1995 at Providence 3-2 loss
The Worcester IceCats visited the Providence Bruins and thanks to some stellar play from Baby-Bs netminder Scott Bailey lost a 3-2 contest. Patrice Tardif opened the scoring for the ‘Cats just 1:02 into the contest with a goal assisted by Jason Widmer and Craig Darby. Denis Chervyakov got Providence back to even with a power play goal at 4:49, but Jarrett Deuling would get Worcester its lead back with a shorthanded goal at 17:43. Derek Armstrong had the only helper on the play. At 1:08 of the middle stanza Peter Laviolette tied it again on the power play for the Bruins, and Tod Hartje had the game winner while shorthanded at 8:13 of the third. The IceCats’ game notes indicate “Bailey plays the game of his life!”, and he finished with 32 saves. Mike Buzak had 26 saves in the loss.
1996 at Portland 4-3 win
The Worcester IceCats and Portland Pirates were tied after two periods, and it was Rob Pearson who broke the tie with the only goal in the third period for the 4-3 ‘Cats win. Kent Hulst opened the scoring for Portland just 30 seconds into the contest. Jason Zent tied the game at 13:53 on the power play, with assists going to Bob Lachance and Radim Bicanek. Libor Zabransky put Worcester in the lead at 17:02, with helpers from Mike Maneluk and Stephane Roy. Dan Laperriere tied the game 2-2 at 2:19 on the power play for the Pirates. Scott Pellerin put Worcester back in the lead at 3:49, from Pearson and Leeman, but once again Portland would tie it on a goal from Benoit Gratton at 17:12. Just when it looked like the game was heading to overtime Pearson blasted a shot off a face-off that hit Pirates defenseman Steve Poapst and banked into the net at 19:26. Gary Leeman had the lone assist. Mike Buzak made 24 saves for the win.
1997 vs Hartford 4-2 win
The Worcester IceCats used three third period goals to put the Wolf Pack in the rear view mirror in a 4-2 win over Hartford. Chris Kenady would have the only goal of the opening 20 minutes, with assist to Ivan Ciernik and Bryce Salvador, at 13:53. Hartford would then have the only two goals of the middle period, with Ken Gernander scoring shorthanded at 13:36 and Mike Martin lighting the lamp at 17:26. Just 53 seconds into the third period Stephane Roy tied the game with Mike Prokopec getting the assist. Mike Maneluk would give the ‘Cats the lead at 6:10, with Prokopec and Roy helping. Prokopec would then score into an empty net at 19:36 for the 4-2 final. Frederic Cassivi had 22 saves in the victory.
2000 vs Hershey 3-2 win
(TICKER) Andrei Troschinsky’s first goal of the season broke a third-period tie as the Worcester Ice Cats slipped past the Hershey Bears, 3-2. Troschinsky, who is playing in North America for the first time after competing in Russia last season, broke a 2-2 tie with his first career AHL goal. Daniel Corso scored the first goal of the game with a shorthanded tally at 6:06 of the first period and Tyler Willis scored at 6:14 in the second stanza which gave Worcester a 2-1 lead. Dwayne Roloson made 29 saves to notch his first victory of the season and help the Ice Cats improve to 2-2 this season. Kelly Fairchild and Evgeny Lazarev each tallied for Hershey and Frederic Cassivi made 38 saves in the loss for the Bears.
2001 vs Lowell 3-1 loss
The Worcester IceCats scored an early first period goal but then didn’t beat Lock Monsters netminder Tyler Moss again in a 3-1 ‘Cats loss. Justin Papineau got the IceCats goal at 2:34, with Dale Clarke and Jame Pollock assisting. Mike Zigomanis then had the next two for Lowell, the first at 8:21 and the second in the middle stanza at 10:25. Jeff Heerema made it the 3-1 final at 5:22 of the third. Moss finished the game with 37 saves for the Lock Monsters. Cody Rudkowsky had 20 in the loss.
2003 at Lowell 4-2 loss
The Worcester IceCats overcame a two goal deficit but two third period goals by Lowell left wing Ryan Bayda, who had a hat trick in the game, handed the ‘Cats a 4-2 defeat. Bayda got the first goal of the game on the power play at 10:27 of the first period, and Josh Green made it 2-0 with a goal at 16:52. Worcester began its comeback with a second period power play goal by Johnny Pohl, assisted by Blake Evans, at 15:18. Ernie Hartlieb got the IceCats back to even in the third at 13:58, with Jay McClement and Marc Brown getting the helpers. But Bayda would connect at 16:57 to give the Lock Monsters the lead back, and his unassisted shorthanded empty net goal iced the game at 18:50. Dany Sabourin had 41 saves for the win, while Reinhard Divis made 22 saves in a losing effort.
2006 at Providence 3-1 loss
The WorSharks allowed two early goals and never recovered in a 3-1 loss to the P-Bruins. In the first period Jeremy Reich scored a shorthanded goal at 1:36 and Ben Walter made it 2-0 at 8:58. In the third period Martins Karsums added a power play goal at 11:09 forthe three goal lead. Mathieu Darche had the only goal for Worcester, at 16:22 on a five on three power play, when he knocked home the rebound of a shot by Mathieu Biron. Dan Spang had the secondary assist. Thomas Greiss had 25 saves in the loss.
