January 19

It was rainy and very foggy when I went to bed on Sunday night but by morning it was all gone, the sun was breaking through the clouds when I left the house at 10:00. The Royals were at home for the annual MLK day game, after two games in Elmira on the weekend the Jackals made their sixth visit of the season to the Arena for the 1:05 rubber match. We had a little over 4500 in the house, a good number of them were youngsters since schools were closed for the holiday. Elmira got on the board first midway through the first period, three minutes later Mike Marcou evened the score at 1-1. Olivier Labelle gave the Royals the lead later in the period but the Jackals scored the second period's lone goal, entering the third period we were square at 2-2. With nine minutes to go the Royals received a power-play opportunity, Labelle lit the lamp on the man-advantage to give the Royals the lead. The Jackals pressed in the final minutes looking for the tying goal but Matt Hatch scored on a partial breakaway to ice the game as the Royals took it 4-2. Connor Knapp was the winning goaltender as the Royals improve to 23-13-2, 12-8-1 at home. The ECHL All-Star Game is on the 21st in Orlando, Cam Reid will represent the Royals. After the break the boys play their next five games on the road, the next home game is on February 4 against Wheeling. It was still overcast when I came outside after the game, since we play so few early afternoon games it always feels strange to drive home from the Arena in daylight. Take care, thanks for reading.