GLENS FALLS, NY – A “be on the lookout” has been issued by the Glens Falls police department for Worcester Railers goaltender Tristan Lennox as the city begins its investigation of Lennox stealing a victory from the Adirondack Thunder by making 36 saves, most of them of the highlight variety, in the Railers 4-2 win at the Cool Insuring Arena Saturday night.
There were approximately 4,297 witnesses.
It was a scoreless opening period, but that was entirely thanks to Lennox making several key stops. A late period crosschecking minor to Riley Piercey almost put Worcester behind after twenty minutes, but Lennox made two pretty big saves to keep the red light off.
As they did Friday Worcester got on the board first, with Anthony Callin breaking the ice at 4:56 of the middle stanza.
But Adirondack would take a 2-1 before that period was over. Travis Broughman connected at 7:22 when pretty much all the Railers skaters on the ice lost track of the Thunder players they were covering as Worcester played a sort of man-on-man defense. Yushiroh Hirano then scored a power play goal at 11:09 on an absolute laser to put Worcester in a hole.
Lennox had no chance on either of those shots.
In the third period, with Lennox continuing to keep his team in the game with big save after big save, Ashton Calder knotted the score when the Railers pounced on a Thunder turnover deep in the Adirondack zone at 9:22.
With a little momentum on their side Worcester seemed to get a bit of pop in their legs, and Jake Pivonka gave the Railers the 3-2 lead after converting off another Thunder miscue.
From that point on Adirondack was all over Lennox and the Railers trying to tie the game back up, and with an extra attacker on for the Thunder Todd Goehring’s empty net bid was blocked. That luckily didn’t turn out to mean anything as with the clock winding down Pivonka fed Zach White for the easy breakaway empty netter to seal the 4-2 win.
Worcester returns to action with a 10:30am school day game at the DCU Center Wednesday against the KC Mavericks.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Christian Krygier (IR/upper), Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (IR/lower body), Quin Ryan, and Jake Schultz. Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender.
As we catch up on some late Friday goings on, Railers Community Relations Manager Pete Foley successfully completed the stairs challenge that all members of the staff are encouraged to make upon their first visit to Cool Insuring Arena. For those that have never been, the way down from the concourse at the top of the arena to the glass at the bottom is very steep and has no railing. There’s no official record, but if there were Railers president Stephanie Ramey would own it as she almost sprinted down and back up the stairs last season. Foley made the trek, both on the stairs and to Glens Falls, with his wife Kelsey.
Because we were there and paying attention, Zach White was the last player off the ice after warm-ups Saturday night, with no Adirondack player challenging him for the honor. White and Worcester netminder Henrik Tikkanen were the last two out on the ice after the final horn, a minor violation of ECHL rules that no one seems to care about at all, with Tikkanen taking a slow stroll down to the Thunder end and firing a puck top shelf into the empty net. He then skated over to the Railers player exit where White was standing and waiting. Tikkanen then exited, followed by White.
Postgame many of the Railers faithful that made the trek to New York were at the bus to celebrate the victory and show the team off. Despite the cold temperatures, it was quite the crowd, and the players seemed to get a kick out of it as their names were shouted when they came out the door to head to the bus. Head coach Jordan Smotherman and assistant head coach Bob Deraney both thanked the crowd for their support. With the players all on the bus, the crowd began to disperse, only to resume loudly cheering for the last person leaving the arena to board the bus back to Worcester: broadcaster Tim Foley. Turns out he may have a fan club after all.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 13 Jake Pivonka
2. WOR – 30 Tristan Lennox
3. ADK – 71 Yushiroh Hirano
In the arena, Lennox was announced as the game’s #1 star.
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Callin / Goehring
Jenkins / Robbins / White
Howdeshell / Pivonka / Calder
Piercey / Cipollone / X
Welsh / Cosgrove
Verrier / Copeland
Kulakov / Garat
Our affiliates last night
Philadelphia 1, NY Islanders 0 SO
Providence 2, Bridgeport 1
In the ECHL’s North Division
Newfoundland 2, Utah 0
Norfolk 5, Trois-Rivières 2
Maine 3, Reading 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 3 – 4
Adirondack 0 2 0 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Piercey Wor (cross-checking), 19:14.
2nd Period-1, Worcester, Callin 4 (Goehring), 4:56. 2, Adirondack, Broughman 2 (Jozefek), 7:22. 3, Adirondack, Hirano 6 (Harper, Vilén), 11:09 (PP). Penalties-Welsh Wor (tripping), 10:19.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Calder 8 (Howdeshell), 9:22. 5, Worcester, Pivonka 7 (Piercey), 10:24. 6, Worcester, White 4 (Pivonka), 19:54 (EN). Penalties-Vilén Adk (tripping), 4:42.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 7-7-8-22. Adirondack 15-13-10-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 1; Adirondack 1 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Lennox 5-3-1-0 (38 shots-36 saves). Adirondack, Brodeur 4-2-0-0 (21 shots-18 saves).
A-4,297
Referees-Evan Reddick (21).
Linesmen-Trevor Waite (73), Antoine Bujold-Roux (72).
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