November 29-30

Up and at it early on Sunday for the 4:00 faceoff at the Arena. Our first two Sunday home games were at 5:00 due to early afternoon college games but 4:00 is the standard Sunday game time from here on out. The Wheeling Nailers were the opponent for the second of their five regular-season visits. The teams had met in Wheeling on Wednesday with the Nailers toughing out a 1-0 win, on this day the Royals avenged that loss with a 3-2 regulation-time decision. Mike Pereira, Yannick Tifu and Matt Hatch were the goal-scorers, Connor Knapp (back from the Phantoms) picked up the win in net. The Royals arrive at the quarter-pole of the schedule with a mark of 9-8-1, in twelve home dates the club is 7-4-1. The boys had nine home games in November but in December they play eleven of thirteen on the road, the only two home games are back-to-back with Elmira on the 18th and 19th. On Monday we finished the month with the final game of the street hockey season at Reservoir Park, the Killbots and H&F Tire met in the fifth and deciding game of the West finals. There was rain in the forecast for later in the evening, at game time there were a few drops here and there but it was nothing of consequence. I told the teams if we didn't play on this night it probably wouldn't happen until Thursday because the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday was not encouraging. We started playing on that rink in 1979, over the years we've had many memorable games and this one will certainly be long remembered. The Killbots carried a 2-0 lead into the third period but H&F rallied to tie it and force a winner-take-all overtime. A regulation dek hockey game is three ten-minute periods, the teams battled through four additional periods still tied. As the rain began in fall in earnest the marathon finally ended in the 72nd minute of play (and two hours and fifteen minutes after it had started) when a shot from the point found the net to give H&F Tire the sudden-death championship. The fall season began on September 22 and ends seventy days later (and not a moment too soon). Take care, thanks for reading.

November 27-28

Friday night at the Arena for the start of a busy weekend. This was the first of our four sets of three-in-three at home, we have two more in January and the last one in March. The Greenville Swamp Rabbits were the opponent for their final two visits of the season, the last time they were in town they were swept by the Royals in two straight but this time around it was different. On Friday the Royals lost in lackluster fashion 6-3. Mike Pereira, Brandon Alderson and Justin Crandall scored the goals, newcomer Adam Morrison (one-time Flyers draft selection) was the goaltender of record. The Royals added Morrison earlier in the week with the recall of both Connor Knapp and Martin Ouellette to the AHL Phantoms. On Saturday the Swamp Rabbits completed the sweep with a 4-3 shootout victory. The Royals took two separate one-goal leads thanks to Joe Rehkamp and Robbie Czarnik but found themselves trailing 3-2 in the third. Mike Pereira knotted the game in the final moments of regulation and set the stage for overtime. Over the summer the NHL adopted 3-on-3 overtime, the AHL and ECHL followed suit and reaction to the "helter-skelter" nature of the format has been largely positive. Nothing was resolved in the five-minute 3-on-3, in the shootout Greenville outscored the Royals one goal to none to claim the win. Adam Morrison was once again the goalie of record. The Royals have a quick turnaround (as do we all) for Sunday afternoon, the Wheeling Nailers visit for a 4:00 start. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 23-26

Had an appointment with the heart doctor on Tuesday morning, it had been a year since the last time. He said everything looks and sounds great, unless I have any recurrences of any kind he won't need to see me again for another year. Street hockey finals resumed on Monday with both series tied 1-1, the East series ended on Tuesday with the UniLords victorious over the Steamers. The West series stands tied at 2-2, the deciding game was set for Monday the 30th (since Wednesday was Thanksgiving eve and nobody wanted to play on that night). Had lunch with Jenny on Wednesday morning, the rest of that day and Thanksgiving as well was uneventful (Thursday actually felt like a Sunday with three football games on TV and little else going on). It provided a perfect opportunity to rest up for a busy weekend ahead, the Royals play a three-in-three at the Arena hosting Greenville on Friday and Saturday with Wheeling coming to town on Sunday. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 20-22

At the Arena on Friday evening for the first of eight Friday home dates in '15-16. The Royals' home schedule features twelve stand-alone dates (this was one of them), six sets of back-to-back dates and four sets of back-to-back-to-back. The Elmira Jackals were in town for the third of their six visits (and the opener of the weekend home-and-home). The teams combined for five goals in the first period, Maxim Lamarche scored thirty seconds in but the Jackals replied quickly. Riley Armstrong gave the Royals a 2-1 lead midway through but the next two belonged to Elmira, it was 3-2 Jackals after one. In the second period Adam Comrie hit the net to tie the score but the Jackals forged ahead 5-3 entering the third period. Robbie Czarnik brought the Royals to within one in the closing minutes but Elmira held on for the 5-4 win, Connor Knapp took the loss in net for the Royals. The remainder of the weekend was quiet except for Saturday lunch with Jenny, on Saturday night the Royals played the back end of the home-and-home in Elmira and lost by the vaguely familiar score of 5-4. The club's record stands at 8-6 (6-3 at the Arena), the boys play in Wheeling on Wednesday the 25th before returning home for a three-in-three on the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 16-19

