February 24-25

Tuesday afternoon at McCaskey for the bus ride northwest to central Dauphin County and the end of the line for the 2020 basketball season. The boys lost 57-55, the result ends the season with a final mark of 16-10. It was a well-played game that wasn't decided until the final seconds but the big story for JPM was the second-quarter exit of Elijah Terry. He left the game with a lower-body injury and was unable to play from that point forward. It goes without saying that any team missing their leading scorer will be adversely affected, had Elijah not been injured the game result may well have been very different. The end of any season is disappointing but these guys sucked it up and fought to the death, there are teams who would crumble under similar adversity but our squad was not among that number. Needless to say the loss hurts right now but in time the guys will realize how much they have to take pride in. The sixteen wins were by an average of 17.5 points, the ten losses by 8.5. Elijah led the team with 475 points (18.3 average), he graduates with 1279 total points. Makai Ortiz-Gray averaged 14.7 points per game and Isaiah Thomas finished with an even 10.0 PPG. The club averaged 67.2 points per game and surrendered 59.7, they were 10-2 at home and 6-8 on the road. We lose six seniors (including the three named above) but there were eleven underclassmen who appeared in a varsity game including five members of the JV squad that finished 17-5. In two years as head coach Freddy Ramos' record is 27-21 and there is no doubt that program has become healthier under his watch. We'll see what happens when the new season comes around in November. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 22-23

Had lunch with Jenny and her mother on Saturday, in the evening we were back at the Arena for game #2 of the Royals' all-Canadian home weekend. The Brampton Beast was in town for the third of their four visits. The Royals entered on an eight-game winning streak which was ended on this night in rather emphatic fashion. The visitors from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) scored three goals in the first period, in the middle stanza Corey Mackin got the Royals on the board. Brampton replied quickly to go up 4-1, an empty-netter in the final moments put the wrap on a 5-1 decision. Veteran goaltender Tom McCollum made his Royals debut and suffered the loss. Earlier in the week the Flyers reassigned Kirill Ustemenko to the AHL Phantoms, McCollum (an eleven-year pro with a ton of AHL experience) was acquired by the organization and assigned to the Royals. The club's mark sits at 31-15-5 overall and 21-6-2 at home, the next home date is on Wednesday the 26th when the Maine Mariners visit. On Sunday the long-standing APBA baseball league my friends founded in 1978 held its annual free agent draft, I was there to moderate the proceedings. There were nine players in the inaugural season, the membership now is up to fourteen. I played in the league the first six years, three of the original group have been active for the entire run. They always contact me when the draft comes around, if I'm able to be there I take care of the bookkeeping and it makes the entire day run a lot smoother for everyone else. The meeting started at 10:30, the draft itself began before 11:00 and was finished by 2:30. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 21

We'll get the bad news out first: JPM lost on Friday night, the final score was 47-39. By all accounts it was an excellent game, the boys were in tough against the district's #1 seed on their floor and battled all the way. Wilson's coach said on social media that McCaskey was a dangerous team and gave his guys all they could handle. JPM drops into the playback round and plays on Tuesday the 25th at Central Dauphin HS in suburban Harrisburg, the winner qualifies for the state tournament as either the fifth or sixth seed from the district and the loser goes home for the season. CD entered districts as the #5 seed after winning their league championship, they beat Manheim Township in the first round and lost to Cedar Crest in the quarterfinals. It won't be easy but at this point there is no such thing as easy. While the boys were playing in suburban Reading I was only a few miles away, downtown at the Arena the Royals hosted the Newfoundland Growlers for the last of their seven visits. The Royals entered on a seven-game winning streak, on this night they made it eight straight with a one-goal decision. Matthew Strome gave the Royals the lead five minutes in, midway through the first period the Growlers tied it 1-1. Fifteen seconds later Frank DiChiara put the Royals on top for good, late in the period Brayden Low lit the lamp from in close to make it 3-1 at the intermission. In the second period Hayden Hodgson found the twine on a breakaway putting the Royals up by three, in the final period the Growlers scored an early goal and another with ten seconds left but Felix Sandstrom closed it from there to pick up the 4-3 win. The Royals improve to 21-5-2 at home and 31-14-5 overall, the Brampton Beast visit on Saturday the 22nd. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 17-20

