The Worcester Railers faced off against the Trois-Rivieres Lions for the second time in as many nights and despite pouring 41 shots on goal had to settle for a single point Saturday night in a 3-2 shootout loss in the head coaching debut of Nick Tuzzolino on Mental Health Awareness Night.
With Tuzzolino now at the helm of the Railers but the same lineup on the ice as Friday night, fans in attendance at the DCU Center were wondering what differences they might see in the team. The answer was apparent early, as the Railers forechecked with much greater intensity than they did under former head coach Bob Deraney. They also spent more effort in the neutral zone trying to prevent zone entries and passed less on offense, instead forcing the puck toward the net more often.
Unfortunately, that didn’t translate to putting more pucks in the Lions net.
Trois-Rivieres got on the board first with a power play goal at 4:29 when two Lions players ended up behind the Worcester penalty killers, and when Tommy Cormier found a loose puck in the crease to the left of Railers goaltender Michael Bullion there was no one there to stop the easy tap in.
Worcester would get their first extra man chance a little over four minutes later, and the suddenly hot home power play unit tied the game on a nice backhand bid by Jordan Kaplan. Anthony Repaci and Riley Pierce picked up assists on the play.
The Railers would take a second period lead with another power play goal. For most of that minor Worcester couldn’t even get set up in the Trois-Rivieres zone, and then after some brief time in the zone, much of it battling for the puck, Matthew Kopperud was all alone in the right face-off circle and suddenly the puck was behind Zachary Emond and in the net. Cam McDonald and Jack Randl had the helpers on the goal at 14:26.
The lead did not last long as the Lions’ second and final shot of the period, a breakaway bid by Xavier Cormier, made it 2-2 at 18:01.
At 17:29 of the third period referee Trevor Wohlford awarded Logan Nijhoff a penalty shot after Nijhoff was hooked from behind by Griffin Luce. Bullion made the glove save, making the whole idea of if it should have been a penalty shot at all moot, but this writer will say that while it absolutely met the rulebook definition of awarding a penalty shot there have been far more egregious violations this season that not only didn’t get awarded a penalty shot, but no penalty was called whatsoever.
Although when you consider how poor the Worcester penalty kill is compared to how good their goaltenders are, perhaps they’d like to see a penalty shot awarded for every infraction.
The teams went scoreless through the remainder of the game and overtime. Fans say they don’t want referees deciding games, but referees Wohlford and Sam Heidemann did just that by not calling obvious penalties in the seven-minute extra session.
Despite having a clear view of Tyler Hylland crosschecking Kopperud in the face at 1:11, referee Wohlford let them play on. The same happened at 4:30 when Anthony Beauregard clearly crosschecked J.D. Dudek in the defensive corner and referee Heidemann called nothing.
To the shootout the teams went, and the only one to score was the Lions’ Alex Beaucage, whose first-round shot was initially saved by Bullion but the netminder’s momentum carried the puck over the goal line and the eventual 3-2 final.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Matt DeMelis (14-day IR/unknown), Christian Krygier, Collin Jacobs, Griffin Loughran (3-day IR/unknown injury), and Brenden Rons (14-day IR/unknown). John Muse was the backup goaltender.
In what could hardly be called news at this point, the Railers made a coaching change Saturday morning, with Bob Deraney moving from being the head coach of the team to becoming the organization’s Head of Scouting, and General Manager Associate Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino was promoted to head coach. It would be hard to find anyone in the hockey world who has a negative thing to say about Coach Deraney, and you aren’t going to read any in this post. A change needed to be made, and this was the change that Railers owner Cliff Rucker and COO Mike Myers decided to make. Now we get to see what Tuzzolino can do, and considering it’s a roster he put together the pressure is now all on him to show he picked the right players to win hockey games this season, and this writer will absolutely give him the chance he deserves to prove that. And as an aside, I want to thank Coach Deraney for all he’s done for the Railers, and I hope that great relationship with city hockey continues in his new role. The last time the Railers made a mid-season head coaching change the previous holder of the job was rightfully run out of town, but that is hardly the case this time. In just his short time on the Railers coaching staff Coach Deraney became one of us, and he will always be considered a member of Worcester’s pro hockey family.
