The Worcester Railers opened their 2024 ECHL preseason schedule Friday night with a matchup against the Maine Mariners at Sidney J. Watson Arena on the campus of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and despite Jack Randl, Matthew Kopperud, and Cole Donhauser each notching a goal and an assist and 21 saves by John Muse, the Railers dropped the contest 4-3. The two teams meet again Saturday evening at Worcester Ice to round out their exhibition schedules.
There wasn’t much chance this writer was going to be heading to The Pine Tree State to begin with, but this will tell you what would have likely interrupted any travel plans made.
With no Railers audio or video available, we’ll just point to their official site for their press release about the game. The Mariners have one on their site too, and you can check that out if you care to.
GAME NOTES
Presuming the roster I have is correct, it appears the scratches for the Railers were Michael Bullion, Anthony Callin, Cole Crowder, Justin Gill, Colin Jacobs, Jordan Kaplan, Christian Krygier, Griffin Luce, Anthony Repaci, and Connor Welsh. Joe Spagnoli was the back-up goaltender.
Not that exhibition records mean anything, but Cole Donhauser’s goal 11 seconds into the opening period is a franchise best to open a game and the quickest goal scored to start any preseason period. Matthew Kopperud’s goal 41 seconds into the middle period would be the second fastest to start a preseason period.
The three stars of the game were:
1. MNE – 7 Owen Pederson
2. MNE – 6 Jake Willets
3. WOR – 25 Ryan Dickinson
Dickinson is listed in the box score, but the Railers press release says it’s Cole Donhauser, which makes much more sense. We don’t count The 210Sports Player of the Game for preseason games, but we’ll give it to Donhauser just to even things out.
Even Strength Lines
Randl / Kopperud / Donhauser
Bakanov / Dudek / Heidemann
Piercey / Cipollone / Barnaby
DeMelis / Pennucci / Loughran
Verrier / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
McDonald / Kulakov
Our affiliates last night
No games
In the ECHL’s North Division
Reading 4, Adirondack 3
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3
Maine 2 1 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Donhauser 1 (Kopperud, Randl), 0:11. 2, Maine, Vierling 1 (Pederson, Willets), 14:49. 3, Maine, Stockdale 1 (Sheehy, Deveaux), 18:19. Penalties-Verrier Wor (roughing), 4:28; Verrier Wor (roughing), 7:11; Devine Mne (cross-checking), 7:11; Horvath Mne (roughing), 7:11.
2nd Period-4, Worcester, Kopperud 1 (Klee), 0:41. 5, Maine, Guay 1 (Pederson, Berger), 5:24. Penalties-Pederson Mne (hooking), 3:16; Heidemann Wor (high-sticking), 8:22; Piercey Wor (bench – too many men), 13:09.
3rd Period-6, Maine, Sarlo 1 (Willets, Lamppa), 4:56. 7, Worcester, Randl 1 (Pennucci, Donhauser), 11:57. Penalties-Deveaux Mne (high-sticking), 0:26; Klee Wor (game misconduct – secondary altercation), 2:47; Kopperud Wor (interference on the goalkeeper), 2:47; Pennucci Wor (fighting – major), 2:47; Deveaux Mne (game misconduct – secondary altercation), 2:47; Ripplinger Mne (fighting – major), 2:47; Lamppa Mne (holding), 18:16.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-8-14-33. Maine 11-5-9-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Maine 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 0-1-0-0 (25 shots-21 saves). Maine, Maier 0-0-0-0 (17 shots-15 saves); Arvanitis 1-0-0-0 (16 shots-15 saves).
A-1,000
Referees-Austin O’Rourke (10).
Linesmen-Davids Rozitis (90), Jack McQuesten (53).
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