The Worcester Railers headed west to Kansas earlier this week for a three-game set against the Wichita Thunder at INTRUST Bank Arena and in Wednesday’s pre-Thanksgiving contest it was all about the goaltenders as Railers netminder Henrik Tikkanen and former WorSharks and current Thunder goaltender Aaron Dell combined to stop 73 of 74 shots, with the Railers Jack Randl getting the only goal in a 1-0 Worcester win.
The first frame was like a basketball game, with the Railers and Thunder going end to end racking up scoring opportunities, combining for 31 shots and more than a dozen high-quality chances. But as they were all game, both Tikkanen and Dell were up to the challenge.
There was one fight in the period–nothing abnormal about that in the game of hockey–but oddly the Thunder tweeted out a video that included a potentially suspendable infraction by Artem Guryev to the head of the Worcester Railers’ Lincoln Hatten.
Tikkanen’s biggest save came with time winding down in the period.
In the second period, Hatten showed the correct way to throw a big hit.
It was then Dell’s turn to make a highlight save.
With just under five minutes to go in the middle frame it was Randl that would finally beat one of the two goaltenders, with assists going to Jordan Kaplan and Hatten, and the Railers took a 1-0 lead.
The third period was all Railers on the shot clock as they held a 19-5 advantage, and even with an extra attacker, the Thunder couldn’t get much going as Worcester claimed just their third regulation win of the season.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were JD Dudek (IR/upper body), Kolby Johnson (suspended, game one of three), Brenden Rons, and John Muse (3-day IR). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. Earlier in the week Worcester suspended Andrei Bakanov to retain his playing rights. There is no word as to where, if anywhere, Bakanov is going.
As noted above, the ECHL suspended Johnson on Monday for three games due to his aggressor game misconduct in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Trois-Rivières.
Wednesday was just the fifth Railers game to end with a 1-0 score and improved the team’s record to 3-1-0-1 in single-goal games. On December 20, 2017, they beat Reading 1-0 on a goal by Barry Almedia, and on February 16, 2019, they bested Tulsa on a Tyler Barnes goal. Both of those goals came in the first period. On March 21, 2018, the Railers and Nailers went through regulation and overtime scoreless, with Mitch Gillam and Adam Morrison both earning shutouts. Chris Francis gave Wheeling the bonus point with a fourth-round shootout goal. And finally, on March 5, 2023, the Railers lost 1-0 on a Maine goal from Fedor Gordeev. Ken Appleby had 37 saves in that game.
As it’s the first time these two teams meet this season, we’ll look at some roster and area connections between the squads. Wichita goaltender Aaron Dell played 26 games for the WorSharks in 2014-15, going 15-8-2. Dell’s 2.06 GAA is the best in Worcester pro hockey history for goaltenders who played 20 games or more in a season, and his .927 save percentage ranks second behind Dwayne Roloson’s .929. Defenseman Jeremie Bucheler played four seasons at Northeastern University, and fellow blueliner Nico Somerville played four years at American International College. For the forwards, Austin Heidemann was waived by the Railers earlier this season and claimed by the Thunder, and Michal Stínil played parts of two seasons with AIC. For the Railers, forward Colin Jacobs played five games for Wichita in 2018-19 and went pointless with a minus-7 rating.
There were no box score corrections for last week, quite possibly because the Railers didn’t score many goals. That also means the penalty issue that has suddenly popped up in Worcester’s official scoring hasn’t been fixed either as at least a couple box scores have incorrect penalties listed and have some player totals wrong.
I was asked why there hasn’t been any “Player of the Week” voting in past couple of weeks over in the fan’s Hockey,hockey,hockey Facebook group, and the first time we missed was because I forgot. The second time we missed was because there were no viable candidates.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WIC – 32 Aaron Dell
2. WOR – 39 Henrik Tikkanen
3. WOR – 11 Jack Randl
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Lincoln Hatten.
Even Strength Lines
Randl / Kaplan / Repaci
Kopperud / Callin / Donhauser
Piercey / Jacobs / Loughran
x / DeMelis / Hatten
Luce / Welsh
Nielsen / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
Boston 6, NY Islanders 3
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Wheeling 4, Toledo 1
Norfolk 4, Maine 3
Trois-Rivieres 3, Adirondack 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 0 – 1
Wichita 0 0 0 – 0
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Jones Wic (hooking), 1:00; Hatten Wor (fighting – major), 10:10; Welsh Wor (roughing), 10:10; Guryev Wic (fighting – major), 10:10; Rajaniemi Wor (interference), 14:30.
2nd Period-1, Worcester, Randl 6 (Kaplan, Hatten), 15:01. Penalties-Tikkanen Wor (slashing), 11:52; Bates Wic (hooking), 15:15.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bucheler Wic (hooking), 9:45.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 16-11-19-46. Wichita 15-8-5-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Wichita 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Tikkanen 2-4-0-0 (28 shots-28 saves). Wichita, Dell 4-4-1-0 (46 shots-45 saves).
A-2,583
Referees-Andrew Bell (24).
Linesmen-Reilly Hickey (95), Karl von Haasl (55).
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