Heading to the car last night this writer was scratching his head about one of the shootout participants that new head coach Tuzzolino made Saturday night, or at least this writer would have been scratching his head were it not so cold and the walk so long that he wouldn’t take his hands out of his jacket pockets. But the thought still stands. Connor Welsh seems like a decent pick to me, as Bill Ballou and I both believe a defenseman can be a good choice because they don’t mess around too much, they just head in and shoot. Jack Randl also looks like a nice pick, averaging just under a goal every three games and handles the puck very well. But J.D. Dudek? He’s not really an ECHL goal scorer, with 12 goals in 76 games and none so far this season. Well, as it turns out, the Dudek pick was probably no better or worse than anyone else on the bench. No one on the game roster has had much, if any, shootout success in the ECHL, so Tuzzolino likely went with the guy who does it best during practice. And it’s not like the Railers historically have had much in the way of shootout studs anyway, as they’ve gone just one for their last 16 attempts going back to last January 20th, when Jack Quinlivan scored in the seventh round against Fort Wayne to win it against the Komets.
Speaking of Ballou, he mentioned the great anthem singing of Ben Picard on Saturday night. In my notes for Friday night’s game, I made a note that Charlotte Breck had done an amazing job with both the American and Canadian anthems, but because that post ended up over 1,500 words and way over the number I tend to aim for, I edited that portion out. So, this seems a good a time as any to mention it. I’d even go as far to say that Picard and Breck were the second- and third-best anthem singers the Railers have ever used, you can pick the order, behind only Trish Hunt. But my opinion there might be a little bit biased.
A brief word about the Hawaiian-themed jerseys the Railers wore Saturday, if I may. They look incredibly cool on the players when they’re just standing there on the ice not moving around much. Like every jersey Mike Myers creates, they pop on the ice under the bright lights, and they were the perfect mix of Hawaiian shirt ugly and hockey jersey awesomeness. But as someone who has vision issues and often can’t see finer details at a distance, especially when things are in quick motion, the shoulder numbers were a nightmare to see. After a short while I got used to just waiting for a player to turn or get close enough to identify who it was, and I have no idea how broadcaster Tim Foley was able to do it from his radio booth location. And, of course, my usual perch mate and occasional spotter Rich Lundin was absent. Yes, I’m just whining. But I have space to do that today, so I’m going to.
The three stars of the game were
1. TR – 1 Zachary Emond
2. WOR – 18 Matthew Kopperud
3. WOR – 10 Jordan Kaplan
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Michael Bullion.
Even Strength Lines
Randl / Kaplan / Repaci
Piercey / Callin / Kopperud
Ginnell / Donhauser / Hatten
Johnson / Dudek / Provost
Luce / Welsh
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Norfolk 5, Cincinnati 2
Maine 3, Adirondack 1
Wheeling 4, Reading 1
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 1 1 0 0 – 3
Worcester 1 1 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Cormier 7 (Beaucage, Beauregard), 4:29 (PP). 2, Worcester, Kaplan 4 (Repaci, Piercey), 8:45 (PP). Penalties-Johnson Wor (high-sticking), 3:18; Nijhoff Tr (fighting – major), 3:37; Donhauser Wor (fighting – major), 3:37; Dufort Tr (interference), 7:46.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Kopperud 6 (McDonald, Randl), 14:26 (PP). 4, Trois-Rivières, Cormier 3 (Paiement, Émond), 18:01. Penalties-served by Paiement Tr (delay of game – faceoff infraction), 12:39; Sévigny Tr (hooking), 14:50.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Beaucage Tr (slashing), 2:44; McDonald Wor (tripping), 14:55.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Trois-Rivières 1 (Beaucage G, Cormier NG), Worcester 0 (Welsh NG, Randl NG, Dudek NG).
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 9-2-12-2-1-26. Worcester 11-15-10-5-0-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 1 / 2; Worcester 2 / 4.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Émond 5-1-0-0 (41 shots-39 saves). Worcester, Bullion 4-7-0-1 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-3,175
Referees-Trevor Wohlford (38), Sam Heidemann (22).
Linesmen-Cody Sullivan (82), Jack McQuesten (53).
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