1994 at Albany 7-3 loss
The Worcester IceCats outworked the River Rats, but the more talented Albany squad outscored the ‘Cats 7-3. Ross Wilson gave the IceCats the lead on the power play at 8:08 of the opening period, with Terry Virtue and Maxim Bets assisting. Sergei Brylin tied it on the power play at 9:23. Mark Ouimet gave Worcester the lead again at 5:09 of the middle period, with Cal McGowan helping. Albany had the next four before Jarrett Deuling made it 5-3 at 8:42 of the third. The River Rats grabbed two more for the 7-3 final. Les Kuntar was in net for the ‘Cats.
1997 at Albany 3-2 loss
The Worcester IceCats took a lead into the third period and then acted like the game was already over as the River Rats dominated the third period to hand the ‘Cats a 3-2 loss. Ivan Ciernik had the only goal of the opening period when he deflected Robert Petrovicky’s pass on net. Albany netminder Richard Shulmistra made the easy save, but the puck went right back to Ciernik and he didn’t miss a second time. In the second period Michal Handzus made it 2-0 with a 40-foot wrist shot after skating down the right wing side at 6:56. Shayne Toporowski had the lone assist on the goal. Eric Bertrand cut the IceCats lead in half at 9:42. The IceCats essentially slept through the final 20 minutes, and were outshot 15-6 and outscored 2-0, with Steve Brule tying the game at 11:24 on the power play and Sergei Brylin getting the eventual game winner at 15:12. Brent Johnson had 32 saves in the contest.
1999 at Rochester 4-3 OTL
(TICKER) Jason Cipolla scored his second goal of the game 2:33 into overtime, lifting the Rochester Americans to a 4-3 victory over the Worcester IceCats. Cipolla, who gave Rochester a 3-0 lead with 21 seconds left in the first period, recorded his second overtime goal and third game-winner of the season. Jamie Thompson, Ladislav Nagy and Daniel Corso scored in the third period as Worcester mounted a furious comeback to force overtime. Corso, who got the equalizer with just under six minutes remaining, also picked up an assist for the IceCats, who fell to 0-1-6 in OT. Scott Nichol notched a goal and an assist and Matt Davidson supplied two assists for the Amerks, who improved to 6-1 in one-goal decisions.
2003 at Norfolk 1-0 win
Reinhard Divis of the Worcester IceCats and Adam Munro of the Admirals put on a goaltending clinic at the Norfolk Scope, but Divis was just a tiny bit better in the ‘Cats 1-0 victory. The lone goal of the game came at 12:41 of the third, with Colin Hemingway lighting the lamp with assists going to Ernie Hartlieb and Jeff Panzer. Divis ended the game with 27 saves.
2004 vs Springfield 1-0 win
(FALCONS) A bounce of the puck proved to be the difference as the Springfield Falcons fell to the Worcester IceCats by a score of 1-0 at the DCU Center on Friday night. ‘Cats center Blake Evans knocked a loose puck into an empty net during a second period power play for the lone goal of the game. Falcons goaltender Jamie Storr made 29 saves in the hard-luck defeat. Worcester netminder Jason Bacashihua stopped 14 shots in registering his first shutout of the season. Following a scoreless first period, Evans benefited from an unexpected bounce on a Worcester dump in to score into an open Springfield net 6:46 into the second. On the play, Storr left the crease to play a puck seemingly heading behind the net. However, the puck caromed off a stanchion above the boards and then the side of the net before an opportunistic Evans pounced on the loose disc to pot his sixth goal of the season. The Falcons best opportunity to notch an equalizer came with 1:49 remaining in the third period when IceCats defenseman Aaron MacKenzie was sent to the penalty box for holding. Forty seconds into the power play, Storr headed to the bench for an extra attacker to give the Falcons a six-on-four skater advantage. But Springfield was unable to capitalize and defenseman Paul Ranger took a penalty to prevent Worcester’s Peter Sejna from scoring into the empty Falcons’ net nullifying the power play. The Falcons finished the game scoreless on five power plays and killed off five of the IceCats’ six chances with the man advantage. Bacashihua improved his record to 5-3-0 with the win.
