December 28-29

Wednesday morning lunch with Jenny and her mother, in late afternoon we were on the road north to downtown Reading. The Elmira Jackals were making the second of their five regular-season appearances and the first since the home opener back in October. On this night the result was never really in doubt, the Royals took command and never surrendered control for a minute. Olivier Labelle's score late in the first period gave the Royals a 1-0 lead, in the second period Ryan Penny and Florian Iberer lit the lamp forty-five seconds apart to up the advantage to three. In the final period Robbie Czarnik removed any doubt with two goals (one early, one late) putting the lid on a resounding 5-0 victory. Drew Fielding got the start in net and recorded the club's first shutout of the season, he was named the game's #1 star for his effort (Czarnik was #2, Justin Crandall was #3). The Royals improve to 16-11-2, 8-4 at the Arena. The club wraps up the 2016 portion of the home schedule on Friday the 30th against Wheeling. There was some rain in the area on Thursday morning, by all accounts the heaviest had fallen overnight (I must admit that never hurts me, it could rain every night between 2:00 and 5:00 and I'd probably never know it happened). The morning errand run was the extent of Thursday's activities but there were three college football bowls plus an evening hockey game on TV. Take care, thanks for reading.