November 12

I was recently contacted by a gentleman I know from high school basketball, he officiates in the L-L League and he is also a regular attendee of Royals games at the Arena. He plays hockey in a local adult league that plays its games at the Regency Sportsrink, one of the ice facilities here in Lancaster. The Regency Rookie Hockey League was able to arrange a charity game with the Flyers Alumni and he asked me if I'd be available to do the PA. The game was played on Sunday afternoon before a standing-room-only crowd, the rink seating area is very small and there were standees all along the spectator side of the rink. This was only the second or third time I was ever in the facility, the penalty boxes and player benches are all together on the same side of the rink and as you might expect in a small building it was COLD (but since it's an ice arena one would hardly expect it to be any other way). This was not an "A-level" event for the Alumni so a lot of the "big names" were not there but there were many quite recognizable. Alumni president Brad Marsh was in uniform along with Joe Watson, Bob Kelly, Larry Goodenough, Todd Fedoruk, Riley Cote, Terry Carkner, Mitch Lamoureux and former Phantom Frank Bialowas. Ex-NHLer Bryan Helmer (now an executive with the AHL club in Hershey) was in the lineup as were one-time Royals Jeff Corey and Chase Watson (Joe's nephew). The squad was rounded out with some players not particularly well-known but with connections to the Alumni, among them were Chris Bialowas (Frank's son), Mike Cauley, Ted Russell, Len Ellis and goalie Matt Tendler. Retired NHL referee Paul Devorski was one of the game's on-ice officials. The game only took about an hour to play, there were two fifteen-minute stop-time periods and one twenty-minute running-time period with a one-minute break in-between. The Alumni won the game but the result didn't matter, what counted was the experience the Rookie Leaguers had playing the game and the money raised for the benefiting charity. There was a postgame get-together for food, I had a chance to meet and talk with Joe Watson and Len Ellis. Joe was a member of the Flyers' Stanley Cup championship clubs in 1974 and '75, he's in his early 70s and still plays regularly in Alumni events. Len Ellis (or maybe I should say Doctor Ellis) is a great story in his own right, he played pro hockey in Europe and is a practicing orthodontist in New Jersey. In the end everybody went home happy and that's what it was all about. Take care, thanks for reading.