The Worcester Railers faced off against the Brampton Beast Friday night in the first of a pair of games at the CAA Centre before the holiday break, and for the third time this season they failed to light the lamp as they dropped the contest 2-0.
Despite the teams each having 33 shots in the game it was all about the goaltenders, with Brampton’s Alex Dubeau and Worcester’s Ian Milosz both making several highlight saves. What made it hard on the netminders was there were stretches where both teams generated shots but no real scoring chances, followed by runs of great bids that needed huge saves to keep out of the net. It was a game that could have easily been 8-7 in either direction.
If someone had said pregame that Milosz would make 31 saves on 33 shots you’d have been hard pressed to find a Railers fan that wouldn’t have taken that in a heartbeat. Of course they would be presuming Worcester would score three, which they didn’t.
It was the Beast getting on the board just 46 seconds into the contest on the only mistake Milosz has made in his two games played. Brampton’s David Pacan fired the puck on net, but Milosz misplayed it and the puck ended up right on the stick of David Vallorani. He buried it for his 125th career ECHL goal.
Worcester threw everything they could at Dubeau but couldn’t beat him once. Jackson Leef gave Brampton an insurance goal at 11:46 of the third off a three on two rush to make it 2-0 Beast, and that’s where it ended.
The two squads play again Saturday with a 4pm puck drop. The Railers will then go on their holiday break, next playing Friday in Adirondack. They return to the DCU Center for a Saturday contest against Maine.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Florentino, Ross Olsson, Cody Payne, and Tanner Pond (14-day IR/upper). Evan Buitenhuis was once again the back-up goaltender. On Thursday the New York Islanders reassigned defenseman David Quenneville from the Railers to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
A quick little factoid about Olsson. The Railers record in games Olsson is a scratch is 1-7-1. In games he plays they are 7-10-0. Not saying Olsson, who has four goals and two assists in 17 games, is the answer to all the Railers issues, but it sure looks like he should be playing more.
The fact this is appearing in the post will tell you how uninteresting most the hockey game really was. This writer has been listening to Railers play by play man Eric Lindquist call road games for Worcester hockey since 2007, and I’ve long since become accustomed to the possibility of almost anything happening during his broadcasts. So there was no shock when Lindquist started talking about Christmas music in Friday night’s broadcast, but there was some surprise in that he’d never heard of Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. Cam McGuire, in a singing voice that can only be labeled as “slightly better than mine”, tried to sing some to him. “Tried” being the operative word here. So for everyone who listened to Cam’s serenade, here is The King singing it the way it was supposed to be done.
A reminder for folks that the Worcester Railers Booster Club has some player signed Christmas ornaments for auction on eBay to benefit The Worcester Junior Railers Mike Ellsessar Scholarship Fund. Clicking on each player’s name will open a new tab/window and bring you to their ornament page.
Barry Almeida
Ryan MacKinnon
Ross Olsson
David Quenneville
Yanick Turcotte
The three stars of the game were
1. BRM – 31 Alex Dubeau
2. BRM – 97 David Vallorani
3. BRM – 5 Jackson Leef
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Ian Milosz.
Even Strength Lines
Samuels-Thomas / Pierog / Thomas
Almeida / Walsh / Salituro
Callin / Dudek / Brauer
Turcotte
Doherty / Chukarov
Murray / MacKinnon
Stander / Mackenzie
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Brampton 1 0 1 – 2
1st Period-1, Brampton, Vallorani 14 (Pacan, Leavens), 0:46. Penalties-Stander Wor (hooking), 1:51.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Miller Brm (holding), 7:19; Walsh Wor (interference), 12:39; Vallorani Brm (tripping), 14:12.
3rd Period-2, Brampton, Leef 6 (Beauchemin, Bakker), 11:16. Penalties-Doherty Wor (hooking), 1:45; Murray Wor (roughing), 14:32.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-15-10-33. Brampton 13-8-12-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Brampton 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Milosz 1-1-0-0 (33 shots-31 saves). Brampton, Dubeau 9-5-0-0 (33 shots-33 saves).
A-2,272
Referees-Kyle Lekun (32).
Linesmen-Riley Page (62), Andre Grougrou (63).
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