Henrik. Tikkanen.
That’s it. That’s the lede. Only two words are needed to describe the Worcester Railers 3-2 win Friday night at Colisée Vidéotron against the Trois-Rivières Lions.
Oh, sure, Ashton Calder, Reece Newkirk, and Trevor Cosgrove all scored goals, and Connor Welsh grabbed a couple of assists, but what really got the much-needed two points in Worcester’s column was the goaltending of Tikkanen. Or as he has now been dubbed:
After allowing six goals last Friday and five more on Sunday many fans, this writer included, wanted Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman to go with John Muse Friday night. For whatever the reason was, he chose the soft-spoken Finnish giant to tend the goal. Unofficially, Tikkanen made 13 saves he had no business making. And he needed to make every single one of them.
Despite all of that, it was Trois-Rivières who got on the board first when Jonathan Yantsis beat Tikkanen high to the glove side from the right face-off circle at 6:09 of the opening frame. Watching it live it looked like one that Tikkanen probably should have had, but seeing the replay it appears Artyom Kulakov’s attempt at blocking the shot may have screened Tikkanen, who couldn’t react quick enough once he was able to locate the puck.
It was Calder who would tie the game seven minutes later.
Defender Miguël Tourigny gave the Lions a 2-1 lead at 11:31 of the middle frame with an absolute laser that went between Tikkanen’s glove and his head and snuck under the crossbar. It was an NHL-quality shot that Tikkanen saw the whole way and just couldn’t do much to stop it.
The Railers’ power play, which can be kindly called “less than stellar”, was good enough to get them back to even at 15:36 when Newkirk, celebrating his 100th Railers game, beat Lions’ netminder Strauss Mann to make it 2-2.
The Railers could have posted over a dozen Tikkanen saves as highlights, but this one from early in the third is as good as any.
It was Cosgrove that gave Worcester its first lead of the game at 9:41 of the third period.
Looking at the video you can see Cosgrove thinks Jake Pivonka tipped it, but Pivonka points at Cosgrove immediately. What you can’t see in the video is if Pivonka did or did not touch it. When in doubt, take the word of the player who says he didn’t touch it.
From there it was the Henrik Tikkanen Show, as the “The Great Wall of Finland” made that one goal lead stand up the rest of the way.
The two teams meet again Saturday afternoon, with a 3pm ET puck drop. Worcester needs a win in any manner to qualify for the ECHL’s Kelly Cup playoffs.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Joey Cipollone, John Copeland (IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Austin Heidemann (IR/unknown), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Riley Piercey, Jack Quinlivan (IR/unknown), and C.J. Regula. John Muse was the backup goaltender.
In a couple of transactions for the Railers, on Wednesday Worcester signed forward Matthew Kopperud to an amateur try-out (ATO) contract. Kopperud went 64-43-107 in 118 games over four seasons with Arizona State before signing a standard player’s contract on March 20th with Bridgeport for next season. He was finishing this season with the AHL Islanders under an ATO but was released and signed here to be eligible for the ECHL playoffs. ATOs in the ECHL work differently than in the AHL, where a player can play almost limitlessly on that contract. In the ECHL, which has a salary cap, there is a maximum number of games a player can play before he has to be released or signed to a standard contract. I believe that number is three, but with the team on the road, I can’t double-check that. More on that later I suspect. To make room for Kopperud on the roster Worcester released Ryan Scarfo.
More on Ashton Calder’s five-goal, two-assist game Sunday against Maine. After consultations with Bill Ballou and rechecking some old score sheets and other evidence, we can confirm that Calder’s seven-point game is indeed a Worcester pro hockey record. It’s rare that this writer and Ballou, the oracle of Worcester hockey, have differing results for stat information but it does happen infrequently, and that record was in question. Many of the box scores of that era are luckily still available for research, and now we’re sure that Calder sits atop the single-game points per game list.
And one final Worcester pro hockey record was tied on that seven-point night for Calder. The Worcester pro record for goals in consecutive games is six, set by Blade Jenkins earlier this season with his back-to-back hat tricks, and Aston Calder had a goal last Saturday and five on Sunday to tie the record. He would have broken the mark with two on Friday, but alas, he got just the one keeping the record at six.
