The storm system was gone on Monday morning, the changeover to rain occurred right around midnight as predicted. I left the house at 10:00 for the drive north, my parking lot was little more that light slush and the trip itself was no problem at all. At the Arena we started the annual Martin Luther King Day game at 1:00, the Worcester Railers visited for the fourth time in eighteen days (earlier in the season we saw Norfolk five times and Newfoundland twice through our first seven home games, over the past six we've had a steady diet of Adirondack and Worcester). On this day the Royals came out strong, goals by Brad Morrison (on assignment from the Phantoms) and Patrick Bajkov gave the Home Team a 2-0 lead in the first period. In the second Bajkov struck again to put the Royals ahead 3-0. Worcester got on the board but that score was quickly countered, goals from Jackson Cressy, Brayden Low and Thomas Ebbing upped the lead to 6-1 entering the last period. The visitors from Massachusetts took advantage of some third-period power play time to close to within two but they would come no closer as the Royals took it 6-4, Hayden Hawkey was the winning goaltender. The club stands at 15-8-5 overall and 10-1-2 at home, the next Arena date is on the 22nd when the new Trois-Rivieres Lions visit for the first time ever. On Tuesday Jenny and her mother had morning appointments in Willow Street, we picked up lunch on the way to their place. In the afternoon we boarded the bus at McCaskey for the trip to Warwick HS in Lititz and the third of our five crossover games. Over the years I've written in this blog about games against Warwick, no matter how good or bad we may be or how good or bad they may be a game against them is NEVER easy especially in their gym. That was boldly in evidence on this night, we trailed 10-0 right out of the chute and never recovered. In many ways it was like the game in Lebanon, we came out flatter than hell while the opponent started on fire and that will spell "L-O-S-S" just about every time. When the blaze was finally extinguished and the smoke cleared we were on the wrong end of a 65-41 decision and the less said about it the better. The club drops to 3-4 in league play and 5-7 overall with a quick turnaround to a Wednesday night game in Ephrata. Take care, thanks for reading.
