Friday late afternoon at JPM for the first round of the Tipoff Tournament, the tripleheader started at 4:30 with a JV game. JPM lost to one-time league opponent Solanco, in the first varsity semifinal at 6:00 Solanco lost to Octorara (fellow LL entry from Atglen, Chester County). The second varsity game at 7:30 featured the Red Tornado taking on Kennett (from Kennett Square, also in Chester County), the boys dropped to 0-3 with a 64-48 loss. Amir Thompson-Hanson was high man with 16 and Jaloney Porter added 15 but they were the only two in double figures. On Saturday the tournament concluded in my absence, JPM finally got off the schneid with a 59-51 win over Solanco in the consolation game (for the record Octorara defeated Kennett for the tournament title). I was not there because it was a hockey night in downtown Reading, the Royals returned home for the first time since November 23. For Jenny and her mother it was a homecoming of sorts, they had not been in attendance since November 9 (and you'd be surprised how many people noticed and asked Jenny how she was doing). This was the annual Military Appreciation/Teddy Bear Toss game, the game puck was delivered by an Army National Guardsman descending on rope from the Arena rafters. The Adirondack Thunder was in town for the first of five regular season visits, they scored first and led 1-0 after one period. Midway through the second Mason Primeau (Phantoms assignee and the nephew of longtime NHLer Keith Primeau) scored the Teddy Bear goal to tie the game, early in the third Jake Smith ('23-24 Royal recently returned) gave the Home Team a 2-1 advantage. ADK knotted the game 2-2 with seven minutes left and set the stage for the Dreaded Overtime, in the extra stanza the Thunder won it on a score with SEVEN seconds left on the clock. This is the fourth OT loss for the Royals, three of them at home with all three coming in cruelly spectacular fashion. Keith Petruzzelli took the decision as the home record drops to 2-3-3, 7-11-4 overall. The club plays twice on the road before returning home on Friday the 13th. Take care, thanks for reading.
