February 26-March 1

Wednesday night hockey in downtown Reading, the Royals hosted the Maine Mariners for the fifth of their six regular-season visits. This was the first of just two Wednesday home dates for the Royals, the other comes up on March 25. On this night at the Arena the teams skated through a scoreless first period but in the middle session the Royals kicked it into another gear. Hayden Hodgson made it 1-0 just over one minute into the period, three minutes later Max Willman (back from a stint with the Phantoms) hit the twine to double the lead. Garret Cockerill's score seven minutes in gave the Royals a 3-0 lead, thirty seconds after that Thomas Ebbing struck for goal number four. Less than two minutes later Corey Mackin made it 5-0, Matthew Strome finished the barrage at the twelve-minute mark with the sixth goal of the period. The six-pack came within a 10:55 span of clock time and effectively ended the game's competitive aspect, in the third period an early goal by Pascal Laberge (also just back from the Phantoms) and a late score from newcomer Lewis Zerter-Gossage brought the final score to 8-0. The irony of it all is that both Zerter-Gossage (first-year pro from Harvard University) and winning goaltender Tom McCollum began the season with Maine, they were assigned to the Royals together when the Phantoms acquired their AHL contracts on February 20. For McCollum the shutout is his second of the season in the ECHL and first with the Royals, it is the Royals' fifth as a team. The club's mark stands at 32-16-5 overall and 22-6-2 at the Arena, the next home date is the annual Battle Of The Badges on March 8. The remainder of the week was quiet except for Saturday lunch with Jenny. Leap Year Day was chilly and very windy as was Sunday the 1st, it showed the part of that old axiom about March coming in like a lion was true. Take care, thanks for reading.