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.