March 27-April 2

The early part of the week was typically uneventful except for the morning errand runs, on Friday we finished the month with a game at the Arena. The old axiom about March was reversed in 2017, on the first of the month the daytime high was a lamblike 69, on this day it was lionlike: rainy with wind and temps only in the 40s. The Norfolk Admirals were the opponent for the fourth of their five visits to the Arena, for the Ads it's been a tale of two seasons. Norfolk started out poorly, made a coaching change at midseason and have been competitive for the most part ever since. On this night the Royals went up 2-0 on scores by Justin Crandall in the first period and Mike Pereira in the second but the Admirals rallied to tie it and force overtime. The extra session lasted all of twenty-four seconds before Norfolk scored the winner and handed the Royals and Martin Ouellette a frustrating OT loss. The only good coming from it was the single standings point gained, as a result the club's magic number to clinch a playoff spot dropped from four to three. On Saturday the Royals hosted the Brampton Beast for their one and only visit of the season (how a divisional opponent only comes in ONCE makes little sense but the league schedule format has always been a mystery). On this night the Royals once again scored first thanks to Matt Willows but the Beast replied with two straight to take the lead. Midway through the second period Steven Swavely lit the lamp to pull the Royals even but in the final period it all came crashing down. A three-goal salvo by the Beast put away a 5-2 decision, Mark Dekanich took the loss in net. The weekend ended with the club traveling to Wheeling for a 5:00 Sunday game, on this day the boys won 5-3 and clinched a playoff spot in the process (the two points gained by the Royals and lost by the Nailers reduced the magic number from three to zero). The Royals mark stands at 38-25-6 (19-14-1 at home) with three games left, all against Norfolk (Wednesday the 5th at home, the 7th and 8th in Virginia). Take care, thanks for reading.