For those hoping that Thursday’s 5-4 win might be the thing that got the ball rolling toward a successful Railers season, those hopes were dashed Friday night as Worcester once again couldn’t get out of their own way in a 4-0 loss to Newfoundland at the Mary Brown’s Centre.
It took just five seconds for the Railers to shoot themselves in the foot as for no reason at all Worcester defenseman Trevor Cosgrove crosschecked Growlers forward Jordan Escott in the back in the open ice right at the center faceoff circle. Referee Brendan Schreider had his arm up a second later, and with Newfoundland throwing an extra attacker on the ice Tate Singleton would knock in the third rebound bid just 28 seconds into the contest.
We will include the video that Newfoundland tweeted so everyone can see how poorly the Railers played that whole entry into their own zone, including an inexplicable line change by Blade Jenkins after just 20 seconds had expired.
According to the scoresheet at 6:31 Grant Cruikshank would make it 2-0 Newfoundland on a three-zone unassisted shorthanded breakaway goal when Connor Welsh couldn’t handle Keeghan Howdeshell’s arial pass to the point. The goal should really be listed as 6:12, but in the long run it doesn’t matter. Worcester now leads the ECHL in shorthanded goals against with four on the campaign.
It would be Joe Masonius that scored next for Newfoundland, the clock says it was at 16:04 but the score sheet says 16:16, on a hard wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle to the left of Railers netminder Henrik Tikkanen. He was partially screened by Jenkins, but that really is a save Tikkanen needs to make.
Many head coaches would have made the goaltender switch after twenty minutes if only to attempt to fire up their team, but Worcester bench boss Jordan Smotherman decided to stand pat. Seeing as neither team could light the lamp in the middle frame it’s hard to make an argument in either direction as to if it was the right move or not.
In the third period any hopes of a miracle comeback were dashed as just 43 seconds into the final frame when Serron Noel connected after Cosgrove and Anthony Callin collided at center ice, sending Cruikshank in on a two on one with Noel. Tikkanen had no chance, and neither did Worcester the rest of the way.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Andrei Bakanov, Joey Cipollone, Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Riley Piercey (upper body), and Anthony Repaci. Tristan Lennox was the backup goaltender. Jack Quinlivan returned to the line-up for the first time since last December 11th to make his complete return from papillary thyroid cancer. He took Repaci’s spot in the line-up.
One thing this writer is confused about is why Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman didn’t pull Henrik Tikkanen for an extra attacker heading to the power play down 4-0 with 5:49 left in the third period. It’s not like giving up a goal there really matters much for anything, and the chance to put one on the board that might give the team a bit of momentum seems worth it. You could argue the Railers power play has been very good as of late and the risk of allowing a goal might take away from a decent shot of scoring anyway, and I could buy that. But there was absolutely no reason to not pull Tikkanen when they had another man advantage with 2:22 left.
While other teams in the ECHL’s North Division are making roster changes to make their rosters more competitive, as they did last year the Railers seem to be content in doing nothing to bring in potentially better players. The results, at least so far, have been pretty similar. Adirondack recently re-signed Shane Harper, Newfoundland coaxed James Meliny out of retirement and re-signed the previously Europe-bound Zach O’Brien, and Trois-Rivières has signed two players and made a trade. The Railers have had no transactions at all, and to make matters worse, neither has their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. Former Railers forward Reece Newkirk has been a scratch for seven of the AHL Islanders’ ten games and is pointless in the three he played. Perhaps he’d a bit of help in Worcester?
The Worcester Railers Booster 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.
I asked on Twitter last night how I’d get 1,000 words out of that debacle, and with this mention of that tweet I just manage to trip over that word mark.
The three stars of the game were
1. NFL – 40 Luke Cavallin
2. NFL – 19 Grant Cruikshank
3. NFL – 9 Tate Singleton
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Jenkins / Pivonka / Calder
Goodsir / Callin / Ryan
Howdeshell / Robbins / White
X / X / Quinlivan
Welsh / Cosgrove
Verrier / Garat
Kulakov / Copeland
Schultz / X
Our affiliates last night
Hartford 3, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division
Trois-Rivières 4, @Maine 3
Norfolk 6, @Adirondack 3
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Newfoundland 3 0 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Newfoundland, Singleton 5 (Tychonick, Cruikshank), 0:28. 2, Newfoundland, Cruikshank 7 6:31 (SH). 3, Newfoundland, Masonius 1 (Shea, Dawe), 16:16. Penalties-Escott Nfl (tripping), 5:43; Erne Nfl (cross-checking), 7:12; Howdeshell Wor (hooking), 9:29.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Garat Wor (cross-checking), 6:01; Victor Nfl (tripping), 12:33; Modry Nfl (hooking), 16:13.
3rd Period-4, Newfoundland, Noel 2 (Cruikshank), 0:43. Penalties-Schultz Wor (hooking), 11:13; Modry Nfl (delay of game), 14:11; Cruikshank Nfl (roughing), 17:38; Quinlivan Wor (slashing), 19:39; Victor Nfl (cross-checking), 19:39.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-9-13-33. Newfoundland 13-6-12-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 6; Newfoundland 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 1-3-0-1 (31 shots-27 saves). Newfoundland, Cavallin 1-1-1-0 (33 shots-33 saves).
A-4,292
Referees-Brendan Schreider (12), Will Kelly (7).
Linesmen-Brian Lambert (57), Mark Day (93).
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