Friday night at the Norfolk Scope was the second of three meetings in a row between the Worcester Railers and the Norfolk Admirals, and despite being outshot 48-23 and losing a third-period lead the Railers were able to overcome four one-goal deficits to get the contest to overtime where captain Anthony Repaci would end things on the first shot of the extra session to give the Railers a 6-5 win.
To call this one of the oddest hockey games this writer has ever seen might be the understatement of the season. Worcester was outshot by wide margins in every regulation period, but amazingly it was tied after twenty minutes and they held the lead after forty. And then what followed was a wild third frame that saw the teams exchange five goals as the momentum swung back and forth like a pendulum.
Welcome to ECHL hockey.
After having a power play goal wiped out due to a high stick, confirmed by video reply but never announced anywhere, the Admirals would get one that counted at 13:17 of the opening period when Marko Reifenberger was left all alone in front of the net and put back his own rebound past Worcester goaltender Michael Bullion.
The Railers’ penalty kill was a perfect four for four when Worcester got their first power play opportunity, and Matthew Kopperud buried one after a nice feed from Jordan Kaplan.
The official scoring lists Colin Jacobs with an assist, but the video clearly shows it belongs to Kaplan.
Shots were 18-5 Norfolk in the first period, but it was tied 1-1 after twenty minutes.
South Korean Olympian Sanghoon Shin would give Norfolk a 2-1 lead with a wicked wrist shot that beat Bullion to the glove side from the top of the right-wing circle on the power play. The box score says that goal was at 14:52, but the clock on the video clearly says 14:42. So, mistake number two from the scorers.
Griffin Loughran, playing his first game of the season after beginning the campaign on Injured Reserve, knotted the score again with the Railers’ second power play goal on the night, doubling their season total. Mason Klee had the lone helper.
A minute later Andrei Bakanov would give Worcester its first lead in Norfolk this season.
Justin Gill is listed as having the only assist on the play, but it looks to this writer that Ryan Dickinson should get a helper for the centering feed that started the give-and-go. Mistake number three from the scorers
Despite being outshot 17-10 in the period and 35-15 after the first 40 minutes, the Railers led 3-2.
Worcester had a golden opportunity to potentially put the game away with an extended four on three power play to start the third, but not only did they fail to score within seconds of the teams getting back to five on five the Admirals would tie it on an odd man rush goal from Carson Golder at 2:06. At 3:45 the Railers were once again behind when Brady Fleurent tucked one in at the far post behind Bullion.
It stayed that 4-3 Norfolk lead until the suddenly hot Riley Piercey extended his goal streak to three games and his points streak to five at 9:50 to make it a tie game once again.
It’s Piercey’s first five-game point streak since March of 2022 when he played for the OHL’s Flint Firebirds.
It’s safe to say ECHL referee Austin O’Rourke wasn’t on many Railers fans’ Christmas card list to begin with, but he’s absolutely not getting any now after despite letting everything short of manslaughter go in the third period O’Rourke was ready to call a ticky-tack hooking call on Kaplan when Sean Montgomery was able to score with an extra attacker on at 14:55 to make it 5-4 Admirals.
Luckily the Railers weren’t done scoring either and Connor Welsh made it 5-5 at 16:44 with a nice wrist shot.
To overtime the teams went, where once again Repaci was the hero.
The goal is listed as unassisted, but Kopperud clearly stops the pass between two Norfolk played and Welsh may have gotten a touch on the puck too.
In either case, that was Repaci’s fourth career overtime goal with the Railers, tying the WorSharks Ryan Vesce for the most in a Worcester pro hockey career.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Callin (3-day IR/lower body), Matt DeMelis (upper body), JD Dudek (IR/unknown injury), and Ryan Verrier. Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender. On Thursday Worcester activated Griffin Loughran and Ryan Dickinson from the 14-day injured reserve list, placed Dudek on the 14-day injured reserve list, and placed Callin on the 3-day injured reserve list. Neither of the IR additions was listed with a retroactive date, but both should be backdated to October 26th.
