Friday night the Worcester Railers took on the Reading Royals at Santander Arena in the first of three of what are essentially “must win” games and got two-goal games from Keeghan Howdeshell, Jake Pivonka, and Zach White and 25 saves from Henrik Tikkanen to defeat their North Division rivals 7-3.
Before we begin with the goals, a warning. The camera work in Reading is the worst in the entire ECHL, and the director switching between action shots might have eyesight worse than this writer’s. Please, watch these videos while seated and have a trash can handy in case you are struck by motion sickness while watching.
The Railers hadn’t scored the opening goal of the game since March 9th, but Jake Pivonka washed away that factoid with a putback of an Aston Calder shot at 10:20 of the opening period.
That goal could potentially be changed to Calder as Royals forward Max Kouznetsov may have knocked the puck into his own net.
Allowing goals in the final minute of a period has been a huge issue for the Railers this season, and unfortunately Worcester did it again Friday night when Devon Paliani’s shot pinballed past Tikkanen with 42.1 seconds left in the frame.
The Railers would have the only two goals of the middle stanza, the first when Jake Quinlivan grabbed a loose puck and fed Andrei Bakanov, who buried it past Reading lefty goaltender Anson Thornton at 3:38.
Howdeshell would make it 3-1 at 6:52 after a great centering feed from Brendan Robbins.
At 10:39 it looked like Quinlivan made it 4-1 Worcester, but after signaling it was a good goal referee Logan Gruhl went to a video review. And it was a loooong video review. After viewing the video, he spoke to his linesmen, Judson Ritter and JP Waleski, and then ruled it “no goal” for goaltender interference. Watching the available angle it seems like that might be the wrong call. Quinlivan was bumped into by Royals defender Koletrane Wilson and then into goaltender Thornton. But that’s not why the goal should have counted. The key is that Quinlivan didn’t actually put the puck into the net, it was knocked into the net by the Royals after Thornton poked checked it away. Reading putting the puck into their own net is why the goal should have counted.
Alas, in the end, it didn’t matter.
Not sure what got into Paliani moments later, but he went after Quinlivan, who is listed as 24 pounds heavier than the former Railers forward. Paliani has gotten into over 20 fights in his pro hockey career, it was just Quinlivan’s second. I’d say Jack did quite well for himself here.
Just 31 seconds into the third Howdeshell would officially get the Railers score to four.
Another thing that keeps biting Worcester in the behind is giving up goals right after scoring one, and they did it again after Howdeshell’s tally when seventeen seconds later Tyler Gratton banked one in off of Tikkanen to make it 4-2.
Due to technical difficulties, not sure whose, there’s no video highlights for the next couple of Railers goals, but Pivonka netted his second of the game at 3:16 when Wilson fell down in the Reading end and Calder was able to jump on the loose puck, centering it to Pivonka who beat Thornton to the glove side.
And, yes, that quick return goal happened again when twelve seconds later Jake Smith beat Tikkanen when Worcester forgot to play any sort of defense. But Zach White would answer just 28 seconds after that when he grabbed an errant past and whistled it over the glove of Thornton at 3:56.
Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman, after twice seeing his team give up quick goals after scoring in the game, decided that was a good time to call his time out. And it was as it got Worcester focused and kept them in their groove.
White would grab his second of the game while the Railers were shorthanded when he absolutely undressed Thornton on a breakaway.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Joey Cipollone, John Copeland (IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Mason Klee, Christian Krygier (IR/unknown), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Riley Piercey, Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body). John Muse was the backup goaltender. Klee, son of NHLer Ken Klee, was signed Friday morning. The defenseman was 5-16-21 in 126 games with the Ohio State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
We’ll take one final look up toward College Hill as Holy Cross’ Men’s hockey team lost 3-1 last Sunday in game three of their Atlantic Hockey Association semi-final against American International College, losing the series 2-1. The Yellow Jackets will now face off against the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers on Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center on the RIT campus. The winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I hockey championship tournament.