2006 at Providence 3-2 SOL
(BRUINS) The Providence Bruins twice came back from down one goal this afternoon to defeat the Worcester Sharks 3-2 in a shootout, the P-Bruins moving into a first-place tie with the Portland Pirates in the Atlantic Division at 31 points with the victory. Providence got goals from T.J. Trevelyan and Ben Walter, in addition to shootout goals from David Krejci, Kris Versteeg and Trevelyan. Worcester got on the board first in the opening period with just over five minutes remaining, converting on a power-play goal from the point by defenseman Justin Kurtz, the first goal of the blue-liner’s professional career. Michal Macho and Lukas Kaspar had the helpers. Providence knotted up the game at one midway through the second frame when Trevelyan stole the puck in the neutral zone and dished it off to Yan Stastny, who then returned it to Trevelyan for the goal, beating goaltender Nolan Schaefer. The Sharks regained a one-goal advantage just over six minutes later with Craig Valette tallying his ninth goal. Grant Stevenson and Riley Armstrong each had assists. The P-Bruins tied the game at two in the third period. Walter one-timed a shot from the low wing past Schaefer for his ninth goal 6:31 into the period, helped by Stastny and Matt Lashoff. Neither team was able to convert in overtime, leading to a shootout. The three-round affair saw Providence goals from every shooter, including Krejci, Versteeg and Trevelyan while P-Bruins goalie Hannu Toivonen stopped every shot he faced from the Sharks’ Valette, Graham Mink and Garrett Stafford. Toivonen, assigned to Providence from the Boston Bruins this morning, blocked 27 shots for his second AHL win this year, improving to 2-4-0, and Schaefer made 30 saves. Each team had six power-play opportunities and the Sharks converted once.
2008 vs Springfield 3-2 win OT
(WORSHARKS) Wednesday night’s contest at the DCU Center was fairly mundane for more than two periods and patently exciting for the third period, but it all led up to Ryan Vesce’s second overtime game-winning goal on home ice this season. Vesce’s goal, which came 48 seconds into overtime, backed a 32 save performance by Sharks netminder Taylor Dakers as the Sharks downed the Springfield Falcons 3-2 in overtime. After generating just two shots in the period’s first nine minutes, the Sharks took advantage of a tipped shot to slip the puck past Springfield netminder Devan Dubnyk and take a 1-0 lead. Kyle McLaren’s shot from the right point was redirected by TJ Fox at 9:42, earning Fox his second goal of the year. Falcons tough guy Hans Benson engaged Worcester’s Brad Staubitz in a fight just after the ensuing faceoff, but it didn’t swing the momentum. Rather, consecutive penalties against Springfield gave the Sharks a chance to pull further ahead, but Worcester failed to light the lamp through four minutes of power play time prior to the first intermission. Springfield took offensive control early in the middle frame, forcing Dakers to make 11 saves over a nine minute stretch. Among them was an impressive denial of Falcons forward Ryan Potulny six minutes into the period. Dakers benefited from some help along the way, however, when a two-on-zero break ended with Cory Urquhart firing a five-foot shot off the post. Dakers held fast until five minutes into the third, when a deep turnover led to trouble for Worcester. Falcons winger Carl Corazzini won the puck in the right corner and fed it to linemate Derek Bekar behind the goal line. Bekar kicked the puck to himself in front of the net and beat Dakers with a turnaround wrist shot from just outside the crease to tie the game. The Sharks answered back just three minutes later, regaining the lead at 8:54. Dubnyk made the initial save on Patrick Traverse’s slap shot, but the puck fell to the stick of Jamie McGinn, who was camped at the near post and tucked the puck in behind Dubnyk for his eighth goal of the season. Even quicker than they regained the lead, Worcester surrendered it again – a mere 1:10 later – in similar fashion. This time it was Springfield’s Guillaume Lefebvre who capitalized on a rebound to notch his first goal of the year and tie the contest at 2-2. Dakers was tested again down the stretch and stoned a clean breakaway from Viacheslav Trukhno to force overtime and set up Vesce’s game-winner.
