December 20-22

The winter season officially began on December 21 but the weatherman apparently didn't get the memo, Friday brought frigid temperatures and swirling flurries. It never amounted to anything big except for laying on grassy areas, the afternoon drive and evening return home from Reading was no problem. After four straight nights on the hardwood it was a hockey night at the Arena, the Adirondack Thunder visited for the second time in December. The result on this night was depressingly familiar, the Royals fell behind early and never recovered in a 4-1 loss, the third consecutive home game lost by that particular score. Todd Skirving scored the lone goal for the Royals with five minutes left in the third period which did little more than erase the zero. The highlight of the night was a scrum along the boards as the first period ended, several penalties were accessed including fighting majors to the respective goaltenders. It was the first goalie fight at the Arena since Brandon Anderson dropped the gloves in a game against the Evansville Icemen back in 2014. Keith Petruzzelli started in net for the Royals and played the first period before leaving, Vinnie Purpura mopped up in relief. The team drops to 2-6-3 at home with the Worcester Railers coming to town on the 27th. The rest of the weekend was quiet (and very cold), on Saturday the Royals traveled to Glens Falls for the back end of the home-and-home and won 6-3. That improves the road record to 7-9-1 and overall to 9-15-4. Take care, thanks for reading.