The Worcester Railers made their first trip of the season to The Pine Tree State Sunday afternoon for a match-up against the Maine Mariners and used a three-point game from Justin Gill and 31 saves from Henrik Tikkanen to defeat Maine 4-0.
You don’t see many fights right off the opening face-off anymore, but Riley Piercey and Wyllum Deveaux dropped the gloves only five seconds into the contest. While Piercey did enough damage that Deveaux needed some repairs while serving the penalty, it was the Mariners that gained momentum from the battle as they poured shot after shot on Tikkanen.
The Finnish netminder needed to make several big saves early on in the period, and after a flurry of shots by Maine Justin Gill was able to take advantage of a Mariners turnover for a three-zone breakaway and a 1-0 lead at 6:22.
Maine kept pouring on the shots, but slowly Worcester turned the tide and the shot totals closed to even, and Matthew Kopperud took advantage of another Mariners turnover and he made it 2-0 at 13:33.
The middle stanza was close territorial-wise to even with the Railers having just one more shot than Maine, 12-11, over the twenty minutes. More importantly, they grabbed another goal when Piercey and Gill finished a textbook two on one break with two minutes left in the frame.
The third period was all Worcester with the Railers outshooting Maine 10-4 in a period that wasn’t as close as that one-sided shot total would indicate.
Worcester had five power plays in a row in the period, and Mason Klee would put the game out of reach with a power play goal at 8:41.
In an absolutely brainless move Maine defender Dalton Gally took a late run at Cole Crowder, earning himself a boarding major and game misconduct. Mr. Gally should be expecting to hear from the ECHL before their next game Saturday against Reading.
The Railers will have a couple days off before heading to Norfolk for a three-game set against the Admirals, starting with a Wednesday match-up with a 7pm puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Callin (lower body), Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), Matt DeMelis (upper body), JD Dudek (unknown injury), Griffin Loughran (IR/unknown), and John Muse. Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. Despite having an off-day Saturday Worcester did not take advantage of the ECHL’s new 3-day IR slot to sign another player and used just 17 skaters, one under the maximum.
Maine was in a black and gold third jersey dedicated to the NHL affiliate, the Boston Bruins. That put Worcester into their white sweaters.
Looking back at Saturday night, the Railers were the only ECHL team that had the night off. Former Worcester forward and fan favorite Yanick Turcotte, now with the Fort Wayne Komets, got himself in a bit of hot water when he crosschecked Kalamazoo Wings goaltender Jonathan Lemieux with just under eight minutes to go in the Wings’ 9-2 win over the Komets. Turcotte earned himself a major and a game misconduct, and Sunday morning he got a phone call from the ECHL telling him to write a check for his fine. A player who didn’t get a phone call was Trois-Rivières defender Jakov Novak, who will apparently go unpunished for his high, dirty hit on Railers forward Matt DeMelis during the overtime period on Friday night as he played Saturday in the Lions’ 2-0 loss to Adirondack.
As this is the first time this season that Worcester and Maine face off, we’ll take a look at some roster and area connections. For the Mariners, goaltender Brad Arvanitis hails from Holliston, MA and played two seasons with UMass-Amherst followed by three more years at Babson College, and forward Wyllum Deveaux spent five seasons at Harvard University. The only Railers connection to Maine is Worcester GM and Associate Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino who played 20 games for the Portland Pirates (AHL) in 2010-11.
After posting the game story from Friday’s game on Saturday morning I noticed that the Railers press release on the game used “Matthew Kopperud”, while Bridgeport was using “Matt Kopperud”. I used “Matt” last season and was still using it. I contacted Broadcasting and Media Relations Coordinator Tim Foley about which Kopperud preferred, and it’s “Matthew”. I’ve edited all the posts for this season to make sure they say “Matthew”, and while it’s unlikely he’s read any of the posts I offer my apologies for not checking sooner, and I’ll make sure it’s correct from this point on.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
2. WOR – 7 Justin Gill
3. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Riley Piercey.
Even Strength Lines
Piercey / Jacobs / Repaci
Randl / Kopperud / Gill
Bakanov / Kaplan / Donhauser
Crowder / X / Hatten
Luce / Welsh
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Verrier
Our affiliates last night
(Saturday night)
Florida 6, NY Islanders 3
Charlotte 5, Bridgeport 2
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
(Sunday afternoon)
Reading 4, Wheeling 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 2 1 1 – 4
Maine 0 0 0 – 0
1st Period-1, Worcester, Gill 1 6:22. 2, Worcester, Kopperud 2 (Randl, Gill), 13:33. Penalties-Piercey Wor (fighting – major), 0:06; Deveaux Mne (fighting – major), 0:06; Tikkanen Wor (roughing), 17:12.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Piercey 1 (Gill), 18:00. Penalties-Kopperud Wor (slashing), 1:26; Crowder Wor (double – roughing), 10:42; Massicotte Mne (roughing), 10:42.
3rd Period-4, Worcester, Klee 2 (McDonald, Repaci), 8:41 (PP). Penalties-Bean Mne (tripping), 2:06; Vidmar Mne (hooking), 5:48; Berger Mne (high-sticking), 7:36; Guay Mne (hooking), 9:36; Stockdale Mne (hooking), 11:00; Kopperud Wor (roughing), 12:35; Klee Wor (slashing), 16:38; Gally Mne (boarding – major, game misconduct – boarding), 19:48.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-12-10-31. Maine 16-11-4-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 6; Maine 0 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 1-0-0-0 (31 shots-31 saves). Maine, Arvanitis 0-1-0-0 (31 shots-27 saves).
A-2,947
Referees-David Lilly (25), Michael Zyla (34).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Shane Kanaly (74).
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