November 20-24

Sunday morning dawned with temperatures right around thirty degrees and wind chills in the teens, the first order of business was the final date of fall hockey in Rothsville. On Saturday we got word that the third-place game was canceled, one of the teams was going to be severely shorthanded and they elected to forfeit. The championship game started as scheduled at 11:15 with twenty-three of the twenty-seven eligible players present, Township claimed the title with a 4-3 decision over Hillside. It's interesting to note that we've played four seasons in Rothsville with the same four basic teams and we've had four different champions (Warwick in the summer of '21, Ephrata in the fall, Hillside in the summer of '22 and now Township). A total of fifty-one players participated in the six-game season which was regrettably shortened from the scheduled nine thanks to four dates being ruined by rain. We were done around 12:15, I got into the car and cranked up the heat for the drive north on 222. By the time I arrived at the Arena I was warm and toasty but the walk from the garage to the building wasn't much fun, I couldn't wait to get inside and out of the wind. The Royals hosted Adirondack in the back end of the weekend set at 3:00 and made it two straight with a 3-2 win. Goals by Trey Bradley and Yvan Mongo gave the Royals a 2-0 lead after one, in the second Colin Felix upped the advantage to three (Colin is the son of the late Chris Felix who was the AHL Phantoms team trainer when the club was established in 1996). The visiting Thunder broke the shutout midway through the third, another score in the last minute made it a one-goal game but they could not find the equalizer. Nolan Maier was the goalie of record in the club's sixth straight victory, the Royals improve to 7-4-1 overall and 4-2 at home. High school winter sports practice began on Friday, on Monday I dropped in at basketball workouts at McCaskey. Freddy Ramos is back for Year #5 as head man, all of the assistant coaches are back as well. The boys start the season on December 2 and I'll be absent because that is the next Royals home date. On Wednesday we did lunch in Quarryville, from there I took Jenny and Helen to their relatives' place in Parkesburg. They stayed overnight and had the holiday meal on Thursday, in the evening Jenny called to let me know they were home. Take care, thanks for reading. 

November 14-19

Another quiet week extended into Friday night when the Royals returned home for the first time in thirteen days. The club went 3-0 on the road trip, on this night the division-rival Adirondack Thunder made the first of their six regular season visits. This was billed as "La Noche De Los Reales" (the night of the Royals), the marketing effort was geared towards the area's Latino community. In-arena host Mike Keller had a Spanish-speaking co-host, most of the fan-interaction activities were conducted bilingually. The Royals entered on an overall four-game win streak, on this night it was extended to five with a 5-2 decision. Goals by Will MacKinnon and Max Newton ten seconds apart gave the club a quick lead in the game's first five minutes, in the second period an early score by Devon Paliani (second-year pro from LaSalle, Ontario) and a late marker from Shane Sellar upped the lead to 4-0. The visitors from the North Country got on the board late in the second, in the third each team scored once with Sellar picking up his second of the night. Nolan Maier earned the win in net as the Royals improve to 6-4-1 overall, 3-2 at home. The clubs took Saturday night off since a concert was booked at the Arena, the back end of the two-game series is on Sunday afternoon. Take care, thanks for reading. 

November 7-13

The dearth of evening activity continues, we're in a proverbial Black Hole right now but it won't be much longer before business picks up. The one noteworthy achievement for the week was the playing of two hockey games in Rothsville on Sunday morning. We had originally planned on a nine-game season starting on September 11 with the championships on this day and the 20th as a backup week in case of rainouts. We were postponed on four occasions including the opening week, it was decided to play those games on this day with the other three canceled, it meant the nine-game schedule was knocked down to six. Once we get past November 20 we're into the holiday weekend and then into December and nobody is going to want to still be going by then. What made playing on this day an achievement was the weather leading into the weekend. A storm system moved north from Florida during the week and arrived here on Friday with a drenching all-day rain, Saturday was clear but there was a brief shower after midnight into Sunday morning. By daybreak the rain was gone and temperatures were in the 40s with a brisk wind. When I arrived in Rothsville the rink was completely dry, the big issue was leaves (not of lot of trees around the rink but the wind still carries them). Some of the guys swept them into piles with their sticks and I used my "bearclaws" to scoop them up and off the surface to the outside. It wasn't perfect but we made it work. On this day Township beat Ephrata and Hillside won over Warwick, on the 20th Warwick meets Ephrata in the consolation game and Township matches up with Hillside for the championship. The long-range forecast for that weekend looks good, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Take care, thanks for reading

November 1-6

The eleventh month of the year began in the usual manner, these days there just isn't much on the calendar but that will pick up once basketball starts at McCaskey. On Friday evening the Wheeling Nailers were at the Arena for the opener of a two-game series. Wheeling is one of six cities still in the league from the Royals' inaugural year in '01-02 and one of only three who have played straight through with no break in the lineage, the others dropped out and reentered at different points (I guess that technically makes the Royals the league's fourth oldest club, it all depends on how you look at it). On this night the Royals fell behind 1-0 in the first period, midway through the second Charlie Gerard evened it at 1-1 but the Nailers replied in kind to lead 2-1 after two. In the third the Royals outshot Wheeling 12-3 but could not find the equalizer, the Nailers held on for the 2-1 win. Saturday was Military Appreciation Night, the club wore camouflage-themed sweaters and during the second intermission each branch of the military was recognized in special ceremonies. On this night the Royals took a 2-0 first-period lead on a pair of goals from Merrimack product Max Newton, early in the second Shane Sellar lit the lamp to extend the advantage to three. After the Nailers got on the board newcomer Trey Bradley (four-year pro from Colorado College) put the Royals up 4-1, another Nailer score late in the period made it 4-2. In the third Wheeling outshot the Royals 17-2 and closed to within one but could come no closer, Nolan Maier was in net for the second straight night and earned a split of the weekend's activities. The club stands at 2-4-1 in the early going (2-2 at home), they play their next three on the road before coming home on Friday the 18th. Rain moved in overnight into Sunday morning and ruined another day of hockey in Rothsville, we'll have makeups on the 13th and try for the championship round on the 20th. Take care, thanks for reading.