November 10-15

Another round of chemotherapy highlighted the new week (if such a thing can be considered a "highlight"), I had the lab work on Tuesday, the chemo on Wednesday, had the pump attached when it was done and had the pump removed on Friday. Lather, rinse, repeat. Saturday was a hockey night in downtown Reading, the Adirondack Thunder was in town for the first of their four regular-season dates. On this night the Royals scored first on a goal by Cam Cook, after the Thunder tied it The Good Guys took a two-goal lead on scores from Brandon Saigeon and Alec Butcher. The teams traded single scores in the middle period with Kyle Haskins finding twine for the Royals, a three-goal third period put the game away. Liam Devlin, Carson Golder and Butcher's second of the evening made it a five-goal advantage, a cosmetic ADK tally in the closing moments brought the final to 7-3 for winning goalie Yaniv Perets. Both Golder and Butcher recorded a "Gordie Howe hattrick" (a goal, an assist and a fighting major), Jenny and her mother were with me and after the game Helen asked who lit a fire under the team on this night. There won't be a lot of time for celebration, the weekend continues with the Wheeling Nailers coming in on Sunday afternoon. Take care, thanks for reading.

November 8-9

Saturday night at the Arena for the home opener and the twenty-fourth season of Royals hockey. The Trois-Rivieres Lions were the opponent fresh from wining the league championship in the spring of '25. Over 5000 were in the house on this night to see a tough and intense battle that saw the Royals come out on the short end 2-1. Brandon Saigeon scored the lone goal, Keith Petruzzelli was goaltender of record. Sunday was intended to be Playoff Day in Rothsville but the weatherman said no, morning rain ruined the plan and forced postponement until the 16th. That bought me an extra hour or two before leaving for the Arena and the afternoon rematch with Trois-Rivieres. Yaniv Perets started in goal for the Royals and allowed two goals in the first five minutes, head coach Anthony Peters replaced him with Vinnie Purpura and the Lions never scored again. Carson Golder lit the lamp on a power play late in the first to draw the Royals to within one, in the second period Golder struck again on the man-advantage to tie it 2-2. Seven minutes of sudden-death overtime failed to yield a winner, in the shootout Nolan Burke scored the only goal giving the Royals a tough 3-2 win and and an overall mark record of 6-2-1. It's often been said that a hockey rivalry is intensified when the teams have a playoff history, that certainly has become the case with these two teams. The Royals play at home on the 15th versus Adirondack and the 16th versus Wheeling, the Nailers stay in town for a school-kids game on the 18th . Take care, thanks for reading.

November 1-7

November began with another quiet week but as they say in the trade "business is about to pick up". On Sunday we convened at Lions Park in Rothsville for week #8 of street hockey. On this day Ephrata beat Township via overtime shootout and Warwick outlasted Hillside in regulation time. These results clinched the top two spots for the championship, we had makeup games set for the 9th which have been cancelled since they are now meaningless. It actually works out well because the makeup games were the same matchups we played on this day and they are also the same matchups for Championship Sunday. As it stands right now we'll play the postseason games on the 9th with Township facing Ephrata in the third-place game and Warwick and Hillside for the championship. The Royals finished their road swing on Sunday at 5-1-1, the boys open at home with a back-to-back with Trois-Rivieres on the 8th and 9th. In 2007 the Royals opened the season with a similar trip and went 4-3, the 5-1-1 mark this time around is much better than anyone reasonably had any right to expect. Let's hope it bodes well and sets the standard for the rest of the season. Take care, thanks for reading.