November 30

Had a haircut appointment on Friday afternoon, in the evening we were back at the Arena for the Royals' sixth home game of the month. The Kalamazoo Wings provided the opposition for a non-divisional contest, their lone regular-season appearance and the first visit for the K-Wings at the Arena since March of 2016. Although the teams have met infrequently over the years there is a playoff history involved, the Royals eliminated K-Zoo from the postseason in 2010 and the Wings returned the favor in 2011. The Royals have struggled mightily at home thus far, the home mark of 2-5-3 stands in stark contrast to the road record of 5-1-3. On this night in downtown Reading the home-ice downbeat continued with another frustrating loss. The K-Wings carried a 3-0 advantage into the second period, Michael Huntebrinker got the Royals on the board but K-Zoo countered and led 4-1 at the midpoint. Goals by Josh MacDonald and Frank DiChiara three minutes apart made it 4-3 at the break. midway through the third period Steven Swavely lit the lamp to tie the game. In the final minutes Kalamazoo regained the lead, an empty-netter with forty seconds left brought the final to 6-4. Austin Lotz suffered the loss in net as the club's mark drops to 7-7-6 overall. The next three games are on the road, the boys are back at home for three games in three days on Friday the 14th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 26-29

The first Monday after Thanksgiving is the opening day of deer season in Pennsylvania, for that reason we did not play at the rink on Monday evening. Several guys on each team are hunters, Don and I agreed to let the guys have one night off to bag their deer before starting the Finals on Tuesday. As it turned out we wouldn't have played anyway, Monday was a miserably rainy day. On Tuesday the rain was gone and the temperatures turned colder, we were at the rink for Finals game #1. Risky Business led by one in the closing minute but the Misfits scored an extra-attacker goal to force overtime. Luckily the extra period lasted less than two minutes on this bitterly windy night, the Misfits won it in the OT to go up 1-0 in the series. On Wednesday morning I had my annual checkup with my heart doctor, all is good and I won't see to see him again for another year. Jenny was in town for an appointment of her own, the access van brought her on and I took her home for our lunch visit. After school I went over to McCaskey to give Coach Ramos the list of games I'll miss because of hockey. As it stands I miss seven of our twenty-two games and five of those are at home. On Thursday night at the rink it was not as cold or windy as Tuesday had been but it was still uncomfortable. All of the scoring on this night came in the second period, the Misfits netted two to Risky Business' one and held on the 2-1 verdict. The series continues on Monday the 3rd with games on Tuesday and Thursday if needed. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 19-25

Dek hockey playoffs semifinals started at the rink on Monday night and ended on Tuesday with both best-of-three series decided in two-game sweeps. The Misfits ousted the Riot and Risky Business defeated the Pub Dawgs, the winners meet for the championship in a best-of-five series starting on Tuesday the 27th. On Tuesday afternoon my mother had the stitches removed from her head wound, it's healing nicely and everything appears in order. Jenny and I had our usual lunch date on Wednesday, the next day was (as we called it when I was in school) Turkey Day which was spent watching football from noon to almost midnight. On Black Friday the Adirondack Thunder came into downtown Reading for the second of their five visits and left three hours later with an 8-3 win. The Royals led 1-0 early on but the Thunder posted one in the first, five in the second and two in the third and were never seriously threatened. Micheal Huntebrinker, Steve Johnson and Alex Krushelnyski scored for the Royals, Angus Redmond suffered the loss in net. The club stands at 6-5-6, 2-5-3 at the Arena. Jenny and I had lunch on Saturday, on the way there I made a detour stop at McCaskey. The basketball team was scrimmaging against Susquehanna Township (from suburban Harrisburg) and it was my first chance to meet the new coach. His name is Freddy Ramos, he was most recently the head junior varsity coach at Lancaster Catholic and comes to JPM with an excellent resume. He seemed to know a lot about me, perhaps what they say about reputations preceding oneself has some truth to it. Ray Lewis is back as JV coach and the new varsity assistant is Tim Glackin, a man I've known for years and a former head coach at Solanco in the early 2000s. It's a new beginning in more ways than one but I have a feeling it won't be dull. On Saturday night in Glens Falls the Royals and the Thunder played the back end of their home-and-home series and an incredible story unfolded. With Branden Komm on the disabled list, Austin Lotz on an AHL tryout with the Phantoms and Redmond banged up from the Friday game and unable to play the Royals were forced to insert Nick Niedert as their starting goaltender. Nick has been with the Royals before, he is what they call an EBUG, an emergency backup goalie who only plays in case of injury. He and others like him are in every team's phone directory for just such a situation, they are guys who have experience at the position and are competent to step in if needed. On this night in Glens Falls Niedert was the #1 star as the Royals pulled off a 2-1 victory. Royals broadcaster David Fine called it "the most stunning result of the season" and given the circumstances it might just very well be. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 16-18

