November 25-30

The Monday weather was dry and temperatures reached into the low 50s, in the evening dek hockey season ended at Reservoir Park. Nice Truth Solution (NTS) defeated the Killbots to claim the championship three games to one. As noted previously the season was virtually the same length as the Fall '18 session but starting a week earlier and having Thanksgiving a week later made a big difference. Had my annual checkup with the heart doctor on Tuesday morning, all appears to be in order and they don't need to see me for another year. I had that episode in September of 2014 and there has never been any hint of a recurrence, hopefully it continues that way for good. The middle part of the week was quiet except for my usual lunch visit with Jenny, Thursday was (as we used to call it in school) Turkey Day which for me was a day of normal diet and football on TV from 12:30 in the afternoon to almost 11:00 (holidays aren't a big deal to me anymore and they haven't been for years). On Friday we were back in Berks County, the Royals finished their six-game homestand with a two-game visit from the Toledo Walleye. Toledo (much like Wheeling) was at one time a more frequent opponent but these days they are in the ECHL's Western Conference, this was their first time at the arena since January of 2018. In the Friday opener the Royals took a 2-0 lead in the second period on markers by scorching-hot Ralph Cuddemi and Eric Knodel, in the third the Walleye got on the board before Frank DiChiara lit the lamp to make it 3-1. Toledo again pulled to within one but Brayden Low hit the empty net in the final minute to clinch the 4-2 win for Kirill Ustemenko. Saturday was Paw Patrol Night, the Royals wore special sweaters modeled on the popular children's television series. On-ice events on this night were very different from Friday which for the Royals was not a good thing. Toledo took a quick two-goal lead in the first, Frank DiChiara's goal late in the period made it 2-1 at the break. In the second the Walleye reestablished their two-goal advantage, Thomas Ebbing replied to bring the Royals within 3-2. Late in the period the game disintegrated as the Walleye scored four times in five minutes, at the intermission the Royals were down 7-2. Emotions boiled over in the third period as the teams combined for fifty-eight penalty minutes including six fighting majors and two game misconducts. The only scoring came from newcomer Luke Stork (two-year pro recently added from the SPHL), his first two goals as a Royal brought the final score to 7-4. Felix Sandstrom started in goal and suffered the loss. The Royals stand at 13-5-3 overall and 9-2-1 at home, in November the club played nine of its thirteen games at home but in December the script is reversed. Eight of the eleven December games are on the road, the next date at the Arena is on Friday the 13th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 22-24

Friday night on Penn Street as the Royals' six-game homestand continued, the Newfoundland Growlers were in town for a three-in-three weekend. This is the only one of these on the Royals home schedule and nobody is especially anxious to have any more, they generally only occur between teams separated by extreme geographical distance (for the obvious reasons the Growlers' schedule features many of them). In the Friday opener the Royals prevailed 5-3, goal scorers included Trevor Yates, Corey Mackin, rookie Max Willman (Boston University product), Ralph Cuddemi and team captain Garrett Mitchell (nine-year pro with a ton of AHL experience). Saturday night was Hockey Fights Cancer night, the Royals wore sweaters of a lighter shade of purple in support of the cause (head coach Kirk MacDonald is a cancer survivor). Brayden Low scored twice and Ralph Cuddemi lit the lamp once but the Royals lost in overtime 4-3, Kirill Ustemenko started in net on both Friday and Saturday. It rained overnight into Sunday morning, around 10:00 or so it was snowing and the grassy areas were white. By the time I was on the road in the afternoon the precipitation was all over, the roads were dry and the grassy areas were almost bare as well. At the Arena the game was all Royals from the word go, Ralph Cuddemi continued his hot hand with two goals in the first period to give the Good Guys a 2-0 lead. Newfoundland got on the board in the second, late in the period the Royals scored three goals in just over a minute. Cuddemi completed his hat-trick to make it 3-1, thirty-four seconds later newcomer Thomas Ebbing (three-year pro from Troy, Michigan) found the net and thirty-two seconds after that rookie Trevor Gooch (from Colorado College) notched his first as a professional to put the Royals up 5-1. In the third period Cuddemi potted his fourth goal (and sixth of the weekend), Corey Mackin added a late marker to wrap up a resounding 7-2 victory. Felix Sandstrom started in goal (back in the lineup from an injury absence) and earned the win. Cuddemi becomes the fourth player in club history to score four times in a single game, he joins Shay Stephenson (2005), Chris Blight (2007) and Daniel Steiner (2010) with that distinction. The Royals stand at 12-4-3 (8-1-1 at home), they have off until the Toledo Walleye visit on Black Friday. Take care, thanks for reading..

