A quiet start to the new week, on Thursday I was at the Arena on Penn Street for the first time since April 13. This was the annual run-through night for the production staff in anticipation of the new season, the club plays a home exhibition game on the 12th. Training Camp started earlier in the week, head coach Jason Binkley's roster includes returning forwards Shane Sellar, Tyler Gratton and Connor McMenamin, defensemen Tony Malinowski, Kenny Johnson and Powell Connor plus goaltender Parker Gahagen (Yvan Mongo is also on the roster but is recovering from injury, he's expected to report when healthy). The league season starts with three on the road before the home opener on the 26th. The Royals host their six divisional opponents (with our old friends the Wheeling Nailers replacing the now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers), also on the home schedule are the Indy Fuel who last visited in October of 2022 and the Jacksonville Icemen for the first time since November of 2017. Friday was a football night at McCaskey, after two weeks away the Red Tornado was at home versus Cedar Crest. It was Hall-Of-Fame Night and Homecoming, all the festivities took place at halftime and of course I was at the mic for All Of It. The game itself was very similar to any number of game nights in recent years, JPM fell behind early and could never quite catch up. The final score was 39-18, the Red Tornado scored three unconverted touchdowns and DeAndre Jones was involved in each. Dre passed to Quinnes Jones-Hawkins for a 23-yard score and ran for two himself from five and thirty yards respectively. The club has two games left including the final home date on the 25th. Take care, thanks for reading.
