“I’ve seen the enemy, they are us” said Worcester play-by-play man Tim Foley in the pregame show, quoting Railers assistant head coach Bob Deraney. How right he was as the Railers were their worst enemy again as they did nothing right Sunday afternoon in a 4-0 loss to the Norfolk Admirals.
Something that bit the Railers in the behind a lot last season reared its ugly head again on Sunday when a transition turnover at their blueline ended up with the puck in the back of their net. As Norfolk kept the puck in the Worcester zone Stephan Timofeyev was the goal-scorer when he banged home a rebound of Keaton Jameson’s shot at 3:43 of the opening period. It was a great period of hockey that unfortunately ended with Worcester behind.
The second period was all Admirals as they outshot the Railers 13-5 in the frame and they grabbed the only goal of the period when Andrew McLean beat Worcester netminder Tristan Lennox when Norfolk kept the pressure on the Railers after Worcester successfully killed off a penalty but couldn’t get control of the puck.
Lennox did get a little lucky in the frame, making a save without really knowing where the puck was but had the presence of mind to keep himself out of the net.
Norfolk grabbed two goals in the third period, Griffin Mendel at 4:51 and Timofeyev’s second of the game at 11:36, an unassisted shorthanded tally. The Railers have now allowed more shorthanded goals, three, than power play goals they’ve scored, two.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland, Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (lower body), Brendan Robbins, and Jake Schultz. Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender.
The entire hockey world was saddened to hear of the passing of former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Adam Johnson after being cut by a skate as his Nottingham Panthers were taking on the Sheffield Steelers. Johnson played two games at the DCU Center for Minnesota-Duluth during the 2016 NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament, but there is unfortunately another closer connection to the city as former Railers’ defender Myles McGurty was a teammate of Johnson’s on Nottingham. Two other former Worcester players, Daniel Ciampini and Mitchell Balmas, are on the Steelers’ roster. My condolences to the Johnson family, to his friends, and to his current and former teammates.
As expected, there were some scoring changes that have been made from the last couple of games. Going back to Wednesday’s 5-2 loss, the lone assist on Zach White’s goal that made it 1-1 has been changed to Christian Krygier, and Keeghan Howdeshell’s power play goal had the secondary assist changed to Aston Calder. From Friday’s 4-1 win, Calder’s goal has had an assist change to Riley Piercey, Blade Jenkins and Keeghan Howdeshell pick up assists on Adam Goodsir’s goal, and Zsombor Garat has an assist added to Jake Pivonka’s goal. Over the two previous games, the Norfolk scoring staff got only one goal scored correctly.
The Worcester Railers Booster Club is doing some fundraising at next weekend’s games on Friday and Saturday against Adirondack. Booster Club Vice-President Jess Curtin, who is in charge of fundraising for the ECHL & SPHL Booster Club Jamboree, mentions that the group will begin selling $10 raffle tickets where the winning ticket gets a blank version of one of each of the Railers specialty jerseys this season. There is a limit of 2,000 tickets and they’re expected to go quickly. There are also football squares on sale, for $10 each, for the Patriots game against the Chiefs on December 18th. As an added bonus, each square purchased will also get you entered in a drawing for some cool Railers merchandise. In addition to that, the Club is hosting a comedy night on November 11, 2023, at the 200 Sportsman Club in Sutton, Mass. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased on the “Comedy for Cash” website. If you can’t make it, there is also a donation link on that webpage. As usual, you can make a donation to the Booster Club any time online at this page or on gamedays at the Booster Club table behind section 109.
The three stars of the game were:
1. NOR – 22 Stepan Timofeyev
2. NOR – 35 Thomas Milic
3. NOR – 16 Keaton Jameson
The 210Sports Player of the Game was no one.
Even Strength Lines
Howdeshell / Jenkins / Ryan
Goodsir / Cipollone / Callin
Piercey / Pivonka / Calder
Bakanov / X / White
Cosgrove / Verrier
Welsh / Kulakov
Krygier / Garat
Our affiliates last night
No games
In the ECHL’s North Division
South Carolina 8, @Newfoundland 2
@Reading 7, Trois-Rivières 6
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Norfolk 1 1 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Timofeyev 1 (Jameson, Liwiski), 3:43. Penalties-Krygier Wor (double – roughing), 10:11; Liwiski Nor (double – roughing), 10:11; Kulakov Wor (slashing), 12:21; Kubicek Nor (cross-checking), 16:42.
2nd Period-2, Norfolk, McLean 1 (Katic, Jameson), 9:30. Penalties-Goodsir Wor (fighting – major), 3:08; Golder Nor (slashing), 3:08; Liwiski Nor (fighting – major), 3:08; Piercey Wor (hooking), 7:08; Kulakov Wor (interference, unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:18; Liwiski Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – inciting), 12:18; Fensore Nor (hooking), 13:35; White Wor (double – roughing), 19:03; Timofeyev Nor (cross-checking, roughing), 19:03.
3rd Period-3, Norfolk, Mendel 2 (Katic, Timofeyev), 4:51. 4, Norfolk, Timofeyev 2 11:36 (SH). Penalties-Kulakov Wor (slashing), 7:38; Young Nor (interference), 8:34; McLean Nor (cross-checking), 10:28; Bakanov Wor (roughing, roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 17:45; Katic Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:45; Katic Nor (misconduct – continuing altercation), 18:02; Young Nor (slashing), 18:57.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-5-4-22. Norfolk 12-13-13-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 6; Norfolk 0 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Lennox 1-2-0-0 (38 shots-34 saves). Norfolk, Milic 2-0-0-1 (22 shots-22 saves).
A-1,844
Referees-Logan Gruhl (29).
Linesmen-Mark Dungan (61), Evan Knox (83).
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