January 30-31

The "polar vortex" (as it's being referred to) was out in force on Wednesday, there was a strong snow squall while Jenny and her mother were at lunch with me. In late afternoon we headed north on 222 and that is when things began to happen. During the trip we heard on radio about a major pileup in the southbound lanes of 222 just outside Reading, since we exited the highway before we reached that point we obviously didn't witness anything but according to reports a blinding snow squall was the reason it all happened. There were reports of a similar incident on I-78 about sixteen miles north of the city but luckily for us our travels were smooth and without trouble. I received two text messages while I was driving, both regarding the evening's basketball game at McCaskey. The extreme cold had forced school closure, as a result the game was again postponed with Thursday as the (new) makeup date. Both Jon Mitchell and Freddy Ramos had contacted me with the news and to ask if I was good for it. Once we arrived at the arena we shifted into hockey mode as the Royals hosted the Maine Mariners for the second of their four regular-season visits. This was the Royals' sixth home game of the month and for the fourth time in January there was no scoring until the second period. Frank Hora gave the home team a 1-0 lead four minutes in, near the midpoint Chris McCarthy lit the lamp to extend the advantage. The visitors from Portland got on the board before the intermission, in the third period that 2-1 score held until the final thirty seconds when Tyler Brown hit the empty net to put away a hard-fought 3-1 win. Andrew D'Agostini picked up the win in net, since joining the club in December his personal mark of 5-0-1 makes him the first goalie in franchise history to earn standings points in each of his first six starts. The club improves to 19-14-8 overall, 9-9-4 at the Arena. When we came out after the game it was absolutely FRIGID, the single-digit temperatures and the howling winds combined for wind chills well below zero. There were no precipitation issues of any kind, it was just plain flat-out COLD. On Thursday morning I had another round of text messages from both Jon and Freddy, the basketball game with Ephrata was postponed yet again, this time until Monday the 4th. (by the time we get to actually play it will be a makeup of a makeup of a makeup). That news effectively ended the day, with the temperatures where they were (although nowhere near as uncomfortable as Wednesday night had been) the morning errand run was all that happened. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 28-29

Monday morning at the mall began the week in the accustomed manner, on Tuesday morning my mother had a eye doctor appointment at the health campus. Snow was in the forecast with arctic-like temperatures, while we were out and about the precipitation arrived. It looked like someone had shaken one of those souvenir snow globes you buy in a gift shop, the wind had the snow swirling around in a way that might be considered picturesque except for the fact that I hate snow. In early afternoon it was announced that the basketball game at home versus Ephrata had been postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday evening. That leaves me out since the Royals are at home, my next game would be on Friday the 1st at home with Cedar Crest. By early evening the snow was over and the system had moved on but outdoor conditions were a mess, between the snowfall and the falling temperatures it was just as well the game had been called. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 23-27

Jenny and I had lunch together on Wednesday and Saturday, the only other event of note for the weekend was Friday night basketball in Millersville. JPM beat Penn Manor at home on the 8th, that win was followed by four losses in the next five games. On this night the skid reached 5-of-6 with a disheartening 57-55 loss. JPM was up as much as eighteen in the second quarter but Manor hung around just long enough to go ahead in the final minute, they scoring the clinching basket with four seconds left. When this season started my personal (and publicly unstated) goal was to see the club play to at least a .500 record. I figured that the club had eight returnees from the 3-19 team that was nowhere near as poor as that record would indicate, with the experience they gained by enduring that season they could not help but be much improved. This season has for the most part been much better although we've lost some very winnable games. Warwick beat us by five at home in December, the game against Williamsport was a wasted opportunity and there was also the most recent home game against Township where just one little break here or there could have made the difference. On this night in Millersville the officiating was not a major factor, it wasn't great but it was nowhere as egregious as it had been at home against MT (team fouls were eleven apiece, we were 5-9 at the line while PM was 8-8). The league record drops to 6-4 and the overall mark stands at 8-9, the boys are still in the hunt for both league and district playoff spots but there is still a lot of work to do. The next three games are at home (Ephrata on the 29th, Cedar Crest on February 1 and Exeter visits for a non-leaguer on the 2nd) with the last two on the road (February 5 at Hempfield and two nights later at Central Dauphin East for the makeup from January 19). Take care, thanks for reading.

