Saturday lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon we were all together on the road Northeast for the first time in Forever. After eighty-four weeks pro hockey was finally back in downtown Reading, the Royals hosted the Adirondack Thunder in an exhibition game at the Arena. The clubs had met on Friday in Glens Falls where the Royals won 4-0, on this night they completed the sweep with a 4-2 win. Kirk MacDonald is back as the club's head coach, former Adirondack player James Henry is the new assistant coach. Familiar names on the roster include goaltender Kirill Ustimenko, defensemen Garrett Cecere, David Drake and Mike Crocock plus forwards Brayden Low, Frank DiChiara and Thomas Ebbing. The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first period on scores from Grant Cooper (rookie from Clarkson University) and Patrick Bajkov (pronounced "BY-kahv", a fourth-year pro from Nanaimo, British Columbia) but the Thunder rallied to tie it midway through the second. Frank DiChiara put the Royals back up 3-2 at the intermission, in the final period Jacob Pritchard (fourth-year pro from UMass-Amherst) scored the game's final goal. Veteran goaltender Pat Nagle (most recently in the AHL with Grand Rapids) earned the win in his Royals debut. It was only an exhibition game but the crowd was into it all night and there is no question it felt good to be back in the Air Chair at the Arena. The club's home schedule features divisional opponents Adirondack, Worcester, Newfoundland, Maine and new entrant Trois-Rivieres (Quebec) plus non-division opponents Norfolk and Wheeling. The season starts on Friday the 22nd in Norfolk, the Royals host the Admirals on Saturday the 23rd. On Sunday we convened at Lions Park in Rothsville for week #6 of Sunday hockey, winners on this windy day were Ephrata over Hillside and Township over Warwick. Take care, thanks for reading.
