Saw on the internet where JPM won the tournament consolation game over L-S, the record stands at 4-5 overall with the next game on January 3. Friday night at the Arena in downtown Reading, the Royals hosted the Worcester Railers for the opener of a three-in-three. The club had a 3-0 record on the most recent road swing but on this night the magic was noticeably absent. Two scores for the visitors in the first period were followed by a second-period three-spot, in the third the only tallies were those in the penalty column. The teams combined for fifty-four penalty minutes on the night with forty-two of them coming in the last five minutes, when it mercifully ended the Royals were on the bad end of a 5-0 final with Nolan Maier suffering the loss. In game #2 on Saturday the Royals again fell behind early, midway through the first Tag Bertuzzi lit the lamp to tie it 1-1. In the second the Railers retook a one-goal lead, late in the period Shane Sellar drew the Royals even. Matt Brown gave the Home Team a 3-2 lead in the third but Worcester answered in kind, into overtime we went tied at 3-3. Midway through the extra session the Royals got a 2-on-1 break into the offensive zone, Bertuzzi fed Brown for the top-shelf game-winner and a 4-3 overtime decision for Parker Gahagen. The rubber match was at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon, the Royals trailed 1-0 into third period before Saturday night hero Matt Brown tied it. Midway through the period Worcester reclaimed the lead and made it stand up, Nolan Maier took the 2-1 loss and deserved a better fate. The Royals finish the 2023 portion of the schedule at 11-14-2 overall and 7-6-1 at home, the first home game in the New Year is on January 12. Talk about endurance tests: three games of basketball at McCaskey on Thursday followed by three hockey games in less than forty-eight hours at the Arena. It's been decades since New Years Eve was a party date for me and it certainly wouldn't be after this weekend, I'm more than happy to stay in and relax. Thanks for reading, see you on the Other Side in 2024.
