December 9-11

Friday night hockey at the Arena as the Indy Fuel visited from the state capital of Indiana for the first time since April of 2015. Longtime broadcaster Terry Ficorelli is the Fuel's radio voice, I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago when he was working elsewhere in the ECHL. I became familiar with him from his work in Baltimore when the AHL had a club there in the 1980s, his play-by-play style is very colorful and instantly recognizable. The Royals won both games on their most recent road trip, they came into this weekend riding a six-game winning streak. The Friday game was the opener of a two-game set, on this night the Fuel took early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and were caught both times. Ryan Penny's score drew the Royals even at 1-1, Chris McCarthy's marker squared matters at 2-2 and from there it was all Royals with an exclamation point added. Just thirty-five seconds after McCarthy's goal Florian Iberer lit the lamp to give the Royals the lead, fifty-seven seconds later Derik Johnson scored the club's third goal in 1:32 of play to make 4-2 at the first intermission. The second period was scoreless until the final second, newcomer Matt Willows (second-year pro from the University Of New Hampshire) beat the buzzer to put the Royals up by three. Third period goals by Tyrell Goulbourne and Mike Pereira plus McCarthy's second of the night put the lid on an 8-2 win, the eight-goal salvo marking the first time the Royals scored that many in a game since October of 2015. Saturday night at the Arena was the annual Teddy Bear Toss for the benefit of Toys For Tots, Jenny had three bags of stuffed animals to donate to the cause. The game on this night played out very differently than the Friday encounter, Indy once again scored first but Chris McCarthy's "teddy bear" goal tied the game 1-1 midway through the first period. The deadlock remained until midway through the second period when Michael Boivin found the net to give the Royals their first lead. The game was still 2-1 into the final moments, with the Indy net empty Steven Swavely scored the clincher to salt away the tough 3-1 verdict. Mark Dekanich was the winning goaltender both nights as the Royals extend the winning streak to eight games and run the record to 14-8-2, 6-3 at home. The club plays the next three on the road before finishing the month with four straight on home ice, the first of those is on Wednesday the 21st. McCaskey's basketball opener in Coatesville on Saturday was postponed due to a water main break near the high school, JPM won't start their season until Friday the 16th on the road at Cedar Crest (never a fun assignment). Take care, thanks for reading.