March 17-18

Saturday night at the Arena, the Brampton Beast was in town for the last of their five regular-season appearances. It was a big night for the organization as former head coach Larry Courville's retired sweater number #22 received company in the rafters. It was joined by the #10 worn by former team captain Yannick Tifu as he was enshrined in the Royals Wall Of Honor. Tif turned pro in 2005 and was well-established in the ECHL by the time the Royals acquired him in 2011. He was the gritty in-your-face pain-in-the-butt type of player who is despised as an opponent and beloved as a teammate, it didn't take long for him to become very popular with the Royals fanbase. In 2013 the Royals won the Kelly Cup with him as captain and Larry as head coach. Yannick played with the Royals through the end of 2014, spent a season in France and returned for one last year in the fall of 2015, he stands as the third-leading scorer in club history. In the game itself the Royals fell behind early, within a minute Matt Wilkins responded to tie it 1-1. Goals by Brian Morgan and Adam Schmidt extended the lead to two at the intermission, midway through the second period Chris McCarthy lit the lamp to make it 4-1. The third period was scoreless until the final minute, Brampton pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and Adam Schmidt found the empty net. At that point Beast frustration boiled over, two Brampton players and one Royal (in self-defense) were assessed ten-minute misconduct penalties. Anthony Stolarz was the goaltender of record as his rehab assignment continues. The 5-1 decision improves the club's mark to 34-21-8, 20-9-1 at home. The Royals play a back-to-back with Worcester at home on March 23 and 24. Take care, thanks for reading.