April 29-30

Saturday night at the Arena for the sixth and final game of the semifinal series with Maine, the Royals ended it emphatically with a 6-2 victory. Devon Paliani started the party with a score in the first two minutes, after the visitors tied it midway through the period Jacob Gaucher replied in kind to put the Royals back up 2-1. Early in the second the Mariners again drew even but it would be the last goal they would get, just over two minutes later Garrett McFadden and Zayde Wisdom lit the lamp forty-four seconds apart giving the Royals a 4-2 advantage. Late in the third period Tyler Heidt scored on a power play, Brendan Hoffmann's empty-netter in the final two minutes put the lid on the series-clinching win for goaltender Pat Nagle. For the series the Royals outscored the Mariners 23-20, they won all three of their home games and one of three in Portland. The series played out remarkably similar to the 2022 matchup: after winning the first two at home the Royals dropped games three and four in Portland, a win in the pivotal fifth game in Maine set up the clincher in game six at home. The Royals advance to the Division Finals for another "Deja Vu" matchup against a familiar opponent, on Sunday the regular-season division champion Newfoundland Growlers dispatched the Adirondack Thunder setting up a rematch of the 2022 series the Growlers won in seven games. Thanks to arena conflicts and travel the series is a 3-4 format, the first three games are at home with the last four in St. John's. It starts with a back-to-back at the Arena on May 6 and 7, game #3 is on Tuesday the 9th. The predicted all-day rain never quite materialized but early Sunday morning a steady rainfall moved up from the south and wiped out the day's hockey schedule at Lions Park. Take care, thanks for reading. 

April 24-28

The new week was very quiet in terms of personal activity, the morning errand runs were about all that went on. The Royals were in Portland for the middle three games of the playoff series, they went there up two games to none and came out of it up three games to two. Maine got on the board with an overtime win in game #3 and evened the series with a regulation victory in game #4, in the pivotal fifth game the Royals rallied from a one-goal deficit in the third period to win 4-3. Talk about crazy scheduling: the first two games were back-to-back at home on a Friday and Saturday, after one day off for travel the series immediately resumed with a three-in-three (with fifteen extra minutes thrown in thanks to overtime) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Portland. Game #6 is at home on Saturday the 29th with a possible seventh game on Sunday afternoon, should the series go the distance the clubs will have played seven games in ten days. Most of it has to do with arena availability, certain dates at this time of year are held open in advance for hockey but concerts and other entertainment acts often get priority. Years ago in the AHL the championship series was delayed for eight days because neither team could get into their building, another time the deciding game of a best-of-seven was scheduled for a neutral site because the higher seed's arena was unavailable. It's all part of the wacky world of minor league hockey. Rain moved into the area on Friday morning and it's expected to be a wet weekend overall, could make for an interesting commute on 222 on Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading. 

April 21-23

Friday night in downtown Reading for game #1 of the ECHL North Division Semifinals. In 2022 the Royals met the Maine Mariners in a semifinal matchup between teams separated by twenty-five standings points, this time around it's a best-of-seven series between clubs separated by just one point. On Friday we saw just how close and intense this series figures to be, through two periods nobody was able to light the lamp. The Royals finally broke through twenty-one seconds into the third, Solag Bakich took a pass from Charlie Girard and buried it for a 1-0 lead. The visitors tied the score with seven minutes left, just over three minutes later Girard tipped home a point shot by Garrett McFadden for the game-winner and a series-opening 2-1 win. On Saturday night in game #2 there were more goals scored in the first period than in the entire game the night before. Each team found the net twice with Brendan Hoffmann and Jacob Gaucher doing the honors for the Home Team, after one it was 2-2. In the middle frame Evan Barratt and Max Newton struck to put the Royals up 4-2. Midway through the final period the pesky Mariners (who clearly were not going to go away nor should they) got back to within one, in the closing moments Zayde Wisdom potted an empty-netter to clinch the tough 5-3 victory. Pat Nagle was in net both nights as the Royals take a 2-0 series lead to Portland for the next three games, a possible game #6 would be back at the Arena on Saturday the 29th. Saturday and Sunday mornings were also very busy, on Saturday we played an 11:00 ballgame at McCaskey. The Red Tornado hosted Eastern York (from just across the Susquehanna in Wrightsville) for a non-league game and came out on the short end of a 4-1 decision. The lone run for JPM scored in the sixth inning on doubles by Rey Ortiz (run) and Adrian Rodriguez (RBI), Rey started on the mound with Lars Holland in relief. There was some rain in the area late Saturday night, there was a bit of cleanup work needed in Rothsville on Sunday morning but the games went on as scheduled. This was week #2 for the spring season, Warwick won over Township and Hillside beat Ephrata. Ten new players debuted bringing the total to forty-eight, we're back at Lions Park on the 30th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

