October 4-6

Friday morning with Jenny and her mother for lunch, in late afternoon we returned to the Arena for preseason hockey. The Royals are beginning their nineteenth season in the ECHL, Kirk MacDonald is back as head coach with recently-retired Nick Luukko serving as his assistant. Longtime fan favorite Olivier Labelle is back after a two-year absence, he is joined by returning forwards Trevor Gooch, Brayden Low, Steven Swavely, Frank DiChiara and Cory Mackin, defensemen David Drake, Garret Cockerill and Jimmy Mazza plus veteran goaltender Nick Niedert. The Royals lost 3-2 in overtime to the Adirondack Thunder but wins and losses mean little in preseason, the purpose is to evaluate talent and determine who can help the club. Both goals were scored by newcomers, in the first period defenseman Eric Knodel (six-year pro from West Chester, PA) lit the lamp to make it 1-0, the second goal came from forward Ralph Cuddemi (four-year man from Concord, Ontario). Goaltender Kirill Ustimenko (rookie from Gomel, Belarus on assignment from the Flyers) got the start in net. The teams combined for ninety-one minutes in penalties, the majority coming from a third-period melee involving just about everybody on the ice at that moment. It felt good to be back behind the mic in the Arena, there's something about ice hockey that gets into your blood. On Saturday I made my usual Friday run a day later, the rest of the weekend was quiet. The Royals played the back end of the home-and-home exhibition slate on Saturday night in Glens Falls and won 6-1, they start the season with three games on the road before the home opener on Saturday the 19th. Take care, thanks for reading.