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.
