ORLANDO, FL – Thursday evening at the Kia Center there were six Worcester Railers fans in attendance wearing Booster Club hockey jerseys, and those six fans had the same number of points on the evening as the 17 members of the “playoff caliber” Railers roster playing in the game against the Orlando Solar Bears.
The key difference is while those six fans are on vacation in Florida the Railers played like they were on a week-long holiday in the Sunshine State.
Don’t let the number of shots Worcester took Thursday or their current placement in the standings fool you, this team is far from being a Kelly Cup contender. The only difference between this season’s team and last season’s total failure of a roster is this team has better players than last season.
But everything else is exactly the same, and so won’t be the result unless something is done quickly.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Andrei Bakanov, John Copeland (IR/unknown), Todd Goehring, Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Brendan Robbins, and Ryan Verrier (IR/unknown). Cole Ceci was the backup goaltender.
Pregame Thursday the Railers announced that they’d activated Zsombor Garat off of injured reserve and placed Ryan Verrier on IR after he took an unpenalized hit up high last Monday. Worcester’s injury list might be getting a tad larger as Artyom Kulakov suffered a right leg injury late in the opening period. He sat on the bench for the second period, testing out the leg once during a stoppage in play. He was out of uniform and riding an exercise bike during the third period.
Originally this three-game set was scheduled to have games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend, but because the Solar Bears are not the primary tenant here at the Kia Center sometimes their games occasionally get moved around before they’re given their final dates, which is how the Railers ended up with the ultra-rare Monday, Thursday, Monday series they’re playing. Tuesday and Wednesday the NBA’s Orlando Magic played, and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all had concerts. With those open dates in the middle of the week, the ECHL decided to send the Solar Bears off to Estero, FL, about three hours away from Orlando, to face off against the Everblades Wednesday night. Orlando won 4-3 in a shootout.
We were expecting a scoring change on Jake Pivonka’s shorthanded empty net game-winner in the Railers 3-2 “Pink in the Rink” victory over Maine, with an assist going to Ashton Calder, but apparently none of forthcoming. While it doesn’t show in the highlight that was tweeted by Worcester it does seem in the video on FloHockey that Calder deflected the puck with his skate. An assist doesn’t need to assist the goal scorer very much to count as one, and it looks to this writer like it should count as one.
For those that may have missed it, on Wednesday we had a posting about what the Railers consider to be a sellout. It won’t change the minds of any of the chronic haters of the team, but now others can join in on the laughing at them as the complainers don’t comprehend the details as to why 5,720 is a sellout.
The three stars of the game were:
1. ORL – 31 Brandon Halverson
2. ORL – 29 Mitchell Hoelscher
3. ORL – 18 Darik Angeli
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Piercey / Pivonka / Calder
Howdeshell / Cipollone / Quinlivan
X / White / Robbins
Cosgrove / Dickinson
Garat / Kulakov
Welsh / Krygier
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division
No other games scheduled
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Orlando 2 1 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Orlando, Hoelscher 22 (Massicotte, Angeli), 12:12. 2, Orlando, Frye 10 (Hoelscher, Angeli), 14:13. Penalties-Muse Wor (roughing), 13:52; Piercey Wor (fighting – major), 13:52; Bent Orl (fighting – major), 13:52; Walker Orl (roughing), 13:52.
2nd Period-3, Orlando, Schachle 2 (Bird, Boka), 14:08. Penalties-Bent Orl (bench – face-off violation), 16:47.
3rd Period-4, Orlando, Mazza 5 (Gosselin), 18:23 (SH EN). Penalties-Dickinson Wor (roughing), 3:26; Walker Orl (roughing), 3:26; Walker Orl (tripping), 5:36; Quinlivan Wor (fighting – major), 12:35; Biakabutuka Orl (fighting – major), 12:35; Callin Wor (cross-checking), 16:32; Low Orl (tripping), 18:15.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 6-14-16-36. Orlando 12-5-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Orlando 0 / 1.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 9-4-1-0 (24 shots-21 saves). Orlando, Halverson 12-8-3-1 (36 shots-36 saves).
A-5,684
Referees-Nolan Bloyer (31).
Linesmen-Brady Fagan (89), Davids Rozitis (90).
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