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.