The Worcester Railers took on the Maine Mariners Saturday night at the DCU Center in what was officially “Wizarding World of Worcester” night and unofficially “Magic Bus” night, and used Anthony Callin, Matthew Kopperud, Brendan Rons, and captain Anthony Repaci’s two-point nights, all notching a goal and an assist, along with 30 saves from goaltender John Muse to defeat the Mariners 5-1.
The Railers have had issues putting the puck in the net all season, but that wasn’t the case Saturday, and the goal onslaught started early as Rons’ little flip on the net looking for a deflection found one when it hit Maine forward Brooklyn Kalmikov and banked past Mariners netminder Ryan Bischel at 1:15 of the first.
Ninety seconds later Maine would tie on a deflection of their own when Justin Bean flipped one into traffic in front of Muse, and the puck ended up right on the stick of Xander Lamppa and he was able to stuff in inside the far post before Muse could react, and it was 1-1.
Just as Worcester scored quickly in the first period, they did it again in the middle stanza when Repaci, with some help from Griffin Loughran, made it 2-1 19 seconds into the frame.
That was the eventual game-winning goal. Repaci now has 13 game-winning goals for the Railers, which is second all-time in Worcester pro hockey history behind Marc Brown, Blake Evans, and Jeff Panzer’s 14.
Exactly a minute later, while on a five-on-three power play, Callin would make it 3-1 with Connor Welsh and Repaci picking up the assists.
The assist for Repaci gives him 167 points for the Railers, tying him with Jame Pollock for second all-time in Worcester pro hockey history. He’s got some work to do to catch Terry “Mr. IceCats” Virtue’s 210.
It stayed 3-1 into the third period, where Kopperud scored on the Railers’ first shot of the frame to make it 4-1. Defenders Griffin Luce and Rons earned points on the play.
As time wound down and with nothing left to lose Mariners head coach Terrence Wallin pulled Bischel for an extra attacker, and just after Muse’s bid for the empty net was blocked by Maine defender Bean, Cole Donhauser found the wide-open goal for the Railers’ first empty-net goal of the season with 76 seconds remaining.
Newcomer Matthew Boudens picked up the primary helper on the goal, with Muse picking up the secondary assist. You may never again see a more annoyed goaltender than Muse was at that moment as he obviously wanted another chance for the goalie goal. In the long run, he’ll be happy with the win and two points.
The two teams meet again on Sunday with a 3pm puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Matt DeMelis (14-day IR/unknown), Christian Krygier (unavailable/personal), and Ryan Mahshie. Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. On Tuesday defender Cam McDonald and forward Jack Randl were recalled by Bridgeport.
Former AHL and ECHL player Dan Collins joined Railers Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino behind the Worcester bench Saturday night. Collins was 26-42-68 over 164 pro games with the Rochester Americans, Florida Everblades, and Johnstown Chiefs from 2007 to 2010, and was most recently the head coach of the Bishop Kearney Selects 16U AAA. Collins has Worcester connections by being teammates with Rory Fitzpatrick and Chris Beckford-Tseu on the 08-09 Amerks, Ernie Hartlieb and J.D. Forrest on the 07-08 Everblades, and with Ryan Del Monte and Tim Branham on the 09-10 Chiefs.
There are lots of questions surrounding Maine forward Matthew Philip and his being missing from the initial score sheet, and subsequent addition to the score sheet to start the season period. It is with 100% certainty this writer can say Philip was not on the score sheet to start the game as there were only 17 Maine skaters listed. After the Mariners’ scored and play resumed, upon the next whistle referees Nolan Bloyer and Alexandre Gagne were summoned to the PA both at center ice where they were informed that Philip, who was on the ice when the goal was scored, was not on the score sheet, and they correctly sent him off the ice. With the Maine ineligible player on the ice when they scored, that goal would have been disallowed had his being left off the score sheet been noticed before the next face-off. Only it appears some sort of error in the information provided by the ECHL made it appear Philip was ineligible, and according to Bill Ballou Maine had an email showing he was, in fact, eligible to play. The ECHL does not use paper lineups any longer and everything is digital now so it’s unlikely, and in fact almost impossible, any error would be by the official scorers.
