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.