November 18-21

Daytime activities during the early part of the week were the usual including Wednesday lunch with Jenny. Stopped by the rink on Monday afternoon and found it in reasonably good condition, there were leaves on the surface but nothing that couldn't wait until we opened up for the evening. The championship series began on Monday with the Killbots victorious in game #1, NTS replied with wins on Tuesday and Thursday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of five series. Game #4 is on Monday the 25th, if it goes the distance the fifth game would be the next night. In 2018 we started the fall season on September 24 and ended seventy-one days later on December 3, this season started one week earlier on September 17. Should the 25th be the last game we would be done in seventy days, the same length save for one day but it feels different because of the Thanksgiving holiday. In 2018 it was on November 22nd (as early as it can be) while this time around it falls on the the 28th. It makes a big difference finishing three days before the holiday as opposed to eleven days after it, if that is what happens nobody will complain. The long-range forecast looks good so weather should not an issue except for the temperatures and that's something we can deal with. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 15-17

The Royals played three games on the road during the week and went 2-0-1, on Saturday night we were back at the Arena. The Wheeling Nailers were the opposition on Veterans Appreciation Night, the Royals wore special camouflage-themed sweaters. If you are a fan of tight-checking low-scoring defensive battles with top-notch goaltending this was the game for you. The Royals thought they had a score in the first period but it was disallowed due to incidental contact with the goaltender, the scoreless tie remained in place as the game moved into sudden-death overtime. The extra session lasted all of forty-eight seconds before Corey Mackin took a pass from Ralph Cuddemi, made a move to the net and potted the GWG to the delight of the Arena crowd and especially "Mackin's Maniacs" (Corey is from Philadelphia, his friends and family have been regular attendees since he joined the club in March). In 2018-19 the club was 4-10 in games decided beyond regulation, all four of the wins were in shootouts. This OT win is the Royals' first since January of 2018 and the first on home ice since October of '17. Mackin was named the game's #2 star for his effort, #1 star Kirill Ustemenko earned his first pro shutout in North America and the team's second. The record improves to 6-1 at the Arena and 10-4-2 overall, the boys are off until Newfoundland visits for a three-in-three on the weekend of the 22nd. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 11-14

The first day of the new week was a classic example of why I operate the way I do at this time of year. I stopped by the rink in the morning and found it typically messy since we hadn't played in six days, it was nowhere near as bad as the previous week but it was still in need of attention. After lunch I went back and cleaned it up, when I returned for the evening the rink (thanks to the prevailing southeast wind) looked almost as it had in the morning. Had I not done the earlier work it would have been much harder to handle but that's exactly why we do the afternoon prelim work if needed. Semifinals began on this night with NTS and the Killbots victorious, on Tuesday (after an afternoon cleanup that was marginal compared to Monday) the Killbots advanced to the Finals by eliminating Risky Business in two straight while the Misfits beat NTS to force a deciding game #3. Jenny and I had our usual lunch date on an otherwise quiet Wednesday, on Thursday night at the rink the other half of the Finals was booked with NTS winning over the Misfits. The NTS/Killbots best-of-five championship series starts on Monday the 18th. Take care, thanks for reading

