Thursday night at McCaskey, the Red Tornado hosted Cedar Crest. Back in December JPM beat Crest in their building in what can now be termed a major upset, we have struggled ever since while CC recovered from that loss and are tied for first in the division. On this night the JV squad fell to 4-10 with a one-sided loss, the varsity battled to the end but lost 55-51. Jaloney Porter was the only man in double figures for JPM with twenty. It's not entirely surprising that CC won the game because right now there are clearly the better team but it was much closer that most might have expected and I'm sure they probably felt lucky to get out of town with a W. JPM plays next in a showcase event at Reading High on the 18th (I'm out for the Royals), the next home game is on Tuesday the 21st with Lancaster Catholic. On Friday it was a hockey night at the Arena, the Jacksonville Icemen visited from the league's Southern Division for the first time since November 2017. Earlier in the week the club lost Keith Petruzzelli on recall to the AHL Phantoms, with Vinnie Purpura still out as well the Royals brought in goaltenders Ty Taylor from SPHL Evansville and Gage Alexander on loan from the Detroit Red Wings organization. Matt Brown gave the Royals a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game but the Icemen evened it before the intermission, in the second Brown struck again to put the Royals up 2-1. Goals from newcomer Tyson Kirkby (from FPHL Binghamton) and Ryan Leibold extended the advantage to 4-1 but J-Ville replied with two of their own making it 4-3 entering the final period. The Icemen tied it five minutes in, that 4-4 score held through the rest of regulation and The Dreaded Overtime. The game went to a shootout (the first at home since February of '24), Jacksonville outscored the Royals one goal to none and won it 5-4. Ty Taylor made his Royals debut in net and played very well despite the result, the club drops to 13-19-5 overall and 5-7-4 at home. The Icemen stay in town for games on Saturday night and Monday afternoon. Take care, thanks for reading.