The official total for the Thursday snowfall was six inches, about four more than was expected. It's the earliest snowfall in our area since a 4.5-inch job back in October of 2011 which I happen to remember very well. It was much warmer on Friday, my usual morning run was accomplished without issue. Stopped by the rink in the morning and found it almost completely snow-covered, on Saturday it was half-and-half and by Sunday it was almost completely bare save for a thin crust along the side that never gets any sun. I shoveled that off with no problems and ran the Billy-Goat as well (an interesting combination to say the least), had there been games scheduled for the evening we could and would have played. The Royals were at home on Friday and Saturday for a doubleheader with the Newfoundland Growlers, the weekend's results would prove to be an exercise in frustration. In the opener on Friday the Royals trailed 2-0 early in the second period, goals by Steven Swavely and Josh MacDonald a minute apart drew the club even. Later in the period Swavely struck again to put the Royals up 3-2, early in the third the Growlers scored back-to-back to take the lead 4-3. With two minutes left in regulation MacDonald lit the lamp to tie the score but in overtime Newfoundland got a break into the zone and netted the OTGWG for the 5-4 decision. On Saturday the visitors from Atlantic Canada took a quick lead, Steven Swavely continued with the hot hand to knot it 1-1 at the first intermission. Newfoundland responded with two in the second and one in the third. Nick Luukko drew the Royals within two but that was as close as they would come as a Growler empty-netter brought the final to 5-2. Newly-acquired Austin Lotz was the goaltender of record in both games, in '16-17 he played briefly for the Royals on loan from the Arizona Coyotes so he is no stranger to the organization. The club's mark stands at 5-4-6 (2-4-3 at home) with the next home date on Black Friday against Adirondack. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 12-15

The new week began with an unfortunate incident, on Monday afternoon my mother fell on the back patio and suffered a bloody gash on the top left side of her head. I took one look at it and immediately called an ambulance, they transported her to the hospital shortly after 4:00. It put me in a bad spot because we were playing games at the rink, during the course of the evening I was calling the hospital for progress reports. She was officially discharged around 7:00 or so, when the night was over at the rink I went to the ER where she was waiting for me. All of the tests results were good but she was instructed to see her doctor on Tuesday for a follow-up and further examination. We also went to her eye doctor because of concerns for her vision being affected but the tests there indicated no reason for worry. She has stitches in her scalp and the wound doesn't look pretty but all things considered she's doing OK, she gets the stitches removed on the 20th. Monday evening at the rink started week #8 and it was all makeups, Risky Business beat the Express via shootout and the Riot defeated the Owls. Tuesday's results featured the Riot over the Express, Risky Business over the Hammerheads and the Misfits over the Owls. These games cemented the playoff bracket, each result eliminated the losing team from postseason play. On Wednesday Jenny and I had our usual lunch date, Thursday was another matter entirely. There was a forecast for sloppy weather with predictions of up to two inches of snow, it started falling while I was out and about in the morning. By the time I got home I was glad to be there, as the day went on the snow came down harder and there were accident reports all over the Internet. The dek hockey regular season was supposed to end with two games that were utterly meaningless in the standings, Don and I decided to cancel them entirely and proceed with playoffs on Monday the 19th. Two of the teams scheduled to play on Thursday are in the playoffs, the other two are not but nobody complained when we told them the games were canceled. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 9-11

The weekend began with a second consecutive rainy Friday, there were high school football playoff games going but I'm provincial in that regard: once we play our last game the season is OVER, if we ain't there I don't care. Saturday was a hockey night in downtown Reading, the Adirondack Thunder was the opponent for the first of their five regular-season visits. The clubs met in Glens Falls on Friday night, the Royals lost goaltender Branden Komm to injury and the game in shootout fashion 3-2. On this night at the Arena the Royals fell behind 1-0 midway the first period, Alex Krushelnyski replied four minutes later to even it up. ADK lit the lamp with two seconds left to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission and the Royals never drew even again, another Thunder tally early in the third brought the final score to 3-1. Angus Redmond got the start in goal and suffered the loss. The Royals stand at 5-3-4 overall (2-3-2 at home), the Newfoundland Growlers visit for a pair of games on the 16th and 17th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 5-8

