October 21-22

Saturday afternoon on the road north to Reading as the 17th season of Royals hockey began in earnest. Earlier in the week the club announced Nick Luukko and Ryan Penny were voted as alternate captains, veteran newcomer Derek Whitmore (a ten-year pro with AHL and European experience) was elected by his teammates to wear the "C". The home opener was unusual in that it was played in the afternoon, faceoff was at 4:00 and the reason was simple: the region's most popular college football team was playing a huge nationally-televised game at 7:30 and the hockey club thought better of trying to buck up against it. The Adirondack Thunder was the opening-day opponent making the first of their seven regular-season visits. The game began in explosive fashion for the Royals, in the second minute of play Chris McCarthy lit the lamp to make it 1-0. Fourteen seconds later Alex Krushelnyski (son of former NHLer Mike Krushelnyski) extended the lead, in the last minute of the period Matt Willows found the net to put the Royals up by three. Early in the second period popular returnee Adam Comrie gave the club a 4-0 lead but from there the game turned on a dime. ADK bagged three of their own before the period expired and tied the score midway through the third. That set the stage for sudden-death overtime and had you blinked when it started you would have missed it completely, it lasted all of SEVEN seconds. Ryan Penny won the OT faceoff and immediately sprung Derek Whitmore on a breakaway, the Royals' new captain made no mistake netting the game-winner for the 5-4 victory. Mark Dekanich was the starter in goal and earned the win. On Sunday we were back at it at 4:00 (standard game time for Sundays at the Arena), the Wheeling Nailers were in town for the first of six visits. Matt Willows gave the Royals a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, the Nailers equaled it before the intermission and neither team scored again in regulation play. For a second consecutive day the Royals worked overtime and were rewarded, newcomer Nolan Zajac (from the University of Denver, the younger brother of NHLer Travis Zajac) was the OT hero on this night. Zajac's OTGWG gave the Royals the 2-1 verdict, veteran goaltender John Muse (ECHL playoff MVP in 2012, with the club on assignment from the AHL Phantoms) won his first game as a Royal. The weekend sweep is a great way to start the new year, we're back home on Thursday the 26th. Take care, thanks for reading.