It was “Harry Potter” night at the DCU Center Saturday as the Worcester Railers took on the Trois-Rivières Lions in front of a sellout crowd of 5,720, and while Harry Potter is a young magician the Railers had John Muse, the oldest goaltender in Worcester’s pro hockey history, and he made 30 saves against the Lions to record his second shutout of the season in the Railers 4-0 win.
It would be an easy joke to say that Muse’s shutout was simply because he cast “Protego”, which puts an invisible shield around the caster, but we absolutely won’t do that. Nope, we definitely won’t.
And we absolutely won’t say that Connor Welsh yelled “Impedimenta” at Trois-Rivières netminder Zachary Émond to slow his reactions at 2:34 of the opening period.
Watching live it looked to this writer that the puck hit Todd Goehring’s glove on its way past him to Welsh, which would have been a hand pass, but the video shows that’s not the case. The bad news is because it didn’t, he might lose his assist on the play.
Word is that Reece Newkirk may have actually whispered “Alohomora” to himself as he unlocked a path to the net at 1:30 of the second period to make the score 2-0. Or, maybe he didn’t.
With time running down on the middle stanza, and a point where the Railers have often surrendered back-breaking goals, it was Jack Quinlivan using an NHL-quality tip of Welsh’s point bid with 31.6 seconds left in the frame to make it 3-0 Worcester. The tip was so good it’s almost a shame to say he did it by summoning the puck using the “Accio” spell. Almost.
It was Andrei Bakanov who made it 4-0 Worcester with a third-period power play goal, and he can clearly be seen casting “Expelliarmus” on Émond to prevent the netminder from catching the puck.
It wasn’t a magic spell that made Émond disappear after that goal, it was Trois-Rivières head coach Ron Choules deciding he’d seen enough as Émond was pulled in favor of Joe Vrbetic, and that would end the offense for the night.
From that point on the Lions gooned it up, and referee Hunter Mottinger lost control of the game because was unable or unwilling to call the appropriate penalties, missing an easy instigator minor on Nicolas Lariviere and then all but ignoring the later antics of Charles-Antoine Paiement, Jakov Novak, and Lariviere.
The two teams meet again Sunday afternoon with Referee Mottinger once again working the game. Hopefully, someone from the ECHL will have spoken to him at some point before puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Ashton Calder (unknown injury), John Copeland (IR/unknown), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Carson MacKinnon, Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body), and Ryan Verrier (IR/upper body). Cole Ceci was the backup goaltender. Prior to the game, the NY Islanders re-assigned Reece Newkirk from Bridgeport to Worcester.
With Railers captain Anthony Repaci looking to be out with his broken jaw for a long while, alternate captain Jake Schultz being cut ages ago, and fellow alternate captain Blade Jenkins off to Hartford, Worcester decided to name three more players to wear the “A” on their jerseys on Wednesday with Connor Welsh, Trevor Cosgrove, and Jack Quinlivan all getting letters. Welsh is listed as previously being an alternate captain for USports’ Dalhousie University, while Cosgrove wore an “A” for Colgate University. Quinlivan was a captain at the University of Maine for two seasons after being an alternate in his junior year.
Some scoring changes from last week’s nauseating losses to the Florida Everblades. From Wednesday’s game, the secondary assist on Jake Pivonka’s goal, the only one scored by the Railers in the game, was switched from Anthony Callin to Anthony Repaci. That goal now reads “2. WOR Pivonka, (14) (Cosgrove, Repaci), 17:06 (PP)”. Worcester only had one goal on Friday, but the scorers got that one wrong too as Callin again loses an assist and Andrei Bakanov picks one up. That goal now reads “1. WOR Cosgrove, (6) (Bakanov, Repaci), 5:37”. Bakanov also picks up a helper on Jack Quinlivan’s goal in Saturday’s contest, which now reads “1. WOR Quinlivan, (4) (Bakanov, Garat), 17:10”.
While it was “Harry Potter” night at the Railers they didn’t wear specialty jerseys. The game graphic used here usually reflects the jerseys Worcester wears, but since the one for this game doesn’t, we’ll mention that the Railers were in their blue sweaters while Trois-Rivières was in white.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 40 John Muse
2. WOR – 26 Connor Welsh
3. WOR – 44 Anthony Callin
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Newkirk / Callin
Piercey / Pivonka / Quinlivan
Howdeshell / Robbins / White
X / Cipollone / Goehring
Cosgrove / Dickinson
Welsh / Krygier
Garat / Kulikov
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 5, Boston 1
Bridgeport 2, Lehigh Valley 1
In the ECHL’s North Division
Adirondack 7, Reading 3
Norfolk 7, Maine 3
Newfoundland 6, Kalamazoo 0
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs W |
| ADK | 75 | .694 | 2 | 2 |
| NOR | 68 | .618 | 3 | 0 |
| NFL | 59 | .527 | 4 | 3 |
| WOR | 52 | .500 | X | X |
| REA | 51 | .472 | 2 | 5 |
| ME | 50 | .472 | 1 | 4 |
| TR | 46 | .451 | -1 | 6 |
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 0 0 0 – 0
Worcester 1 2 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Welsh 5 (Goehring, Callin), 2:34. Penalties-Callin Wor (cross-checking), 4:13; Ortiz Tr (interference), 10:39.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Newkirk 2 (Callin), 1:30. 3, Worcester, Quinlivan 5 (Welsh, Callin), 19:28. Penalties-Novak Tr (high-sticking), 4:41; Dickinson Wor (cross-checking), 9:45; Dickinson Wor (elbowing), 14:14; Voyer Tr (slashing), 19:28.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Bakanov 8 (Cosgrove, Pivonka), 3:48 (PP). Penalties-Novak Tr (high-sticking), 3:05; Lariviere Tr (roughing), 4:20; Garat Wor (roughing), 4:20; Lariviere Tr (fighting – major), 6:49; Parker-Jones Tr (roughing), 6:49; Dickinson Wor (fighting – major), 6:49; Tourigny Tr (tripping), 10:05; Lariviere Tr (roughing), 12:41; Novak Tr (roughing), 12:41; Garat Wor (roughing), 12:41; Lariviere Tr (double – roughing), 18:55; Paiement Tr (double – roughing), 18:55; Garat Wor (double – roughing), 18:55; Kulakov Wor (double – roughing), 18:55.
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 8-14-8-30. Worcester 12-7-16-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 0 / 3; Worcester 1 / 7.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Émond 4-5-0-0 (25 shots-21 saves); Vrbetic 9-14-3-1 (10 shots-10 saves). Worcester, Muse 11-6-1-0 (30 shots-30 saves).
A-5,720
Referees-Hunter Mottinger (9).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Antoine Bujold-Roux (72).
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