February 25

According to reports a category EF2 tornado touched down in the eastern part of the county on Wednesday evening, there was a great deal of damage recorded but the city and Jenny's area were luckily unaffected. We had our midweek lunch in Quarryville on Thursday morning, in the evening we were at Warwick HS for the district playoff game against Lebanon. For three quarters of this game a Red Tornado touched down in Lititz, it was all JPM from the proverbial word Go. We were up sixteen at the quarter and thirty at the break, we carried that same margin into the final period. Lebanon went on an 18-0 run early in the quarter but we were able to hold them at arm's length down the stretch and pick up the win 80-63. Randolph Speller led with 20, Izaiah Baratta had 12, Ricky Cruz and Jathan Gonzalez had 11 each. Earlier in the season Ran scored his 1000th career point, on this night he reached 1000 in a McCaskey uniform (including his freshman season at Lancaster Catholic he has better than 1200 overall). In all fairness it should be noted that our opponent was missing three key players but we know all about playing shorthanded. The win ends a two-game losing streak and improves the record to 21-7, it places us in the state tournament as the #7 seed from our district. We meet either Williamsport or Abington Heights (from the Scranton area) in the first round on March 5, either way the game will undoubtedly be played closer to their home region than ours. The Royals are at home that night so unless the scheduling is very favorable I am most likely out of it. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 22-24

Had lunch at the mall on Monday morning, after that I stopped by my service center and arranged an appointment for my car. The "check engine" light came on over the weekend and that is something I do not fool with plus it was overdue for a lube job as well. On Tuesday morning my mother had another eye doctor appointment, I left my car at the garage and drove her car from there. In the evening we boarded the bus at McCaskey for the ride to Neffsville (nothing against Dallastown but this trip was much shorter and more tolerable). Many people view the playback round as unimportant but that is hardly the case, the games have bearing on seeding for the state tournament and every win counts. On this night we faced league rival Hempfield for the third time and came out on the wrong end of an 81-73 decision. We had an early lead but trailed by five at the half, in the second half we got within two on a number of occasions but simply could not get over the hump. The game was worked by LL officials, you generally don't see referees from your own league in district or state play but since the game was essentially a league matchup it is permissible (why we had Mid-Penn guys for the CV game is anyone's guess). Kobe Gantz had 27 and Randolph Speller had 20 but nobody else reached double figures for JPM. This marks the first time the club has lost consecutive games, they meet Lebanon (another LL opponent) in the seventh-place game on Thursday the 25th. It's the exact same road we traveled in 2015 but at least we're getting a better break with travel, the Thursday game is at Warwick HS in Lititz (a gym we are all too familiar with). On Wednesday it was dark and rainy, I had a dental checkup at 9:00 (the perfect way to start a day). Picked up my car at the garage and spent the rest of the day at home out of the rain. In the early evening strong storms blew through the area but it's supposed to be clear by Thursday morning. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 20-21

Saturday morning lunch in Quarryville with Jenny, in late afternoon we boarded the bus at McCaskey. I've probably driven through Dallastown once or twice in my life but not for a long time, the area is one largely unfamiliar to me. This was my first time in the gym at the high school, it's a nice enough facility but nowhere near large enough to support the crowd this night drew. There was a girls game before ours, people were sitting in the aisles and reports were that many were turned away at the door. This was to prove to be a forgettable night for the Red Tornado, we lost 71-52. Spring Grove is an excellent team and you can't take anything away from their effort but we certainly got no help at all from the officiating crew (once again from the Mid-Penn Conference). Sometimes it is utterly amazing how a man can get mugged at one end of the floor with no call made while at the other end the slightest contact draws a whistle. One team's top players can play the entire game with only one or two fouls while the other team is in foul trouble right from the get-go. It all came to a head in the final minutes when one of our players (playing with four fouls) was called for a charge which disqualified him. Coach Powell used the substitution timeout to register dissatisfaction to the referee, he reacted to the official's reply angrily and was assessed a technical foul. I've known him since 1988 and I can count the number of "Ts" he's ever received on one hand, it is rare for him to be so visibly demonstrative. The loss puts us into the playback round on Tuesday the 23rd against our old friends from Hempfield, they are on the same side of the bracket as we are and they lost their quarterfinal game earlier in the day. According to the district bracket the game was supposed to be played back in Dallastown, on Sunday night it was announced that it had been moved to Manheim Township HS. There is no question it is the right decision, it would be senseless to send two Lancaster County teams to York County when a spacious venue five miles out of town is available. A win on Tuesday would put us into the fifth place game on Thursday, a loss would consign us to the seventh-place game on the same night. Lebanon and Carlisle meet in the other game on Tuesday, we'll see one or the other on Thursday no matter what. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 19