November 8-10

Saturday night at the Arena in downtown Reading, the Wheeling Nailers were the opponent for the first of four regular-season visits. There are four cities in the ECHL that have played continuously since the Royals' first season in 2001-02, Wheeling and Reading are two of them. For many years the clubs were divisional rivals but that has changed due to realignment, these days the Nailers are part of the league's Western Conference. The Royals lost in Wheeling on Friday night, on this night at the Arena they atoned for that defeat with a spirited victory (an appropriate description since the theme for the night was wizardry and witchcraft based on the characters popularized by author J.K. Rowling). Ralph Cuddemi gave the Royals a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game but two late-period scores put Wheeling up 2-1 at the intermission. In the middle session the teams alternated goals, Matthew Gaudreau tied the game before the Nailers replied to go up 3-2. Three minutes later Gaudreau struck again to make it 3-3 but Wheeling again took the lead, in the late going Cory Mackin lit the lamp to tie it up at 4-4 at the horn. In the third the Royals finally seized control, seven minutes in Cuddemi netted his second of the night to give the Home Team its first lead. As the clock wound inside two minutes Brayden Low gave the club some insurance, his goal put it away as the Royals took the win 6-4. Rookie goaltender Trevor Gorsuch (who played collegiality at Western Michigan in the NCHC) made his season debut and earned the victory. The Royals improve to 7-4-1 overall, 5-1 at the Arena. The boys hit the road for three games before hosting Wheeling again on Saturday the 16th. Take care, thank for reading.

November 4-7

Went to the rink after breakfast on Monday morning and spent about an hour at work, I emptied the bag on the Billy-Goat three times. Had lunch and walked around the mall for a while, then returned to the rink and finished the job. When I opened for the evening at 5:00 there was around round of fallen leaves to clean up but that was nothing compared to what I had dealt with earlier. When the rink was built in 1979 there were a lot of mistakes made, the biggest was putting it in a public park with one corner of it directly under a row of trees. I've been dealing with it for about forty years and looking back I sometimes wonder how I've done it and why I still do. This night marked the close of regular season play, winners were the Killbots over the Misfits via shootout, Risky Business over Dutchmaid, NTS over the Hammerheads and the Trashers over the Owls. Playoffs began on Tuesday night with the quarterfinal elimination games, these were one-and-done matchups featuring the #6 seed versus #3 and #5 versus #4. When the season started it was decided to take the top six finishers into playoffs with the top two receiving byes into the semifinals. On this night the Killbots booked their semifinal spot with an overtime win over the Owls, the Misfits claimed the other spot with a regulation-time verdict over the Trashers. Had lunch with Jenny and her mother on Wednesday, it was a pleasant day that unfortunately had little else going on. We could have used that weather on Thursday but Mother Nature didn't cooperate, in the afternoon the rain moved in and wiped out the evening's schedule at the rink. The semifinal series (NTS vs the Misfits, Risky Business vs the Killbots) begin on Monday the 11th, game #2 of each best-of-three series is on Tuesday the 12th. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 1-3

Stopped by the rink on Friday morning and found it every bit the shipwreck I expected, had there been games scheduled on Thursday there's no way we would have played. On Saturday we were back at the Arena for the second game of the Royals' three-game homestand. The Norfolk Admirals were in town for the first of their three regular-season visits, the Ads are one of four non-divisional opponents on the Royals schedule. This night featured a visit from Gotham City superhero Batman and arch-criminal The Joker, after the pregame ceremonial puck drop the characters signed autographs and posed for photos on the concourse. The game was scoreless into the second period, Matthew Gaudreau gave the Royals a 1-0 lead before the Ads replied to even it up. Midway through the period Frank Diachiara put the Good Guys back ahead, early in the third defenseman David Drake (not known as a goal scorer) found the twine making it 3-1 Royals. Norfolk made it close with a late tally but Karill Ustimenko locked it up from there for the 3-2 win. On Sunday the Adirondack Thunder visited for the first time since preseason, they are scheduled for three appearances at the Arena during the regular season. As it was on Saturday the game was 0-0 at the first intermission, in the early going of the second period Ralph Cuddemi found the net to put the Royals on the board. That one goal would be the only goal, Felix Sandstrom got the start in net and made it stand up for a tough 1-0 victory. It is Sandstrom's first shutout as a professional in North America and the first whitewash for the Royals as a team in 2019-20. The three-game homestand sweep improves the club's mark to 6-3-1, 4-1 at home. Since losing the home opener on October 19 by two goals the club has recorded four one-goal wins on home ice, the next date at the Arena is Saturday the 9th with old rival Wheeling. Take care, thanks for reading.