The key for the Worcester Railers to make the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs is just to win, and to do so in regulation if they can, and they did both of those things Wednesday night at the DCU Center using a four-goal third period to defeat the Newfoundland Growlers 5-2. Joey Cipollone, Keeghan Howdeshell, and Zach White all had multiple point nights for the Railers, while Henrik Tikkanen made 33 saves.
Things did not start off well for Worcester. Despite peppering Growlers goaltender Vyacheslav Peksa with decent scoring bids, and the rookie netminder entering the game with what would be called “less than stellar stats”, Newfoundland would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on an odd-man rush goal Keenan Suthers at 8:58.
The Railers shot themselves in the foot when they failed to covert on the best scoring chance of the opening period when Blade Jenkins and Howdeshell broke into the Newfoundland zone two on none versus Peska. With the two points in the bag for Worcester, we can kind of laugh at the futility here, but it’s a textbook case of passing the puck way too often.
Halfway through the second period, the suddenly hot White tied the game for the Railers.
And then, that “thing” happened again. You know, that thing where Worcester gives up a goal within two minutes of scoring one themselves? Eight-five seconds after White’s goal Brock Caufield made it 2-1 Newfoundland. It was, by this writer’s count, the 19th time this season that the Railers have allowed a goal with two minutes of scoring. By contrast, they’ve done it 11 times to opponents.
It stayed 2-1 until 4:52 of the third period. It’s far too early to know what kind of hockey player C.J. Regula will turn into, but no matter how it works out for him when his kids or grandkids ask him about his first pro goal, he’ll get to say two of the greatest words in hockey: Bar down.
This time that “thing” didn’t happen, and what happened instead at 13:49 is Howdeshell put up an early bid for the ECHL’s “Plays of the Week”.
Cipollone had three assists on the night, and his third one was a highlight in itself as he and White hooked up for another potential “Plays of the Week” offering.
Jenkins would add an empty net goal for the 5-2 final.
The two teams have Thursday off and return to action Friday for “Bravehearts Night” at the DCU Center, where the first 1,000 fans will get an absolutely smoking hot looking Railers/Bravehearts hat. Doors open at 6pm, and puck drop is at 7pm.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Michael Gildon, Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Artyom Kulakov, Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Riley Piercey, Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), and Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body). John Muse was the backup goaltender. Before Wednesday’s game, Hartford loaned Blade Jenkins back to the Railers. To make room for him on the roster Quinlivan was added to injured reserve.
It’s a little surprising not to see any social media outcry about Blade Jenkins scoring on the empty net rather than passing it off to Zach White for the hat trick goal. It would figure that in this day and age someone would be riled up about it. And if the Railers had a three-goal lead at the time I would have agreed, but with it being a two-goal lead and knowing that anything can happen, Jenkins putting it into the net when he was able to do so was 100% the right call. In a tight playoff race, you need to make sure you secure those two points, and that’s what Jenkins did. Also, hat’s off, no pun intended, to White for not blindly firing the puck toward the empty net while in his own defensive end.
One thing that stood out in Wednesday’s game was the number of times two Railers players collided with each other. Now with the new guys in you’d think that would occur maybe a tick or two more often than usual, but it was something that happened a lot over the course of the game and usually involved guys who have been here a long while. It happened with such frequency Wednesday that early in the third period this writer noted on Twitter, “The (Railers) might have more hits on each other tonight than against Newfoundland…”. Despite Ryan Scarfo heading down the tunnel once after a collision it seems no one was worse for wear because of it, but it might be something that bears watching on Friday.
The Railers were in their white jerseys, which for the second half of the ECHL season are generally used on the road, because Worcester will be wearing a light-colored specialty Military Appreciation jersey in their game against the Growlers on Saturday. Newfoundland was in their dark “home” jerseys so they wouldn’t need to bring both sets of sweaters with them. Now that seems obvious, except that Newfoundland played in Maine last weekend. How did the Railers get the Mariners on board by wearing their whites at home? Well, as with many things that happen behind the scenes of the ECHL, it worked out for both teams because Maine wore a white specialty racing-style jersey last Saturday.
This would also be a good place to mention that Friday’s game would look fantastic if Worcester wore their orange third sweaters while Newfoundland was in their black jerseys, but with the Railers winning Wednesday in their white sweaters there isn’t even the slim chance you’d have in winning Powerball that they’ll be switching jerseys colors. And, I suspect, everyone will be OK with that.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 5 Zach White
2. WOR – 17 Keeghan Howdeshell
3. WOR – 12 Joey Cipollone
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Henrik Tikkanen.
Even Strength Lines
Bakanov / Jenkins / Callin
Howdeshell / Pivonka / Calder
Scarfo / White / Robbins
X / Cipollone / Heidemann
Cosgrove / Regula
Verrier / Welsh
Garat / Klee
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Trois-Rivières 3, Reading 1
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs WOR |
| X-ADK | 84 | .677 | 1 | 0 |
| NOR | 80 | .625 | 0 | 0 |
| TR | 64 | .508 | 1 | 3 |
| ME | 63 | .508 | 2 | 3 |
| WOR | 64 | .500 | X | X |
| NFL | 64 | .500 | 0 | 2 |
| REA | 59 | .454 | 1 | 0 |
BOX SCORE
Newfoundland 1 1 0 – 2
Worcester 0 1 4 – 5
1st Period-1, Newfoundland, Suthers 10 (Berezowski), 8:55. Penalties-Gosselin Nfl (tripping), 17:26.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, White 11 (Robbins, Cipollone), 10:34. 3, Newfoundland, Caufield 12 (Shea, Sikic), 11:58. Penalties-Tabakin Nfl (tripping), 4:10; White Wor (tripping), 15:12.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Regula 1 (Howdeshell, Cipollone), 4:52. 5, Worcester, Howdeshell 10 (Garat, Pivonka), 13:49. 6, Worcester, White 12 (Cipollone, Scarfo), 16:01. 7, Worcester, Jenkins 21 (White), 17:56 (EN). Penalties-Weiss Nfl (slashing), 19:35.
Shots on Goal-Newfoundland 14-10-11-35. Worcester 12-16-12-40.
Power Play Opportunities-Newfoundland 0 / 1; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Newfoundland, Peksa 5-11-1-1 (39 shots-35 saves). Worcester, Tikkanen 9-5-1-1 (35 shots-33 saves).
A-1,617
Referees-Evan Reddick (21).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Shane Kanaly (74).
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210Sports 
New kids looked pretty good after a bit of a shaky start in our own corner by #7 in first period. Loved how he got into the play in the O zone and team covered for him as the game went on. Big goal for #18 and he looked pretty steady. #20 did not look out of place although he was on the ice for the first goal