February 18-19

Saturday night at the Arena for our annual "Pink In The Rink" game, the Elmira Jackals were the opponent for the opener of a back-to-back set. The last time the Royals hosted a team with a poor record the results were not favorable, on this weekend things were different. In the Saturday opener newcomer Nathan Moom (a six-year pro from Belleville, Ontario) gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead, in the second period the Jackals evened it at 1-1. Derik Johnson replied quickly to reestablish the lead, moments later Mike Pereira made it 3-1 Royals. In the third period Matt Willows capped off the scoring, the final score 4-1 for winning goaltender Martin Ouellette. On Sunday morning the arena's rink crew removed the pink layer of ice, when we arrived in the afternoon the traditional pile of pink snow was in the railroad bed outside the arena. The game started at 4:00 (one hour earlier than the Sunday norm), on this day on the clean white ice the Royals made it two straight over Elmira with a 2-0 decision. Tyrell Goulbourne lit the lamp in the first period, early in the third Ryan Penny extended the lead and that was all Mark Dekanich needed. Dek stopped all thirty-three shots he faced for his first shutout of the season and the second for the club (the since-departed Drew Fielding zeroed Elmira at the Arena on December 28). The weekend sweep improves the Royals' mark to 31-17-3, 16-9-0 at the Arena. The boys are at home on Wednesday the 22nd against Greenville. Take care, thanks for reading.