November 23-27

Saturday night at the Arena for the back end of the weekend homestand, the Maine Mariners visited for the first of seven dates. Within the division Maine and Norfolk are the most frequent visitors with seven dates each, Adirondack and Trois-Rivieres come in five times, Wheeling four and Worcester three. On this night the Royals played another competitive game but again fell by one goal 3-2. Phantoms assignees Sawyer Boulton and Matt Brown (an ECHL mid-season All-Star as a Royal in '23-24) were the goal-scorers, Vinnie Purpura made his home debut in net and suffered the loss. The club's record of 6-10-3 is obviously not what anyone wants right now but the problem is very clear: the team is simply not scoring enough to win. The defense and goaltending has been reasonably good allowing a little over three goals per game but the offense is only scoring slightly over two-and a half goals per game and that isn't going to get the job done. The boys play their next two on the road, the next home date is on December 7. High school basketball practice is well underway, on Tuesday we were at McCaskey. Freddy Ramos is back for his seventh season as the head man, on this night the Red Tornado hosted Wilson for a preseason scrimmage. As it stands right now the organization has twenty-four players (including thirteen returnees from the previous season) evenly divided between Varsity and Junior Varsity, there are seven seniors, five juniors, ten sophomores and two freshman. In '23-24 the JV squad finished at 9-13 while the varsity started 5-6 before falling apart in the second half and limping to the finish line at 7-15, one can only hope that the team chemistry is better this time around. The season starts for real at home on the 30th (and it has been many years since it began on Thanksgiving weekend). Take care, thanks for reading. 

November 18-22

Jenny and her mother were in town on Monday for Jenny's surgical procedure, they arrived at the hospital around 7:30. The procedure itself was scheduled for 11:30, at 12:15 Helen called and said that all had gone well. After a stretch in recovery they had Jenny in her room around 2:30 or so, shortly after that Helen called again and I picked her up. We went to a local establishment and had a good substantial supper, then we returned to check in on Jenny. She was half-awake and barely able to keep her eyes open but she knew we were there, later on Helen came to my place and spent the night (since the hospital wouldn't allow her to stay there overnight). We had it all prearranged (after her episode in October of  '23 we merely make sure she's not left alone), she slept in the back bedroom and I looked in on her periodically. Helen was awake and up before me on Tuesday morning, shortly before 11:00 we got the word that Jenny was being discharged. We got her home in good order, from here she has another two weeks of liquid diet before she can return to solid food. It's a struggle for her right now but in the long run she'll be better off. SPEAKING OF STRUGGLES: the Royals completed a 1-3-1 road trip with a Wednesday night loss in Norfolk, on Friday evening the Admirals came to Reading for the back end of the home-and home. The roster was fortified with two assignees from the Phantoms, thus far thirteen players on AHL contracts have appeared for the Royals. On this night Norfolk scored the first goal but the Royals replied on scores by Tyler Gratton and Jacques Bouquot to lead 2-1 at the first intermission. The Admirals took a 3-2 advantage into the third period, with three minutes left newcomer Ryan Leibold found the net to tie it 3-3, In overtime the Ads had the last shot and won 4-3, Keith Petruzzelli suffered the loss. This is the Royals' third OT loss with two of them occurring when the club was less than a minute from winning in regulation, the record at home stands at 2-2-2 and overall 6-9-3. The Royals have already played one-third of their road schedule and one-fourth of the overall schedule and it's not even December yet, the club stays home to host Maine on the 23rd. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 9-17

Saturday night in downtown Reading as the Royals hosted the Indy Fuel in the first of a back-to-back, this was the Fuel's first appearance at the Arena since opening weekend back in October 2022. The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first on a shorthanded breakaway score from Lou-Felix Denis (pronounced "dah-NEE"), after Indy tied it in the second Phantoms assignee Sam Sedley gave the Good Guys a 2-1 advantage entering the final frame. Scores by Tyler Gratton and Parker AuCoin (the capital C is correct) thirty-four seconds apart put the Royals up 4-1 early in the period, in the late going Indy got one back but Keith Petruzzelli shut the door from there for the 4-2 win. On Sunday morning we were in Rothsville for the street hockey Grand Finale, in the "bronze medal" game Township beat Hillside and for The Gold Warwick won over Ephrata. Forty-eight players participated, forty-three of them qualified for the postseason and thirty-six were in attendance. It's Warwick's first championship since the very first season back in the spring of 2021, overall through eight seasons Township has won three titles, Ephrata and Warwick two each and Hillside one. If all goes well we'll be back in April for the ninth season at Lions Park. We were done around 12:30, by shortly after 1:00 I was back at the Arena for game #2 with Indy. Offensive highlights on this day were few and far between for the Royals, in the third period the Fuel scored first and went on to a 3-0 win. Indy scored at even strength, on the power play and into the empty net, Parker Gahagen started in goal for the Royals and deserved better. The club plays its next five on the road before returning home on Friday the 22nd. The week following had very little going on except for Jenny beginning a liquid diet in preparation for a surgical procedure. She has been considering this for some time, it's scheduled for Monday the 18th and she should be home the following day. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 1-8

The beginning of November was as quiet as the end of October, on the 3rd we were in Rothsville for the last regular-season week of street hockey at Lions Park. For a third consecutive week a full three-quarters of the enrollment was present, thirty-six of the forty-eight played on this day. Warwick defeated Township via shootout and Ephrata won over Hillside, the postseason games are on November 10. We had planned on playing the September 29 rainouts on that day but that won't happen for two reasons: (1) they don't matter because all four spots in the standings are clinched and (2) they are the same matchups that are happening in the postseason (Hillside vs Township in the consolation game, Ephrata vs Warwick for the championship). On Wednesday night we were with the Royals at the Arena, the Norfolk Admirals were the opponent for the first of their seven visits. The Royals struggled through a difficult 0-4 road trip, on this night the winless streak reached five with a 6-5 loss in overtime. The first scores didn't come until the second period, Phantoms assignee Matt Miller and team captain Todd Skirving lit the lamp fifty seconds apart but the Admirals rallied to tie it 2-2 at the intermission. Norfolk took the lead thirty-eight seconds into the third before Travis Broughman brought the Royals even, another Ads goal was countered by Gianfranco Cassaro (another Phantom assignee) to make it 4-4 midway through the period. Tyler Gratton gave the Royals a 5-4 lead with five minutes left, in the final moments Norfolk tied it with goalie pulled to force the game into OT. Midway through the extra period the Admirals were awarded a power play and cashed in on it for the win, Parker Gahagen was the Royals goalie of record. The club stands at 1-1-1 on home ice and 4-5-1 overall, the Indy Fuel visits from the league's Western Conference on the 9th and 10th. Take care, thanks for reading.