October 13-14

Thursday night at the rink as we wrapped up week #4 of the street hockey season. Earlier in the week I found out that October 31 is "trick-or-treat" night in the city, the last few years it's been on the Friday closest to the 31st. On that basis I grudgingly scheduled games for the 31st when the schedule was formulated but this news changes everything, there is no way we are playing games on T-or-T night because experience has taught us otherwise. The teams involved are all aware of the situation, we'll have some four-game nights to work the games in and stay on schedule. Thursday night featured three games, two of them were resolved via overtime shootout. The Riot defeated the Misfits and the Blues outlasted the Owls, in regulation play the Steamers beat the Pub Dawgs. Friday night was a football night in Lancaster, both Lancaster Catholic and McCaskey were playing at home. I was of course at McCaskey (seniority taking precedence) but a small part of me was at LCHS because the game there was the final game scheduled at Rossmere Stadium. It is being torn down and completely rebuilt on the same site, the playing field will be reoriented north-south instead of east-west. I did not attend LCHS but I've being doing their games when I'm available since 1996 and I must admit I feel an affection for the place and I'll miss it. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of the new stadium's construction, I've seen pictures of what it will look like and it is impressive. The Crusaders sent the old ballpark out with a 45-0 win, across town at McCaskey the game I worked was eminently forgettable. The Red Tornado started the year 2-1 but had lost three straight, on this night the streak reached four with a lackluster 23-8 loss to Hempfield. The only score for JPM came in the third quarter when a McCaskey ball-carrier fumbled at the goal-line, offensive lineman Geraldo Medina covered the ball in the end zone for the TD. New quarterback Ante Robinson rushed for the two-point conversion. JPM plays the next two on the road, the last home game is on November 4 against Warwick. Take care, thanks for reading.