Friday night hockey at the Arena in downtown Reading, the final two games of the club's 23rd season as an on-ice entity. The Worcester Railers were the opponent and for the Royals the goal was clear: win them both in any fashion or miss the postseason. There were four standings points available to be had and nothing less than all four would do. Mission Accomplished but it was a battle from start to finish. Friday was Wall-Of-Honor Night, 2013 Kelly Cup-winning goaltender Riley Gill was enshrined in pregame ceremonies. In the game itself the Royals came out on fire, just eleven seconds after the opening faceoff Matt Miller tapped in a rebound for a 1-0 lead. Six minutes later Shane Sellar made it 2-0, just before intermission Mason Primeau scored from the slot to put the Good Guys ahead by three. The visiting Railers (fighting for a playoff spot themselves) cut the deficit to two midway through the second and came all the way back to tie it in the third, as the third-period clock expired visions of Overtimes Past (1-8 at home, 5-11 overall) were dancing through everybody's heads. The OT didn't settle anything, in the Dreaded Shootout Matt Brown scored the lone goal and Keith Petruzzelli stopped every shot he faced for a huge 4-3 victory. It all came down to Game #72 on Saturday and the early going was much like Friday. Matt Brown made it 1-0 Royals just a minute into the game, scores from Logan Britt late in the period and Sam Sedley early in the second gave the Royals the ever-popular 3-0 lead. Worcester got on the board but Mason Primeau had Answer #1 to restore the three-goal lead entering the last period. The Railers made it 4-2 but Matt Brown had Answer #2 with his second of the night, after Worcester made it 5-3 the Final Answers came in the form of empty-netters from Jake Smith and Tyler Gratton to put away a playoff-clinching 7-3 victory. In the closing moments emotions boiled over with nine misconduct penalties issued in the last two minutes, three of them at the final buzzer. Keith Petruzzelli was in goal once again as the club finishes its season at 33-28-11, 17-11-8 at home. At the season's midpoint in January the Royals were 13-19-4, in the second half they went 20-9-7. The Trois-Rivieres Lions are the first-round opponent, the series starts in Quebec before moving to Reading for game #3 on Monday the 21st. Take care, thanks for reading.
