Royalty sees a hockey doubleheader in Philadelphia & Trenton!

Prince at Wells Fargo Center

Once the NHL came back from their lockout, some minor changes were made to their schedule. Originally on Saturday, February 23rd the Devils were suppose to be home at 1PM against the Washington Capitals. Unfortunately that was changed as the Devils played in Washington at Noon instead.

With that being said, I needed to found another game to go to since staying home wasn't an option. After exhausting all the possibilities, I decided to go to Philadelphia because the Flyers were playing that afternoon at 1PM against the Winnipeg Jets. I already knew that the Trenton Titans of the ECHL were home that night as well. As a result, it made for an easy doubleheader since Trenton is only 40 miles from Philadelphia and its on the way back home.

I debated whether I should rent a car or take public transportation down there. I decided it would be more convenient & beneficial to rent a car. With that being said, I got up early and I took the MTA out to Avis where I rented a Toyota Camry for the day.

I picked up the car then I drove back home and I picked up the King and off we went to the City of Brotherly Love.

We arrived within walking distance of the sports complex at 12:35PM. We proceeded to walk over to the Wells Fargo Center for game one of our hockey doubleheader.

As for the game we saw, the Jets scored first as Evander Kane gave the Jets an early 1-0 lead 4:48 into the game. The Flyers tied it up at one with 4:42 to go in the first period when Brayden Schenn lit the lamp. In the second period, the Jets regained the lead, 2-1 2:34 in as Olli Jokinen found the net. The Jets extended their lead to 3-1 when Alexander Burmistrov scored with 8:57 left in the period. The Flyers got a break when the Jets were penalized not once but twice. As a result, the Flyers had a two man advantage. Shortly thereafter, Claude Giroux of the Flyers sliced the Jet lead in half when he buried the puck in the net to make it 3-2. I was thinking of my pal Kurt Smith who likes the Flyers and in particular, Claude Giroux. In the third period, the Flyers evened the score at three when Brayden Schenn got his second goal of the game 6:18 into the period on the power play. The Flyers cashed in again on the power play when Wayne Simmonds scored to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead 8:57 into the third period. They added an empty net goal with a fraction of a second to go to officially seal the deal as the Flyers made an impressive comeback to overtake the Jets, 5-3 much to the delight of the announced crowd of 19,933 which should be a sellout.

After the game, the King and I drove to Golden Corral to have dinner between games in Bensalem, Pennsylvania which is midway between Philadelphia and Trenton. By doing so, we were able to help ourselves to happiness.

Prince at Sun National Bank Center

Once we finished eating, we drove to Trenton, NJ and we went to the Sun National Bank Center which is the home of the Trenton Titans of the ECHL. They were hosting the Reading Royals.

As for the game we saw, the Titans scored early and often. In matter of fact, it was a one man show for the first half of the game as Stephen Schultz scored four unanswered goals to give the Titans a commanding 4-0 lead. The Titans wound up adding a few more goals in the third period as they cruised to an easy 6-0 victory as the announced crowd of 5,146 went home happy. That figure seemed a bit inflated. They had a bigger crowd than usual though which was nice to see.

After the game, I drove us back home. We got back just before midnight which allowed me to get a good night sleep.

Stay tuned for another special post that will recap the basketball doubleheader we saw on Sunday.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman