So, yeah, that happened.
It would literally take thousands of words to describe everything that went wrong Saturday night in the Worcester Railers’ 9-3 loss to the Newfoundland Growlers at the DCU Center, and here on Easter morning this writer has tons of things to do, so we’ll have to really just keep it to four words:
We’re on to Maine.
Seriously, does anyone know how hard it is to find a picture of Jordan Smotherman where he’s not smiling? Had to go back to 2016 to find that one. And then in a gray hoodie like Bill Belichick? Yeah, no chance. But we’ll work with what’s available.
The Railers had three goals, and we’ll post those highlights and continue on afterward.
Losing 9-3 is bad enough, but after the game there was even worse news for John Muse as he’s no longer the oldest goaltender in Worcester pro hockey history. That honor, such as it is, now belongs to Joe Spagnoli, who as a 40-year-old EBUG entered the game halfway through the third period and made 11 saves on 12 shots. Even the Growlers showed their appreciation postgame of the longtime emergency goaltender.
It was “Military Appreciation” night, and Worcester wore specialty jerseys for the occasion. Like all the jerseys designed by Railers COO Mike Myers, these were cool looking. There were whispers that Spagnoli’s #35 sweater, which was not listed in the online auction, might be going to him. Hopefully that really happened, so at least there will be one bright spot in the game.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were John Copeland (IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Michael Gildon, Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Artyom Kulakov (ill), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Riley Piercey, Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body), Henrik Tikkanen (ill), and Zach White (bereavement/family leave). Joe Spagnoli was the EBUG backup goaltender and entered the game with 15:16 to go in the third period. Word is the grippe is running through the team, and while we’ve listed some players as “ill” there was no official word from the Railers on their statuses.
Saturday morning the Railers released EBUG Joe Spagnoli and then discovering they still needed him, re-signed him later in the day. In a bit of trivia, Spagnoli has been assigned four different numbers as an EBUG with Worcester: 1, 31, 35, and 40. The only Railers player to play in games wearing four different numbers? Ryan MacKinnon (4, 10, 24, and 44). In Worcester pro hockey history former IceCats goaltender Brent Johnson also wore four different numbers in games, 1, 30, 31, and 35. Fellow Cats’ netminder Scott Roche wore three numbers in games, 1, 29, and 30, and had a fourth as a backup goaltender, 34. WorSharks defender Derek Joslin also wore four different numbers in games, 6, 24, 25, and 36.
As teased on Twitter, the last time the Railers allowed nine goals in a game was December 28, 2022, when they lost 9-3 in Maine. In that game, Henrik Tikkanen gave up six goals in the first two periods and Brent Moran played the final 22ish minutes giving up three. Like Saturday’s 9-3 loss, they also gave up five goals in the second period. The last time any pro team scored nine goals at the DCU Center was November 24, 2004, when the IceCats defeated Portland, you guessed it, 9-3. A total of ten IceCats collected multiple points that night: Brendan Brooks (2g,a), Johnny Pohl (g,2a), Mike Mottau (3a), Alexei Shkotov (2g), Konstantin Zakharov (2g), Jeff Hogan (g,a), Dennis Wideman (g,a), Mike Glumac (2a), Trevor Byrne (2a), and Mike Stuart (2a). The five foot nine inch tall Brooks had a Gordie Howe hat trick in that game, fighting Brian Sutherby.
With all the troubles surrounding the futures of the Trois-Rivières Lions and Newfoundland Growlers franchises the Worcester Railers Booster Club decided to show support to the Growlers players by packing snack bags for their trip back to Toronto. The packs were similar to the ones the club gives out to Railers players for road trips and included a message of encouragement to the Newfoundland players, who, like their Lions counterparts, are not even certain they’ll have jobs after the ECHL Board of Governors votes Tuesday about the future of the Deacon Sports and Entertainment owned franchises.
A reminder to folks that the Railers Booster Club has a specialty jersey raffle going on where the winner will win one of each of the six specialty jerseys Worcester has worn this season. Tickets are $10 each and may be purchased at any of the remaining Railers home games at the Booster Club table behind section 109. Tickets will be available until the Sunday, April 7th game, when the winner will be drawn. You don’t need to be present to win.
The three stars of the game were:
1. NFL – 23 Isaac Johnson
2. NFL – 36 Tyler Weiss
3. WOR – 35 Joe Spagnoli
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Zsombor Garat.
Even Strength Lines
Newkirk / Jenkins / Callin
Howdeshell / Pivonka / Calder
Bakanov / Robbins / Heidemann
Scarfo / Cipollone / X
Cosgrove / Regula
Verrier / Welsh
Garat / Klee
Our affiliates last night
Tampa Bay 4, NY Islanders 1
Bridgeport 1, Charlotte 0 OT
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Reading 5, Adirondack 2
Norfolk 6, Atlanta 0
Maine 4, Trois-Rivières 3
Standings
(“Hand” are games in hand from WOR’s point of view)
| TEAM | PTS | PTS % | HAND | vs WOR |
| X-ADK | 86 | .662 | -1 | 0 |
| X-NOR | 84 | .636 | 0 | 0 |
| TR | 66 | .508 | -1 | 3 |
| ME | 65 | .508 | -2 | 3 |
| WOR | 66 | .500 | X | X |
| NFL | 66 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| REA | 61 | .455 | 1 | 0 |
BOX SCORE
Newfoundland 2 5 2 – 9
Worcester 2 1 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Newfoundland, Cruikshank 21 (Weiss, Staios), 8:10. 2, Worcester, Robbins 7 8:20. 3, Newfoundland, Johnson 29 (Sikic), 8:45. 4, Worcester, Welsh 6 (Cosgrove, Jenkins), 18:57. Penalties-Staios Nfl (slashing), 0:54; Dawe Nfl (cross-checking), 5:27; Scarfo Wor (roughing), 5:27; Weiss Nfl (roughing), 9:53; Jenkins Wor (roughing), 9:53; Shea Nfl (kneeing), 11:33.
2nd Period-5, Newfoundland, Sikic 1 (Johnson, Berezowski), 1:39. 6, Newfoundland, Shea 17 2:03. 7, Worcester, Pivonka 20 (Calder), 3:11. 8, Newfoundland, Johnson 30 (Sikic), 3:32. 9, Newfoundland, Gosselin 2 (Weiss, Caufield), 8:04 (PP). 10, Newfoundland, Shea 18 (Carter), 18:48. Penalties-Cosgrove Wor (holding), 6:08.
3rd Period-11, Newfoundland, Weiss 14 (Cruikshank, Staios), 4:44. 12, Newfoundland, Johnson 31 (Weiss, Cruikshank), 19:55. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Newfoundland 13-15-17-45. Worcester 11-6-5-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Newfoundland 1 / 1; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Newfoundland, McKay 8-10-4-1 (22 shots-19 saves). Worcester, Muse 14-11-2-1 (33 shots-25 saves); Spagnoli 0-0-0-0 (12 shots-11 saves).
A-5,037
Referees-Yannick Jobin-Manseau (30), Evan Reddick (21).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Cody Sullivan (82).
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