Saturday night at the DCU Center was the Worcester Railers’ annual “Pink in the Rink” night with the Maine Mariners providing the opposition for the second time in as many nights, and the sellout crowd of 6,337 was on the edge of their seats until the final horn as the Railers managed to skate away with a 3-2 victory.
This writer was not among the fans in attendance due to a prior commitment, and watching the game video doesn’t give you the same vibe as being there. But in watching and rereading the messenger conversations I had during the game, the scoreless opening frame was classic Railers hockey in that they had lots of decent chances, but no one could put the puck into the net.
In the second frame, Artyom Kulakov had Worcester’s first quality chance of the frame and he made the most of it at 5:52.
Anthony Repaci, who had the secondary assist on the goal, can be seen skating toward the Maine net to help create the odd-man rush. Not usually something that is significantly noteworthy, but upon a closer look at that point Repaci had been on the ice for one minute and nine seconds, or roughly two shifts worth of time. The two other forwards on the ice when the goal was scored were Jake Pivonka and Ashton Calder, and their linemate for the game would normally have been Riley Piercey.
Repaci was about to be part of another long shift, it was already at 32 seconds and counting, when he and Connor Welsh connected on a shorthanded goal to make it 2-0 Railers.
Maine has had some big third periods against Worcester over the last couple of seasons, and it looked like there might be another one coming when William Provost beat Railers goaltender John Muse clean. It was one of those goals that Worcester didn’t defend badly, it was just Provost burying a good-quality chance.
Things looked badly for the Railers when Trevor Cosgrove was called for high-sticking. Referee Yannick Jobin-Manseau, who played a pivotal role in Worcester’s Friday night loss, absolutely called that penalty correctly. The video shows Cosgrove’s stick hitting the helmet of Cameron Askew, and there’s not a scintilla of doubt about it. It also shows Askew doing his best Greg Louganis impersonation, and doing it so well that even the Russian judge gave him a high score.
Skating six on four, Pivonka was able to give Worcester a touch of breathing room with a long shorthanded empty net goal.
That goal is currently scored as unassisted but look for a helper to be added for Calder.
That goal turned out to be huge, and the game-winner, as Ethan Ritchie would score a six-on-four power play goal with 42.5 seconds to go in regulation. But that was as close as the Mariners would get as the Railers managed three out of a possible four points over the weekend.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Zsombor Garat (IR/unknown), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Brendan Robbins, and Zach White. Cole Ceci was the backup goaltender.
With all the hubbub over some of the worst officiating the DCU Center has seen in some time on Friday night we missed a scoring change from last week, so we’ll get to that now. Last Friday in Trois-Rivières the Railers had a third-period power play goal that Ashton Calder was originally given credit for. That has been changed, with Joey Cipollone now getting the goal. It now reads “3. WOR Cipollone, (7) (Calder, Pivonka), 10:14 (PP)”.
In a touch of baseball news, with all due respect to my good friends over at the Worcester Bravehearts, their claiming that this upcoming season will tie the Worcester IceCats as the longest-running sports organization in the city’s history is not really true. The Worcester Busters played baseball in the New England League from 1906 until 1915 and were player-coached by Jesse Burkett, who led the team to four consecutive New England League pennants. The Busters then switched to the Eastern League for the 1916 and 1917 seasons, and then changed their name to the Worcester Boosters from 1918 to 1922. They changed their name once again to the Worcester Panthers in 1923, and after the 1925 season, the franchise was relocated to Providence. That 1925 squad had a president-manager-center fielder named Casey Stengel, and both Burkett and Stengel are Hall of Famers. If anyone thinks I knew all of that off the top of my head, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. All of this, minus a touch of background research, is from “Mr Worcester Baseball” Bill Ballou. But even the Busters aren’t the longest-running sports organization in Worcester’s history. The Worcester Wildcats of the New England Football League were founded in 2004, so they’re in year 21 this upcoming season, and that’s only second longest. No one will ever catch the longest-running sports organization in Worcester’s history. Who is it? The Holy Cross Crusaders, whose first football season was 1891.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
2. WOR – 40 John Muse
3. WOR – 88 Artyom Kulakov
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jake Pivonka.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Piercey / Pivonka / Calder
Howdeshell / Cipollone / Quinlivan
Bakanov / X / Goehring
Cosgrove / Dickinson
Verrier / Kulakov
Welsh / Krygier
Our affiliates last night
Calgary 5, NY Islanders 3
Lehigh Valley 2, Bridgeport 1 SO
In the ECHL’s North Division
Wheeling 3, Reading 0
Florida 3, Adirondack 1
Norfolk 4, Trois-Rivières 3 OT
Newfoundland 5, Greenville 1
BOX SCORE
Maine 0 0 2 – 2
Worcester 0 2 1 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sheehy Mne (delay of game), 3:52.
2nd Period-1, Worcester, Kulakov 2 (Calder, Repaci), 5:52. 2, Worcester, Repaci 15 (Welsh, Jenkins), 15:04 (SH). Penalties-Malatesta Mne (cross-checking), 9:17; Dickinson Wor (cross-checking), 9:17; Pivonka Wor (tripping), 13:22; Goehring Wor (interference), 20:00.
3rd Period-3, Maine, Provost 8 (Sheehy), 12:57. 4, Worcester, Pivonka 12 18:54 (SH EN). 5, Maine, Ritchie 5 (Mast, Deveaux), 19:23 (PP). Penalties-Solow Mne (hooking), 3:33; Cosgrove Wor (high-sticking), 17:50.
Shots on Goal-Maine 5-9-14-28. Worcester 10-9-12-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 1 / 3; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Maine, Starrett 5-11-3-0 (30 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Muse 9-3-1-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-6,337
Referees-Yannick Jobin-Manseau (30).
Linesmen-Stephen Drain (52), Nicolas Boivin (82).
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