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.