January 21-22

The sloppy weekend weather ushered in colder temperatures, Monday highs were in the teens with wind chill factors below zero. The usual morning visit to the mall was about all that happened, once I was back in for the day I was more than glad to be there. On Tuesday night we were back at McCaskey as the second go-round for divisional play began, Manheim Township was the opponent. Sometimes you watch these games and it is utterly mind-boggling how things are called from one end of the floor to the other. In the varsity game on this night JPM was called for twenty-two personal fouls, MT for just eleven. It showed in the boxscore, from the field the game was dead even 55-55 but at the line MT outscored us 19-13 and won the game 74-68. It was the same way when we played at Cedar Crest, on the floor we outscored them by three but they beat us 22-7 at the line. It's just funny how certain players are permitted to do virtually anything they want while others may as well have a ball and chain locked to their ankles. Steve Powell always used to say how he'd rather play without officials and his point was well-taken. The game isn't easy when it's 5-on-5, when you have to go 5-on-8 it's damn near impossible. It's not a new phenomenon, it's been that way since the league started in 1972. I was around the program then as well (1972-73 was my junior year as a student at McCaskey) and as the old expression goes "boy, the stories I could tell.....". Coach Powell used to say that against us the blind can see and the crippled can walk, we have to win the game by twenty points in order to win it by ONE. The boys stand at 6-3 in league play and 8-8 overall, they are back on the court on the 25th at Penn Manor. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 18-20

Overnight into Friday we had what they call a "wintry mix" but by morning it was just about gone. In the evening the Royals continued their three-game homestand at the Arena as the Brampton Beast made the first of their three regular-season visits. The game was scoreless into the second period, two goals by the Beast less than a minute apart gave the visitors a 2-0 advantage. Chris McCarthy got the Royals on the board six minutes into the third but a Brampton empty-netter in the closing moments gave the visitors from Ontario a 3-1 win. It's the third consecutive home game to end 3-1 with the Royals on the wrong end in each of the last two. On Saturday there was a winter weather watch in effect but we never saw any precipitation of any kind until late afternoon. We were back at the Arena as the Wheeling Nailers visited for the first time since October. It began to snow lightly around 5:45 or so, I looked out during the first intermission and the security parking lot was WHITE. By the time the game was over the snow had turned to rain, the walk across the street to the parking garage was slushy but the drive home was of little issue. The game itself was another exercise in frustration for the Royals as they fell to Wheeling 4-3. Josh MacDonald put the good guys up 1-0 in the first, midway through the second the Nailers evened it before player/assistant coach Tyler Brown responded to make it 2-1. Wheeling netted a pair late in the second to go up 3-2, early in the third Adam Schmidt lit the lamp to knot it at 3-3. Midway through the period the Nailers took the lead for good and held on for the one-goal decision. The Royals' goalie of record on both nights was Branden Komm, back with the club after an injury absence and a stint with the AHL Phantoms. The record stands at 17-14-8 overall, 8-9-4 at home. The next home date is on Wednesday the 30th against Maine. There was one good bit of news on the weekend, McCaskey played at home on Friday in my absence and beat Hempfield 67-54. The boys were scheduled to play in a showcase event at Reading HS on Saturday afternoon which was postponed (unnecessarily in retrospect) by the weather forecast, there is talk of trying to reschedule it as a regular JV/varsity date so we'll see what comes of it. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 16-17

Wednesday morning with Jenny for our midweek lunch date, in the afternoon we were back on 222 north to Reading. On this night the Royals began the second half of their home schedule, the Manchester Monarchs were the opposition for the first of their three regular-season visits. The Royals reached the overall midpoint of the season over the weekend with exactly eighteen games played home and away, it is rare to have it break exactly even like that. The club did well on the road during the first half with a record of 9-5-4 but the mark on home ice was an unremarkable 8-6-4 including a six-game winless streak in November. The club went 5-1 at home in December and picked up wins in the first two home games of the New Year but on this night the visitors from New Hampshire left town with a 3-1 win. Josh MacDonald gave the Royals a 1-0 advantage midway through the opening period but the Monarchs evened it before the intermission, two Manchester scores in the third period ended the scoring. Callum Booth took the loss in net but deserved a better fate. The Royals continue on home ice with games on Friday the 18th against Brampton and the next night with Wheeling. Took the scorebooks over to basketball practice on Thursday, JPM plays on Friday and Saturday as well but I'm out because of hockey. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 14-15