The big highlight of the new week was Tuesday night basketball at McCaskey, the Red Tornado returned to district tournament play for the first time since 2016. JPM earned the #8 seed in the twelve-team field and with it came the right to host an opening-round game, #9 seed Chambersburg traveled eighty miles east for the 7:00 tip-off. Chambersburg was 16-6 coming in and any 8-9 matchup is basically a coin flip, it was a matter of who could establish tempo and maintain it. We fell behind 6-0 early but rallied to lead by one at the quarter, by halftime JPM was up by eleven. Chambersburg fought back to within four entering the final period, down the stretch foul-shooting helped the Red Tornado hold on for a tough 70-64 win. Makai Ortiz-Gray had the big night with 27 points (including 10-12 at the foul line), Samir Gordon added 15 and Elijah Terry had 12. Carter Gingerich scored nine points, Isaiah Thomas had five and Da-Vion Scarborough rounded out the book with a field goal. It is the program's first postseason win of any kind since the 2016 season (when the current seniors were in the eighth grade) and puts the team into the quarterfinal round. The top four seeds received byes to this round, JPM faces #1 seed Wilson (24-1) in their building on Friday the 21st. Wilson has been a regular preseason scrimmage partner in recent years, we met them in their gym in December but obviously a district playoff game is an entirely different environment. There is no question that JPM is the underdog but stranger things have happened (in 1996 when the field was bigger we were the #1 seed, we played #16 in the first round and lost). The winner advances to the semifinal round on Tuesday the 25th, the loser goes into the playback round on the same date. I am unfortunately absent on Friday but I'm only about six miles away (the Royals are at home downtown at the Arena), I'm good for the 25th and whatever happens from there. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 15-16

Saturday consisted of a morning errand run and nothing more since Jenny and I had done lunch on Friday, on Sunday we were all together for afternoon hockey at the Arena. The Royals had won on the road on Friday, on this day the Worcester Railers came to town for the fifth of their six visits. The Royals erected "The Picket Fence" (1-1-1) by scoring one goal in each period while at the other end of the ice Kirill Ustemenko built a brick wall in front his net, it all added up to a convincing 3-0 win. Brayden Low gave the Royals the only score they would need midway through the first period, early in the second Steven Swavely scored from in close to make it 2-0. In the closing moments the Railers pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, Thomas Ebbing's empty-net strike in the last minute of play sealed up the shutout victory. For "Usti" it is his second whitewash of the season and the fourth for the team overall. The victory runs the club's win streak to six straight and improves the club to 29-14-5 overall, 20-5-2 at home. This marks the second time in Kirk MacDonald's three seasons as head coach the team has won twenty games at home, it's the twelfth time this has been achieved in the franchise's nineteen-year history in Reading. If the postseason began today the Royals would be the division's #2 seed but there is still a lot of hockey to be played. The boys host Newfoundland (the current #1 division seed) on Friday the 21st with with Brampton (current #3) visiting on the 22nd. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 10-14

Monday night at Lancaster Catholic for the opening night of league playoffs, for JPM it marks the first time since 2016 the program has advanced to any kind of postseason play. I was contacted recently by the local print media's beat reporter, he wondered if I might know the last time McCaskey played in LCHS's gym. When I returned to JPM in 1988 the schools were actually in the same division, that ended the next year when LC moved down due to declining enrollment figures. In the 1996-97 school year McCaskey proper was closed for renovations, at the same time the brand-new McCaskey East building opened and we played our home games in the gym there which could only sit about 500 people at the most. The exception was our annual holiday tournament, the good folks at Lancaster Catholic made their gym available because its seating capacity was more in line with what we would have had at JPM proper. Those two tournament games in December of 1996 were the last time the McCaskey varsity played at LCHS (although JPM played a JV-only date there this season on December 30). On this night at Rossmere the gym was packed, the crowd (unsurprisingly) was about 50-50. The Red Tornado fought to the bitter end but fell 63-57. LC was 19-2 coming in, there are those who might say they don't play the kind of schedule JPM does but a 19-2 record needs to be respected no matter where it is. The officiating was not a huge factor, both teams had calls go for and against them and to try to blame the referees for the result would be unfair. No other excuses can be made, it was simply a case of two good teams going head-to-head and LC came out on top. JPM's season record drops to 15-8, the boys host Chambersburg in the opening round of district playoffs on Tuesday the 18th. The rest of the week was quiet since there was no further evening activity, I had lunch with Jenny on Tuesday and Friday since she had medical appointments both days. The league playoffs continued on Wednesday with the championship game on Friday, as it played out we lost to the team that lost to the team that lost in the title game (LCHS, Warwick and Cedar Crest in that order). Take care, thanks for reading.

