Ask the Average Joe on the street about the name Lennox and you’ll get a lot of mentions of Annie Lennox or the Lennox name they’d see on central air conditioners, but for Railers fans it means goaltending performances as good as fine china as once again Worcester netminder Tristan Lennox put on a show and his 43-save performance led the Railers to a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Lennox saw 45 Cyclones shots Saturday night and was only beaten by an NHL-quality wrist shot from Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm and an incredible deflection by Matej Pekar, both in the third period. It took several high-quality saves in that frame to keep Worcester in the lead, and when the pressure was on the young rookie Lennox looked as cool as an old veteran between the pipes.
It was newcomer Todd Goehring who gave the Railers a quick lead with a shot from the point at 7:12 of the opening frame.
This writer thought the puck hit Anthony Callin on the way by, and Callin led the march to the bench to celebrate, but currently the goal is listed as Goehring’s. If it stands, he joins Bo Brauer and Anthony Callin as the only Railers players to score on their first shot with Worcester after joining the team midseason.
There’s no question that it was Zach White that gave Worcester a 2-0 lead.
In the second period it looked like the Railers ran one of the power play set plays at even strength as Blade Jenkins deflected a centering feed by Trevor Cosgrove past screened Cincy goaltender Olof Lindbom to make it 3-0 at 11:32.
It stayed that 3-0 score into the third frame when the Cyclones threw everything they had at Lennox and Worcester and managed to score twice to make it a 3-2 game with 7:15 left in regulation. With Lindbom pulled with just over a minute to go for an extra attacker Lennox was up to the task, and while teams generally don’t post highlights of empty net goals the Railers probably should have for Brendan Robbins tally as his clearing attempt under pressure from 200-feet away went into the net for the 4-2 final.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland, Christian Krygier (IR/upper), Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (IR/lower body), and Quinn Ryan. Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender. With both Repaci and Quinlivan hitting the IR list Worcester general manager Jordan Smotherman brought in forward Todd Goehring, who was at Railers training camp before being cut. Goehring had been playing with the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen, where he was 3-2-5 in seven games.
Also listed in Saturday’s transactions was Mariah Fujimagari being signed as an EBUG in the morning and then being released in the afternoon. A query to the Railers PR staff didn’t result in an answer as to why Fujimagari was signed Saturday, nor did they know the official reason the same transactions took place on Monday.
In an upset that almost rivals the 25.5-point underdog New Mexico State Aggies beating the Auburn Tigers 31-10 Saturday in college football action the Worcester Police hockey team defeated the powerhouse Worcester Fire hockey team 4-3 in a shootout in an afternoon game before the Railers vs Cyclones tilt. Keeping the football comparison going, the game included an “untimed down” as Worcester Fire was awarded a penalty shot after the clock expired to end regulation. They missed, and neither team could score in the three-on-three overtime thanks to amazing saves by both goaltenders.
After a consultation with Bill Ballou, we can now officially call Ashton Calder’s overtime goal at 0:13 in Newfoundland last Sunday as the quickest ever in Worcester pro hockey history. The previous record was held by Worcester IceCats forward Gary Leeman at 0:16 of overtime against the Philadelphia Phantoms on October 14, 1996. This writer remembered a quick IceCats goal in overtime and thought David Williams might be the goal scorer, but it turns out he scored the goal to tie the game at 19:44 of the third period, assisted by Leeman and Rob Pearson. That game is one of the most talked about games in IceCats history because there were two fights that took place in the home penalty box. After Terry Virtue was called for a crosschecking penalty for leveling Shawn McCosh in the open ice at 10:27 of the middle period Virtue was escorted to the penalty box while several scrums were going on. Eventually McCosh went after Virtue in the penalty box, where they were joined by Mike Maneluk and John Stevens in doing battle in the sin bin. Penalty box attendant Gary Ostiguy escaped the brawl by climbing the plexiglass and heading to the PA booth. Eventually Maneluk, Virtue, Justin Hocking, and Patrick Traverse were all give game misconducts. Referee Blaine Angus also ejected Philly’s McCosh, Stevens, Bruce Coles, Jeff Staples, and Clayton Norris.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 30 Tristan Lennox
2. WOR – 19 Blade Jenkins
3. CIN – 12 Matej Pekar
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Brendan Robbins.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Callin / Goehring
Howdeshell / Robbins / White
Jenkins / Pivonka / Calder
Piercy / Cipollone / X
Welsh / Cosgrove
Schultz / Verrier
Kulakov / Garat
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 5, Calgary 4 SO
Hershey 4, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division
Newfoundland 6, Reading 4
Trois-Rivières 2, Maine 1
BOX SCORE
Cincinnati 0 0 2 – 2
Worcester 2 1 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Goehring 1 (Callin, Bakanov), 7:12. 2, Worcester, White 2 (Howdeshell), 9:21. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Jenkins 4 (Cosgrove, Welsh), 11:32. Penalties-MacLean Cin (tripping), 2:36; Robbins Wor (delay of game – faceoff infraction), 7:08; Caporusso Cin (interference), 12:16; Vaive Cin (roughing), 18:47.
3rd Period-4, Cincinnati, Bjørgvik-Holm 3 (Caporusso, Vaive), 10:31. 5, Cincinnati, Pekar 4 (MacLean, DiGiacinto), 12:45. 6, Worcester, Robbins 4 19:40 (EN). Penalties-Schultz Wor (roughing), 6:33.
Shots on Goal-Cincinnati 17-12-16-45. Worcester 12-13-10-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Cincinnati 0 / 2; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Cincinnati, Lindbom 3-3-0-0 (34 shots-31 saves). Worcester, Lennox 4-2-1-0 (45 shots-43 saves).
A-4,123
Referees-Dominic Cadieux (3).
Linesmen-Ryan Bradshaw (76), Maxime Bedard (65).
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