Friday night hockey in downtown Reading, the Royals hosting Manchester in the back end of the two-game set at the Arena. The boys were looking to atone for the OT loss on Wednesday but on this night the effort fell short. The Monarchs took the lead midway through the first period, Ian Watters' goal in the final minute tied the score at 1-1. Manchester scored the next three and carried that advantage into the third period, early in the period veteran Nikita Kashirsky lit the lamp to bring the Royals within two. Kash was a member of the 2013 championship club, he recently returned to Reading after stints in Europe and elsewhere in North America. That goal would prove to be the Royals' final gasp, another Mons marker late in the game brought the final score to 5-2. Connor Knapp (back from absence due to injury) made his first start at home since December 18 and took the loss. The club's mark falls to 24-20-8, we hit the three-quarter pole of the home schedule at 12-11-4. Immediately after the game the teams boarded their buses for the drive to New Hampshire and a Saturday night rematch, that game begins a four-game road swing for the Royals. Between February 20 and March 22 (a span of thirty-two days) the club plays nine of twelve on the road. The three home games are strung together as a three-in three weekend from March 4-6 against Wheeling (Friday/Saturday) and Norfolk (Sunday). Take care, thanks for reading.

February 15-18

Little happening on Monday or Tuesday save for the morning errand runs. On Monday evening we had a "wintry mix" as they call it, there were reports of freezing roads and bad driving all around. The precipitation turned into a straight rain overnight into Tuesday, with temperatures in the 50s and afternoon sunlight things melted down and dried out quickly. On Wednesday Jenny and her mother were in Willow Street for morning medical appointments, after lunch we came back to town and headed to Reading in late afternoon. The Royals hosted Manchester in the first of a two-game set at the Arena and suffered what can only be called a disheartening 4-3 overtime defeat. Pavel Padakin and Robbie Czarnik gave the club a 2-0 first-period lead, the Monarchs cut the lead in half in the second but Brandon Alderson replied quickly to restore the two-goal lead. In the third period Manchester scored early to make it 3-2, with the goalie on the bench for the extra attacker they tied it 3-3 with twenty-two seconds left in regulation time. In the 3-on-3 overtime period the Mons took advantage of a break to score the winning goal, Martin Ouellette took the loss but deserved a better fate. The club's mark drops to 24-19-8 including a 1-8 record in games that have gone beyond regulation. The teams meet again on Friday the 19th at the Arena, on Saturday they square off in Manchester. Got word later in the evening that McCaskey won its district opener over CV 81-77 in (of all things) overtime. An officiating crew from the Mid-Penn Conference worked the game and by all accounts it was atrocious, from personal experience I can't say I'm surprised. Refereeing is a tough job and most of the better officials understand their role but there are some who never got that memo, I've been present on a number of occasions when the game was more about blowing whistles than actually playing. The win for JPM is the club's twentieth and ensures at least four more games, the next of those on Saturday the 20th against Spring Grove (from southwestern York County) at Dallastown HS (in southeastern York County). It's the #5 seed (us) versus #4 (them) but the territorial advantage is not overly unfair, Dallastown is about thirty miles from Lancaster and maybe fifteen or so from Spring Grove. In 2015 we played in this same game as the #4 seed, we traveled thirty miles to the game site while our opponent traveled only two (so much for the incentive of earning a higher seed). Spring Grove enters at 23-2 so it should definitely be a challenge but at this point in the season there are no more easy touches. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 13-14