In scoring changes from last weekend, add an assist for Ryan Verrier on Reece Newkirk’s second-period goal on Friday in Maine. That goal now reads “2. WOR Newkirk, (6) (Calder, Verrier), 3:29”. On Anthony Callin’s second-period goal on Saturday Newkirk loses an assist and Blade Jenkins picks one up. That goal now reads “2. WOR Callin, (14) (Garat, Jenkins), 2:42”. In the same game, Riley Piercey loses an assist on Connor Welsh’s third-period goal and Keeghan Howdeshell gains one. That goal now reads “3. WOR Welsh, (7) (Scarfo, Howdeshell), 12:04”. There were no scoring changes in Sunday’s game.
The ECHL released their season-ending All-Rookie Team and First- and Second-Team All-Stars, and to the surprise of no one, no players from Worcester were mentioned. No Railers player has ever been named to either of the post-season All-Star teams while playing in Worcester. Evan Buitenhuis was named a Second-team All-Star in 2020-21 when he played for the Wichita Thunder. Fellow goaltender Mitch Gillam is the only Railers player to be named to the All-Rookie team, doing so in 2017-18.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that a couple of Worcester hockey alumni received some recognition last week. Milwaukee’s Troy Grosenick and Springfield’s Drew Callin were named their teams’ “Man of the Year” for their charitable contributions. Both become nominees for the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, presented annually to the American Hockey League’s man of the year for service to his local community. Nick Petrecki won the award with the WorSharks in the 2011-12 season. Other Worcester hockey alumni who have won the award are Mitch Fritz (2005-06, Springfield Falcons), Ryan Carpenter (2015-16, San Jose Barracuda), and Grosenick (2019-20, Milwaukee Admirals).
For any that missed it, the Worcester Railers Booster Club announced their 2023-24 season ending awards this week. The awards also double as the Railers team awards.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
2. TR – 71 Justin Ducharme
3. TR – 7 Jonathan Yantsis
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Connor Welsh.
Even Strength Lines
Newkirk / Jenkins / Callin
Repaci / Pivonka / Calder
Kopperud / White / Robbins
Howdeshell / X / Bakanov
Welsh / Cosgrove
Verrier / Krygier
Garat / Kulakov
Our affiliates last night
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5, Bridgeport 2
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Adirondack 5, Miane 4 OT
Reading 3, Orlando 2 OT
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3
Trois-Rivières 1 1 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Yantsis 1 (Beauregard, Martin), 6:09. 2, Worcester, Calder 23 (Pivonka, Cosgrove), 13:17. Penalties-Kulakov Wor (roughing), 9:06; Ducharme Tr (roughing), 9:06; Yantsis Tr (hooking), 19:56.
2nd Period-3, Trois-Rivières, Tourigny 9 (Ducharme, Thomas), 11:31. 4, Worcester, Newkirk 8 (Welsh, White), 15:36 (PP). Penalties-Garat Wor (roughing), 2:41; Ducharme Tr (slashing), 14:58.
3rd Period-5, Worcester, Cosgrove 12 (Welsh, Callin), 9:41. Penalties-Yaremko Tr (roughing), 1:16; Parker-Jones Tr (cross-checking), 5:40; Repaci Wor (hooking), 12:53.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 7-6-6-19. Trois-Rivières 4-11-19-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Trois-Rivières 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 11-6-1-1 (34 shots-32 saves). Trois-Rivières, Mann 6-3-1-1 (19 shots-16 saves).
A-2,285
Referees-Andrew Bell (24), Marc-Olivier Phaneuf (23).
Linesmen-Maxime Bedard (65), Philippe Pilon (68).
—
Do you have something you loved (or hated) about the post? Head on over to the 210Sports Facebook page and leave a comment. You could comment on this post too, but fair warning, the spam filter catches lots of stuff it shouldn’t and it might be weeks before we see your comment. While you’re there, please give the page a like and a follow.
You can also follow along and comment on the following sites:
Twitter/X (210Darryl), Twitter/X (210Sports), Post.news, Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon.
-30-
210Sports 