February 18-21

The usual morning errands runs were the extent of activity on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday morning brought a round of the ugly white stuff. We had a hockey game at the Arena in the evening, Jenny and her mother were supposed to be with me after our lunch date but the weather changed everything. I called them and said that I wouldn't see them for lunch and since we host the same opponent later in March they can do that game as a substitute. It's one thing for me because I'm working, I have to be there but for them there is no reason to risk it. I got the car cleaned off and went a short distance for some lunch, the streets in town were not good and the highway wasn't much better. The system moved out later in the morning, by the time I was ready to head north in the afternoon it was long gone and the highways were in much better shape. The drive on 222 was wet and slushy but I had no issues, the only problem was an accident outside of Reading that had the highway down to one lane but traffic was moving through with little delay. At the Arena at 7:00 the Royals hosted the Maine Mariners for the third of their four regular-season visits and from a Royals standpoint it couldn't have started much worse. The Mariners scored three goals in the first period, two more in the early part of the second put the Royals in a five-goal hole. Scores by newcomer Garret Cockerill (two-year pro from Brighton, Michigan) and Tyler Brown got the home team on the board but another Maine goal made it 6-2 at the intermission. In the late going the Royals made the score somewhat more respectable on goals from Adam Schmidt and Joe Houk, when the final buzzer sounded it was on a 6-4 Maine victory. Andrew D'Agostini started in goal and was relieved by newcomer Devin Buffalo (rookie from Wetaskiwin, Alberta) late in the first period. The Royals stand at 22-21-9 overall and 10-13-4 on home ice, the next home date is Sunday the 24th versus Adirondack. Jenny and I had lunch on Thursday to make up for missing out the day before (to many people that might seem like a minor point but for us it is important). Take care, thanks for reading.