April 5-6

Wednesday was a unusually warm day, afternoon temperatures reached into the mid-60s. Had morning lunch with Jenny, in the afternoon we headed north on 222 for the final regular season game at the Arena. This was the game rescheduled from March 14, the Norfolk Admirals were the opponent. The Royals organization underwent major change internally earlier in the week with the departure of head coach Larry Courville. Back in February LC announced he would be leaving at the end of the season to pursue other interests, after clinching a postseason berth in Wheeling on Sunday it was decided that Larry's departure would happen immediately. Internet reaction showed that the news came as a complete surprise if not a total shock. Assistant coach Kirk MacDonald (a member of the 2013 Kelly Cup championship club) was promoted to interim head coach with recent Royals Wall-Of-Honor inductee Ryan Cruthers joining up as a interim assistant coach. With all the tumult it only stood to reason that we would see a bizarre hockey game on this night in Reading and that's exactly what happened. Mike Pereira scored twice in the opening period to give the Royals a 2-0 lead, after Norfolk got on the board Robbie Czarnik lit the lamp to make it 3-1 after one period. Ryan Penny scored early in the second to give the Royals a three-goal lead but the Ads replied with three of their own to knot the game at 4-4. Olivier Labelle restored the lead midway through the period, Justin Crandall's goal early in the third stanza ended the scoring as the Royals prevailed 6-4. The club finishes its home schedule at 20-14-2, the overall mark stands at 39-25-6. The boys play two games in Norfolk on the weekend, the results will determine the club's opponent for the first round of playoffs. On Thursday the weather took a downward turn, it was rainy and windy with temps only in the 40s. I got the morning errand run taken care of and was glad to be home when I was done. Take care, thanks for reading.