February 27-28

Friday night hockey in downtown Reading as the Royals played their first home game in nineteen days. The club went 3-1-1 on the road trip, on this night the Greenville Road Warriors made the last of their three regular-season visits. The Royals took a 1-0 lead on a early marker by Olivier Labelle but Greenville responded with four straight, a fifth score in the early part of the second period made it 5-1 Road Warriors. Cam Reid cut the deficit to three midway through the frame but entering the third period it was still 5-2 Greenville. In the final period Mike Marcou and Jordan Heywood brought the Royals to within one, with three minutes left Maxim Lamarche lit the lamp to tie the game at 5-5. The deadlock was broken in the overtime shootout, Greenville outscored the Royals three to one and claimed the 6-5 win. New goaltender Kenny Reiter (third-year pro from Minnesota-Duluth recently added as a free agent) made his Arena debut and struggled, surrendering four goals and fifteen minutes of work. Connor Knapp entered in relief and suffered the hard-luck loss. The shootout loss is the Royals first defeat of any type at home since January 10 but it's still a valuable point in the standings where every one is important. The club's record stands at 35-14-4, 16-8-2 at the Arena. The Royals have a rare Saturday off before hosting Elmira on Sunday but it wasn't originally scheduled that way. The Jackals were supposed to visit on Saturday and Sunday but the Arena's management was offered an opportunity to book a major attraction on a one-night-only basis and February 28 was the only date available. As a result the Saturday game was transferred to Monday the 2nd (still a doubleheader but with a rare Monday night home game at the back end). With the schedule change Saturday itself was a slow day since Jenny and I had done our weekend lunch on Friday instead. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 25-26

Had lunch on Wednesday morning with Jenny and her mother, we took care of a few errands around Quarryville after we were done eating. Thursday was another day for McCaskey basketball, we traveled to Central Dauphin East HS (just outside Harrisburg) for the district seventh-place game against Central York. The district powers-that-be were not kind to us in terms of scheduling in this tournament, with the exception of the opening game in our gym we traveled further than our opponent in every other contest despite being the supposed higher-seed in each game. We played opposition from three different counties and didn't get one of them within the boundaries of our own, on this night CY came about thirty miles to play the game while we went close to forty (so much for being rewarded for earning a higher seed). On this night at CD East we lost to Central York 65-49 in what can only be described as a lackluster outing. The entire roster was eligible and on hand but we fell behind early and for whatever reason we were never in sync all night long. Kobe Gantz was the only Red Tornado in double figures with 16, his career total stands at 940 on the way to the magic 1000-point mark. The loss is the club's third in a row and fifth in the last eight, the overall mark is 20-10. The boys are off until Saturday March 7 when the state tournament gets underway. Our opponent is TBA but we know it will be a team from District One (southeastern part of the state) and it will be in a Section One venue. I'll be absent on the 7th (the Royals play at home that night), the second round would be on Wednesday the 11th. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 22-24

The Saturday snowfall melted down a great deal on Sunday thanks to brilliant sunshine and daytime temperatures in the high 30s. Had my car at the service center on Monday for a long-overdue grease and oil change, after lunch I saw Jenny briefly since she was in town on business. On Tuesday afternoon we boarded the bus at McCaskey, the destination was the Milton Hershey School just outside the town limits of the place they call Chocolatetown USA. This was my first time ever in their gym, it's an above-average facility better than what some small colleges might have. On this night we met Harrisburg in a district playback game, the winner would play on Thursday for fifth place and the loser for seventh. Harrisburg is traditionally one of the district's top programs, they came in at 18-8 (not a bad mark at all but for them it's considered an off-year). The big story was the situation with JPM in the aftermath of Saturday's game. Efforts to add reinforcements were unsuccessful (for various reasons) so on this night the Red Tornado went to battle with no available substitutes. In January we played an opponent that never substituted until the final seconds (and that was only because one of their men fouled out), that occurred because their coach elected to go in that direction but it happened with us on this night only because Coach Powell had no other choice. JPM's Iron Five consisted of the group which for the most part has been the starting unit: Kobe Gantz, Randolph Speller, La'Detrius Sibley, Tyler Owens and Kyaire Bynum. They more than held their own through the first half, at the break we were ahead 28-22. In the third quarter Harrisburg was able to forge a lead of their own, down the stretch they were able to pull away and prevail 60-48. After the game nobody wanted to use fatigue as an excuse, most of the guys thought it was more a matter of missed opportunities. Had we had a full bench (or at least two or three extra men) the outcome could very well have been very different. The loss drops our mark to 20-9 and sets up a date with Central York on the 26th. It will be interesting to see where that game takes place, thus far the district committee has done us few favors. We were the tournament's #4 seed but in the second round we played #5 in the shadow of their home city, on this night we played a Dauphin County school (and the #8 seed) within the boundaries of Dauphin County. I guess sometimes the concept of "neutral" is open to debate. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 21