The basketball team practiced on Saturday morning, I stopped in and gave the coaches the scorebook since I'm absent on the 17th. It was bitterly cold and windy, temperatures were in the teens with wind chills below zero. We had our usual lunch in Quarryville, in the evening we were back in downtown Reading. The Royals opened a four-game homestand with the first of a back-to-back with the Adirondack Thunder on the annual "Pink In The Rink" night, the club wore special pink jerseys in honor of breast cancer awareness. This is a game Jenny and her mother look forward to each season, Helen is a breast cancer survivor. On this night the Royals broke on top in the first period on a score from Justin Crandall, in the second period Nick Luukko (first-year pro from the University Of Vermont) extended the lead to 2-0. Late in the period Joey Sides lit the lamp, in the third Robbie Czarnik scored the Royals' final goal. The Thunder broke up the shutout in the final  minute but the Royals claimed the 4-1 win for Martin Ouellette. On the way home we stopped for gas, I stood in the cold for about three minutes at the pump and could not wait to get back into the car and out of the wind. On Sunday it was somewhat warmer if you consider temps in the 20s and wind chills in the single digits "warmer". On this day the game was all Thunder right from the get-go, ADK scored twice in the first four minutes and carried that lead into the second period. Nick Luukko's second goal of the weekend got the Royals on the board but that was the lone score for the home team as the Thunder won by the same 4-1 score, Martin Ouellette was once again the Royals' goalie of record. The club's record stands at 24-19-7, 12-10-3 at home. If the playoffs began tomorrow the club would qualify but the season still has a long way to go. The homestand continues with the Manchester Monarchs coming to town on the 17th and 19th. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 11-12

Thursday night at Manheim Township HS for the league title game, for the first time since 2013 the McCaskey Red Tornado are the Lancaster-Lebanon League champions. Although we had met and defeated Cedar Crest twice already by a total of fifty points nobody was expecting this night to be easy and it wasn't, CC came to play and had both barrels loaded. The first three quarters of this game played out eerily similar to the game against CV (except that it was much lower scoring), we held a two-point lead entering the final period. JPM went on an 8-3 run to open the quarter and extend the lead, CC could come no closer as the Red Tornado claimed the the title 54-47. Coach Powell only used six players and five of them scored: Ricky Cruz and Randolph Speller had 16 each, Kobe Gantz 9, Greg Nunez 8 and Izaiah Baratta 5. The LL has been around been 1972, this is JPM's fourteenth league title and the ninth under Coach Powell. The program has been to the finals twenty-four times in the league's forty-four seasons, fifteen of those in Coach Powell's twenty-four years at the helm at McCaskey. For the players it was a long-awaited championship, our last title came when the current seniors were freshmen. None of them were on the varsity roster in 2013 although Kobe played that season on the JV squad. This championship is especially rewarding because it came at the expense of an old antagonist. The '13 championship was over Cedar Crest, in the following two seasons JPM went 1-6 against CC including two losses in division-tiebreakers and a defeat in the league title game in 2015. On this night we reclaimed the championship and denied our opponent a third straight title. The focus now is on the upcoming district tournament, the opening round is on Wednesday the 17th. As the #5 seed we host #12 seed Conestoga Valley (did someone say DEJA VU) in a win-or-go-home game, a victory would send JPM to the second round on the 20th. I am absent that night since the Royals play at home but I'm good for the rest of the tournament providing the club advances (at this point of the season the only thing for sure is that NOTHING is for sure). It was very cold and windy on Friday, they are expecting frigid conditions for the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 9-10

