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.