2010 at Manchester 4-1 loss
(WORSHARKS) The Sharks fired 46 shots on goal, 22 in the third period alone, but it was the Manchester Monarchs on top 4-1 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester on Friday night. It was the first time all season the Sharks lost in regulation when scoring the first goal of the game (10-1-0-1). Matt Irwin scored a power play goal for Worcester and Sean Sullivan and Andrew Desjardins extended their point streaks to three games with an assist in the loss. With the regulation loss, the Sharks point streak was snapped at four games and their road point streak at five. The Sharks began the game with three quick power plays and scored at 3:45 when Matt Irwin’s (4th) shot from the point deflected off a Monarch player and past Martin Jones to give Worcester a 1-0 lead. Manchester’s Corey Elkins (7th) scored a rebound goal past Alex Stalock at 18:29 on the power play to even the score at 1-1. Alex Stalock made some big stops in the opening period as the two teams went to the locker room tied 1-1. Manchester grabbed the only goal in a sluggish 2nd period as Dwight King (8th) finished off a terrific tic-tac-toe play at 11:08 giving the Monarchs a 2-1 lead. Worcester fired 14 shots in the middle period but trailed by a goal after forty minutes. The Monarchs scored twice in the third period to chase Alex Stalock out of the net in favor of Carter Hutton. Captain Marc-Andre Cliché (6th) scored on another Monarch backdoor chance on the power play at 6:08 after a great cross crease feed by Dwight King. Core Elkins (8th) picked up his 2nd of the game after he dug the puck out of the corner and skated in front of the crease and ripped a shot over the shoulder of Stalock at 7:38. Martin Jones made 22 saves in the final period as the Sharks dropped their third straight game to Manchester. The Sharks record falls to 13-8-1-4 with 31 points and 6-4-0-3 on the road.
2017 at Brampton 4-3 SOL
(RAILERS) The Worcester Railers HC (8-8-2-2, 20pts) erased a 3-1 deficit in the third period but came up short in the fifth round of the shootout in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Brampton Beast (10-9-1-2, 23pts) in front 3,421 fans at the Powerade Center on Sunday afternoon. Chris Langkow (2-1-3) and Frankie DiChiara (1-1-2) each had multi-point games for Worcester as the Railers were able to force overtime with two goals in the final ten minutes of the third period. Eamon McAdam made 32 saves in net while Matt Lane was the only Worcester player to score in the five-round shootout. A quick paced first period saw good actions in both ends of the ice but it was a terrific pass by Matty Gaudreau at 19:02 to Chris Langkow (5th) who was racing down the rightwing side and deflected the feed over the shoulder of goaltender Marcus Hodgerg for the only score. Shots were 10-9 Worcester through 20 minutes as the Railers led 1-0. Brampton struck twice in the second period to grab a 2-1 advantage. Alex Foster (5th) fired home a one-timer after a nice cross ice feed at 2:55 and Stefan Founier (6th) tapped home a cross the crease pass on the power play at 14:45. Shots were 14-13 in the middle frame as the Railers trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes. The Beast took a two-goal advantage at 3:28 as David Vallorani (1st) snapped a shot off the post from 25 feet on a rush down the right wing. Worcester would battle back as Frankie DiChiara (3rd) roofed a shot from in tight on the power play at 9:59 to get the Railers back within a goal. With the extra attacker on the ice, Chris Langkow (6th) deflected the puck just inside the crossbar at 18:08 to tie the score 3-3. Neither team would score in overtime and Matt Lane was able to score in the first round of the shootout. Worcester thought they had scored in the third round but the goal light did not go on and the shootout continued. Reggie Traccitto scored the game winner in the 5th round as Brampton grabbed the 4-3 shootout victory.
