Royalty is hitting the road again to Canada & Upstate New York at the end of October!

Here's the game plan:

I'm renting a car from Avis on Thursday morning for the weekend.

I'll be driving up North of the Border to Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, & through different parts of New York State to see NHL hockey, a Canadian Football League game, college football & AHL hockey before returning to NYC late Saturday night/Sunday morning. My pal Mike Carroll aka Sabre Mike as we call him is joining me. He asked me if I would take him again to see his favorite team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats play. I told him I would. They happen to be playing in Ottawa. When the NHL schedule came out, he saw the Montreal Canadiens were home the night before. He has always wanted to go there as well so I arranged to add that to the mix. I was planning to skip seeing the World Series again that weekend. I'm counting on the fact that it will be too far away & too pricey for me to attend. We shall wait & see what happens. If the Yankees get in, I'll probably cut the trip short so I can go to games 4 & 5. His birthday is on November 12th so we'll be celebrating a little earlier again this year.             

Thursday October 26th Kings at Canadiens 7:30PM

Friday October 27th Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ottawa Redblacks 7PM

Saturday October 28th Bucknell Bison at Colgate Raiders 1PM

                                       Springfield Falcons at Binghamton Devils 7:05PM
           
If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join Mike & I.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 12/5 in review

Monday morning the King and I flew back from the Twin Cities on American Airlines. We arrived at NY-LaGuardia airport at 12:20PM which was 10 minutes early. As a result, we had a little more time to recuperate from our incredible weekend getaway.

The final numbers were as follows:

1,095 miles driven over the three days. It cost a mere $37.83 for the car we rented for the weekend from Alamo. Needless to say, we got our money's worth.

Three games, three days, two sports, two states and one province in two different countries.

We replenished our energy as we went to Madison Square Garden to see the Rangers play the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With our pal Sean MacDonald, who currently lives in Japan was there in royal spirit as we saw his favourite hockey team hold on to beat the Rangers by a score of 4-2. They added an empty net goal with just five seconds left after they held a 3-0 lead midway through the game.

Tuesday I went back to work. Afterwards I went back to the Garden. This time for the Jimmy V Classic. I saw a college basketball doubleheader with my friends Phil Butleman and Frank Anichiarico while the King went out to the Nassau Coliseum to see the Islanders play the Tampa Bay Lightning.

We saw the tenth ranked Missouri Tigers of the Big 12 play the Villanova Wildcats of the Big East. The Tigers maintained a comfortable cushion throughout the game as they cruised to a 81-71 victory. They were led by guard Marcus Denmon who finished with 28 points to lead all scorers. Teammate Ricardo Ratliffe added 17 points and he grabbed 11 rebounds to pace the Tigers.

In the second game, we saw the eleventh ranked Golden Eagles of Marquette of the Big East defeat the Washington Huskies of the PAC 12, 79-77. Jae Crowder hit a game winning three pointer with just 6.3 seconds to give the Golden Eagles the win. This was a tightly contested and entertaining game.

Wednesday night I met the King and we went up to Riverdale, NY where we saw the 104th "Battle of the Bronx" as the Jaspers of Manhattan College hosted the Rams of Fordham.

As for the game, it didn't turn out to be much of a battle as the Jaspers blew away the Rams, 81-47 in front of a packed house at the Draddy Gymnasium. Our friend Bryan Gilligan was very happy to hear the good news because he graduated from Manhattan College.

Thursday night after work I went out to Newark, NJ to see the Devils play the Ottawa Senators. The Devils fell behind 3-0 in this one then they rallied to take a 4-3 lead midway through the third period. The Senators forced an overtime session by scoring to tie the game at four with a shorthanded goal no less with just five seconds to go in regulation time. Neither team scored in the extra session.

The Devils wound up outlasting the Senators in a four round shootout to win the game, 5-4.

After work Friday night, I had a much needed night off as I prepared for a busy weekend in the local area. It didn't stop the King and I and our friends Bryan Gilligan and Frank Anichiarico as we went to Donovan's Pub for dinner and drinks.

Saturday morning after I did my wash, I trekked back out to Newark, NJ to see the Devils take on another team from Canada, this time they hosted the Montreal Canadiens. A number of buses came down from north of the border to see their team play on the road. They picked the right game to attend as the Canadiens held off the Devils as they beat them by a score of 2-1.