The late Saturday/early Sunday snowfall was all but a memory on Monday, there were traces of it in areas that don't get a lot of sun but other than that it was gone. The usual mall visit was the extent of the day's activity, on Tuesday afternoon we were back at McCaskey for another out-of-county bus ride. The destination was Lebanon County and a date at Cedar Crest, within the league this and Lebanon are our two longest trips (and since Lebanon is in Section II we meet them just once and that was at our place in December). When you talk about inhospitable road venues CC is definitely one of them: there is nothing inherently unpleasant about the gym or the people in charge, it's merely a very difficult atmosphere to play in and the visiting team simply never feels comfortable especially after a twenty-five mile ride on two-lane road most of the way. In January of 2018 JPM won at Cedar Crest in a major upset (one of only three wins the club enjoyed), on this night CC prevailed 64-52. The officiating played a major role in the outcome, it was not THE reason JPM lost but it certainly was not what you would call equitable. There are times when you cannot help but wonder why the exact same play is called one way or the other depending upon which end of the floor it happened at and who did it. When one side shoots twenty-seven foul shots and the other side shoots only eleven something simply doesn't add up. For JPM Brian McKenzie battled through it for 17 points and Makai Ortiz added 13, the club's overall record drops to .500 at 7-7. The breakdown of this is interesting in itself: the team is 5-2 within the league and 2-5 in its non-league schedule, the road record is 5-2 but at home the boys are 2-5. As the late Phillies broadcaster Richie Ashburn might have said: "hard to believe, Harry". The club is back on the floor on Friday the 18th at home against Hempfield and I'm out of it because the Royals have a three-game week at home starting on Wednesday night. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 11-13

Boarded the bus at McCaskey on Friday afternoon for the twenty-five mile drive east to Coatesville. Whenever you travel out of the county (and in this case out of the district) for a non-league game you know for the most part you're headed into hostile territory. There are some places where it seems that the home team's objective is to not just win the game but to embarrass the opponent in the process. That happened to us elsewhere a few seasons back in a game we lost by better than fifty points where the opponent could easily have called off the dogs but elected not to. On this night in central Chester County we lost 79-64 in a game much better than many in attendance probably expected. Brian McKenzie had a big night with 24 points, Makai Ortiz was the only other man in doubles with 11. Despite the outcome the feeling in the room was upbeat, there's no such thing as a moral victory but to hang in as well as we did in that environment was cause for optimism. Most of the good feeling unfortunately came crashing down on Saturday afternoon at home. We hosted an event billed as the Central Penn Shootout, there were three games scheduled beginning at 3:00 (because of this Jenny and I had our weekend lunch date on Friday). Earlier in the week we found out that the scheduled 3:00 game was cancelled because one of the teams was already booked elsewhere (HUH??), as a result (and also because of a discouraging weather forecast) the scheduled 5:00 game was moved up to 3:00 and our game followed at 5:00. In the opener York defeated Bayard Rustin (from West Chester), in the nightcap we lost to Williamsport 86-76. Williamsport is a traditionally strong program but they had been struggling at 3-9 thus far, it was for us a winnable game that got away. Jahsaan Greaves had a career night with 30 points, Brian and Makai each added 17 but it all meant little as the overall mark drops to 7-6. After the game there was a lengthy locker-room meeting, what happened there will stay there but the main topic was the club's defensive effort (scoring 76 is one thing but surrendering 86 is another matter entirely). There was some light precipitation falling as I left the building, as the night went on it picked up in intensity and by Sunday morning we had about an inch of the white stuff on the ground. We got the front walk cleared with no problem, it was a very light snow which pushed off easily. As the day went on the concrete areas began to melt off nicely. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 9-10

Wednesday morning lunch with Jenny, in the late afternoon we were back on the road north to Berks County. Encountered some snow flurries on 222 between Brownstown and Ephrata but nothing of any consequence. The Adirondack Thunder was in town for the third of their five regular-season visits and for most of the game the script was eerily similar to the victory over Norfolk the previous Friday. The game was scoreless early in the second period until Adam Schmidt broke the ice on a power play to put the Royals ahead, Frank DiChiara's PP strike six minutes later made it 2-0. Josh MacDonald lit the lamp late in the period to give the Royals a three-goal advantage which would last into the final moments, a late ADK tally denied Callum Booth his bid for a shutout but it wasn't enough to deny him the game's #1 star and the Royals a 3-1 victory. The club reaches the midpoint of its home schedule at 8-6-4 and overall the mark is 17-9-8, the next home game is Wednesday the 16th against Manchester. On Thursday night the McCaskey girls had a home game, one of those rare instances where I get to see them play (this was actually the second time it has happened this season, usually I'm lucky if it occurs once). The program has struggled mightily thus far with a very young varsity roster, head coach Brian McCloud has only two seniors and it's obviously about growing pains and gaining experience (the boys endured similar circumstances in '17-18 and are all the better for it now). On this night Steelton-Highspire visited from the suburbs of Harrisburg and the results for JPM were all too familiar with both JV and varsity coming out on the short end. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 7-8

