Back at the Arena on Friday night, the Royals continued their mini-series with Allen. This was the club's annual Holiday Game, the Royals wore appropriately-themed specialty sweaters that were placed online for auction. The Royals entered on a five-game winning streak and the Americans were on a seven-game slide, both runs were ended on this night with a 3-1 Allen win. Shane Sellar scored the lone goal for the Royals, Pat Nagle was goalie of record. Saturday afternoon was spent at McCaskey, the girls basketball squads hosted Milton Hershey (from the town in Dauphin County world-famous for chocolate manufacturing) with the JV game at 1:00. Both JV and varsity were victorious, they play at home again on Tuesday the 13th. Sunday was a bleak and rainy day, the kind of day where I wouldn't have minded staying home and dry but duty called in Berks County one last time for the weekend. Faceoff at the Arena was at 3:00 for the Royals/Allen rubber match. This was billed as "Undie Sunday", fans were invited to bring new packaged undergarments to throw on the ice for charity when the Royals scored their first goal (similar to the Teddy Bear Toss, it gives the phrase "dropping one's drawers" a whole new meaning). The game was scoreless midway through the second period before Dominic Cormier sent the Unmentionables flying to give the Royals the lead. Twenty-eight seconds later Charlie Gerard dented the twine making it 2-0, twenty-nine seconds after that the Americans replied to cut the lead in half. In the final period newcomer Jordan Timmons (from Long Island University) gave the Royals a 3-1 advantage but the pesky Americans wouldn't go quietly, they pulled to within one and pressed for the tying goal but Pat Nagle and company closed the door for the 3-2 win. The Royals stand at 13-6-1 (8-3 at home), the club is on the road for two games before returning home on Wednesday the 21st. Take care, thanks for reading.
