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.