April 17-20

Monday afternoon at the ballfield for the start of a busy week of baseball, Warwick was the opponent for the first of four consecutive games at home. At 4:15 first pitch it was 65 degrees with winds from right to left at fifteen miles per hour. JPM is a very young team, there are just three seniors listed on the roster and it stands to reason there will be some growing pains especially in a division with perennially strong opposition. The Red Tornado trailed early 1-0, in the second inning Janpaul Rodriguez and Joshua Reyes were each hit by the pitch and both would score on an error to put JPM up 2-1. Warwick replied with five runs over the next two innings, in the home fourth JPM put together a three-spot. Eli Morales started it with a base hit and Lars Holland drew a walk, they both scored on Andrew Carlisle's two-run single. Adrian Rodriguez's RBI hit plated Carlisle to pull within one at 6-5 but Warwick put up six more over the fifth and sixth innings. In the bottom of the sixth Rey Ortiz singled and came around on Adrian's second RBI hit making it 12-6. That would be the final score, Carlisle started on the mound and took the decision with Morales finishing it in relief. Wednesday afternoon's gametime conditions were almost identical to Monday's, the major difference was brilliant sunshine as opposed to the overcast skies on Monday. On this day Hempfield was the opponent and it started poorly with the visitors posting four in the first inning. It stayed that way until the top of the sixth when a two-out error opened the door, Hempfield took immediate advantage and upped the lead to 7-0. JPM got those three back in the bottom half, Jhanel Perez reached on a base hit and Reyes was hit by the pitch. Ortiz singled to score Perez and Reyes came home on a groundout by Carlise, another A-Rod RBI hit scored Ortiz making it 7-3. There was no further scoring and we'll never know how the rest of the game would have played out without that sixth-inning error but it's all part of those growing pains we mentioned earlier. Tobe Kuntz got the start on this day with Lars, A-Rod and JP-Rod appearing in relief. The boys are at home again on Friday but I'm out for the Royals playoff opener at the Arena, my next game would be a non-leaguer on Saturday morning at 11:00. Take care, thanks for reading. 

April 14-16

Friday evening: back at the Arena for the start of a season-ending two-game series with the Newfoundland Growlers. The visitors from "The Rock" had previously clinched the top spot in the division and had little to play for, the Royals entered needing three standings points to clinch second place. In the opener on Friday two of those valuable points were earned via a 3-1 victory. Evan Barratt and Jacob Gaucher gave the Royals a 2-0 first-period lead, midway through the third the Growlers cut the lead in half but Max Newton replied less than a minute later to restore the two-goal lead which proved to be the final margin. On Saturday night in game #72 the Royals wrapped up second place and home-ice advantage in the first round of playoffs with a surprisingly easy 6-2 win. Newfoundland scored the game's first goal two minutes in, replies from Charlie Gerard and newcomer Zayde Wisdom (Flyers prospect who has most recently been on the injured list with the Phantoms) put the Royals up 2-1 after one. In the middle period Devon Paliani, Shane Sellar and Tyler Heidt lit the lamp to make it 5-1, Evan Barratt offset a Growler score in the third with one of his own bringing the final to 6-2. Pat Nagle was in net for both games as the Royals finish at home 22-12-2, the overall record completed at 41-25-6. The club meets the Maine Mariners in the best-of-seven Division Semifinals (the second consecutive year for that particular matchup), the first two games are at the Arena on the 21st and 22nd (just for the record, Newfoundland will meet fourth-place Adirondack in the other Semifinal). It should be noted that unlike Wednesday there were no noticeable ice issues, the weather was somewhat more comfortable than the midweek had been. Sunday was Opening Day for the over-35 street hockey league at Lions Park in Rothsville, the first time we'd been there since that bitterly cold day back in November. We have the same format as usual, two games each Sunday with four teams playing each opponent three times weather-permitting. Thirty-eight players participated including eight new faces, opening day winners were Hillside over Warwick and Township over Ephrata. Take care, thanks for reading.

