, British Columbia was in the league. Saturday was the annual Pink In The Rink game for breast cancer awareness, it is always one of the most popular dates on the home schedule. Before the game former Royal Malcolm MacMillan (2005-2008) became the newest inductee into the club's Wall Of Honor. The Royals fell behind 1-0 late in the first period, early in the second Pat Mullane scored to tie the game. The Beast struck twice in short order to take a two-goal lead, late in the period Sean Wiles found the net to make it 3-2. In the third period the Royals had their chances but could not pull even, Connor Knapp took the loss as a Brampton empty-netter in the final minute clinched a 4-2 Beast win. In the Sunday rematch Martin Ouellette got the start and the win as the Royals earned a weekend split. Andrew Johnston gave the club a 1-0 lead early on, goals from Matt Hatch (first-year pro from Union College) and Sean Wiles upped the advantage to three at the first intermission. The Beast fought back to get within one entering the third period but goals from Adam Hughesman and Sean Wiles just twenty-two seconds apart broke it open. Kevin Walrod put the cherry on the sundae with a score in the final minute as the Royals took it 6-2. The club's record moves to 21-12-2, 11-8-1 at the Arena. The next home date is Monday the 19th, the annual Martin Luther King Day game against the Elmira Jackals. Take care, thanks for reading.