Week #7 of dek hockey was supposed to begin on Monday evening but you know what they say about "the best laid plans". I knew the forecast for Monday was not good but that was the main reason for doing the work at the rink the day before: if it rained at least it would fall on a bare rink as opposed to getting all those leaves soggy for a second time. The rain finally moved out on Tuesday afternoon, the games for that night went on without incident. Winners included the Express over the Hammerheads, the Pub Dawgs over Risky Business and the Owls over the Misfits. Jenny and I had our usual midweek lunch date on Wednesday, in the evening we were back at the Arena as the Royals hosted another of the league's newest entries. Portland, Maine hosted AHL hockey from 1977-1992 and again from '93-2016, the Flyers were the affiliate there during the first six years of the initial run. That club was known as the Maine Mariners, on this night the ECHL version of the Mariners made its first appearance at the Arena. The Royals played twice on the road over the weekend and won both but on this night the mojo wasn't there as the boys lost 4-2. Alex Krushelnyski and Charlie Vasaturo were the goal-scorers for the Good Guys, Angus Redmond got the start in net and took the loss. The Royals stand at 5-2-3 overall and 2-2-2 at home, the next home game is on Saturday the 10th. Thursday night wrapped up the week at Reservoir Park, winners on this occasion were Risky Business over the Express, the Pub Dawgs over the Hammerheads and the Misfits over the Riot. To say this has been a weird season is an understatement, five of twenty-one scheduled playing dates were lost to the weather. The schedule had a pattern when we started, the first three weeks were for playing every opponent once each with the second three weeks repeating the feat and week #7 being each team's two "third-time-around" games. The rainouts on September 25 and 27 ruined the scheme and the postponements on October 11 and 15 utterly destroyed it, as it stands there are still seven outstanding makeups on the docket for the 12th, 13th and 15th (and who knows what weather we might deal with). Take care, thanks for reading.

November 1-4

The eleventh month of 2018 started with a Thursday, for us that meant a night of dek hockey at the rink. The winds were strong from the southeast which meant the leaves were a problem all night long, we kept the Billy-Goat handy for use between games but it was largely a losing battle. The games went on despite the conditions, winners included the Misfits over the Express, Risky Business over the Pub Dawgs and the Hammerheads over the Owls with the last two requiring overtime shootout. Heavy rains moved through on Friday which reeked havoc with outdoor events but I spent most of the day indoors. On Saturday morning I stopped by the rink and found it to be every bit the shipwreck I expected it to be, there were soggy leaves all over the surface. Had nothing been going on that day I might have done some cleanup work but that was not the case. After we had lunch Jenny and her mother came back to town with me, in late afternoon we made our way northeast through Berks County for our annual visit to Allentown for AHL hockey. The Flyers' AHL club is in its fifth season as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Royals and Phantoms have been co-affiliated since the AHL club arrived in Allentown in 2014. On this night the Binghamton Devils (top affiliate of the New Jersey Devils) provided the opposition, entering the third period the game was still 0-0. The B-Devs scored twice in the first six minutes, they carried that lead late into the period until the Phantoms' veteran leadership stepped up. Team captain Colin McDonald tipped in a point shot by T.J. Brennan to make it 2-1 with six minutes left, in the final minute the Phantoms pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. A Binghamton clearing attempt was held in the zone by defenseman Philippe Myers with eight seconds left, he found Brennan for a shot that was deflected home by Phil Varone for the tying goal with 4.5 seconds showing on the clock. In overtime the Phantoms got a two-on-one break into the offensive zone, Mike Vecchione fired home the game-winner to the delight of the crowd at PPL Center. Alex Lyon started in goal and earned the 3-2 victory. On Sunday afternoon I went to the rink and did some work to make ready for Monday night's games. The leaves were largely in pockets in the corners and there were many to contend with but they were much drier that they had been the day before which made their removal considerably easier. After about an hour's work the rink was in good shape, had there been games scheduled for the evening we could have played with no problems. Take care, thanks for reading.