The Worcester Railers took on the Trois-Rivières Lions Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in front of an announced crowd of 4,205, and after taking a 2-0 lead in the first period played what might be the worst period ever in the city’s hockey history in the second frame, taking four incredibly dumb penalties and allowing four goals as they eventually fell to the Lions 5-2.
The loss was another hit against the Railers’ playoff chances as it was a game in hand against every team in the North Division, excepting both of their Canadian rivals.
Zach White opened the scoring for Worcester at 17:35 of the first period with an unassisted goal.
The Railers would have a late-period five-on-three power play, and for the most part, it looked terrible. Reece Newkirk had the best bid of the two-man advantage, and it found the back of the net.
That 2-0 lead looked pretty good, but appearances can be deceiving. Worcester would get just nine shots the rest of the way, and in the middle period had what is arguably the worst period ever in Worcester’s pro hockey history.
A John Muse turnover would end up in the net behind him at 3:18 on a goal by Jakov Novak. Fifty-nine seconds later a clean face-off win by Nicolas Guay allowed Nicolas Lariviere to fire one past Muse to make it 2-2.
Then Christian Krygier shot the puck out of play from the defensive end when there was absolutely no reason for him to be rushed with playing the puck. On the penalty kill Trevor Cosgrove then fired one from the Railers end over Lions netminder Joe Vrbetic and into the protective netting behind the Lions goal for another automatic delay of game minor. Worcester killed both of those off, but by then momentum was all on the Lions’ side.
Ryan Dickinson was the next to take a dumb penalty, going after Trois-Rivières forward Parker Saretsky and eliminating a Railers power play chance. Less than two minutes later Andrei Bakanov was called for a lazy holding penalty, and Worcester’s penalty killers finally gave way as Nolan Yaremko scored on the man advantage to make it 3-2 at 11:26. Yaremko would score again at 12:50 to make it 4-2.
One has to wonder if someone more experienced in coaching than Jordan Smotherman might have called a timeout at 3-2, or if not inclined to use their timeout that early might possibly have changed goaltenders at 4-2 just to shake up the team a bit. Smotherman did neither, instead doing his best Roy Sommer impersonation and just stood there behind the bench.
It stayed 4-2 deep into the third period when Brendan Robbins took one of the most brain-dead slashing penalties this writer has ever seen, essentially killing any chance at a miracle comeback. Krygier took his second dumb penalty of the game 21 seconds later, and Yaremko was able to complete his hat trick with a five-on-three goal.
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. Worcester went with the same lines as Saturday night.
The three stars of the game were:
1. TR – 24 Nolan Yaremko
2. TR – 86 Jakov Novak
3. WOR – 5 Zach White
The 210Sports Player of the Game was nobody.
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
Bridgeport 4, Springfield 1
In the ECHL’s North Division
Kalamazoo 6, Newfoundland 3
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs WOR |
| ADK | 75 | .694 | 1 | 2 |
| NOR | 68 | .618 | 2 | 0 |
| NFL | 59 | .518 | 4 | 3 |
| WOR | 52 | .491 | X | X |
| REA | 51 | .472 | 1 | 5 |
| ME | 50 | .472 | 0 | 4 |
| TR | 48 | .462 | -1 | 5 |
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 0 4 1 – 5
Worcester 2 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Worcester, White 7 17:35. 2, Worcester, Newkirk 3 (Callin, Pivonka), 19:39 (PP). Penalties-Newkirk Wor (delay of game), 3:29; Beauregard Tr (interference), 18:13; Martin Tr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:13.
2nd Period-3, Trois-Rivières, Novak 20 (Tourigny), 3:18. 4, Trois-Rivières, Lariviere 3 (Guay), 4:17. 5, Trois-Rivières, Yaremko 9 (Ortiz, Guay), 11:26 (PP). 6, Trois-Rivières, Yaremko 10 (Novak, Kohn), 12:50. Penalties-Krygier Wor (delay of game), 4:59; Cosgrove Wor (delay of game), 6:39; Saretsky Tr (boarding), 9:02; Dickinson Wor (slashing), 9:02; Bakanov Wor (holding), 10:56.
3rd Period-7, Trois-Rivières, Yaremko 11 (Voyer, Ducharme), 19:01 (PP). Penalties-Robbins Wor (slashing), 18:04; Krygier Wor (kneeing), 18:25.
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 12-21-13-46. Worcester 18-6-3-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 2 / 6; Worcester 1 / 2.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Vrbetic 10-14-3-1 (27 shots-25 saves). Worcester, Muse 11-7-1-0 (46 shots-41 saves).
A-4,205
Referees-Hunter Mottinger (9).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Antoine Bujold-Roux (72).
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