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.