Monday marked the first day of high school winter sports practice, after supper I went over to McCaskey. The boys basketball team was on the floor from 5:30 to 7:30 since it was the girls team's week for early practices. Coach Powell is still recovering from his throat surgery in September of 2014, the ability to speak is coming along but it's obviously a slow process. When I greeted him and we shook hands he responded with a smile and a nod of the head. There were close to sixty players in the gym, since the varsity and JV squads combined will probably carry less than thirty it's safe to say that half of them won't be around by the end of the week. The season starts on December 5, we play in a showcase event at Holy Family College (which is apparently somewhere around Philadelphia but I have no idea exactly where). On Tuesday night we started the street hockey finals at Reservoir Park, the second games were played on Wednesday. One game on each night went into overtime, on Wednesday the game that didn't may as well have for the amount of time it took to play. Being a referee is a rough job under the best of circumstances, when the teams grouse incessantly over every call that goes against them it becomes virtually impossible. One penalized player commented to me that the game was a mockery, I told him that I agreed 100% and the reason it was a mockery was because some people just don't know how to play the game and shut the BLEEP up (if he was expecting sympathy from me it was not forthcoming). When the smoke cleared both series were tied 1-1, we had planned to play the third games on Thursday but it didn't happen. An expected all-day rain moved in overnight, the games were effectively postponed by noontime but we waited until late afternoon to make it official. The series continue on Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th, if we're lucky they can both be over before Thanksgiving weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 13-15

A blustery and very chilly Friday started the weekend, for me it was a perfect day to stay in and warm. There were various high school football playoff games around the area but since neither JPM or LCHS qualified for the postseason I was singularly unconcerned (I'm very provincial that way: once my team has played its last game the season is OVER). On Saturday we had lunch in Quarryville, in the afternoon it was on to Reading for evening hockey at the Arena. Norfolk, Virginia has a rich hockey history dating back to the early '70s when the Virginia Red Wings were in the AHL. In 1999 the region received an ECHL franchise known as the "Hampton Roads" Admirals, from 2000 to 2015 the "Norfolk" Admirals played in the AHL. That franchise fell victim to the AHL's western migration during the off-season which allowed the ECHL to reenter the market. On this night the Ads were making their first of five appearances at the Arena. There was no score until the midpoint of the second period, Norfolk struck first but Mike Pereira countered quickly to tie the score at 1-1. The Admirals took a 2-1 advantage into the third period, that lead held until Justin Crandall found the net to knot matters at 2-2. In the final minutes the Royals were awarded a 5-on-3 power play chance, an apparent go-ahead goal was disallowed when it was ruled to have been kicked into the net. The Royals responded by scoring one that counted, Adam Comrie's slap shot from the blue line gave the club the lead. From there Connor Knapp closed the door as the Royals picked up the tough 3-2 win. On Sunday the teams met again in the back end of the doubleheader, the first period alone featured more penalty minutes than the entire Saturday game. The scoring pattern was eerily similar to Saturday night as well, once again the Ads scored first but the Royals equaled it thanks to Matt Hatch. Norfolk went up 2-1 in the second but Adam Comrie replied to make it 2-2. Early in the third period Robbie Czarnik lit the lamp to give the Royals the lead, in the closing moments Matt Hatch scored into the empty net to cement the weekend sweep at 4-2. Martin Ouellette was the Royals goalie of record. The club's record stands at 8-4-0, the next game at home is on Friday the 20th against Elmira. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 9-12

The morning visit for lunch at the mall was about all that happened on Monday, overnight into Tuesday rain moved into the area and stayed through the evening hours. Playoffs were set to start at the rink but the weather removed all controversy especially when a downpour hit right around the time the first game would have started. On Wednesday we had our usual midweek lunch in Quarryville, in the evening we were back at the Arena on Penn Street in Reading. The Wheeling Nailers were the opponent for the first of five regular-season visits. When the ECHL began in 1988 one of the league's original teams was based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1992 the franchise was moved to Wheeling where it has played continuously ever since. On this night the Royals prevailed by a final count of 2-1, Mike Pereira and Robbie Czarnik were the goal-scorers in support of winning goalie Martin Ouellette. The Royals' third straight home-ice victory improves the club's record to 6-3, the Norfolk Admirals come to town on the weekend for a Saturday/Sunday double-dip. Street hockey playoffs started on Wednesday night in my absence and continued on Thursday in my presence, all four semifinals were played in a 2-of-3 format and all ended in two-game sweeps. In the East the UniLords and Steamers advanced to the finals, in the West the Killbots and H&F Tire meet for the championship. Each series is a best-of-five, they begin on Tuesday the 17th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 7-8

