Friday night was the first of three matchups in a row this weekend at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center between the Worcester Railers and Allen Americans where the Railers started quickly in the opener with three opening-period goals and then scored in both the opening and closing minutes of the third period to defeat Allem 5-3.
The first period was just about all Worcester and they enjoyed a 14-8 shots advantage, and thanks to a couple of nice breaks were able to take a 3-0 lead after twenty minutes.
Anthony Callin scored the opening goal of the game at 8:59 of the period after Americans’ netminder Luke Richardson turned the puck over behind his net and Callin was able to beat him to the far post.
Do not adjust the volume on the video looking for Tim Foley’s play-by-play. According to a Facebook reply from Keith Katsoulis, there was an audio issue involving a firewall at the arena and it took some time to find a workaround. When it finally worked it worked well, with a crispness that we don’t get from many North Division arenas.
Sixty-three seconds later Matt Demelis made it 2-0 with a nice wrist shot from the slot, with Ryan Mahshie setting a screen in front. Mason Klee and Riley Ginnell had the assists on the play.
Eighty-eight seconds after that, with the golden tones of Foley finally being heard, Jordan Kaplan made it 3-0 with a quick one-timer from the right-wing face-off circle. Cole Donhauser and Griffin Loughran earned the helpers.
The second stanza has been a Jekyll and Hyde period for the Railers this season: either they’re great or they’re terrible. On Friday, it was terrible. While Worcester outshot Allen 13-12 in the frame it was the Americans who had most of the prime scoring opportunities and controlled the zone time. Old friend Artyom Kulakov got Allen on the board at 4:43 when his bad angle putback beat Hugo Ollas just inside the far post. Liam Gorman cut the Railers’ lead to 3-2 at 18:10 on an odd-man rush when he was able to pounce on a rebound and beat Ollas while Anthony Hora was facing the wrong direction.
It took just 48 seconds into the final period for Callin to strike again and make the score 4-2 Worcester when his wrist shot beat Richardson to the glove side. DeMelis and Connor Welsh had the assists on the play.
Gorman would again make it just a one-goal lead for the Railers when he scored at 16:42, but that was as close as the Americans would get as with the goaltender pulled Loughran would seal the deal.
Inexplicably that goal was originally credited to Kaplan but was changed post-game.
The two teams play again on Saturday, with an 8pm ET puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Matthew Boudens (IR/upper body), Mark Cheremeta, Kabore Dunn (travel), Kolby Johnson (suspended, game 1 of 3), and Anthony Repaci (IR/unknown). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender.
Even though many transactions happened while this writer was in Florida, we’ll refrain from listing them all and just go back to Tuesday when Anthony Repaci was placed on the 3-day IR list. Because of the timing of the transaction, Repaci was eligible to be activated as soon as the transaction was announced, unfortunately, the exact opposite happened, and he was transferred to the 14-day injured list on Friday. On Thursday Matias Rajaniemi was recalled by Bridgeport and Tyler Kobryn, who the Railers acquired from Florida in exchange for cash, was added to the roster. Friday Worcester acquired defender Kabore Dunn from Fort Wayne for “future considerations”.
It’s the first time this season that Worcester and Allen have faced off, so we’ll look at some area and roster connections. For the Americans, defender J.C. Brassard was born in Scituate, MA, and fellow blueliner Artyom Kulakov was traded to Allen by Worcester just as training camps ended. For the forwards, Spencer Asuchak played three games for the WorSharks in 2014-15, going pointless and recording one minor penalty. Fellow forward Brian Chambers was born in Weymouth, MA, and spent four seasons at UMass-Lowell. Liam Gorman was born in Boston, and Colin Jacobs was traded to Allen from Worcester in mid-December. For the Railers, forward J.D. Dudek played the 2021-22 season with Allen after being traded by Worcester to the Americans along with Tyler Poulsen for the ever-popular “future considerations”, and Ryan Mahshie played 11 games for Allen earlier this season.
It’s not often we get two unrelated mentions of the WorSharks in one post but today is one of them as former Worcester forward Brandon Mashinter and the Jacksonville IceMen have agreed to part ways. It’s odd because Jacksonville is third in the ECHL’s South Division and appear to be safely in the playoffs holding a 13-point cushion over fifth place Atlanta. Icemen Assistant Coach Sean Teakle has been appointed Interim Head Coach, while video/assistant coach Garret Cockerill will take over as the primary assistant coach for the team.
How about a third mention of the WorSharks? The Allen Americans were the final ECHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks and WorSharks, for the 2014-15 season, after the San Francisco Bulls folded mid-season during the 2013-14 campaign. In the 2014-15 season eight players spent time in Allen and Allem that season, including Konrad Abeltshauser, J.P. Anderson, Vincent Arseneau, the previously mentioned Asuchak, Chris Crane, Aaron Dell, Greger Hanson, and Rylan Schwartz. Jack Combs, Chad Costello, and Riley Gill, who had all previously played for the WorSharks, were also on that Americans team. Goaltender Joel Rumpel, who had signed an NHL contract for the next season with San Jose, made a brief stop in Worcester on an ATO without playing a game and was sent along to Allen at the end of the 2014-15 season where he helped them win the Kelly Cup.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Anthony Callin
2. ALN – Liam Gorman
3. ALN – Artyom Kulakov
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Matt DeMelis.
Even Strength Lines
Donhauser / Kaplan / Loughran
Ginnell / Callin / Mahshie
Kobryn / DeMelis / Dudek
Ustaski / x / Hatten
Welsh / Luce
Hora / Klee
Lindberg / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Rapid City 4, Maine 0
Trois-Rivieres 2, Adirondack 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 3 0 2 – 5
Allen 0 2 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Callin 14 8:59. 2, Worcester, DeMelis 4 (Klee, Ginnell), 10:02. 3, Worcester, Kaplan 14 (Donhauser, Loughran), 11:30. Penalties-Hatten Wor (hooking), 3:33; Polino Aln (tripping), 18:12.
2nd Period-4, Allen, Kulakov 5 (Duarte, Asuchak), 4:43. 5, Allen, Gorman 4 (Blaisdell, Kulakov), 18:10. Penalties-Brassard Aln (slashing), 18:37.
3rd Period-6, Worcester, Callin 15 (DeMelis, Welsh), 0:48. 7, Allen, Gorman 5 (Matikka, Kulakov), 16:42. 8, Worcester, Loughran 7 19:50 (EN). Penalties-Callin Wor (delay of game), 11:56.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-13-7-34. Allen 8-12-16-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Allen 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Ollas 7-8-1-2 (36 shots-33 saves). Allen, Richardson 4-5-0-0 (33 shots-29 saves).
A-4,994
Referees-Sam Heidemann (22).
Linesmen-Daniel Barnes (76), Aaron Schacht (51).
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