The Worcester Railers visited the Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières, Quebec for a mid-week match-up against the Lions Wednesday night, and played well in the opening and closing frames but were done in by a poor middle stanza in a 2-1 loss.
It was Worcester who would light the lamp first when captain Bobby Butler sent Collin Adams into the Lions’ zone midway through the opening frame.
It was an odd second period, with the Railers looking completely lost for huge portions of it. Trois-Rivieres took advantage, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Ryan Francis knotted the score at 11:13 of the stanza, and William Leblanc gave his team the lead 80 seconds later.
The Railers had multiple chances to get the equalizer, including a late-game power plays that ended up with them skating six on three after pulling Henrik Tikkanen, but they could not light the lamp a second time.
Worcester will now travel to Glens Falls, NY for a Friday match-up against the Adirondack Thunder.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Zack Bross, Christain Evers, and Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown). Newly signed Brent Moran was the backup goaltender. With a few injuries starting to pop up on the New York Islanders the expected roster shuffle began earlier this week with Ken Appleby being assigned to Bridgeport. Soon after Blade Jenkins was summoned to The Nutmeg State.
Over on LFG Railers the “Railers Player of the Week” voting was done for last week’s winner, and it was Henrik Tikkanen with half the votes cast. It was a four-way race at the beginning, but soon the Finnish netminder was out front to stay. Bobby Butler, Liam Coughlin, and Collin Adams were the other finalists.
This was mentioned on social media but is worth repeating here, in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Newfoundland with 2:24 left in regulation the Railers ended up shorthanded and Connor McCarthy stepped on the ice to kill the penalty. His shift lasted the remainder of the game. During that time there was one timeout, two other stoppages, and Brent Beaudoin’s empty net goal. McCarthy went to the bench after the goal but was sent back onto the ice by head coach Jordan Smotherman to take the ensuing face-off with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. He didn’t win it, although generally, defensemen don’t do well in face-offs anyway.
There was a scoring change on Collin Adams’ power play goal in that win over the Growlers. It now reads: “3. WOR Adams, (10) (Ryan, Coughlin), 16:38 (PP)”. That gives Liam Coughlin three assists in the game.
Wednesday was the eighth anniversary of what has become known as “The Magic Bus Cancelation” in these parts. On Sunday, December 21, 2014, the Worcester Sharks were scheduled to play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Webster Bank Arena. The problem was the Sound Tigers were returning home from Friday and Saturday night games in Norfolk, Virginia, which is an incredibly long bus trip. After having tried to move the start time of the game from 3pm to 7pm several weeks earlier, a move denied by the AHL because of the CBA-mandated holiday break, suddenly in the middle of New Jersey the Sound Tigers bus overheated. Long story short–and trust me, it’s a very long story–Bridgeport got what they wanted and the game was postponed. For their next visit to the DCU Center many introduction songs were talked about to be played, but the game operations director vetoed them all for being in “bad taste”. DJ Matt Jacobs decided to play one without asking, which drew tremendous laughter from press row: Magic Bus by The Who. And the legend was born.
The three stars of the game were:
1. TR – 30 Philippe Desrosiers
2. TR – 44 Ryan Francis
3. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Collin Adams.
Even Strength Lines
Newkirk / Lambert / Ryan
Christensen / Beaudoin / Repaci
Adams / Jerry / Butler
Vesey / Coughlin / x
Brandt / McGurty
Beaulieu / Delmas
Solow / McCarthy
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division
Reading 6, Maine 5
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 0 0 – 1
Trois-Rivières 0 2 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Worcester, Adams 11 (Butler), 9:39. Penalties-Vesey Wor (tripping), 10:56; Beauregard Tr (hooking), 15:20.
2nd Period-2, Trois-Rivières, Francis 4 (Montminy), 11:13. 3, Trois-Rivières, Leblanc 5 (Guay), 12:33. Penalties-Horvath Tr (hooking), 3:02.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Solow Wor (high-sticking), 3:23; Stapley Tr (slashing), 17:21; McKay Tr (slashing), 18:41; Stapley Tr (holding), 19:32.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-6-19-38. Trois-Rivières 11-9-10-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 5; Trois-Rivières 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 9-5-0-0 (30 shots-28 saves). Trois-Rivières, Desrosiers 5-7-1-0 (38 shots-37 saves).
A-2,252
Referees-Samuel Bernier (33), Yannick Jobin-Manseau (30).
Linesmen-Guillaume Brunelle (81), Philippe Pilon (68).
—
Got something you loved (or hated) about the post? Head on over to the 210Sports Facebook page and leave a comment. You could comment on this post too, but fair warning, the spam filter catches lots of stuff it shouldn’t and it might be weeks before we see your comment. While you’re there, give the page a like if you can.
-30-
210Sports 