And speaking of Holy Cross hockey, many Railers fans suffered a bit of anxiety Friday afternoon after seeing in the transaction listing that Worcester had signed former Crusaders goaltender Jason Grande as an EBUG. Grande is a West Chester, PA native, which is about 45 minutes south of Reading, and a logical guess for the signing is the Railers are trying to keep John Muse’s workload to a minimum down the stretch, so bringing in a third goaltender for practice and pregame skates makes sense. Adding him as an EBUG means he’s covered by the team’s insurance but doesn’t count against the roster limit. There’s probably some ECHL salary cap rule limiting how often Worcester can do this, so maybe more about this later. Putting the cart way before the horse, there is a possibility the Railers might eventually need to add an amateur goaltender to their playoff roster, and Grande would currently fit that bill. It makes sense to take a look at him if they can.
The Reece Newkirk watch continues here in Worcester, and since we don’t know if he’s injured, we’ll keep mentioning when he doesn’t play for Bridgeport, and it happened again Friday night. Blade Jenkins also didn’t play Friday, but neither did his Hartford Wolf Pack so there’s not much to be annoyed with there.
While it would be easy to make jokes about Railers broadcaster Tim Foley having to call the game with a brass band seated in front of him, this writer would rather point out how inconsiderate the Royals are for having it happen in the first place. I know for a fact here in Worcester Foley bends over backward to make sure everything is as good as it can be at visiting radio play-by-play table, and it shouldn’t be too much to expect the same is done when he’s on the road. The Railers are too high class to make the next trip by Reading to the DCU Center miserable for Erik Jesberger, plus the Royals are too cheap to pay for him to come here anyway.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 5 Zach White
2. WOR – 17 Keeghan Howdeshell
3. WOR – 13 Jake Pivonka
As of posting time, the three stars of the game were entered incorrectly by the scorers in Reading, listing #17 for the Royals (Tyson Fawcett, who did nothing all game) as opposed to #17 for the Railers, Keeghan Howdeshell.
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Jack Quinlivan.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Callin / Heidemann
Scarfo / Pivonka / Calder
Howdeshell / Quinlivan / Robbins
Gildon / White / X
Cosgrove / Regula
Welsh / Verrier
Garat / Kulakov
Our affiliates last night
Bridgeport 2, Utica 1 SO
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Trois-Rivières 3, Atlanta 1
Maine 4, Newfoundland 3
Adirondack 5, Norfolk 4
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs WOR |
| ADK | 84 | .689 | 0 | 0 |
| NOR | 76 | .613 | 1 | 0 |
| NFL | 62 | .508 | 0 | 3 |
| ME | 61 | .508 | -1 | 3 |
| TR | 60 | .500 | -1 | 3 |
| WOR | 59 | .484 | X | X |
| REA | 57 | .460 | 1 | 2 |
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 2 4 – 7
Reading 1 0 2 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Pivonka 18 (Calder, Cosgrove), 10:20. 2, Reading, Paliani 15 (Bertuzzi, Devine), 19:17. Penalties-Smith Rea (slashing), 16:32.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Bakanov 11 (Quinlivan), 3:38. 4, Worcester, Howdeshell 7 (Robbins, Verrier), 6:52. Penalties-Quinlivan Wor (fighting – major), 10:52; Paliani Rea (fighting – major), 10:52; Kulakov Wor (tripping), 16:33; White Wor (double – roughing), 19:13; Connor Rea (double – roughing), 19:13.
3rd Period-5, Worcester, Howdeshell 8 (Quinlivan, Garat), 0:31. 6, Reading, Gratton 1 (Bouquot, Smith), 0:48. 7, Worcester, Pivonka 19 (Calder), 3:16. 8, Reading, Smith 15 (Bouquot, Gratton), 3:28. 9, Worcester, White 9 3:56. 10, Worcester, White 10 (Welsh), 15:47 (SH). Penalties-Malinowski Rea (slashing), 10:39; Scarfo Wor (interference), 13:59.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-16-18-46. Reading 13-8-7-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Reading 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 7-5-1-1 (28 shots-25 saves). Reading, Thornton 2-6-0-0 (46 shots-39 saves).
A-3,231
Referees-Logan Gruhl (29).
Linesmen-Judson Ritter (70), JP Waleski (51).
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