Anthony Repaci’s overtime game-winner 39 seconds into the extra stanza was the third-fastest overtime goal in Railers franchise history. Ashton Calder had the fastest at 13 seconds on November 12, 2023, in Newfoundland, which is also the Worcester pro record for quickest overtime goal. Repaci also owns the second-quickest overtime goal, at 19 seconds, set March 30, 2023, vs Adirondack. Repaci’s tally last night was the only one of the three at even strength.
Earlier Friday Bridgeport signed goaltender John Muse to a PTO, and I mistakenly gave AHL Islanders GM Chris Lamoriello too much credit for helping out Worcester by taking Muse off the roster and giving the Railers back the roster slot the NY Islanders essentially stole from Worcester by assigning Henrik Tikkanen to the ECHL after claiming they weren’t sending the Railers any goaltenders this season. It’s a move that should have taken place the minute Tikkanen was sent to the ECHL in order for the Railers to not need to waste a roster spot on a third goaltender, but past actions have shown the Lamoriello boys have no interest in helping their minor league affiliates. Muse taking up a roster spot was one of the reasons Worcester was a skater short for two games. Or, as we often note about the Lamoriello father and son team, “business as usual”.
Matthew Kopperud was the winner in the voting for last week’s “Railers Player of the Week” over in the “Hockey,Hockey,Hockey” fan group, getting 75% of the votes cast. Henrik Tikkanen finished second and Justin Gill finished third.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
2. WOR – 7 Justin Gill
3. NOR – 19 Sean Montgomery
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Matthew Kopperud.
Even Strength Lines
Piercey / Kopperud / Repaci
Randl / Gill / Donhauser
Bakanov / Kaplan / Jacobs
Crowder / Loughran / Hatten
Luce / Welsh
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 4, Buffalo 3
Bridgeport 4, Springfield 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Toldeo 3, Wheeling 2
Trois-Rivieres 3, Reading 2
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 2 2 1 – 6
Norfolk 1 1 3 0 – 5
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Reifenberger 1 (Golder, Shin), 13:17. 2, Worcester, Kopperud 3 (Gill, Jacobs), 16:22 (PP). Penalties-McDonald Wor (tripping), 2:46; served by Gill Wor (bench – too many men), 5:17; Rajaniemi Wor (slashing), 9:04; Dickinson Wor (roughing), 15:53; Piercey Wor (roughing), 15:53; Iverson Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:53; Musser Nor (roughing), 15:53; Reifenberger Nor (roughing), 15:53.
2nd Period-3, Norfolk, Shin 1 (McDougall, Montgomery), 5:08 (PP). 4, Worcester, Loughran 1 (Klee), 13:24 (PP). 5, Worcester, Bakanov 1 (Gill), 14:23. Penalties-Osmundson Nor (interference), 2:18; Piercey Wor (slashing), 3:29; Crowder Wor (hooking), 10:47; Sward Nor (holding), 12:37; Timofeyev Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:09; Luce Wor (roughing), 19:34; Nault Nor (roughing), 19:34; Kopperud Wor (double – roughing), 19:55; Golder Nor (cross-checking), 19:55; Osmundson Nor (double – roughing), 19:55.
3rd Period-6, Norfolk, Golder 2 (Fleurent), 2:06. 7, Norfolk, Fleurent 2 (Smirnov, Timofeyev), 3:45. 8, Worcester, Piercey 3 (Kopperud, Repaci), 9:50. 9, Norfolk, Montgomery 1 (Musser, McDougall), 14:55. 10, Worcester, Welsh 2 (Luce, Gill), 16:44. Penalties-No Penalties
1st OT Period-11, Worcester, Repaci 2 0:39. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Worcester 5-10-7-1-23. Norfolk 18-17-13-0-48.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 5; Norfolk 1 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Bullion 2-1-0-0 (48 shots-43 saves). Norfolk, Giannuzzi 2-0-1-0 (23 shots-17 saves).
A-3,415
Referees-Austin O’Rourke (10).
Linesmen-Matt Fox (63), Colin Gates (52).
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