On Monday, Nick Tuzzolino put on his general manager hat and traded Colin Jacobs to the Allen Americans for forward Ryan Mahshie. The Stoney Creek, Ontario native is good-sized, listed at 6’3″ and 209 pounds, but like much of the Worcester roster, he has not scored many goals in his pro career, with just three in 50 ECHL games. Also on Monday, Cincinnati sent Matt Boudens to the Railers to complete the Keeghan Howdeshell trade. Boudens also doesn’t score often, notching 32 goals in 246 AHL and ECHL games.
Wednesday, William Provost was released by the Railers after playing three games with the team, where he didn’t record a single shot on goal. Not knowing off the top of his head if that might be a record for most games played by a Worcester player without taking a shot on goal this writer decided to look it up. Not only isn’t it a city record, it’s not even the Railers mark. The franchise record for total games played by a skater without recording a shot is four by defender Alex Adams. If one were to separate forwards and defensemen, we would mention Nick DeVito also went three games without a shot for the Railers, and somehow DeVito managed to notch an assist along the way. Oh, and the city mark? It’s Brandon Sugden with 11 games without a shot. No one is ever breaking that record. Another Sugden city record that won’t be matched is his penalty minutes per game for players with more than 10 games played, as Sugden had 56 in those 11 games, for an average of over five per contest.
In a scoring change from last week, Cam McDonald has lost his first pro goal from last Friday night as it has been switched to Anthony Repaci. That goal now reads “1. WOR Repaci, (17) (McDonald, Kaplan), 9:30”. In that same game, Repaci loses a goal to Riley Piercey as the second-period tally now reads “2. WOR Piercey, (8) (Repaci, Welsh), 13:48 (PP)”.
Saturday was the 10th anniversary of the “Magic Bus” game, or more correctly, the anniversary of the day the game wasn’t played. For those who don’t know what it is, in 2014 the WorSharks were scheduled to play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the then-named Webster Bank Arena on a Sunday afternoon. The WorSharks had played in Portland the night before in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Pirates, and the Sound Tigers were making a mad dash from Norfolk after playing a pair against the Admirals. Only they decided they didn’t want to play on Sunday, and pretended their bus broke down in New Jersey, preventing them from making it back to Bridgeport on time. The WorSharks knew they faked it, the AHL knew they faked it, yet nothing happened to the Sound Tigers and the game was simply rescheduled. The next time Bridgeport played in Worcester, on December 30th, the DJ played “Magic Bus” by The Who as the Sound Tigers skated to the ice to begin the game. And the legend was born.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 40 John Muse
2. WOR – 17 Brenden Rons
3. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Kaplan / Loughran
Piercey / Callin / Kopperud
Boudens / Dudek / Donhauser
Ginnell / Hatten / Johnson
Welsh / Luce
Rons / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 6, Toronto 3
Charlotte 6, Bridgeport 2
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Reading 6, Adirondack 3
Trois-Rivieres 3, Norfolk 2
Wheeling 5, Toledo 2
BOX SCORE
Maine 1 0 0 – 1
Worcester 1 2 2 – 5
1st Period-1, Worcester, Rons 1 (Kopperud, Callin), 1:15. 2, Maine, Lamppa 2 (Vidmar, Bean), 2:46. Penalties-Loughran Wor (slashing), 3:43; Sheehy Mne (holding), 15:24.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Repaci 18 (Loughran), 0:19. 4, Worcester, Callin 3 (Welsh, Repaci), 1:19 (PP). Penalties-Underwood Mne (cross-checking), 0:55; Lamppa Mne (slashing), 1:06; Repaci Wor (high-sticking – double), 11:24; Donhauser Wor (hooking), 18:33.
3rd Period-5, Worcester, Kopperud 7 (Luce, Rons), 6:21. 6, Worcester, Donhauser 3 (Boudens, Muse), 18:44 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Maine 9-7-15-31. Worcester 8-8-9-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 0 / 4; Worcester 1 / 3.
Goalies-Maine, Bischel 7-4-0-0 (24 shots-20 saves). Worcester, Muse 4-3-1-1 (31 shots-30 saves).
A-3,328
Referees-Nolan Bloyer (31), Alexandre Gagne (44).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Jack McQuesten (53).
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