2021 at Maine 3-2 loss
(RAILERS) The Worcester Railers HC (7-10-0-1, 15pts) lost in the sixth meeting of the “VIP Rivalry Cup,” falling to the Maine Mariners (7-8-3-1, 18pts) by the final score of 3-2 at the Cross Insurance Arena on Friday night. The Railers are back at the DCU Center against the Maine Mariners on Saturday, December 11th at 7:05 for the annual “Teddy Bear Toss” game presented by Fidelity Bank. For the fourth time in six meetings, the Mariners scored first as Nick Master (3-0-3) put Maine ahead 1-0 just seven minutes into the first. Nick Master struck again in the second with just 3:59 to go in the period as he deked his way around Poreda and put the Mariners up 2-0. Master would cap off the hat trick with a goal midway through the third to make it a 3-0 game. Worcester made things interesting late in the third with a goal from Will Cullen (1-0-1) with 4:15 remaining, and Brent Beaudoin (1-0-1) with 1:34 to go, but couldn’t score the equalizer. The game would end as Maine won by the final score of 3-2. Nick Master (3rd) was in the right place at the right time as he scored the game’s first goal. He batted home the rebound of a Brendan St-Louis point blast past Jimmy Poreda to give Maine the 1-0 lead with 13:13 to go in the first period. The ice at Cross Insurance Arena soon resembled a yard sale. With 5:19 to go in the period, Charlie Spetz (1stFM) dropped the gloves and took on Cam Askew, as Askew had delivered a late poke at Poreda after the whistle. Carlos Fornaris (1st FM) and Jake Bricknell also broke into a fight 2:17 later, and would head off to the locker rooms for the remainder of the period. Neither team would score again in the period, as the frame came to a close with Maine still ahead 1-0. Shots were 16-9 in favor of Maine after the first 20 minutes. It took 16:01 for the first goal of the second period to be scored. Callum Booth made a save which enabled Maine to come back the other way with speed. Nick Master (4th) was able to carve around Poreda from the left side to give Maine their second goal of the game, putting the Mariners up 2-0. Neither team scored again in the period, as the score was 2-0 after 40. Shots were in favor of Maine 14-12 for the period, and 30-21 for the game. In the third, Nick Master (5th) finished off the hat trick with 12:08 remaining as he tapped home a loose puck on the near side to put Maine up 3-0. With 4:15 to go in the game, Liam Coughlin picked up a loose puck in the offensive end, skated atop the blueline, and found Will Cullen (1st) down low who was able to finally get one past Booth to give Worcester their first goal of the game. Now within two, Worcester pulled Poreda to try to pull off the comeback. The Railers scored their second goal of the game with just 1:34 to go. Brent Beaudoin (2nd) batted at a loose puck in front to get Worcester within one and make it a 3-2 game. The goal would be confirmed after a lengthy review. The Railers thought they scored their third goal of the period with just 10 seconds remaining, but video review determined the puck did not go in, and the game would end with the final score of 3-2. Shots were in favor of Worcester 16-13 in the third, and 43-37 in favor of Maine for the game. Notes: Three Stars: 3rd Star: Callum Booth (35 saves, 2GA, .946 SV%), 2nd Star: Westin Michaud (0-3-3, +3, 3 shots), 1st Star: Nick Master (3-0-3, +3, 3 shots)… Final shots were 43-37 in favor of Maine… Callum Booth (1-1-1) made 35 saves on 37 shots for Maine… Jimmy Poreda (0-1-0) made 40 saves on 43 shots for Worcester, while Brian Wilson served as the EBUG… Worcester went 0-for-2 on the power play while Maine went 0-for-5… Myles McGurty (INJ), Ken Appleby (CEL) did not dress… Mike Cornell, Connor McCarthy, Felix Bibeau, Paul Thompson, and Collin Adams are all still on recall with the Bridgeport Islanders… Blake Christensen is still on recall with the Springfield Thunderbirds… Colten Ellis was recalled by Springfield Thursday… Drew Callin signed a PTO with the Springfield Thunderbirds Thursday and scored in his AHL debut Friday night… Nick Albano signed another PTO with the Springfield Thunderbirds Thursday… Robert Roche made his ECHL debut… Ryan Cloonan signed an SPC Friday… Will Cullen scored his first professional goal… … Ross Olsson led the Railers in shots with 7… Worcester has 54 games left on the regular season 27 of which are at the DCU center. The Railers are now 11-13-4-3 all-time vs. the Mariners and 2-10-2-2 at Cross Insurance Arena against Maine.
