Monday started off with York High’s trip to Spring Grove. Dinner first at the Famous Hot Weiner place, it gets the coveted Kevin Seal of Approval. This could be a make or break week for the Bearcats but it starts off with what is usually a laugher as Spring Grove is bad, really bad.  They had their moment in the sun a few years ago and then unceremoniously fell flat on their face, which is where they were before Eli Brooks donned a Rocket uniform. York got up early, kept scoring and Spring Grove kept it moderately close for a half but that was it. The fourth quarter broke the Rockets back for a large York High 70-34 win. I wanted to say huge but a huge win would be Central on Friday.

Wednesday saw Dallastown come to York. Good improvement from the JV team as they scored the win this time. The varsity game was a defensive slog that had good play sprinkled with a lot of bad play from both teams. The lead changed hands several times through the game but it looked like York put themselves up when Antoine Beard hit 3 3’s in the 3rd period (including banking in two of them). He is probably York’s best player but he is too aggressive on defense and picks up too many cheap fouls. He fouled out with nearly 5 minutes left in the game and York’s semi-comfortable lead evaporated. With about 10 seconds left Dallastown took a one point lead but York’s Cameron Gallon dribbled down the court and around defenders and launched a 15 foot jumper that he swished to win the game. It wasn’t the prettiest but a win is a win as York takes this one 50-49. I think I might have been in the background as Fox 43 interviewed Gallon after the game.

Friday saw Central come to York in a key test. It looks like York will make Districts, which I didn’t think would happen at the beginning of the year so by just doing that they have exceeded my expectations. There is even a fairly good chance that they will make the league playoffs too. If they are going to make the playoffs a win against Central would go a long way and Central is coming off of a tough win against Northeastern. York got out to a 1-0 lead and then it got ugly. Central did just about everything right in the 1st half, especially the 2nd quarter. It’s hard to remember a half when York High got held to 13 points. Central’s B team played most of the 2nd half but I will say at least that York didn’t give up and played hard in the half. While there was little doubt that Central would win they did at least make the game look a bit more respectable as Central wins this 72-56. So at least York’s starters are better than Central’s backups and at least York won the JV game in ugly fashion.

Saturday was supposed to be the Reading Shootout, which in recent years has been a guarantor of snow as it has been cancelled twice in the past three years and just like clockwork, this one was cancelled as well with 5-8 inches of snow in the forecast f0r the Reading area. It’s amazing. We didn’t get that much snow, just a coating early and then some sleet and freezing rain in the afternoon. I walked downtown for a beer at Liquid Hero and it turned into a stop at Gift Horse and Mudhook as well. Sobered up and then did some shoveling to clear the walks later in the evening. It was more ice than snow by that point.

Sunday took me up to Hershey to watch the Bears take on the Rochester Americans in a series that began in 1956. These are the two oldest AHL franchises and 2 of the 3 oldest minor league teams (and non-Original 6 teams). Pregame stops at Mellow Mink and Evergrain beforehand. This one started out as a defensive slugfest as both the Bears’ Vitek Vanacek and Americans’ Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen were pitching shutouts midway through the game until Martin Fehervary snuck one through Luukkonen’s 5-hole before he could butterfly his legs. They struck again with a Brian Pinho goal in the 3rd and a minute later Garret Pilon shot one towards Luukkonen like he was anticipating a line change or to get some traffic in front of the net but it wound up going in. Riley Sutter added his first pro goal when I was in the bathroom preparing to leave. Fighting the 10,047 people to get out was there is not something that I wanted to do and at that point the only question was would Vanacek pitch the shutout. Unfortunately for that Remi Elie got one in with 28 seconds left to spoil the shutout bid. Hershey wins this one 4-1.