Saturday morning at McCaskey for the 10:30 departure to Berks County, the game was at 12:30. It had originally been scheduled for a 2:30 tip-off but reports of bad weather caused the district committee to move the starting time ahead (which proved to be a good move but we'll talk about that later). On this day at Governor Mifflin we lost to Reading High 56-50 but nobody will ever remember this game for its final score. We had a Mid-Penn Conference crew in charge and in the first half they called the game very tightly, in the second half play was allowed to become more aggressive and the intensity level rose accordingly. In the final minutes there was a collision on the sideline directly in front of the RHS bench, one of their players fell to the floor and a teammate responded by pushing our player in the back. The other players on the floor rushed to the scene, the RHS players on the bench reacted to that by standing up and our reserves responded by leaving the bench to even the odds. The respective coaching staffs and building security immediately squelched the situation before it escalated further, after the officials talked it over it was ruled that the RHS player who pushed our man was ejected and all of the players who left our bench were disqualified as well. We finished the game with only the five who were on the floor when the fracas started, that number was reduced when one of our guys fouled out in the dying seconds. The loss puts us into the playback round, the next game is against Harrisburg on Tuesday the 24th. In the postmortem it was learned that all of the ejected players are ineligible to play in Tuesday's game. For RHS it means the loss of one guy, for us it's two-thirds of the roster (the rule is automatic and it was correctly applied but how our opponent loses just one player when the whole thing happened right at their bench is highly questionable). There are several members of our JV squad who were not added to the postseason roster, any and all are eligible for activation for the game on the 24th. On the way home on the bus the coaches were discussing the possibilities, how they choose to proceed will be a story in itself. The predicted snowfall had actually started as we were traveling to the game, it arrived in force while we were inside and the trip home was no fun at all. I had no other plans for the evening which was just as well, there were reports of accidents all over the area. A good night to stay in and stay warm. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 16-20

The new week began largely the same way the old one ended, with brutal cold in abundance there was little reason to be outdoors. On Wednesday we were at McCaskey for the district playoff opener against Cumberland Valley. CV plays in the Mid-Penn Conference's top division, they came in at 15-8 and the #13 seed but at this point none of that really matters because every team in the tournament deserves to be there. On this night JPM was in control virtually the entire way, outscoring CV in each quarter en route to their twentieth win of the season 76-54. Randolph Speller and Tyler Owens tied for game-high honors with 16 apiece, Kobe Gantz had 15 and La'Detrius Sibley 13. After the game we got word that Reading High had won their game, as the #5 seed they are our next opponent. That game is on Saturday the 21st at Governor Mifflin HS in Shillington, just a few miles outside of Reading proper (how the #4 seed plays #5 in 5's back yard is a question only the district committee can answer). There was a brief but hard snowfall during the game on Wednesday but by Thursday morning the sun had most of it melted down, I did lunch with Jenny and her mother in Quarryville. On Friday it was viciously cold, with morning wind-chills well below zero several school districts around the county (including the Lancaster district) were operating on a two-hour delay. In the evening I braved the cold and headed out to The Nook for the Friday night indoor hockey league. This was the sixth week of the season and just the second time I was able to be there since Fridays at this time of the year tend to be busy one way or another. The schedule wraps up on March 6th (the next time I can be there) with playoffs in a yet-to-be-determined format on the 13th. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 13-15

