If you’re an ice cream fan, sundaes are a great thing. If you’re a Worcester Railers fan, Sundays leave much to be desired as for the sixth time in eight Sunday games the Railers ended up on the losing end of the score, this time it was a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Fort Wayne Komets at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
The Railers were down 2-0 after one period, and 5-1 after two frames, but made a game of it in the third scoring twice. Two failed power play chances in the frame turned what could have been a miracle comeback into another head-shaking loss.
Seeing as it’s late Sunday we’ll go old school and post the highlight package the Komets put on YouTube.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Todd Goehring (IR/unknown), Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Artyom Kulakov (suspended, game one of one), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), and Jacob Pivonka (unavailable/unknown). John Muse was the backup goaltender. In another example of failed roster management, Worcester played a skater short despite having two open roster spots available to be filled.
This writer teased on Twitter this post would be worth reading and told some others there was a picture of a dog included. So keep reading…
Prior to the start of the game the ECHL announced Artyom Kulakov was suspended one under Rule #28 (Supplementary Discipline) for an unpenalized slew-footing infraction at 1:39 of the first period. It should be noted that that’s the same infraction the ECHL didn’t suspend Norfolk forward Mark Liwiski when he did the same thing last Sunday. It’s the first Railers suspension since Mike Cornell was suspended one game on March 6, 2022, under that same Rule #28 for a “Continuing Altercation” misconduct.
Looking back on Saturday’s seven-round shootout, it ties for the second longest in Railers franchise history. Mitch Gillam and Worcester won a 12-round shootout against Adirondack at the DCU Center on March 11, 2018. Terrence Wallin was the only player to beat Gillam, in round four. Frankie DiChiara scored for the Railers in the same round, and the game-winner in the twelfth round was from defenseman Mike Cornell. Gillam and the Railers lost a seven-round shootout in Maine on February 24, 2019, and Evan Buitenhuis won a seven-rounder in Adirondack on March 8, 2019.
As for shootouts in Worcester’s pro hockey history, Alex Stalock and the WorSharks won a nine-round shootout against Manchester on November 06, 2009. Trevor Lewis had the only goal for the Monarchs while Dwight Helminen and Danny Groulx (game-winner) scored for Worcester. Harri Sateri won an eight-rounder for the WorSharks on November 15, 2013, in St. John’s. Sateri stopped six of eight while James Livingston, Sebastian Stalberg, and Sena Acolatse scored for Worcester. The IceCats only used a shootout in their final season of 2004-05, and their longest was seven rounds on December 11, 2004, against Providence. Netminder Jason Bacashihua stopped six of seven P-Bruins attempts, while Alexei Shkotov and Peter Sejna scored for Worcester. Patrice Bergeron was the shooter for Providence in round three. Former Icecats netminder Cody Rudkowsky took the loss.
Playing the same team three games in a row often leads to having to scramble for new, relevant content, and this weekend is no exception. So, in the quest to do so, I present to you Eabha, the incredibly cute dog that owns Railers Director of Ticket Sales Connor Haynes. Yes, you read that right. Now I could just include that picture and make no other connection to hockey at all and absolutely get away with it, but where’s the fun in that? So, in a “small world” moment, Connor adopted Eabha (or is it the other way around?) from an organization based in Mississippi. Railers Booster Club President Rich Lundin is also looking to adopt a pet and independently ended up working with the same organization. That wouldn’t really be news if that organization was local, but both ended up dealing with “Lead Me Home Rescue” in Corinth, Mississippi? I don’t know what the odds of that happening are, but both Eabha and the future Lundin family member hit the jackpot.
The three stars of the game were:
1. FW – 25 Ethan Keppen
2. FW – 44 Carl Berglund
3. FW – 90 Xavier Cormier
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Howdeshell / Cipollone / Piercey
Bakanov / Quinlivan / Bowen
X / White / X
Welsh / Copeland
Garat / Robbins
Verrier / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
Dallas @ NY Islanders (night)
Providence 2, Bridgeport 1 OT
In the ECHL’s North Division
Norfolk 5, Newfoundland 2
Maine 4, Reading 3 OT
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 2 – 3
Fort Wayne 2 3 0 – 5
1st Period-1, Fort Wayne, Keppen 9 (Cormier), 4:37. 2, Fort Wayne, Keppen 10 (Linden, Berglund), 18:39. Penalties-Mingo Fw (delay of game), 2:18; Cipollone Wor (tripping), 9:40.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Howdeshell 5 (Quinlivan, Robbins), 1:36. 4, Fort Wayne, Cormier 7 (Volcan, Gorniak), 3:01. 5, Fort Wayne, D’Aoust 14 (Linden, De Jong), 15:51. 6, Fort Wayne, Berglund 7 (Dugan, Ganske), 17:53. Penalties-White Wor (high-sticking), 10:35.
3rd Period-7, Worcester, Callin 7 (Verrier, White), 5:48. 8, Worcester, Repaci 12 (Quinlivan, Welsh), 9:33. Penalties-Gorniak Fw (holding), 5:59; Volcan Fw (delay of game), 12:31; Keppen Fw (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:26; Keppen Fw (misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-9-16-39. Fort Wayne 15-17-9-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Fort Wayne 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Boyko 0-3-0-0 (41 shots-36 saves). Fort Wayne, Parks 13-7-0-2 (39 shots-36 saves).
A-7,521
Referees-Liam Maaskant (11), Nolan Bloyer (31).
Linesmen-Jake Davis (91), Quinn Schafer (49).
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