February 7-9

Friday began a busy weekend of hockey in downtown Reading and the Royals' annual Pink In The Rink activities for breast cancer awareness. The ice surface was tinted pink and the Royals wore special sweaters for the weekend, on Friday the Atlanta Gladiators made their lone scheduled appearance on Penn Street. As a non-divisional opponent the Glads are an infrequent visitor, this was their first time in Reading since November 2016. On this night the Royals scored early and often, markers by Corey Mackin and Eric Knodel gave the Home Team a 2-0 lead after one period. In the second frame defenseman Garrett Cecere (two-year pro from Northeastern University recently returned from the injured list) found the net to make it 3-0. The game was broken open in the third, goals by Brayden Low, Frank Dichiara, Eric Knodel and ex-Gladiator Luke Stork (all within the first eight minutes) put the Royals up by a converted touchdown. The visitors from Georgia averted the shutout by putting two on the board in the late going, the final score was 7-2 Royals. On Saturday we were back at it early, as part of the PITR activities there was a 2:00 college game at the Arena. Local institution Alvernia University is hosting its inaugural season of womens' hockey, they play their home games at an area rec facility. On this day they played in The Big Arena but struggled in a 5-0 loss to Manhattenville College (from Purchase, New York). In the evening the Wheeling Nailers visited for the fourth and final time in 2019-20 and took a quick 2-0 lead. Late in the first period rookie defenseman Rob Michel (University Of Maine) lit the lamp, in the second period goals by Hayden Hodgson and Frank DiChiara just over a minute apart put the Royals up 3-2. Midway through the period Brayden Low hustled home a shorthanded goal to make it 4-2, that lead held until the final minutes when Wheeling struck back to within one. Frank Dichiara's empty-netter in the final seconds clinched a 5-3 win, Felix Sandstrom started in goal both on Friday and Saturday and won both outings. The two-game sweep improves the club's mark to 19-5-2 at home and 27-14-5 overall, the next home date is on Sunday the 16th against Worcester. Take care, thanks for reading.

February 5-6

Wednesday night at McCaskey for the last games of the regular season and what proved to be an unusual and memorable evening. This was the makeup date for the January 18 showcase event postponement at Reading High, Central Dauphin East visited from suburban Harrisburg. This was the second consecutive year the event in Reading was canceled, in 2019 we played the game as a makeup at CD East. This time around we hosted the game because (a) fair is fair and (b) nobody at JPM wanted any part of going back to CDE after the hosing we took there in 2019. On this night in Lancaster the JPM JV completed its season with a 49-40 win to finish at 17-5 (a rare case of a JV squad playing a full 22-game schedule), it was when the varsity teams took the floor that strange things began to happen. The fire alarms in the gym began to beep and flash, the fans were evacuated while the city fire department was summoned to investigate. The teams went into a side hallway adjacent to the gym to wait it out, Freddy asked me if I had ever seen an instance like this before and was surprised when I said yes (it happened at halftime of a JV game back around 2005 or '06). Once we got the all-clear the fans reentered and we picked up where we left off, the game was played without further incident (although the fire alarms continued to flicker for most of the first three quarters). The game itself turned into an instant classic, it required two overtime periods for the Red Tornado to prevail by the eye-catching score of 100-99. Through three quarters we played from behind more than with a lead, when the fire alarms finally stopped flashing it seemed like the lights went on for us. JPM rallied from a nine-point deficit with three minutes left to force OT, in the second OT JPM squeezed out a one-point advantage and picked up the win. Elijah Terry had a monster night with 41 points (including twelve in the combined OTs), Makai Ortiz-Gray added 20, Isaiah Thomas scored 17 and Samir Gordon had 14. Jonathan Byrd had seven key points and Da-vion Scarborough was 1-2 at the line. The team finishes at 15-7 (a four-game improvement from 2019), the next order of business is the program's first postseason game since 2016. League playoffs begin on Monday the 10th with a trip to Rossmere and a date with Lancaster Catholic (sure to be a deja vu moment for several of our coaches who have LCHS heritage). Take care, thanks for reading.

