The Worcester Railers finished off their three-game series against the Thunder in Wichita Saturday night by falling back into some old bad habits and for the third time this season allowed four goals in the opening period en route to a 6-2 loss at the INTRUST Bank Arena.
Jim Steinman, through the incredible vocals of Meat Loaf, said “Two out of three ain’t bad”, and that aptly describes the series played between Worcester and Wichita in which without incredible goaltending by Henrik Tikkanen and Michael Bullion could have been an absolutely ugly trip out west for the Railers. Instead, they won two of the three games against their Mountain Division opponents.
And that ain’t bad.
But what has plagued Worcester for many seasons has once again reared its ugly head: this team just doesn’t score enough. It was awesome listening to Tim Foley and special guess commentator Bullion Saturday night talk about how many shots the Railers put up all weekend, raising their average per game from 28.81 to 31.47, but the elephant in the room is that over this past weekend, despite earning four of six possible points their average goals per game dropped from 2.63 per game to 2.53.
Without Anthony Repaci, those scoring numbers get even worse as he’s been involved with 21 of the 48 goals Worcester has put up this season, or 44% of the goals this team has scored. Straight math says without the captain the Railers average just 1.42 goals per game. But who knows how badly they would actually do without his leadership on and off the ice.
And that is bad.
As for Saturday, already down 2-0 in the first period it was Colin Jacobs scoring his second in as many nights that cut the Thunder’s lead to 2-1. Riley Pierce is listed with the lone helper.
Down 4-1 with time winding down in the middle period Repaci made it a 4-2 game with a power play goal that crossed the goal line with a full second left on the clock but is officially listed at 19:59.9, with assists to Connor Welsh and Matthew Kopperud.
With the goal Repaci ties Marc Brown’s 79 goals for the most in Worcester pro hockey history, and it was Railers power play goal number 21 for the captain, tying Jeff Panzer for 6th all-time in Worcester pro hockey history.
That would be it for the Railers scoring as Wichita added two late goals, the last into an empty net, for the 6-2 final.
After a return trip to the city Worcester will once again face-off against a team named Thunder on Wednesday, only it will be in Glens Falls, New York against the Adirondack Thunder. Puck drop is 7pm.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Michael Bullion, JD Dudek (IR/upper body), Kolby Johnson (suspended, game three of three), and Jack Randl (unknown injury). Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender.
Anthony Repaci’s goal at 19:59.9 is the second Worcester pro goal ever listed with .1 left on the clock. Tomas Plihal also had a goal at 19:59.9 of the first period for the WorSharks, on Saturday, January 19, 2008, at the DCU Center against Providence in a 4-3 Worcester loss. There was no replay back then, it was just referee Jeff Smith standing in the right spot and immediately signaled it was a good goal. P-Bruins netminder Jordan Sigalet made no complaint, knowing the puck passed him before the horn sounded. Both linesmen, Bob Paquette and Brian MacDonald, were nodding in agreement as Smith approached the scorer’s table. Baby-B’s captain Nate Thompson didn’t even bother skating over to talk about it and instead headed to the dressing room with his teammates. The primary assist on that Plihal goal? Future Railers captain Aston Rome.
If you think the Railers have given up four goals in a period a lot this season, you’d be right for most teams in the ECHL. Unfortunately, that’s not true for Worcester’s stint in the league, as it happens here with a frustrating frequency. To this point, the Railers have played 439 franchise games, allowing four or more non-empty net goals in a period 31 times, or in 7.6% of the games they’ve played. If the trend continues, and there are no signs of it stopping, there is a 2.4% chance that in any given period they play they’ll allow four or more non-empty net goals. And, if you haven’t guessed, while I didn’t keep track, the Railers score four or more goals in a period of any kind far less of the time. Perhaps the most amazing part of this stat is the Railers didn’t allow four or more non-empty net goals in a single period even once in their inaugural season. Those percentages go up quickly when you remove 72 games from the equations.
This writer was recently asked how former Railers head coach Jordan Smotherman was doing in his new job as head coach of the ICEHL’s HC Innsbruck. As of Saturday morning, they were in 12th place in the 13-team league. The ICEHL uses a 3-2-1 points system, with Smotherman’s squad having five regulation wins, two overtime wins, two overtime losses, and 13 regulation losses for 21 points out of a possible 66. Their minus-33 goal differential is worst in the league. Former Railers netminder Evan Buitenhuis is on his team, as Patrick Grasso, who always did well against Worcester in his three seasons with the Adirondack Thunder.
And because someone else asked why the ECHL has two teams nicknamed “Thunder”, it’s because the Wichita Thunder came from the Central Hockey League and joined the ECHL for the 2014-15 season along with the Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Missouri Mavericks, Quad City Mallards, Rapid City Rush, and Tulsa Oilers after the CHL folded. The Beast and Mallards have since themselves folded, and the Mavericks rebranded as “Kansas City” for the 2017-18 season. The Adirondack Thunder are the relocated ECHL Stockton Thunder, who took the place of the AHL’s Adirondack Flames when the franchises switched locations the same offseason the AHL’s Worcester Sharks moved to San Jose.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WIC – 33 Trevor Gorsuch
2. WIC – 21 Jay Dickman
3. WIC – 27 Nolan Kneen
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Repaci.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Kaplan / Loughran
Kopperud / Callin / Donhauser
Piercey / Jacobs / DeMelis
Rons / X / Hatten
Luce / Welsh
Nielsen / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 3, Buffalo 0
Belleville 2, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Adirondack 3, Reading 2
Norfolk 4, Maine 1
Wheeling 7, Cincinnati 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 0 – 2
Wichita 4 0 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Wichita, Bucheler 4 (Bates, Stinil), 1:08. 2, Wichita, Carroll 7 (Hache, Dickman), 6:01. 3, Worcester, Jacobs 2 (Piercey), 11:55. 4, Wichita, Kneen 1 (Dickman, Grainger), 17:20. 5, Wichita, Burke 3 (Heidemann, Walker), 18:40. Penalties-Dickman Wic (slashing), 14:23; Dickinson Wor (roughing), 19:35; Burke Wic (roughing), 19:35.
2nd Period-6, Worcester, Repaci 14 (Welsh, Kopperud), 19:59 (PP). Penalties-Kopperud Wor (hooking), 10:36; Bates Wic (roughing), 11:59; Boucher Wic (unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:54; Kopperud Wor (slashing), 15:56; Heidemann Wic (interference), 18:57.
3rd Period-7, Wichita, Stinil 10 (Dickman, Lloyd), 16:15 (PP). 8, Wichita, Hache 1 (Bucheler, Burke), 17:46 (EN). Penalties-Stinil Wic (tripping), 12:58; Kaplan Wor (interference), 14:36.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 22-12-16-50. Wichita 12-8-12-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 5; Wichita 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Muse 2-2-0-1 (31 shots-26 saves). Wichita, Gorsuch 2-0-0-0 (50 shots-48 saves).
A-4,009
Referees-Tyler Hascall (8), David Elford (49).
Linesmen-Kyle Gaspari (67), Ryan Bray (54).
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