The new week began in the usual accepted manner with a Monday morning visit to the mall. One of the mall's anchor stores closed its doors in the latter part of 2018, word is out that another is on the endangered list as well. The mall has been around since 1971 and it seems to be suffering the same fate as many others in these days of online shopping becoming more and more popular. On Tuesday night we were back at McCaskey for the first home game of the calendar year, Penn Manor was the opponent for a divisional matchup. The JV squad won its game to improve to 7-3, the varsity followed suit but it was a challenge. The boys started slowly and trailed by seven at the quarter, in the second they rallied back and took a two-point lead to the locker room. The lead was up to eight entering the last quarter, PM hung around and made it tough but the Red Tornado held on for a 54-48 win. Jahsaan Greaves led JPM with 13 points, Brian McKenzie was the only other man in double figures with ten. Isaiah Thomas added nine, Mohammed Nimmons-Francis had eight, Ajani Simmons and Carter Gingerich netted five each and Makai Ortiz had four. There are five teams in our division, only the top two finishers make league playoffs and it stands to reason that every night will be a fight to the finish. JPM stands at 5-1 in league play (3-1 in crossovers with Section II and 2-0 within our division) and overall at 7-4. The club has a tough weekend coming up with two non-league games on the calendar, Friday in Coatesville and Saturday at home versus Williamsport. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 4-6

I singularly stopped caring about my birthday ages ago, for me the 4th day of January comes and goes each year and I don't bat an eyelash at it. As it happened the first hockey game of the new calendar year in Reading fell on this date, it's only the third time in franchise history we've played at home on January 4 and it's the first time since 2009. On this Friday evening at the Arena the Norfolk Admirals visited for their lone regular-season appearance. I had a feeling something was in the offing but I didn't know when or how, during a first-period media timeout They Got Me. I welcomed the groups and fan birthdays in attendance as usual, when I was done Mike Keller (local radio personality and our in-game/intermission host) informed the crowd of my birthday. They put my name on the videoboard and got me on camera at the penalty bench, I must admit I didn't notice the crowd reaction but Jenny and her mother said it was considerable. I've always been aware that I have a certain level of popularity with our fanbase which I'm very grateful for, it's nice to know what you try to do is appreciated. The game itself was scoreless until midway through the second period when Adam Schmidt scored on the penalty kill to give the Royals the lead. Moments later Alex Roos was fouled on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot, he successfully converted to make it 2-0. Twenty-nine seconds later a veteran and two youngsters combined for a third score, Bo Pieper (pronounced PEE-per, first-year pro from Quinnipiac University) lit the lamp on assists from fellow rookie Tyler Bird (Brown University) and player/assistant coach Tyler Brown. Callum Booth started in net and played the first two periods, Andrew D'Agostini worked the third period and finished up the 3-0 shutout win. It's the first whitewash of the season for the club and the franchise's first combined shutout since 2011-12. The record stands at 16-9-7 overall and 7-6-4 at home, the boys host Adirondack on Wednesday the 9th. Jenny and I had Saturday lunch as usual, the rest of the weekend was quiet except for pro football playoffs on TV. McCaskey played at Manheim Township on Friday and gave me a birthday gift in absentia with a 60-57 win. There was cell phone video floating around on the internet, apparently JPM rallied from eight points down to tie the score in the closing seconds. On a MT inbounds play Ajani Simmons stole the ball, Isaiah Thomas hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the winning margin. JPM improves to 6-4 overall, they'll look to keep the momentum going at home against Penn Manor on Tuesday the 8th. Take care, thanks for reading.

January 1-3

The nineteenth year of the current century began on a Tuesday (that's right: the 21st Century began on the first day of 2001, not 2000), there was little happening outside of college football on TV from noon until past midnight. On Wednesday Jenny and I had our first lunch date of 2019, in the late afternoon we convened at McCaskey for a bus trip to a non-league game in the southernmost reaches of Chester County. The borough of Oxford is about thirty miles southeast of Lancaster and about six miles north of the state border with Maryland, I've been there before but never to the high school itself. It was about an hour's ride, we went south through Quarryville and another fifteen miles beyond that. The gym itself was unusual in that the front row of the stands on either side were about twenty-five feet away from the sidelines, the spaciousness plus the relatively small attendance made it feel like we were playing in the Grand Canyon. JPM hosted its holiday tournament over the previous weekend and things did not go exactly as planned. A similar situation occurred in our tournament in 2016: there were only three teams involved and one of them could only play one game because their schedule was already booked, as a result there was just one game each night. JPM played both nights and lost to Lower Dauphin on Friday and York on Saturday (two teams with one loss between them). On this night in Oxford the JPM JV got the night started properly with a 43-31 victory, the varsity game was a struggle early on. We trailed by eight at halftime but in the third quarter the club outscored Oxford 19-6 and gutted out a 56-47 win. Coach Ramos used seven players and six got into the scoring column: Jahsaan Greaves led with 16, Brian Mckenzie had 13 and Ajani Simmons had 11. Isaiah Thomas added nine, Bryam Menendez had five and Makai Ortiz had a quiet night with two points. The win puts the club back above .500 at 5-4 overall, league play continues with a divisional game (in my absence) on the road on Friday the 4th. Take care, thanks for reading.