February 3-4

The new week began as most new weeks usually do, on Tuesday morning Jenny was in town for a medical appointment. She was getting some physical therapy on the knee that has been bothering her for some time, the access van brought her in from Quarryville and I took her home. In the evening we were at McCaskey for the regular season's league finale, Hempfield was the opponent. We did Senior Night activities before the varsity game (although we still have one home game left) as Irving Gonzalez, Carter Gingerich, Isaiah Thomas, Makai Ortiz-Gray and Elijah Terry were recognized as the Class of 2020. The JV squad lost by one point to finish its league slate at 11-2 (both losses to the same opponent), by comparison the varsity game seemed almost anticlimactic. Hempfield is historically one of the league's best programs, more often than not they are a force but this time around they have struggled. They lost a lot to graduation from their 2019 team, on this night they entered at 6-15 and were playing their last game. High school sports runs in cycles and it's a situation we can relate to given what our program has been through since 2016. We were ahead by eleven at the quarter and sixteen at the half, the lead was thirty-one entering the last quarter. Hempfield battled to the end (being the quality operation they are) and prevented the game from entering the mercy rule, the final score was 77-40. Freddy got twelve players into the game, eleven of them scored: Elijah Terry led with 22, Kevin Polite added eleven and Makai Ortiz-Gray hit double figures with ten. Irving Gonzalez scored eight points, Isaiah Thomas and Samir Gordon had six each and Da-vion Scarborough had five. Sam Hershey and Hasan Williams added three apiece, Carter Gingerich had a field goal and Jonathan Byrd was 1-2 at the line. JV player Jyzel Rice made his varsity debut in the fourth quarter but did not score. The final league mark is 10-3, overall the club is at 14-7 with an important non-league game coming up on Wednesday. Take care, thanks for reading

February 1-2

Up and out early on Saturday morning, at 10:30 (about twelve hours after we got home on Friday) we were back on the bus at McCaskey. Exeter Township is a southeastern suburb of Reading, the school district includes the adjacent borough of St. Lawrence. Although I've spent a good bit of my adult sporting life in and around Reading the Exeter area is one I've rarely traveled through, this was my first time in their gym. The JV game started straight up at 12 noon, JPM lost by three points. In the varsity game we came out flat as hell and never seemed to be in sync all day, the result was a 73-55 loss. The officiating was borderline at best, the home team seemed to get the benefit of the doubt on every crucial call. At one point a touch foul was called on our player, Freddy responded by saying (in a normal tone of voice) "that's ridiculous" and was immediately hit with a technical foul. It was the sort of officiating you sometimes get when you play outside your league (and sometimes when you play WITHIN it), the entire day served as a seminar in frustration. The club's record drops to 13-7 overall, the road portion of the regular season schedule ends at 6-5. The boys finish the season hosting Hempfield on Tuesday the 5th and Central Dauphin East the following night. On the way back we stopped at a pizza restaurant outside of Shillington for postgame supper, we were there for the better part of ninety minutes and it helped to relieve the afternoon disappointment. By the time we were back in Lancaster it was almost 6:00 and I was more than glad to call it a day (between Friday and Saturday we were on the bus for almost 120 miles worth of travel). Take care, thanks for reading.