The new week ushered in bitterly cold temperatures, daytime highs on Monday and Tuesday were barely into the 20s. On Tuesday afternoon we convened at McCaskey for the miserable bus trip north into Lebanon County, the destination was Lebanon proper for the season's first divisional crossover game. Whenever we go to Lebanon or Cedar Crest the trip is along the same two-lane road for the majority of it, on this occasion we had to negotiate around a detour on Route 72 that took us about three miles out of our way. We were scheduled to play Lebanon at home in '20-21 but that game was cancelled thanks to The Circumstances, on this night in their gym we started flat and never led in a frustrating 59-46 loss. The officiating played a role as well, it's not The Reason we lost but it certainly did not do us many favors. Sometimes it's amazing how the slightest contact at one end of the court can draw a whistle while being knocked to the floor at the other end warrants no call whatsoever. Hasan Williams was the only man in double figures with 13 as the club falls to 3-6 overall and 2-3 within the league (since apparently the crossover games are counting towards the divisional record again). For the trip home I suggested we cut across Route 322 to Route 501 in Brickerville and go south through Lititz, our driver took the idea and we got home in good order without dealing with that side-roads detour on 72 after dark. On Wednesday we had our usual midweek lunch in Quarryville, in the evening I was back at the Arena for our third Wednesday home game of the season. The Adirondack Thunder visited for the second of their nine scheduled dates in downtown Reading. On this night the club came out strong, goals from Dominic Cormier and Anthony Gagnon (recently added via trade from the Norfolk Admirals) gave the Royals a 2-0 edge at the intermission. In the middle period the lead was extended to four on scores from Patric Bajkov and Cormier (his second of the night), the Thunder got on the board before the horn to make it 4-1. Trevor Gooch's score in the third was countered by an ADK marker before Patrick McNally's rink-length empty-netter ended the scoring in a 5-2 Royals victory. Hayden Hawkey was the winner in net as the Royals hit the one-third mark of the home schedule at 9-1-2 and overall at 13-7-5. The next home date is set for Monday the 17th with the return of the Martin Luther King Day matinee at 1:00. Take care, thanks for reading.
