Saturday afternoon at the Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières, Quebec Blade Jenkins became the first player in Worcester pro hockey history to register a hat trick in consecutive games as his five-point night helped the Worcester Railers avoid blowing a three-goal lead, and the Railers defeated the Lions 6-4 to sweep the two-game weekend series.
Like Friday night Worcester controlled much of the opening period, only this it was the Railers who would have the 1-0 lead after the first frame when Jenkins scored one second after a Worcester power play had ended at 12:49.
Anthony Callin would make it 2-0 Railers at 3:25 of the middle period when he found himself wide open in front of Lions goaltender Joe Vrbetic, and Callin did not miss his opportunity.
Far too many times this season Worcester has allowed a goal within a minute or so of them scoring, and it happened again on Saturday when Railers netminder John Muse made the save on Alex-Olivier Voyer’s bid, but the rebound went right to an uncovered Justin Ducharme, who didn’t miss the open net at 4:15.
At 12:11 Trevor Cosgrove gave Worcester its two-goal lead back with an absolute laser from 35 feet out.
Jenkins would strike again at 14:59 to make it 4-1 Worcester, and it looked like the rout was on.
But Trois-Rivières had other plans.
Cedric Montminy cut the Railers’ lead to 4-2 at 17:58 when Worcester got caught running around their own zone and got outnumbered in front of Muse, where Montminy banged home a loose puck.
The Lions began the third frame on the power play, which the Railers killed off, but just as Jack Quinlivan’s high-sticking penalty expired Ryan Verrier was called for the automatic delay of game minor. Twenty-nine seconds later, Nicolas Guay made it 4-3.
Voyer then tied the game 4-4 when he was just able to backhand a Jakov Novak feed past Muse. Referee Marc-Olivier Phaneuf, who absolutely lost his mind in that final period and appeared to be doing a Terry Koharski impersonation, went to video replay to determine if there was any goaltender interference. And there likely would have been had Voyer’s original bid not snuck across the goal line before Muse was pushed over.
Worcester, who was being outplayed to that point in the frame, soon found themselves killing off a Lions two-man advantage. Luckily that situation lasted just four seconds when Montminy took what might be the silliest tripping penalty of the weekend. Moments later Quinlivan’s hooking minor, which no one watching on the FloHockey stream could see as the feed crashed, ended making the teams skate four-on-four.
Quinlivan took advantage of that extra space and made it a 5-4 Railers lead at 15:24.
It was back to the penalty kill for Worcester late when Verrier was called for a borderline hooking minor, and when Trois-Rivières pulled Vrbetic it became a six-on-four advantage for the Lions. Just as he did Friday night, Jenkins was able to complete his hat trick into an empty net.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Zsombor Garat (IR/unknown), Keeghan Howdeshell, Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Riley Piercey, and Zach White. Newly signed Cole Ceci was the backup goaltender. Worcester head coach Jordan Smotherman went with the same lineup Saturday afternoon as Friday night.
To put Blade Jenkins’ six-goal weekend in perspective, he started Friday’s game tied with Drew Callin for 16th in Railers franchise history for career goals at 22, and he ended Saturday’s game tied for seventh on that list with Tyler Barnes at 28. He’s now two behind current teammate Reece Newkirk and Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman for fifth in franchise history, and five behind Ross Olsson for fourth. Brent Beaudoin sits in third at 35 career Railers goals. As we know from Anthony Repaci breaking Barry Almeida’s career mark earlier this season, Almeida is second with 60 and Repaci is number one with 64 and counting. Jenkins’ eight-point weekend moves him from ninth on the Railers’ career points list to seventh with 66. Newkirk is next up, currently at 68 points. Jacob Hayhurst (70) and Nolan Vesey (72) are the next two in front, with Beaudoin (97), Repaci (134), and Almeida (150) at the top of the ladder.
Jenkins’ five-point night ties the Railers’ single game franchise record. Trevor Cosgrove was the last to do it, in a 7-6 overtime win on January 27, 2023. Cosgrove finished that game with two goals and three assists for his five points, which is Worcester pro hockey’s single-game record for a defenseman. Cosgrove also missed a third goal that night by less than six inches in the final frame and would have been the first Worcester defenseman to ever record a hat trick. Maybe Smotherman can move Jenkins back to the blueline for a game later this season to give him a shot at that accolade.
In a very important follow-up to a story we reported earlier, Railers Booster Club President Rich Lundin has completed the adoption of a new family member from the “Lead Me Home Rescue” in Corinth, Mississippi. Archer was what the cat was named before, but Lundin says he will change it to something else but doesn’t know what yet. Because of Archer’s striking resemblance in both looks and mannerisms to Lundin’s previous cat Flyboy (AKA Goober), it seems like “Junior” might be the leading candidate. No matter what his name ends up being, you can bet Archer has found a great forever home. For folks that missed the original post, both Lundin and Railers Director of Ticket Sales Connor Haynes worked with “Lead Me Home Rescue” to find their new family members.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 19 Blade Jenkins
2. WOR – 24 Jack Quinlivan
3. TR – 86 Jakov Novak
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Trevor Cosgrove.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Newkirk / Pivonka / Calder
Bakanov / Cipollone / Quinlivan
Robbins / X / Goehring
Cosgrove / Dickinson
Verrier / Kulakov
Welsh / Krygier
Our affiliates last night
Hershey 4, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division
Newfoundland 6, Indy 4
Rapid City 6, Maine 4
Adirondack 1, Reading 0 SO
Norfolk 2, Toledo 1 SO
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 3 2 – 6
Trois-Rivières 0 2 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Jenkins 18 (Cosgrove, Repaci), 12:49. Penalties-Filion Tr (slashing), 7:42; Novak Tr (delay of game), 10:48; Cosgrove Wor (tripping), 14:52.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Callin 8 (Repaci, Jenkins), 3:25. 3, Trois-Rivières, Ducharme 12 (Voyer, Komuls), 4:15. 4, Worcester, Cosgrove 5 (Callin), 12:11. 5, Worcester, Jenkins 19 (Kulakov), 14:59. 6, Trois-Rivières, Montminy 13 (Ducharme, Tourigny), 17:58. Penalties-Quinlivan Wor (high-sticking), 19:17.
3rd Period-7, Trois-Rivières, Guay 2 (Novak), 1:51 (PP). 8, Trois-Rivières, Voyer 12 (Novak, Guay), 8:18. 9, Worcester, Quinlivan 2 (Jenkins, Cosgrove), 15:24. 10, Worcester, Jenkins 20 (Repaci), 18:08 (SH EN). Penalties-Verrier Wor (delay of game), 1:22; Welsh Wor (misconduct – continuing altercation), 4:46; Paiement Tr (misconduct – continuing altercation), 4:46; Parker-Jones Tr (roughing), 4:46; Quinlivan Wor (hooking), 13:03; Dickinson Wor (slashing), 14:28; Montminy Tr (tripping), 14:32; Verrier Wor (hooking), 16:49.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 16-18-11-45. Trois-Rivières 7-7-13-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Trois-Rivières 1 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 8-3-0-0 (27 shots-23 saves). Trois-Rivières, Vrbetic 9-14-2-1 (44 shots-39 saves).
A-1,819
Referees-Marc-Olivier Phaneuf (23).
Linesmen-Philippe Pilon (68), Maxime Carre (77).
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