October 1-4

The tenth month of 2018 began as most weeks do: on a Monday. After a weather-plagued opening week we were at the rink on Monday for two games, one scheduled and the other rescheduled. Three of the four teams involved were making their season debuts, the Misfits defeated the Hammerheads and the Express (formerly the Kings) beat the Owls. On Tuesday we had a full three-game night scheduled but I was absent at the outset. The Royals are in training camp preparing for the franchise's eighteenth season, on this night there was a game-staff get-together at the Arena. It was more for the newcomers than for me but I still attended just for the purposes of reconnecting more than anything else. The club plays an exhibition game at home on the 6th, the regular season starts on the 13th. The ECHL's Northern Division has been realigned with the addition of two new franchises, the Newfoundland Growlers (based in St. John's) and the Maine Mariners (Portland) join holdovers Adirondack, Brampton, Manchester and Worcester. The Royals also host five opponents from outside the division, they include familiar old division rival Wheeling along with Norfolk, Kalamazoo, Indianapolis and the Allen (Texas) Americans. When I got back into town the games at the rink were well underway, winners included the Pub Dawgs over the Riot, the Hammerheads over the Express and the Misfits over Risky Business. Had my usual lunch visit with Jenny on a otherwise quiet Wednesday, on Thursday we finished the week at the rink. There were showers in the forecast for late afternoon, around 4:00 or so it opened up and poured for about ten minutes. The radar showed it to be a quick-moving system, at 4:50 the rain was gone and we proceeded as scheduled at 6:15 with no issues whatsoever. Risky Business won over the Owls, the Hammerheads beat the Riot via shootout and the Misfits beat the Pub Dawgs. Take care, thanks for reading.