Back at the Arena on Saturday night for game #2 with Jacksonville. It was Flyers Affiliation Night, the Royals wore orange-and-black sweaters. As a Detroit Red Wings property new goaltender Gage Alexander's equipment (face mask, glove, blocker and leg pads) is all red-and-white, it made for an interesting color combination where he was concerned. On this night the Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes on scores by Tyson Kirkby and Brock Caufield separated by just thirty-nine seconds, early in the middle period the visiting Icemen got on the board to make it 2-1. That would prove to be the final score as Alexander got the start, earned the win and the game's #1 star in his Royals debut. There was a major snow event in the forecast for Sunday, when I got home on Saturday I parked my car strategically. There is an abandoned bank building across the street from my address with a drive-up window and a canopy, I parked directly under the canopy and hoped for the best. The snow arrived as expected in early afternoon, the Monday newspaper had an article claiming we got seven inches of it in the city. The Royals met Jacksonville in the rubber game of the series on Monday afternoon, my car was partially snow-covered in the morning but nowhere near what it might have been otherwise, the drive north was also of little concern. At the Arena at High Noon the Royals scored first on a Tyler Gratton breakaway but Jacksonville retaliated with two goals and led 2-1 at the intermission. In the second period the Royals struck back on goals from Cam Cook and Austin Master, early in the third the pesky Icemen found the net to tie the score 3-3. In the final three minutes the Royals were skating short-handed when Tyler Gratton stole the puck and scored on a breakaway to give the Royals the lead, Ryan Leibold's empty-netter with a minute left sealed the 5-3 win. Gage Alexander started for the second consecutive game and earned his second win in a Royals uniform. The club reaches the midpoint of the home schedule at 7-7-4 ("hockey .500"), overall the record stands at 15-19-5. The Royals play the next three on the road, we're back home on February 1 with the Adirondack Thunder. Take care, thanks for reading.
