January 9-10

Had lunch in Quarryville on Saturday morning, in the afternoon we made a much more enjoyable trip north to the Arena. Jenny and Helen missed out on Friday's game thanks to my circumstances, they would have been there had it been a day that remotely resembled normal. The Royals hosted Toledo in the back end of the two-game set and suffered a second consecutive frustrating defeat. Mike Marcou (back with the Royals from a stint in Europe) gave the home team the lead late in the first period, the Walleye replied early in the second to tie it 1-1. The Royals went back ahead on a score by Adam Comrie but Toledo scored twice within a minute's time to take a 3-2 lead midway through the second period. Neither side would score again until the Walleye scored an empty-netter in the closing minutes to seal a 4-2 victory. On Sunday we finished up the three-in-three weekend, the South Carolina Stingrays came in for their lone regular-season visit. This was the first time SC was in town since the 2015 playoffs and we all remember what happened then. The game on Saturday was the Royals' eighteenth of thirty-six home games, on this day they reached the season's official midpoint with a tough 3-1 victory. Cam Reid lit the lamp in the second period, moments later Justin Crandall made it 2-0 Royals. The 'Rays got on the board in the third but in the final seconds Adam Comrie found the empty net to clinch the win for Martin Ouellette. Marty played all three games on the weekend out of sheer necessity, Connor Knapp is on the injured list and Adam Morrison was under the weather. The club's record at the halfway mark stands at 17-14-5, 10-8-1 at the Arena. The next two games are on the road, the next Arena date is on the 18th against Adirondack. Take care, thanks for reading.