Up and at it early on Saturday, we were in downtown Reading at the Arena in the afternoon for the start of a busy weekend. It was the annual Military Appreciation date on the Royals schedule, the first order of business was the Army-Navy game at 1:30. The club teams from West Point and Annapolis met at the Arena in 2014 with the Cadets victorious, on this day the Midshipmen avenged that loss with a 4-1 win. At 7:00 the Royals took the ice for the first game of a back-to-back against the newly-minted Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Greenville, South Carolina was in the ECHL from 1998 to 2006 as the Grrrowl (spelling is correct), from 2010 through 2015 as the Road Warriors and now as the Swamp Rabbits (a mammal apparently indigenous to the southeastern part of the country). Nicknames notwithstanding this night was all Royals as they took it 5-1. Justin Crandall lit the lamp in the first period, in the second Mike Pereira and Adam Comrie extended the lead to 3-0. The Rabbits got on the board before the period ended but goals from Matt Hatch and Robbie Czarnik put the game away for winning goalie Connor Knapp. On Sunday the Royals completed the sweep, goals by Crandall and Yannick Tifu gave the club a 2-0 first-period lead. The second period was scoreless, in the third stanza the Royals put it away on scores by Hatch, rookie Joe Rehkamp (from St. Cloud State University) and Maxim Lamarche. Connor Knapp got the start in goal for the second straight day and posted his first shutout of the season (and the club's second, Martin Ouellette had one on the road in October). The club's record stands at 5-3, the Wheeling Nailers come to town on Wednesday the 11th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 4-6

Finished the regular season at the rink on Wednesday and Thursday, as it happened the results of the first two games on Wednesday cemented all positioning and first-round playoff matchups. As a result the last two games and all three on Thursday were rendered essentially meaningless. Just for the record: on Wednesday in the East the Steamers beat the Oil Riggers, in the West H&F Tire won over the Riot, the Killbots defeated the Pub Dawgs and the Hammmerheads beat the Kings. In the lame-duck Thursday games the Oil Riggers prevailed over the Blues, the UniLords beat the Steamers and the Riot defeated the Misfits. Playoff semifinals in both divisions start on Tuesday the 10th, each series is a best 2-of-3 with the winners meeting in the best-of-five finals. On Friday evening we were at Rossmere Stadium as high school football's regular season ended, the LCHS Crusaders finished their year with a 35-7 loss to Cocalico. The Crusaders scored first on an Andrew Bertz 65-yard catch-and-run from Brian Downey but it would the only LCHS tally as the club finished with an overall mark of 3-7. In 2016 the LL League realigns by enrollment, after a four-year absence LCHS returns to Section III (where the program enjoyed its greatest successes in the latter part of the last decade). The program spent 2012 and '13 in Section I and the last two years in II but given the size of the school and the numbers on the football roster it's fair to say at this point that III is probably where the program really belongs, time will tell. The really big news was at McCaskey where head coach Rob Monzon announced his resignation after six years at the helm to spend more time with his family. JPM sent him out with a win at Conestoga Valley on Friday, the Red Tornado finishes their year at 4-6. High school basketball preseason starts on the 16th, the first game for JPM is on December 5 (it will be here before you know it). Take care, thanks for reading.

November 1-3

The new month started with a typically quiet Sunday, on Monday evening we were at Reservoir Park for a four-game makeup night. These were the games rescheduled from October 28 and pulled all teams even in the standings with twelve games played and two to go. The Blues beat the Oil Riggers in the lone East game, in the West H&F Tire downed the Misfits, the Riot beat the Kings via shootout and the Hammerheads defeated the Pub Dawgs. On Tuesday we were back on the regular schedule, the UniLords beat the Blues in the East game while in the West it was H&F Tire over the Pub Dawgs, the Kings over the Misfits and the Killbots over the Hammerheads. Wednesday and Thursday's games wrap up the regular season and there are no weather issues forecast, it's actually supposed to be uncommonly warm and mild over the rest of the week. We shall see. Take care, thanks for reading.