The precipitation arrived late Monday night in the form of rain, sometime overnight it turned into a wet snow. By morning it was all over and our parking lot had been plowed, getting the cars out and cleaned was no problem. Jenny was in town, we saw each other over lunch. In the afternoon it was announced that the basketball game was postponed to Wednesday, that news effectively ended the day. On Wednesday we had our usual midweek lunch in Quarryville, some of the side roads were still wet in spots but on the whole driving was no issue. In the afternoon we convened at McCaskey for the rescheduled league semifinal playoff. The bus's destination was Penn Manor HS in Millersville, the opponent was Section II runner-up Conestoga Valley. JPM got off to a slow start, at the quarter we trailed by six but had the deficit down to three at halftime. In the third quarter we found our footing and took a two-point advantage into the final period. The Red Tornado started the quarter with a 13-0 run but CV refused to quit, they battled back to within six with a minute to go. That would be as close as they would get, strong JPM foul shooting salted away a tough 86-78 win. The teams combined for no less that twenty-two three-point goals, fourteen by JPM. Kobe Gantz led the way with 30 points (including five "threes"), Randolph Speller had 22 (five 3-balls) and Jathan Gonzalez posted a career-high 16 (four three-pointers). The win improves the record to 18-5 and puts us in the league title game on Thursday against another very familiar opponent. Cedar Crest finished second in our division and defeated Lampeter-Strasburg and Lancaster Mennonite to punch their ticket to the championship for a fourth consecutive season. We beat them for the title in 2013, they won it in '14 over Lebanon and in '15 against us. We beat them twice during the regular year but none of that means anything at this point, what happens in round three remains to be seen. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 6-8

Saturday morning lunch in Quarryville with Jenny, in the evening we were at McCaskey for the opening round of LL playoffs. Our opponent was ELCO (the second-place finisher in Section III), a class AAA school from Myerstown in (E)astern (L)ebanon (Co)unty. The league playoffs often serve up unlikely matchups that would otherwise rarely happen, to my recollection this was our first game against ELCO since I returned to JPM in 1988. The playoff format is usually either Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, for some goofy reason it's Saturday/Tuesday/Thursday this time around. Although ELCO finished 19-3 during the regular season many people favored us to win handily since Section I is allegedly the league's strongest division (maybe, maybe not, but a 19-3 mark needs to be respected). ELCO won the opening tip and immediately ran a play to set their top player up for a slam dunk, he lost his grip on the ball and missed. That seemed to light a fire under JPM, we went ahead 10-0 before ELCO finally got on the board. The lead was eight at the quarter and twenty-one at halftime, the final score was 71-55. Randolph Speller was top man with 24 points, Kobe Gantz had 16 and Ricky Cruz added 13. The victory improves the overall mark to 17-5 and sets up the semifinal round game against a familiar opponent in Conestoga Valley, We met CV in January and won by twenty in their gym but playoffs are a whole different ballgame. Sunday was a typically quiet day as was Monday save for a morning errand run and lunch at the mall. The bracket for the upcoming district tournament was announced on Monday, as the #5 seed we host an opening-round game on the 17th. Our opponent is the #12 seed, none other than (can you believe it) Conestoga Valley (!!!!!) but that's a long way off. There is snow in the forecast for Tuesday, the prediction is for three to six inches which isn't good but after the other weekend it's practically a walk in the park. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 5

The Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Association has been playing fundraiser exhibition games since the 1980s, back in December the Royals organization in conjunction with Flyers Alumni announced an intersquad game at the Arena for February 5th. Demand for tickets was immediate, the game was virtually sold out within days of its announcement. It's safe to say that with the exception of the franchise's start in 2001 and the 2013 Kelly Cup championship we will all remember this night as one of the biggest in Royals history. Long-time Flyers public address announcer Lou Nolan was in the house, he and I shared the PA duties and for our part it could not have gone any better. The organization had asked me if I was OK with the arrangement, as a lifelong Flyers fan I had no issue with it at all. I had never met Lou (he insisted we not say "Mr. Nolan") but I certainly knew who he was and it was my pleasure to work with him. The game itself featured the alumni playing as Orange versus White, leading the way were Hall-Of-Famers Bernie Parent (in a coaching capacity), Bob Clarke, Bill Barber and Mark Howe. Also in uniform were recently-retired Flyers Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen, they were joined by Ric Nattress, Bob Kelly, Ed Hospodar, Ray Allison, Jim Watson, Orest Kindrachuk, Terry Carkner, Todd Fedorek, Frank Bialowas, Mark Freer, Doug Crossman, Paul Holmgren, Larry Goodenough, Frank Bathe, Brad Marsh, Joe Watson, Dave Poulin, Jim Dowd, Andre Faust, Mitch Lamoureux and Jason Zent plus goaltenders Frederic Cassivi and Robert Esche. Serving as non-playing coaches were Brian Propp, Bill Clement, Rick MacLeish and Dave Schultz. The Flyers joined the NHL in 1967, each decade of the club's existence was represented in this game. For the record the Orange team won 9-4, after the game Alumni president Brad Marsh presented Royals president Drew Bell with a generous donation for the benefit of Royals Charities. By all accounts everybody went home happy on a night that will be remembered in downtown Reading for years to come. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 3-4

