Saturday night in downtown Reading at the Arena for the Royals home opener, the start of our 21st year as a franchise and our 20th on the ice (a distinction that shouldn't need to be made but we all know the story). The Norfolk Admirals were the opponent, the clubs had met in Norfolk the previous night where the Ads won in overtime. On this night the Royals avenged that loss with a hard-fought come-from-behind 6-4 victory before a crowd of better than 5500. Norfolk led 3-2 after one period, at the second intermission it was 4-4 before the Royals pulled ahead for good in the third. Patrick Bajkov led the way with a hat-trick, the club also got scores from newcomers Joshua Winquist (nine-year pro from St. Albert, Alberta) and Patrick McNally (seven-year man from Glen Head, New York), the game-winner came early in the third period courtesy of Matthew Strome (a '19-20 Royal recently assigned from the AHL Phantoms). Kirill Ustimenko got the start in goal but struggled early on, Pat Nagle picked up the win in relief. It was a very physical game, at the final horn Norfolk frustrations boiled over resulting in three game misconducts being issued (two Ads and one Royal). The Admirals visit a total of seven times with five of those coming within our first seven home games overall, the clubs match up again on November 10 when the Royals return home from a four-game road trip. There was some rain overnight into Sunday but the morning's games at Lions Park went on without issue. On this day Ephrata beat Township and Hillside defeated Warwick, the regular season wraps up on the 31st. Take care, thanks for reading.
