The Worcester Railers took on the Norfolk Admirals Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center and brought a two-goal lead into the third period only to see it disappear and then had the added insult of outshooting Norfolk 5-1 in overtime and then watching the Admirals’ only shot of the extra stanza go in as Worcester ended up on the wrong end of a 4-3 final.
As we posted just 12 or so hours ago after a disappointing 4-3 loss to Maine on Saturday, winning teams find ways to win, and losing teams find ways to lose. There’s no mistaking it now, the Railers are absolutely a losing team. They took the last four minor penalties of the game, with defender Mason Klee taking two of them, and deserved or not Worcester continued to put itself in a position to allow those penalties to be called. And that’s how you lose a two-goal lead.
Something needs to happen soon or once again the Railers will be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
At least Worcester came out ready to play for once, with Riley Piercey taking all he was going to take from Connor Fedorek. After a slow start, it was all Piercey.
That fired up the Railers, and soon after Anthony Callin got in the way of an Anthony Repaci wraparound bid to make it 1-0 as the teddy bears flew. Matt DeMelis got the secondary assist at 13:40.
German Yavash tied it for Norfolk at 16:53 when Klee tried to jack up Ben Zloty at the blue line, and missed, hitting Matthew Kopperud instead, and it was all downhill from there.
Worcester came out firing in the second period too, and this time Piercey used his stick instead of his fists to lift his team up.
Kopperud had the lone assist at 3:43 of the middle frame.
Lincoln Hatten made it 3-1 Railers with some tenacious play in front of the Norfolk net. Cam Donhauser and DeMelis each earned an assist on the play.
With a two-goal lead entering the third things were looking good for the Railers. Until, once again, they weren’t. With Klee in the box Carson Golder got Norfolk within one with a power play goal 55 seconds into the third, and just after another Railers penalty ended Justin Young knotted the score 3-3 at 16:01. That goal made Klee minus-11 over the past nine Worcester games.
Into overtime they went, with the Railers getting the first five shots in the extra stanza. Norfolk would have the sixth, and that was all they’d need.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were JD Dudek (IR/upper body), Christian Krygier (bereavement), Griffin Loughran (unknown injury), Jack Randl (unknown injury), and Brenden Rons (14-day IR/unknown). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. The Railers dressed 17 skaters, one under the maximum.
We usually don’t mention the referee unless they’ve done something noteworthy, either good or bad, but today is an exception as the man with the orange stripes was Chris Rumble, son of former Worcester IceCats defenseman Darren Rumble. The elder Rumble played 152 games over three seasons for the IceCats, going 9-70-79 with 144 penalty minutes. His Worcester career plus-23 rating ties for 8th all-time in the city’s pro hockey history with Brennan Evans. In sort of a connection to Sunday’s game, Rumble was the head coach of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals for a season and a half in a stint that wouldn’t be called “successful”. Last season he was an assistant coach and then interim head coach with the OHL’s Owen Sound, leading the Attack to a 25-28-8 record before being swept out of the OHL playoffs by the Saginaw Spirit.
There was more stuff here already written, but I’ll save that for some other time. With there being less than a 50/50 chance there will be a game post for Wednesday’s game that stuff probably won’t make an appearance until next weekend. Trust me, it’s good stuff.
The three stars of the game were:
(The three stars are currently listed incorrectly on the score sheet; I think this is what I heard announced)
1. NOR – 25 Brandon Osmundson
2. WOR – 19 Riley Piercey
3. WOR – 33 Lincoln Hatten
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Matt DeMelis.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Kaplan / Hatten
Kopperud / Callin / Jacobs
Piercey / Donhauser / DeMelis
Johnson / X / Nazzarett
Luce / Welsh
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
(Sunday)
NY Islanders 2, Ottawa 2 (end of 2nd period at post time)
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
(Sunday)
Trois-Rivi4res 4, Maine 2
Wheeling 6, Reading 2
BOX SCORE
Norfolk 1 0 2 1 – 4
Worcester 1 2 0 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Callin 2 (Repaci, DeMelis), 13:40. 2, Norfolk, Yavash 1 (Timofeyev, Zloty), 16:53. Penalties-Fedorek Nor (fighting – major), 8:08; Piercey Wor (fighting – major), 8:08; Dickinson Wor (roughing), 8:58; Kelly Nor (hooking), 18:28.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Piercey 7 (Kopperud), 3:43. 4, Worcester, Hatten 2 (Donhauser, DeMelis), 12:57. Penalties-Chyzowski Nor (holding the stick), 1:39; Repaci Wor (tripping), 5:59; Chyzowski Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:37; Rajaniemi Wor (cross-checking), 7:37; Padakin Nor (slashing), 9:49; Kaplan Wor (holding), 10:12; Padakin Nor (roughing), 14:23; Osmundson Nor (roughing), 14:48; Welsh Wor (roughing), 14:48; Golder Nor (charging), 18:22; Klee Wor (interference), 19:58.
3rd Period-5, Norfolk, Golder 10 (Fleurent, Zloty), 0:55 (PP). 6, Norfolk, Young 1 (Padakin, Sward), 16:01. Penalties-Muse Wor (interference), 2:11; Klee Wor (holding), 10:06; Luce Wor (tripping), 13:55.
1st OT Period-7, Norfolk, Osmundson 7 (Louis-Jean, Zloty), 3:22. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Norfolk 12-11-6-1-30. Worcester 11-8-3-5-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 1 / 7; Worcester 0 / 5.
Goalies-Norfolk, DiVincentiis 6-0-0-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Worcester, Muse 3-2-1-1 (30 shots-26 saves).
A-2,524
Referees-Chris Rumble (26).
Linesmen-Davids Rozitis (90), Michael Tarquinio (45).
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