April 10-13

The weather around here has been very unseasonable lately, on Monday a mid-April heatwave rolled in. On Wednesday the Royals returned home for what would be a very unusual evening at the Arena. The club finished the road portion of its schedule with two games over the weekend, the final mark in enemy buildings was 19-13-4. On this night at the Arena the outside temperatures affected the quality of the ice, during the first period there were noticeable areas with surface moisture. The first intermission was extended by ten minutes while the respective coaches, officials and Arena management discussed a course of action. The Zambonis did a dry scrape in an effort to smooth out the surface and remove the standing moisture, the procedure was repeated during the second intermission which was extended by an extra two minutes to be on the safe side (all told we had forty-eight minutes of intermission instead of the standard thirty-six). The game started at 7:00 and wound down at 9:30, not bad considering all that the rink crew had to work through. In the game itself the Royals lost to the Norfolk Admirals 7-4, the Ads broke a 4-4 tie in the third period and added two empty-netters in the final moments. Evan Barratt scored twice for the Royals, Charlie Gerard and Max Newton added single goals, Pat Nagle was goaltender of record. The Arena mark drops to 20-12-2, 39-25-6 overall. The club wraps up the season on Friday and Saturday with the Newfoundland Growlers coming to town, the heat is expected to stick around as well which could make for an interesting weekend. Take care, thanks for reading. 

April 3-9

Recently the local newspaper ran a story about the ridiculously mild winter we had, the total snowfall for the season was a robust 0.9 inches. That all happened on one Wednesday morning back in January, we had a light dusting while I was with Jenny for lunch. An afternoon rain that very day washed it all away as quickly as it had arrived. Now that we're into April it's unlikely we'll see anything further but then again stranger things HAVE happened. Wednesday was baseball day at McCaskey, the Red Tornado hosted Penn Manor. With the new schedule format this was the first of three meetings between the schools, Penn Manor visits again on May 1. At 4:15 gametime it was 82 degrees, the wind straight in from centerfield. The visitors took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first, JPM tied it when Janpaul Rodriguez was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded. That would be the only run the club would score in a 6-1 loss, Adrian Rodriguez started and took the decision with Andrew Carlisle working in relief. The next home game is on the 12th but I'm out for the Royals, my next time there is on Monday the 17th. On Saturday we made our annual Northern Pilgrimage to Allentown to see the Royals' AHL affiliate, the Phantoms hosted the Springfield Thunderbirds (St. Louis Blues affiliate). The Good Guys rallied from down 3-1 in the third to win 4-3, the victory clinched the club's first playoff berth since 2018. Jordy Bellerive, Emil Andrae, Kevin Connauton and Olle Lycksell were the scorers, Samuel Ersson was the winning goaltender. The Phantoms currently have six ex-Royals on the roster, the only two in uniform were Max Willman ('19-'20 in Reading) and Nolan Maier serving as Ersson's backup. A game in Allentown is a trip we make only once a year (and once a year is enough) but it's worthwhile because it gives us a chance to watch a game together (in Reading that's obviously not the case because I'm working). Sunday was a holiday, Helen had a meal of ham, scalloped potatoes and green beans and invited me in. Jenny's older sister Carol was there as well and nobody went home hungry. Take care, thanks for reading. 

March 31-April 2

Friday night: back at the Arena for the start of another busy weekend, the Trois-Rivieres Lions were the opposition. The Royals entered the weekend needing one more standings point to clinch a postseason berth, that was accomplished on this night in the form of a 6-2 victory. Colin Felix scored the first and sixth goals, the middle of the sandwich featured two scores by Max Newton and single tallies from Alec Butcher and Jacob Gaucher. Pat Nagle was the winning goaltender as the club qualifies for the playoffs for the fifteenth time in twenty-one seasons of competition (the '01-'02 season was the franchise's debut, we didn't make it that year or in '03, '07, '09 or '19 and we won't even discuss what happened over the next two years). It was a intense game that got downright nasty in the third period, fifty-two total penalty minutes were issued with thirty-eight of them coming in the final frame. The Saturday game was a 4:00 start with the visitors from Quebec evening the series with a 3-1 win, Shane Sellar was the Royals' lone goal-scorer. The rubber match on Sunday required the overtime shootout (for the first time at the Arena since March of '22), Trois-Rivieres outscored the Royals two-to-one and won the game 3-2. Mason Millman and newcomer Solag Bakich (from the University of Notre Dame) scored in regulation, for the second straight game newly-added Matt Vernon was the goaltender of record. Vernon is from Colorado College, his father Mike played over seven-hundred games in the NHL and was a two-time Stanley Cup champion. The Royals stand at 38-23-6 overall and 20-11-2 at home, the next Arena date is on April 12th. The game on Sunday started at 3:00 and ended at 5:30 but the weekend wasn't over, at 6:00 the annual Battle Of The Badges game faced off. This game began in 2006 and had always been played PRIOR to a Royals game. Over the years the format has been tweaked, this time around was a first-time meeting as the Reading/Berks County first-responders hosted their brethren from Harrisburg/Capital Region. Harrisburg won the game, it was over around 7:30 (three fifteen-minute periods, the third period was running-time). Take care, thanks for reading.