January 12-14

Sometimes you just have to shake your head in disbelief. One weekend ago we were in The Deep Freeze, on Friday the 12th temperatures reached into the 60s before the cold returned on Saturday. Friday night at the Arena saw the Royals in action as the Adirondack Thunder visited for the last of their seven regular-season appearances. On this night the offensive highlights for the Royals were in short supply as they suffered a 3-0 defeat. The Thunder scored once in each period and held the Royals off the board completely, it's the first time the club was zeroed at home since New Years Eve 2014 (a 4-0 loss to the late, lamented Elmira Jackals). That game was the first and only time the Royals have played at home on NYE, perhaps that result played a role in the fact that we haven't done it since. The loss drops the club's record to 20-16-2 overall and 14-7 at the Arena, the boys are back home on the 20th for a double-dip with Bramptom. Overnight into Saturday temperatures dropped into the mid-20s, better than thirty degrees lower than the day before. At 1:00 we convened at McCaskey for a bus ride west across the Susquehanna, the destination was York High School. This was originally a showcase event which somehow became a rare JV/varsity doubleheader on a neutral floor, Williamsport was our opponent (for the record York hosted Harrisburg in their own JV/varsity set after we were done). To say the season has been subpar is an understatement, on this day the JV squad lost for the seventh consecutive game and the varsity's winless streak reached nine with a 72-63 loss. The club played minus two starters due to injury and illness, we had only nine men in uniform and they all got into the scoring column. The record falls to 2-12 which is obviously not good but the team's effort cannot truly be faulted, the guys battled to the bitter end. We all knew that this season was going to be one giant educational experience, we can only hope that the future bodes well thanks to lessons learned. Take care, thanks for reading.