Saturday night the Worcester Railers took on the Trois-Rivieres Lions at the DCU Center in the teams’ third meeting in four days, and behind a franchise-record three goals in two minutes and goaltender Ken Appleby’s 35 saves Worcester took the rubber match 3-1 in front of a crowd of 5,622.
It was scoreless after twenty minutes of play, but that was all due to Appleby and Lions’ netminder Philippe Desrosiers, who combined to make 26 saves in the frame as both sides cranked up the offense. The second period saw more of the same, with Desrosiers stopping three different Worcester breakaways and Appleby making solid saves on the other end.
Trois-Rivieres was the first to find the back of the net when Peter Abbandonato threw a pass from behind the Railers net to Olivier Archambault at the blue line. Archambault took two strides in and blasted one from 45-feet that beat a screened Appleby at 15:38.
After getting to Desrosiers for four goals Wednesday, in 96 minutes of play over the two weekend games in Worcester the Railers had managed to beat him only once, but that all changed late in the second frame when Worcester set a record for three quickest goals in franchise history.
The first came at 16:47 when Jacob Hayhurst tried to dump the puck into the Trois-Rivieres zone, but the puck was gloved down by Lions defenseman Mathieu Gagnon. His clearing bid was stolen by Liam Coughlin, who passed it up to Ross Olsson in the slot. Olsson’s shot beat Desrosiers to the high stick side to make it 1-1.
Just 20 seconds later Collin Adams got his first as a pro when he banged home a centering feed from Paul Thompson. The play began with Coughlin taking the puck to the net, but his bid was swept aside to the left-wing halfboards. Karl Boudrias pinched up to grab the loose puck and rimmed it around the boards to Thompson behind the net, who continues it to Adams out front. Currently Boudrias does not have an assist listed, but that will certainly change.
Exactly two minutes after their first goal Worcester would make it a 3-1 lead when it looked like a play that wouldn’t amount to anything ended up with the puck in the Lions net. With both teams making long passes through the neutral zone, Nolan Vesey’s homerun pass was blocked at the Lions’ blueline by Charles-David Beaudoin, and the puck ended up on the stick of Trois-Rivieres forward Cedric Montminy. Hayhurst poked the puck away from Montminy and right onto the stick of Blake Christensen, who skated around the charging Montminy and fired a shot from the low right wing circle off the near post and in.
From that point on the goaltenders took over again, with Appleby being the far busier, making 14 saves in the final frame to preserve the 3-1 victory.
The Railers now hit the road again and play at Maine Wednesday night, and after Thanksgiving off play at Adirondack Friday night. Their next game at the DCU Center is Sunday, November 28 against Newfoundland.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Brent Beaudoinand Anthony Repaci. Colten Ellis was the backup netminder. Earlier on Saturday, the Bridgeport Islanders recalled defenseman Connor McCarthy and forward Felix Bibeau, leaving the Railers with just five defensemen on the roster. Head Coach Dave Cunniff dressed them all and added Ross Olsson as an 11th forward. McCarthy and the previously recalled Mike Cornell were in the lineup for Bridgeport Saturday night in their 2-1 loss to Springfield. Bibeau was a scratch. Nick Albano, on a PTO with the Thunderbirds from Worcester, was in the lineup for Springfield.
It was the annual Guns and Hoses game Saturday as the Railers celebrated Frontline Heroes Night, with the Worcester Police and Fire Department’s hockey teams playing a game as the opening act to the Trois-Rivières Lions vs Worcester Railers contest later in the evening. Generally, the Worcester Fire team wins these games handily, but despite the 6-1 final this was the best showing by the Police team, with it being scoreless after one frame and just 2-0 after two periods. With WPD pressing to even the score, the more talented WFD team took over the final period. We can’t list the goal scorers because there were no lineups available, but whomever the WPD goaltender was he had some incredibly nice-looking blue hockey gear.
Apparently, there have been two significant schedule changes that the Railers haven’t announced yet. All of their online schedules now show that the game on December 8th at the DCU Center against Maine has been moved from a 7pm start to a 10am start, and the Wednesday, April 8th match-up between the two teams in Worcester has been moved from 10am to 7pm. Those changes have already been made to the post pinned to the top of the 210Sports Facebook page.
It was the fourth game in a row at the DCU Center that the Worcester Telegram couldn’t be bothered to send a reporter the 1,000 or so feet from their offices to cover a pro hockey game. It’s well known their staff has shrunk over the years and we all understand that in today’s media climate they can no longer have a staff reporter at every event, but you’d think if the person penciled in to cover the team is otherwise occupied that the Telegram could line up a correspondent to cover a professional sporting event. Although it’s not like there’s a three-time award-winning minor league hockey journalist just sitting on press row covering the event for the team that they could hire on a per diem basis. Oh, wait…
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Ken Appleby
2. WOR – 8 Collin Adams
3. WOR – 23 Ross Olsson
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Liam Coughlin.
Even Strength Lines
Adams / Caughlin / Thompson
Christensen / Pierog / Jozefek
Vesey / Hayhurst / Smotherman
Olsson / x / Callin
Spetz / McGurty
Malatesta / Furgele
Boudrias
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 0 1 0 – 1
Worcester 0 3 0 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Callin Wor (tripping), 11:04; Abbandonato Tr (hooking), 14:04.
2nd Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Archambault 5 (Abbandonato, Dubé), 15:38. 2, Worcester, Olsson 2 (Coughlin), 16:47. 3, Worcester, Adams 1 (Thompson), 17:07. 4, Worcester, Christensen 4 (Hayhurst), 18:47. Penalties-St-Amant Tr (hooking), 2:43; Hayhurst Wor (interference), 12:36.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Callin Wor (roughing), 2:06.
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 10-12-14-36. Worcester 16-12-5-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 0 / 3; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Desrosiers 3-3-0-0 (33 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Appleby 3-3-0-1 (36 shots-35 saves).
A-5,622
Referees-Matt Menniti (10).
Linesmen-Shane Kanaly (74), Evan Reddick (67).
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