After the game, our friend Dennis Barbera gave the King and I some royal treatment as he drove us out to the Nassau Coliseum where we all saw the Islanders play the Pittsburgh Penguins. We met up with our buddy Eddie Pelle who was also present and accounted for at the game.

As for the game we saw, it turned out to be a wild one. The Islanders took an early 2-0 lead but the Penguins tied it up at two. The Islanders went back up by a goal at 3-2 but the Penguins came back again to tie it at three then they pulled away by scoring three more unanswered goals to escape Long Island with a 6-3 decision.

Sunday was another local double dose of sporting events as the King and I went out to MetLife Stadium to see the Jets battle the Kansas City Chiefs with our pal Richie Wolber aka Staten Island Rich. It turned out to be scalping as the Jets whipped up on the depleted Chiefs. They beat them, 37-10.

After the game, the King and I headed back to the Garden where we saw the Rangers play the red hot Florida Panthers. The Rangers cooled them off as they blew them away, 6-1.

With that, another busy week is in the books. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

Remember if you want to take part in the royal experience in the future please get in contact with me so I can arrange to make it happen for you.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Flyers trick the Canadiens, 6-2!

The Philadelphia Flyers went North of the border to face the Montreal Canadiens in the back end of their home and home series. The Flyers had won 3-2 in Philadelphia on Friday night. So they came in looking for the sweep.

Royalty was also in attendance to witness it. My partner Michael Casiano aka "The King" and I left in the morning and we drove all day to get there. I rented a car from Avis which is located a mile and a half from my house. I picked up the King at the Grand Central Station Post Office where he works. He was working overtime probably for the last time for the time being. Needless to say, he needed the money.

Traveling from place to place does get expensive especially when you do it as often as we do. I always do my best to minimize cost and maximize enjoyment.

In this case, we took a ride up the "Northway" I-87 up through New York State. Once we got halfway up there the traffic thinned out to practically nobody. Unlike most states in our country, state troopers were in full force. Luckily for us we weren't victimized. We didn't need any unexpected expenses.

With that being said, we still needed tickets for the hockey game. Before we actually arrived in Montreal at 5:25PM we stopped to check into a hotel in Plattsburgh. We also got a bite to eat at Wendy's. We took it out since we were pressed for time.

We then proceeded to get to the border to go through Customs to enter Canada. Unlike previous visits, no hassle this time. We were questioned if we had tickets to the hockey game though. We responded not yet. We hoped to pick up singles at the box office. We finally arrived in Montreal on schedule at 5:25PM when the car was parked.

Actually that was 5 minutes earlier than I wanted to be there. We then had to feed the parking meter until 6PM and we were good for the night. Once we got out of the car it was freezing cold and windy.

I said to myself this is going to be fun trying to get tickets. Off we went to the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. We get to the box office hoping they had cancellations at the window. No such luck. Time to good to work.

After searching for 45 minutes or so, I came across a few different people from the States. After asking different people who mainly spoke French. Thankfully for them we got in relatively cheap considering. The scalpers which there were many wanted 3 or 4 times as much for a single ticket. We were willing to pay a price if necessary but not what they wanted.

We wound getting 2 separate single seats so we didn't get to sit together. I was very lucky because the young lady I bought the first ticket from was really nice.

Her name was Chrissy Capp. We both exchanged stories throughout the game which made for a very memorable night. I gave her my business card in hopes we can stay in touch. We'll have to wait and see about that. She's a big hockey fan.

As for the game itself, it started with a fight only 4 seconds into it when Ian LaPerriere and Ryan O'Bryne squared off. Things settled there after. The Flyers started fast. Daniel Briere opened the scoring with his first of 3 goals which included a penalty shot. The Flyers lead 3-0 after the 1st period and never looked back. They went on to win easily, 6-2!

Big plans in store for the long weekend

Here's the game plan for the President's Day Weekend:

Tonight Predators at Devils 7PM

Tomorrow Flyers at Canadiens 7PM

Sunday Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Adirondack Phantoms 3PM

Monday Fairfield at Manhattan 7PM

Check back to see how it played out.