January 23-26

Stopped by basketball practice on Thursday to give Freddy the books since I would be absent from the team's next game, it was played at home on Friday evening. The boys defeated Penn Manor 72-52 to improve to 8-2 in league play and 12-5 overall, JPM plays next on the 28th in Ephrata. I was absent because the Royals were at home for the opener of a two-game set with the Newfoundland Growlers. The province of Newfoundland was recently hit with the worst blizzard in its history, Growlers radio broadcaster Chris Ballard (a St.John's native) said the weather in Reading was like summertime compared to back home. On Friday evening Garrett Mitchell's goal gave the Royals an early 1-0 lead but the Growlers replied in kind, in the second period Hayden Hodgson put the Good Guys back on top 2-1. The defensive battle continued deep into the final period, with the Growler net empty for the extra attacker Corey Mackin hit the bullseye, a second empty-netter from Frank DiChiara locked up the 4-1 victory for Kirill Ustemenko. In the Saturday rematch the Growlers turned the tables by scoring twice in the opening period, in the second frame Corey Mackin struck on a power play to get the Royals on the board. Much like Friday the score remained 2-1 until the closing minute when Newfoundland hit an empty-netter to clinch the victory 3-1. Felix Sandstrom (back from the AHL Phantoms) saw game action for the first time in two weeks and took the hard-luck loss. The Royals finish the home portion of the January home schedule at 23-14-5 overall and 17-5-2 at the Arena. In February the club plays twelve games (equally divided, six at home and six on the road), the next home date is Friday the 7th versus the Atlanta Gladiators. Take care, thanks for reading.