On the road early on Saturday for a 4:00 start at the Arena and the first of a back-to-back with one of the league's newest franchises. Trois-Rivieres, Quebec (English translation: Three Rivers) had a professional hockey team in the late 1950s known as the Lions, when this new franchise joined over the summer that nickname was resurrected (the team logo is the head of a lion shaped like a Fleur-De-Lys). On this day the visitors from La Belle Province made their first-ever appearance in Reading with a roster that was unsurprisingly just about all natives of Quebec. I've often explained that nicknames to the contrary notwithstanding I personally am not French, I have no French ancestry and there is absolutely NOTHING about me that is French. As a lifelong fan of the great game of ice hockey I have a reasonable knowledge of how to pronounce French-oriented names, that allowed me to get through the weekend in good order (especially since the Lions had no broadcaster present or pronunciation guide in their media notes). In the Saturday opener the Royals were awarded a power play four seconds after the game started, Trevor Gooch cashed in fifty-one seconds later giving the Royals a quick 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until midway through the third period when Brayden Low lit the lamp, in the late going the Lions broke Hayden Hawkey's shutout bid but he and the Royals held on for a 2-1 win. On Sunday the Lions scored the game's first and third goals sandwiched around a Dominic Cormier marker to lead 2-1 at the first intermission. In the second period Jackson Cressey scored on a breakaway to tie the score 2-2 but in overtime TR struck for the winning goal and took it 3-2, Kirill Ustimenko took the tough-luck loss in net. It was a physical series, after the game angry words were exchanged on both sides with some of the Royals ire directed at the game officials. The club stands at 17-8-5 overall at 11-1-3 at home, the next five are on the road with the next home date scheduled for February 8. Take care, thanks for reading.
