The tickets and promotional advertisements said that Saturday’s “IceCats Night” at the DCU Center was scheduled to start at 7:05pm, and by that point most of the 7,094 ticket holders had already found their seats and were ready for action. Unfortunately, it took the Worcester Railers until about 9pm to actually show up, but that final 20 minutes provided all the offense they would need as they defeated the Norfolk Admirals 4-2.
The reason the Railers were only down 2-0 after 40 minutes was Worcester goaltender John Muse, who is arguably the greatest mid-season addition in franchise history. Saves like this one were needed in those first two periods, and Muse made them.
Norfolk’s two goals came 76 seconds apart in the opening period, and both happened because the Railers just flat-out forgot how to play hockey. Danny Katic made it 1-0 at 13:50 when Worcester twice failed to clear the puck and then in the ensuing play left Katic wide open to the left of Muse. There was nothing the veteran netminder could do about that one. Another failed clear ended up behind Muse at 15:06 as the forwards transitioned to offense before Worcester had complete control of the puck in their own end and Keegan Iverson ended up beating Muse to the glove side.
The Admirals would light the lamp a third time, at 5:13 of the second period, when Connor Fedorek beat Muse through some traffic. Referee Sam Heidemann signaled a good goal but immediately pointed upward, meaning they were going to review the play. After consulting with his linesmen referee Heidemann changed his call on the ice to “no goal” due to goaltender interference, and then went to video review. Having already been shown the video on the overhead Daktronics board fans knew what the call should be, and goaltender interference was confirmed.
It was that 2-0 score after two periods, with the Railers being outshot 25-15 and being out-chanced by an even wider margin. They were so bad that this writer tweeted “If tonight’s game plan was ‘act like you’ve never played hockey before’, the Railers have nailed it”. But all season this has been a third-period team, and wearing the IceCats jerseys didn’t change anything.
Jake Pivonka got the crowd up on its feet for the first time of the evening at 1:42 of the third period with what is officially not a power play goal but with Carson Musser hardly out of the penalty box door may as well have been one.
Anthony Repaci picked a great time to break Barry Almeida’s all-time franchise career goal-scoring record with his 61st as a Railers and his power play tally at 4:00 made it a 2-2 game.
That 61st career goal moves Repaci to seventh all-time in Worcester pro hockey history, tied with Stephane Roy. He is now one behind Jeff Panzer (62) and two behind both Jame Pollock and John McCarthy (63). Repaci’s 123 points are 27 behind Almeida for the Railers franchise mark.
Connor Welsh gave his team a 3-2 lead, but it took a video review to prove it.
The rule is if the puck passes between where the posts should be and it was last touched by the offensive team while the net pegs were still touching the holes, even if just barely, it’s a good goal. It’s currently listed as unassisted, but Aston Calder should pick up a helper on the play.
With time winding down Norfolk threw everything they had at Muse and the Railers, and with their netminder pulled for an extra attacker Anthony Callin nearly brought down the house with his empty net goal with 32.2 seconds left in regulation for their fourth goal of the period and their 16th win of the season.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Ryan Dickinson, Todd Goehring (IR/unknown), Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), and Zach White. Josh Boyko was the backup goaltender. Before the game, Worcester released Nick Pennucci, who was seen on the concourse during the first intermission meeting with fans and seemed in great spirits. Word is Pennucci could be back this season if the Railers need a forward. The Railers also activated Jack Quinlivan from injured reserve. Blade Jenkins was signed a PTO by the Hartford Wolf Pack but did not play in their game against the Providence Bruins.
In an incident that Railers radio voice Tim Foley called “Bowling for linesmen”, with 12:34 left on the clock in the second period Worcester defender Artyom Kulakov got tied up with Admirals forward Aaron Miller, and Kulakov dumped Miller to the ice just to the side of the Railers net. The closest linesman to the play was Benjamin Lord, and by the time he got there the players were all just going about their business. The other linesman, Michael Tarquinio, was much farther away and was skating hard to get to the incident in case tempers flared. Only Tarquinio lost an edge and fell, wiping out his fellow linesman along with Railers defenseman Zsombor Garat and Norfolk winger Mathieu Roy. Norfolk forward Brandon Osmundson could be seen laughing at the incident. It looked like no one was worse for wear.
It was expected, but Norfolk released former Worcester Blades netminder Mariah Fujimagari as their EBUG Saturday morning. Many Worcester fans had hoped to see her get into a game this weekend, but for more reasons than one that was an unlikely occurrence. Back when the Blades were playing, I asked then Railers head coach Jamie Russell if he’d ever think of using one of their goaltenders as an EBUG, and he said that while they would be low on the list of netminders he’d call looking for one odds are he’d go with Lauren Dahm. The numberphile in this writer wouldn’t have minded that as Dahm usually wore #35. The Blades were terrible so looking at stats for them is pointless, but Dahm was 49-35-12 for Clarkson over four seasons, with a 1.70 goals against average and .929 save percentage. Looking at Dahms’ record and knowing she had 20 career shutouts, it shows the Golden Knights weren’t very good either.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
2. WOR – 26 Connor Welsh
3. WOR – 13 Jake Pivonka
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Callin / Bowen
Kuefler / Pivonka / Calder
Bakanov / Cipollone / Piercey
Quinlivan / X / Howdeshell
Welsh / Robbins
Kulakov / Verrier
Garat / Copeland
Our affiliates last night
Nashville 3, NY Islanders 1
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4, Bridgeport 3
In the ECHL’s North Division
Maine 6, Reading 4
Adirondack 5, Newfoundland 4 OT
Trois-Rivières 5, Atlanta 2
BOX SCORE
Norfolk 2 0 0 – 2
Worcester 0 0 4 – 4
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Katic 6 (Smirnov, McLean), 13:50. 2, Norfolk, Iverson 5 15:06. Penalties-Liwiski Nor (cross-checking), 5:47; Bowen Wor (interference), 16:49.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Copeland Wor (interference), 10:50; Musser Nor (hooking), 19:41.
3rd Period-3, Worcester, Pivonka 9 (Verrier, Calder), 1:42. 4, Worcester, Repaci 11 (Callin, Welsh), 4:00 (PP). 5, Worcester, Welsh 4 6:49. 6, Worcester, Callin 6 19:27 (EN). Penalties-Kubicek Nor (cross-checking), 2:32; Iverson Nor (roughing), 7:20; Quinlivan Wor (roughing, roughing), 7:20.
Shots on Goal-Norfolk 11-14-3-28. Worcester 6-9-9-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 0 / 3; Worcester 1 / 3.
Goalies-Norfolk, Stead 3-1-2-0 (23 shots-20 saves). Worcester, Muse 5-1-0-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-7,094
Referees-Sam Heidemann (22).
Linesmen-Benjamin Lord (98), Michael Tarquinio (45).
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