2022 vs Idaho 4-1 loss
(RAILERS) The season is too young for any game or series to be a playoff preview, but this weekend’s DCU trifecta involving the Railers and Idaho Steelheads looked like a barometer to measure the merits of the ECHL’s best eastern team and its best western one. The west is winning, with Idaho taking both of the weekend’s first two games by big margins. Saturday night’s was a 4-1 triumph and the Steelheads have outscored Worcester, 9-2, in the two games. The Railers have lost four in a row and are no longer a first-place team. Newfoundland won Saturday and has moved two points ahead of Worcester in the North Division. The Railers have scored just one goal in each of their four defeats. Saturday night’s was by Quin Ryan and gave Worcester an early lead but the Railers could not get another one. Owen Headrick, Patrick Kudla, Ryan Dmowski and Ty Pelton-Byce scored the Idaho goals. The Steelheads’ first two goals were on the power play while Pelton-Byce scored shorthanded Despite the score, the Railers played a much better game than Friday night and coach Jordan Smotherman thought his team took a step in the right direction. “I thought that with the exception of tonight,” he said, “we weren’t playing the right way. I thought tonight we did play the right way but we didn’t capitalize on our chances. The guys came with the right attitude, they worked hard, but we just didn’t get the bounces.” The Railers shook off Friday night’s lethargy with a strong start to the first period and played a solid 20 minutes overall to open the game. They almost made it 1-0 at 6:51 when Nolan Vesey sliced down the slot alone but was stopped by Steelheads goaltender Remi Poirier, who had an excellent night with 35 saves. However, the play drew a hooking penalty by Colten Kehler and Worcester capitalized on the power play at 7:34. Ryan rammed a low shot past Poirier from about 15 feet out, set up by Liam Coughlin’s pass from behind the goal line. The Railers continued to have the best of things until the game was more than half over. Worcester had a couple of great chances to add to its lead in the early minutes of the second period but could not finish. Blake Christensen made a couple of nice moves to provide himself with an open shot from about 12 feet out at 3:15 but Poirier got a piece of it. Anthony Repaci had a breakaway at 8:00 but missed the net on a backhand try. The Steelheads capitalized on that reprieve by scoring three goals in about six minutes, the first two on power plays, the third when they got a break when referee Dominic Cadieux missed an obvious penalty call on Idaho that resulted in an odd-man rush for the Steelheads. Headrick tied the game at 12:13 with a shot from the left point. Kudla put Idaho ahead at 15:58 from the left circle and Dmowski slipped a shortie past Tikkanen at 18:22, set up by Jade Miller. Dmowski’s goal was the most damaging one of the night. Worcester forward Reece Newkirk was tripped into the boards behind the Idaho net and the Steelheads finished the long odd-man rush nicely. The kind of night it was for the Railers was typified by the third period stats. Worcester had 14 shots and no goals. Idaho had one shot, and Pelton-Byce put it in behind Henrik Tikkanen at 8:50 to make it a 4-1 game. MAKING TRACKS – Down by 4-1, the Railers had a power play at 12:22 of the third period and Smotherman replaced Tikkanen with an extra attacker for part of it. … Former Sharks executive and current Worcester State University athletic director Mike Mudd was at the game. … Three Railers were not in uniform. That list included Billy Jerry, Derek Osik and Jack Quinlivan. … A scoring adjustment from Friday night changed Idaho’s Wade Murphy from plus-5 to plus-4, still a notable number. … The teams play Sunday afternoon at 3:05 and are done for the regular season after that. … Attendance was 4,522.
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