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.