It was rainy on Wednesday with temperatures in the 40s, a perfect combination for continued melting of the leftover snow. It will still be some time before it's all gone but the worst of it is disappearing in good order. In the evening we were in downtown Reading, the Royals were hosting the new (at least to the ECHL) Manchester Monarchs for the first time ever. The Mons and Royals have intertwined history, both franchises began in 2001 as affiliates of the Los Angeles Kings with Manchester at the AHL level. The ECHL version of the Monarchs came about as part of the AHL's western migration, the Kings moved their ECHL affiliate from the West Coast to New Hampshire and the AHL club went the other way. The AHL Monarchs won the league championship in 2015, that title is being defended by the Kings' new affiliate in Ontario, California. The Royals won two of three on the road over the weekend, on this night at the Arena they won 6-4 but it was a battle all the way. Scott Tanski gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first but the Monarchs forged ahead 2-1 midway through the period. Mike Pereira found the net to tie the score but Manchester replied quickly to carry a one-goal lead into the first intermission. The lone goal in the second period went in the Royals' favor, veteran defenseman Kevin Young (eleven-year pro from White Rock, British Columbia) pulled the club even entering the final stanza. Pereira's second tally of the evening put the Royals up 4-3 in the first minute but the Mons wouldn't go quietly, at the period's midpoint it was all even at 4-4. With four minutes left Yannick Tifu (who played in his 500th career ECHL game on the road trip) gave the Royals the lead for good, Justin Crandall's empty-netter in the closing seconds wrapped it up for winning goaltender Martin Ouellette. The Royals improve to 21-17-7, 11-9-3 at the Arena. The next three games are on the road, the boys return home for a double-dipper with Adirondack on the 13th and 14th. There was a flash flood watch posted for the evening hours but the ride home was no issue except for some foggy conditions on 222. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 1-2

The new month started with the usual Monday lunch visit at the mall, the parking lots were in much better shape than the previous week. The leftover snowdrifts are melting nicely and the trend should continue since temperatures are expected to rise later in the week. On Tuesday evening the regular season ended at McCaskey as the Red Tornado hosted arch-rival Hempfield, the JV squad won 49-39 to finish their schedule at 14-3. Before the varsity game we honored Tymir Mitchell, Deshawn Crosby, John Burnside, Skyler Davis, Randolph Speller and Kobe Gantz as part of Senior Night activities. The game itself was the proverbial barnburner as JPM avenged the loss to Hempfield the first time around with a 56-53 win. The Red Tornado trailed by one in the closing seconds when Greg Nunez scored on a putback to give JPM the lead, on the subsequent inbound Speller stole the ball and was fouled. Ran hit both free throws to push the lead to three, a Hempfield desperation shot fell short as time expired. Kobe Gantz led JPM with 13, Ricky Cruz and Izaiah Baratta had 10 apiece, Ran finished with nine and Greg had seven. The club finishes the league season at 14-2 and 16-5 overall, the next order of business is the league playoffs. The first round is on Saturday the 6th, as a division champion we host the runnerup from Section III (either ELCO or Cocalico). The semifinals are on Tuesday the 9th, the championship game (should we be so fortunate) is on Thursday the 11th. In the long run we may remember this night more for the unusual conditions surrounding it than the actual game results. When the custodial crew prepared the gym for the evening they could not get the scoreboard at the south end to work, they finally had it up and running just before the JV game started. Midway through the first quarter of the varsity game it blew out completely, we had only the board at the north end the rest of the night. The malfunction rendered the scoreboard buzzer useless as well, I spent the rest of the game blowing a whistle over the PA to signal substitutions and the end of each quarter. Not exactly the greatest way to get through an evening but it worked, after the game the officiating crew commented on how well things went under the circumstances. One fan said to me that I must have strong lungs, he didn't realize that the whistles were into an open microphone. A unique experience to be sure. Take care, thanks for reading.