November 24-30

Another week of activity built around my chemo treatments, the big difference being that the lab work was on Monday instead of the usual Tuesday. Tuesday itself was a miserably rainy day, we had lunch in Quarryville since the chemo was on Wednesday. In the afternoon the basketball team traveled to Wilson HS in West Lawn for a preseason scrimmage. The organization has twenty-four players with the varsity carrying thirteen, among them are three seniors, eight juniors and two sophomores. Thursday was the Thanksgiving holiday, as has become the norm I joined Jenny and Helen for supper. The menu included turkey, mashed potatoes and lima beans plus apple pie with whipped cream for dessert and I did NOT go home hungry. The bell rang for real on Saturday for hoops season, the boys boarded the bus at 10:30 for the ninety-minute trip into suburban Philadelphia. The site was Penn Wood HS in Lansdowne, just a few miles southwest of Philadelphia proper. The junior varsity lost its game by nine points, the new-look varsity lost 66-62. DeMere Salisbery (Dustin's son) made his McCaskey debut memorable with 31 points, returnee Amir Thompson-Hanson and newcomer Nazai "Buddy" Patterson added ten each. Kyle Brown scored five points, Marrcus Laureano and Eric "E.J." Abernathy each had three. Despite the results the coaching staff was encouraged because both teams played hard to the very end in a hostile environment. The boys play at home on December 2nd and 5th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

November 19-23

Stopped by McCaskey on Wednesday evening, high school basketball practice is well underway. The program's new head coach is Dustin Salisbery, a 2003 JPM grad who scored over 1900 points in his high school career. Dustin also played from '03 to '07 at Temple University in Philadelphia and later played professionally both in North America and overseas. His brother Christian Davidson (also a McCaskey grad from the class of 2012) is on board as an assistant coach, John Jones (a receivers coach with the JPM football program and the father of 2025 grad DeAndre Jones) is the new head man with the junior varsity team. The season starts on the 29th on the road against Penn Wood (suburban Philadelphia), the home opener is on December 2 versus Dallastown. On Saturday night we were at the Arena, the Wheeling Nailers were the opponent (AGAIN). The teams met in Wheeling on Friday with the Royals emerging victorious, on this night the Nailers turned the tables with a 3-1 win. Massimo Rizzo scored the lone goal for the Royals, Keith Petruzzelli took the decision in net. The record drops to 9-4-2 overall (3-3 at home), the club plays three on the road before the next home date on December 3 versus "guess who?". Take care, thanks for reading.

November 16-18

Sunday morning in Rothsville for the finale at Lions Park. The league started in the spring of 2021 as a vehicle for the game's "older generation" to play street hockey in a relaxed atmosphere without the nonsense, we had no idea at the time how long the league might last but every season we seem to have enough interest to make it worthwhile. Fifty-one players participated in the fall of '25, on this day in Rothsville Hillside defeated Warwick in the championship game (the consolation game was canceled, one of the teams only had three available players). In ten seasons Ephrata and Township have each won three titles, Hillside and Warwick have each won two which says a lot for parity. We're figuring on starting the spring '26 season in April, hopefully it won't be plagued with the difficulties we had the previous spring. We were finished by 12:15, from there I highballed it north to the Arena for a 3:00 faceoff with the Wheeling Nailers. This game marked the start of a somewhat ridiculous stretch for the Royals, over the next twenty-four days the club plays eleven games with six of them against Wheeling and five of those six are at the Arena. On this afternoon the Royals took a 1-0 lead on Cam Cook's first-period score, in the second Jacob Frasca lit the lamp but the Nailers scored before and after to tie the game 2-2. The game was decided in the final minute, with fifty-one seconds left on the clock Jake Willets found the net to give the Royals the lead, Vinnie Purpura was goaltender of record. On Tuesday morning we were up and at it early, the Royals and Nailers faced off at 10:30. This was one of two school-kids games on the schedule, the other comes up in its traditional February spot. On this day there was no magic for the Royals as Wheeling won 2-0, Keith Petruzzelli took the tough-luck loss. It's the first time the Royals were zeroed at home since November of 2024, the club stands at 8-3-3 overall and 3-2 at home. The miniseries continues in Wheeling on Friday and the Arena on Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading.

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.