The Worcester Railers opened their 2023-2024 preseason schedule Friday night against the Maine Mariners at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn, Maine, and after giving up two goals in the opening 3:06 of the contest played catch-up hockey the rest of the way, and never got closer than a goal in a 4-2 loss. John Copeland and Jake Pivonka scored for Worcester while goaltender Henrik Tikkanen went the distance in the loss.
This is how Worcester lined up for the game, and one might expect this is the only time some of these players will make this sheet.
With the lineup in hand and a cold beverage at the ready, this writer was excited to get the opportunity to once again listen to the dulcet tones of Railers broadcaster Tim Foley as he called the action.
(Sigh)
Well, luckily 210Sports had a minion at the game to help describe some of the action.
Oh, yeah, and pregame line dancing. Included because there’s literally nothing else to write about.
Despite outshooting the Mariners 14-6 Worcester found themselves trailing 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes on goals by Ethan Keppen (1:26) and Wyllum Deveaux (3:06). We’ll post the graphic the Railers tweeted because it shows the new blue jerseys the team will be wearing.
Worcester got two in the middle stanza but still trailed 3-2 after the frame. At least according to the box score, Copeland scored at 3:51 on the power play, assisted by Connor Welsh and Andrei Bakanov. The Railers tweeted the goal was Zach White from Copeland and Walsh. In the long run, it probably doesn’t matter.
After former Worcester forward Jimmy Lambert scored for Maine at 11:59, 19 seconds later Pivonka made it 3-2 with helpers from Riley Piercey and Ashton Calder.
Maine got the only goal in the third period, Keppen’s second of the game, for the 4-2 final.
There were two fights in the contest. The undercard was Mike Higgins (WOR) against Cole Dubinsky (ME). They’re both listed as 5’10”, but Higgins, a Holy Cross College alumni, has 20 pounds on Dubinsky. Didn’t hear anything about the fight, and it’s entirely possible we’ll never see either of those two again. The main event was Artyom Kulakov (WOR) vs Connor Doherty (ME), and no matter what happened in that bout you can safely bet we haven’t heard the last of it.
GAME NOTES
Josh Boyko was the backup goaltender. We’re not going to list the scratches until the regular season begins next weekend.
Preseason records are about as meaningful as getting a Publishers’ Clearinghouse letter saying you’re a winner, but Welsh’s minus-3 rating ties for worst in franchise history in an exhibition game, with Connor Doherty (vs Manchester, 2017) and Bryce Martin (vs Maine, 2021) also hitting that mark. Doherty and Martin are about as far apart on the Railers’ performance spectrum as you can get, so, as noted, a completely meaningless mark.
The loss drops the Railers to 3-4-1 in preseason play. They haven’t won an exhibition game since a 5-3 win at The Colisée against Maine on October 15, 2021.
This box score has a few errors, but we’ll post it anyway.
Worcester 0 2 0 – 2
Maine 2 1 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Maine, Keppen 1 (Drevitch), 1:46. 2, Maine, Deveaux 1 (Stefanson, Lambert), 3:06. Penalties-Bakanov Wor (tripping), 9:11.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Copeland 1 (Welsh, Bakanov), 3:51 (PP). 4, Maine, Lambert 1 (Stefanson), 11:59. 5, Worcester, Pivonka 1 (Piercey, Calder), 12:18. Penalties-Makara Mne (hooking), 3:36.
3rd Period-6, Maine, Keppen 2 (Stefanson, Ritchie), 16:07 (PP). Penalties-Dwyer Mne (interference), 1:06; Welsh Wor (interference), 5:40; Ritchie Mne (interference), 6:10; Higgins Wor (fighting – major), 12:03; Dubinsky Mne (fighting – major), 12:03; Kulakov Wor (interference), 14:19; Doherty Mne (roughing), 18:14; Kulakov Wor (fighting – major), 18:23; Doherty Mne (fighting – major), 18:41.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-12-10-36. Maine 6-11-11-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Maine 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 0-1-0-0 (28 shots-24 saves). Maine, Starrett 1-0-0-0 (36 shots-34 saves).
A-500
Referees-Evan Reddick (67).
Linesmen-Sam Schildkraut (46), Benjamin Lord (98).
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