Friday night in Neffsville for the league title game and another round of frustration for McCaskey basketball. A fan asked me before the game what my gut feeling was, I told him that I honestly couldn't say. I knew we would get our opponent's very best game simply because we always get everyone's best shot, how we responded to it would dictate the outcome. On the 5th in Lititz we started poorly and never recovered, on this night the early going was disturbingly familiar as Cedar Crest took a nine-point lead to the locker room at halftime. The deficit grew to as much as fifteen in the third but on this occasion JPM battled back, going into the fourth quarter we were down by eight. In the final minutes we managed to draw within two but could never get even, CC won it (and their second straight league championship) 70-66. Tyler Owens led all scorers with 21, Kobe Gantz and Randolph Speller had 11 apiece and La'Detrius Sibley had 10 but it was all for naught. This was our fourteenth appearance in the league title game in Coach Powell's twenty-three years at the helm and the sixth time we finished as the runner-up. The club's overall mark falls to 19-7 as the focus shifts to the district playoffs, our first game there is at home on the 18th against Cumberland Valley (a different CV of sorts from the Mid-Penn Conference). As the #4 seed we earned to right to host the game but at this point rankings are meaningless, every opponent is a challenge and there is no such thing as easy money. A win on the 18th puts us into the quarterfinals on the 21st, a loss ends the season (we lost in the first round in 2014). The rest of the weekend was quiet save for a Saturday visit with Jenny, that was all just as well because the weather turned bitterly cold with wind chill factors dipping below zero on Sunday. The Royals are in the midst of a five-game road trip, they won the opener on Wednesday to extend the winning streak to twelve before losing in overtime on Friday in Wheeling. On Saturday they won in Elmira 7-3, the Royals booster club ran a bus trip to the game. On Sunday morning I had a message on the Internet from some fans who had met members of my family there, later in the day my cousin Roxanne e-mailed and told me that she, her daughter Krista and granddaughter Brianna had been at the game and met the other people. Walt Disney was right, it's a small world after all. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 11-12

Wednesday morning lunch in Quarryville with Jenny, later in the day she called and said she wasn't feeling well. Apparently it hit her after I left, I told her to stay in and stay warm. At 5:15 I was back at JPM for a third consecutive day, we boarded the bus for the league semifinal game in Millersville. Conestoga Valley finished as the champion of Section II, we met them in January at home and won by thirteen. At the time they were below .500 but they impressed me as being better than their record, in retrospect that was an accurate assessment. They say basketball is a game of "runs" and that was on full display on this night. JPM trailed early 11-9, twenty points later it was 29-11. CV responded with fifteen straight to get back into it, at halftime we led by four. In the third quarter CV had the better of it and took a four-point advantage into the last eight minutes. From there it was just about all McCaskey, CV scored just four points (none from the field) to our sixteen as the Red Tornado won it 59-51. Kobe Gantz had 19, Randolph Speller added 16 and Tyler Owens 11. The victory is the club's nineteenth against six losses and puts us back in the league title game after a year's absence. The other semifinal featured Cedar Crest and Manheim Central, that game was at Lebanon Valley College in Annville. Either opponent would provide a revenge angle for JPM, Central because we lost to them in the '14 playoffs and CC for matters more recent. Shortly after our game ended we got the word that CC had won so the league championship game is Round Four and the seventh time overall in the past two seasons. The game is at Manheim Township HS on Friday the 13th (which may or may not be an omen depending on how you look at it). Nothing special going on Thursday, after two straight game nights I spent the evening at home. Perhaps it is the calm before the storm, we'll find out on Friday. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 9-10

