December 1-6

The final month of 2018 started with Saturday lunch with Jenny which was the highlight of an otherwise quiet weekend. On Monday night we were at Reservoir Park as the curtain rang down on the fall dek hockey season, the Misfits defeated Risky Business 3-1 to win the championship in a three-game-straight sweep. The teams traded goals in the first period, the Misfits scored twice in the second and made them stand up. The series may have been a sweep but it was very competitive, total goals were just 10-6 in the Misfits' favor. Risky Business was a first-year team with several youngsters mixed in with veterans, they had a fine season and have nothing to be ashamed of. The season started on September 24 and ended exactly ten weeks later, not bad when you consider that we lost six nights of play to the weather. On Tuesday afternoon I went to the rink to clean up and put away for the winter, in the evening I was at McCaskey as the basketball team hosted Wilson for their final preseason scrimmage. It's hard to describe but there is a different feel to the program, there seems to be a level of enthusiasm that hasn't been present in recent years. The guys are pulling together as a unit and there doesn't appear to be any ego problems which is good to see because quite frankly it hasn't always been that way. JPM starts the season with a non-league game at Muhlenberg on the 8th, that is one of nine games on the slate against opponents outside the league. The LL realigned over the summer from three divisions to five and re-instituted crossover play after a two-year absence, we play our division-mates (Manheim Township, Penn Manor, Cedar Crest and Hempfield) twice each with one game against each team in the reconstructed Section II (former division opponents Lebanon, CV and Warwick plus Elizabethtown and Ephrata). All told the club plays twelve of its twenty-two games at home and I miss five of our home dates thanks to hockey in Reading where obviously the professional commitment must come first. On Wednesday Jenny and I had midweek lunch, I spent that evening and the next in the warmth and comfort of home. Take care, thanks for reading.