Friday night at the Arena for game #2 against Maine, another typically intense playoff game but nowhere near as testy as Wednesday had been. This game was a virtual rerun of game #1 except for the last moments, Trevor Gooch struck on the power play five minutes in giving the Royals a 1-0 lead. In the early going of the second period Kenny Hausinger took advantage of another man-advantage to up the lead to two, the crowd was still celebrating when Frank Dichiara lit the lamp twenty-nine seconds later giving the Royals a 3-0 cushion. The game stayed right there into the closing minutes, the Mariners pulled the goalie for the extra attacker but on this night there would be no last-game heroics for the visitors as the Royals closed out the 3-0 shutout for Logan Flodell. The club takes a 2-0 series lead to Portland for the middle three games, due to previously booked arena events the third game is not until April 28. On one hand the breather is good because it gives the team opportunity for quality practice time, on the other hand we can only hope it doesn't disturb the club's momentum. Saturday was a quiet day, I had supper at home on a Saturday for the first time since March 12. On Sunday we opened the spring season for the over-40 league at Lions Park in Rothsville, first time we've been there since November. We have four teams playing a nine-game schedule, on this day Hillside beat Township and Ephrata defeated Warwick. Forty-eight players participated in the fall season, on this day we had twenty-seven appear for the spring openers. The main topic of conversation seemed to be what's going on with our league in Lancaster, Don and I told them what we've been saying all along: the LEAGUE itself is not dead if we can help it but we will never play at Reservoir Park again. We were on hiatus for a year-and-a-half thanks to The BS, if it takes that long to find a new home we'll wait it out. Take care, thanks for reading.