It was rainy and dreary on Monday morning, I was at the mall for lunch. The weather forecast was calling for freezing rain later in the day, at 5:15 I went over to McCaskey for the bus ride to our league playoff game. Falling temperatures had made the sidewalks and streets very slick, when I arrived at JPM I found out that the game had been postponed. Coach Powell had received a text message just moments before, it was literally a last-minute decision. Ours was the only game not played on Monday (even though it was the one involving the shortest distance to travel), the other three went on despite the weather and reports of hazardous driving. As the night wore on conditions deteriorated even more so our postponement may have been the right choice save for the short notice. By 11:00 there was a coating of white on the ground, on Tuesday morning it was just about melted away and bright afternoon sunlight finished the job. At 5:30 we made the short trip east from town to Lancaster Mennonite HS, as the champion of their division they earned the right to host the game. JPM came out strong and built an eleven-point lead after one quarter, at halftime it was up to fourteen. We were ahead by twelve going into the final period, at that point the game did a complete 180. With two of our starters having fouled out and other on the bench due to injury LM stormed back to take a one-point lead with two minutes left. Down the stretch it was Tyler Owens (with a big offensive-board field goal) and reserve guard Skylar Davis (five key points) to pull the club through and they succeeded as the Red Tornado prevailed 73-70. Some may scoff at a Section I team barely defeating a Section IV opponent but LM is no pushover, they were 18-4 for a reason. Kobe Gantz led JPM with 26, Randolph Speller had 17 and Owens finished with 13. The boys play in the semifinals on Wednesday against Conestoga Valley, the game is at Penn Manor HS at 7:00. We defeated CV during the regular season but they were a stern test and there's no reason to think the rematch will be any different. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 6-8

Friday night hockey at the Arena as the Royals opened a three-in-three with the Florida Everblades. In the ECHL a weekend three-in-three is commonplace, what made this special was that all three were in the same building with the same opponents. The Royals and 'Blades have a playoff history, memories of that epic postseason series in 2013 were rekindled as the weekend progressed. In the Friday opener Florida took a quick lead in the game's first minute, David Marshall's reply knotted the score at 1-1. In the second period goals by Pat Mullane, Cam Reid and Maxim Lamarche extended the advantage to 4-1. The Blades scored late in the second and early in the third to close within 4-3 but midway through the period Mullane struck again to restore the two-goal lead. That would prove to be the game-winner, a Florida extra-attacker goal in the final seconds brought the final score to 5-4 Royals. On Saturday in game #2 Matt Hatch's first-period goal gave the Royals a 1-0 lead before all hell broke loose in the second. The Blades tied the game early on but Jordan Heywood lit the lamp moments later to put the Royals back on top. At the period's midpoint Florida scored twice within a minute to go ahead 3-2 but just one minute after that David Marshall found the net to tie the game. In the period's final minute Olivier Labelle gave the Royals the lead once again, just twelve seconds later Sean Wiles made it 5-3. Neither team could light the lamp in the third as the Royals held on for the win, on Sunday the teams laced them up for game #3. The Royals came out strong and built a 2-0 lead in the first six minutes on scores by Ryan Cruthers and David Marshall. The Blades got on the board midway through the period, it stayed 2-1 until the game's final moments. With the goalie on the bench and the extra attacker on the ice Florida tied the game with ONE-TENTH OF A SECOND remaining on the clock. The matter was not resolved in the five-minute overtime period as we proceeded to the OT shootout. Each team scored on their first attempt but there were no more until Andrew Johnston's ninth-rounder nailed down the victory as the Royals took it 3-2. Martin Ouellette was the winning goaltender on Friday and Sunday, Connor Knapp got the nod on Saturday. The weekend sweep runs the club's winning streak to eleven (tying a franchise record set in 2012-13) and improves the record to 32-13-2, 16-8-1 at home. The club plays its next five on the road, the next home game is on February 27 against Greenville. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 5