2007 vs Portland 3-2 win
The WorSharks used three second period goals to defeat the Pirates 3-2. Mike Iggulden had a hand in all three Worcester goals, which came in a span of 2:12 in the middle stanza. Jason King scored on the power play at 1:43 of the first for the Portland lead. At 7:45 of the middle period Tom Cavanagh took a feed at the top of the crease from Graham Mink and beat Portland goaltender Mike McKenna. Iggulden had the secondary assist. Iggulden then beat McKenna with a rebound of his own shot at 9:26 on the power play to make it 2-1. Mink and Patrick Traverse had the helpers. Thirty-one seconds later, Nate Raduns took an Iggulden pass and flipped the puck over McKenna’s shoulder on his stick side. Cavanagh had the secondary helper on that goal. Tyler Bouck had a third period goal at 4:26 for the 3-2 final. Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for the win.
2012 at Norfolk 4-3 SOL
(WORSHARKS) The Sharks outshot the Admirals 45-29 but Worcester fell 4-3 in the shootout to the defending Calder Cup champion Norfolk Admirals at the Norfolk Scope Arena on Saturday night. Harri Sateri made 25 saves in goal in the shootout loss and James Sheppard scored his first career AHL goal for Worcester. Matt Tennyson tied the score late in the third period but the Sharks eventually fell in the shootout. The Sharks came out with an edge in the first period as Bracken Kearns (1st FM) fought John Mitchell (1st FM) at 26 seconds to set the tone early. The Admirals struck first on the power play on their first shot of the game as Patrick Maroon (1st) tipped in a point shot past Harri Sateri at 1:11 to put the Admirals ahead 1-0. Rookie Yanni Gourde (1st) slammed home a loose rebound after a faceoff win by Frazer McLaren in the Norfolk zone at 3:23 to tie the score at 1-1. The Sharks took their first lead of the season at 19:36 after a blast from the left point by Matt Irwin was stopped by netminder Igor Bobkov, but James Sheppard (1st) scored his first AHL goal by tapping in a loose rebound at the side of the net. Worcester led 2-1 after 2o minutes and held a 15-7 shot advantage. Norfolk took control in the middle frame aided by two early power play chances and two scores. Patrick Maroon (2nd) finished off a nice feed from the left corner by Devante Smith-Pelly past Harri Sateri at 6:21 to tie the score at 2-2. Just 2:10 later, John Mitchell (2nd) converted a 3-on-2 rush with a wicked sot from the right circle at 8:31 to put the Admirals ahead 3-2. Travis Oleksuk had two great chances to tie the game later in the period but Igor Bobkov stood tall and made some big saves for Norfolk. The Admirals outshot the Sharks 14-9 in the middle frame as Worcester trailed 3-2 through 40 minutes. It was all Worcester in the third period as the Sharks fired 19 shots on goaltender Igor Bobkov but was only able to find the back of the net once. Rookie defenseman Matt Tennyson (1st) slapped home a 60 foot shot through a screen and through the pads of Bobkov at 16:04 to force overtime and tie the score at 3-3. Neither team had a glorious chance in the overtime period and James Sheppard was the only Sharks player to score in the shootout as Worcester fell 4-3. The Sharks overall record falls to 0-1-0-1 and 0-1-0-1 on the road.
2018 at Reading 2-1 win
(RAILERS) The Worcester Railers HC (1-0-0-0, 2pts) opened the 2018-19 regular season with an exciting 2-1 overtime win over the host Reading Royals (0-0-1-0, 1pt) in front of 5,146 fans at the Santander Arena on Saturday evening. Josh Holmstrom scored 1:53 into overtime, Barry Almeida also found the back of the net for Worcester and Mitch Gillam was brilliant with 29 saves in goal. Frankie DiChiara scored the only Royals goal while Branden Komm made 39 saves in the losing effort. Each team had a power play opportunity in the opening period but only the Royals were able to find the back of then net. Former Railers winger Frankie DiChiara (1st) buried a cross ice pass from the right circle past netminder Mitch Gillam at 8:56 on the man advantage to give Reading a 1-0 lead. Ryan MacKinnon and David Quenneville each hit the pipe for the Railers, but Worcester could not bury one behind Royals goaltender Brandon Komm on 14 shots. Mitch Gillam had 11 first period saves as Worcester headed to the dressing room down 1-0. Barry Almeida (1st) fired a tough angle shot from down low along the right wing wall and found room above Branden Komm’s shoulder at 1:04 for an unassisted goal in the second period to tie the score. Shots were 10-8 in the middle frame as the two teams headed to the intermission tied 1-1. Worcester put the pressure on in the third period outshooting Reading 14-7 in the third period and hit the post but neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third frame. In overtime, Mitch Gillam added three more saves before Nick Sorkin raced down the middle of the ice on a breakaway and was stopped by Branden Komm. Sorkin was able to recover the rebound and found Josh Holmstrom (1st) at the side of the cage for the game winner at 1:53 as the Railers snagged the 2-1 road victory.
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