December 29-31

Friday afternoon: had my mother back at the doctor, this was the makeup date for the appointment snafu from earlier in the week. Snow moved through the area overnight into Saturday, the morning drive to Quarryville was sloppy but manageable (the snow itself was very light and powdery, it brushed off the car with little effort). In the evening we were back at the Arena for the final game of the calendar year, the Adirondack Thunder was the opponent for the sixth of their seven visits. ADK scored early in the first but Brian Morgan knotted matters late in the period, in the second the Royals took advantage of a major penalty power play. Michael Huntebrinker put the club ahead 2-1 on the man-up, moments after the penalty expired he lit the lamp again to make it 3-1. Early in the third Morgan netted his second of the night but the Thunder battled back to within 4-3, in the closing minutes Huntebrinker hit the empty net to complete his first professional hattrick. John Muse got the start in net and earned the 5-3 win. Emotions ran high in the latter part of the game, on the night the teams combined for sixty-five minutes in penalties (forty-six of them in the third period alone). The club improves to 16-13-2, 11-5 at home. The boys begin a five-game homestand on January 5 when '16-17 playoff foe Brampton visits. The calendar year expired quietly on Sunday with pro football games on TV, with outside temperatures in the teens and wind chills hovering around zero or lower there was absolutely no reason to go outdoors. There was supposed to be a New Years celebration with fireworks in downtown Lancaster, anyone who was there in those weather conditions had to be a masochist. Thanks for reading, everyone. See you in 2018, take care.