Thursday night in Lititz for the divisional playoff game and a night of frustrating defeat. We lost 68-46 and the less said about it the better. Our opponent played about as well as a team can play and we offered little if any resistance of any kind, we were thoroughly outclassed from top to bottom. There are no other excuses or explanations, the other guys answered the challenge and we did not. As the second-place finisher in our division we open the league playoffs on Monday the 9th with a matchup against Lancaster Mennonite, the first-place finisher in Section IV. The game is in their gym and that will be a new venue for me, I've not ever been there before (although LM is only about a mile out from town they are a very infrequent opponent for McCaskey in any sport because the school enrollments are extreme opposites). LM is 18-4 and some may say they play a weaker schedule but at this time of year nobody is an easy touch. A win on Monday would put us in the league semifinals on Wednesday, the championship game is on Friday the 13th if we are fortunate enough to get there. There was one bit of good news on Thursday, the JPM girls won their game and claimed their division title for the first time since 2006. They play their league playoff opener on Tuesday the 10th at home against Lebanon Catholic. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 4

Wednesday morning brought the official word: the playoff game with Cedar Crest is on Thursday night at Warwick HS. There was a chance it could have been played on Friday which would have disqualified me, luckily that is not the case. The game is part of a girls/boys doubleheader, the JPM girls finished in a tie for their division title with Cedar Crest (!!!!!) so both games are in the same venue (girls at 6:00, boys follow at 8:00). I guess we'll see how it plays out on Thursday. I had Wednesday lunch in Quarryville, in the afternoon we headed north on 222. The Royals were at home for the first time since January 19, for Jenny and her mother it was their first time back at the Arena since the week before. While the Royals were away the building had a new LED lighting system installed, it was quite noticeable especially at ice level. On this night the Wheeling Nailers were in town for the fifth of their six regular-season visits. The game remained scoreless through one period, early in the second Pat Mullane hustled in a shorthanded goal to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. In the latter half of the period Adam Hughesman lit the lamp to extend the lead to two. The Nailers scored early in the third to pull within one, in the dying moments they pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. With fifteen seconds left Wheeling appeared to score the tying goal, after consultation among the officials the score was disallowed. The Royals successfully killed the final seconds to take it 2-1, as the team celebrated with winning goalie Connor Knapp the Nailer players and coaches were demonstratively upset (one Wheeling player threw a water bottle in the referee's direction as he was leaving the ice). The victory is the Royals' eighth consecutive and improves the record to 29-13-2, 13-8-1 at the Arena. The Florida Everblades come in for a three-game set on the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 1-3

The new month started slowly, there was little of note happening on Sunday or Monday. On Tuesday we boarded the bus at McCaskey for the final game of the regular season. Every year we seem to have Hempfield as our final opponent, this is the second consecutive season the game was in their gym. The junior varsity game saw JPM's bid for an undefeated league season thwarted as Hempfield won it 58-47. JV records and history are not generally well-remembered and the end of this season was disappointing but on the whole there is much to be proud of. Since the start of the '11-12 season the McCaskey JV squads are a combined 60-4 in league play and 65-9 overall, an outstanding mark especially when you consider that JV rosters usually have very few if any returnees from the previous season. The purpose of a JV program is to prepare the players for the next level, two of coach Mike Mitchell's players were promoted to varsity earlier in the year and three more have been added for the postseason. The main event of the evening carried league playoff implications, a JPM win would clinch a playoff berth. It was not easy because games against Hempfield never are but the Red Tornado got it done 62-56. We led by six after one quarter and never trailed after that although Hempfield fought to the end like the quality program they are. Randolph Speller led JPM with 22, Kobe Gantz and Tyler Owens added 11 apiece. After the game we got word that Cedar Crest had won as well. that sets up a divisional tiebreaker game between JPM and CC for the second consecutive season. In 2014 CC beat us twice during the regular season and in the playoff game on their way to the league championship. This year each team won head-to-head on their home floor and both lost to Warwick in Lititz to finish even at 14-2. We heard there is a possibility the playoff game may be at Warwick, that would be very ironic if it were. The official announcement comes Wednesday morning. Take care, thanks for reading.