Wednesday night the Worcester Railers took on the North Division leading Adirondack Thunder at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls towing along three new players on their roster, but it was the same old story as once again the Railers fell behind early and couldn’t catch up in a 5-2 loss. Worcester is 0-4-1 in their last five and has dropped to sixth in the division.
The Thunder got on the board first when a Railers offensive zone turnover ended up in an odd-man rush the other way, with Tristan Ashbrook finally lighting the lamp behind Worcester netminder John Muse at 7:57. Anthony Callin had the puck knocked away from him and after Ryan Verrier pinched in to go after the puck in was banked around him off the boards, leading to the odd-man rush.
Jace Isley made it 2-0 at 10:48 with a nice wraparound goal after Artyom Kulakov failed to clear the from the Railers zone. In the ensuing play, Kulakov lost his stick, allowing Isley to grab it and wheel the net with newcomer Austin Heidemann hopelessly giving chase. Isley threw it around Muse for the goal.
Andre Ghantous then made it 3-0 at 16:16 when he deflected a pass by Ashbrook through the five-hole of Muse.
Andrei Bakanov would get Worcester within two with a late-period power-play goal.
Late in the second frame, Travis Broughman made it 4-1 with a goal at 17:44 when he blasted one past Muse.
In the third period, Jack Quinlivan had a too-little, too-late goal to make it 4-2.
Ryan Wheeler would add an empty net goal for the 5-2 final.
The Railers now head off to Reading for a three-in-three against the Royals, Friday being the first of 12 games Worcester will play that pretty much fall into the “must-win” category.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Michael Gildon, Christian Krygier (IR/unknown), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), C.J. Regula, Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body), and Zach White. Henrick Tikkanen, who was assigned to the Railers Wednesday morning, was the backup goaltender.
In addition to Tikkanen being assigned to Worcester by Bridgeport, the Railers finally had a slew of transactions this week as they signed forwards Michael Gildon and Austin Heidemann and defenseman C.J. Regula to contracts. Gildon spent five seasons at the Ohio State University, going 12-26-38 in 118 games played with the Buckeyes. Heidemann spent the last two seasons at RPI after transferring from Mercyhurst University, where he was 19-20-39 in 54 games with the Lakers before putting up 22-26-47 in 71 games with the Engineers. Regula also went to RPI for his fifth year of NCAA eligibility, going 2-5-7 in 29 games. His first four seasons were with Ohio State where he went 2-10-12 in 88 games. To make room for all the new players Jake Goldowski, Todd Goehring, and Cole Ceci were all released. Christian Krygier had been on the Family/Bereavement leave list and was transferred to the injured reserve list.
Despite only lighting the lamp only three times all week there was still a scoring change to be made as Joey Cipollone picked up an assist on Zsombor Garat’s goal Friday night. That goal now reads “2. WOR Garat, (2) (Cipollone, Goehring), 10:54”.
Bridgeport was idle Wednesday night, although Reece Newkirk may be injured. We’ll still note when he’s a scratch until we hear about his actual availability. Hartford did play Wednesday, a 6-5 loss in Rochester, and Blade Jenkins was a scratch.
The three stars of the game were:
1. ADK – 20 Andre Ghantous
2. ADK – 9 Tristan Ashbrook
3. ADK – 27 Travis Broughman
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Callin / Heidemann
Scarfo / Pivonka / Calder
Howdeshell / Quinlivan / Robbins
Piercey / Cipollone / X
Cosgrove / Dickinson
Welsh / Verrier
Garat / Kulakov
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Jacksonville 4, Trois-Rivières 3 OT
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs WOR |
| ADK | 82 | .683 | 0 | 0 |
| NOR | 76 | .623 | 1 | 0 |
| NFL | 62 | .517 | 0 | 3 |
| ME | 59 | .500 | -1 | 3 |
| TR | 58 | .492 | -1 | 3 |
| WOR | 57 | .475 | X | X |
| REA | 57 | .467 | 1 | 3 |
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 0 1 – 2
Adirondack 3 1 1 – 5
1st Period-1, Adirondack, Ashbrook 23 (Ghantous, Jozefek), 7:57. 2, Adirondack, Isley 6 (Broughman, Gillespie), 10:48. 3, Adirondack, Ghantous 2 (Ashbrook, Jozefek), 16:16. 4, Worcester, Bakanov 10 (Calder, Callin), 18:58 (PP). Penalties-Friedmann Adk (slashing), 17:11.
2nd Period-5, Adirondack, Broughman 12 (Ghantous, Stief), 17:44. Penalties-Verrier Wor (slashing), 2:14; Quinlivan Wor (tripping), 17:56.
3rd Period-6, Worcester, Quinlivan 6 (Robbins, Garat), 8:52. 7, Adirondack, Wheeler 5 (Purpura), 17:40 (EN). Penalties-Piercey Wor (tripping), 3:03.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 7-4-14-25. Adirondack 10-17-6-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 1; Adirondack 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 13-10-1-1 (32 shots-28 saves). Adirondack, Purpura 15-3-4-1 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-3,034
Referees-Michael Zyla (34).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Antoine Bujold-Roux (72).
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