The Worcester Railers took on the Trois-Rivieres Lions Friday night in the first of three games at the Colisée Vidéotron this weekend against their ECHL North Division rivals, and the Lions’ stingy defense held the Railers to a single goal in a 3-1 Worcester loss.
Friday afternoon, the Railers made a series of social media posts celebrating how well Worcester had done since New Year’s Eve, going an impressive 15-6-1-2. It’s important to note that the Railers have been feasting on bad and struggling teams over that period, which is exactly what teams seeking to make the postseason have to do.
However, Trois-Rivieres is neither bad nor struggling.
What they are is the number two team in the ECHL, tied for second in points at 79 and second in points percentage at .731. And, unfortunately, Worcester plays them seven more times this season.
In order for the Railers to beat the Lions, Worcester has to play virtually mistake-free hockey while taking advantage of the very few errors Trois-Rivieres makes. And the Railers need to find a way to get more pucks on the net. In each of the first two periods Friday night Worcester had spans of over ten minutes where they didn’t register a shot on goal.
That’s not going to do it against any of the top teams in the ECHL.
The Lions took a 1-0 on a Brycen Martin goal at 4:50 when the Railers sort of fell asleep after a line change, and Jakov Novak’s unchallenged pass to Martin in the high slot gave the defender a clear shooting lane, beating Hugh Ollas over the glove.
The Railers got a gift four on four-on-four matchup when referee Chad Ingalls correctly called Mathew Kopperud for a slash but then called a questionable matching embellishment minor against Israel Mianscum on the play. It was questionable because Mianscum then needed help from the trainer to get to the dressing room.
Cole Donhauser took advantage of a second gift as Trois-Rivieres netminder Luke Cavallin couldn’t glove Anthony Callin’s bid, and Donhauser was there to knock it home.
Despite being outshot 26-11, the Railers found themselves tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, looking for that one break in the final stanza to give them the lead. But 12 seconds after the third-period puck drop, it was 2-1 Lions on an Anthony Beauregard shot that, while we don’t say it often it needs to be said now, Ollas should have had.
Worcester then picked up the pace, but the Lions were up to the challenge, and Nicolas Guay’s goal at 17:28 to make it 3-1 was the backbreaker.
The two teams will do it again Saturday with a 3pm puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Kabore Dunn, Anthony Hora (IR/unknown), Kolby Johnson, Anthony Repaci (IR/upper body), Tanner Schachle (IR/unknown), and Matt Ustaski (IR/unknown). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender.
The good news is Worcester finally has Anthony Repaci back with the team. The bad news is it was as an assistant coach, not a player, as the Railers captain joined head coach and general manager Nick Tuzzolino behind the bench. There’s been no word as to when, or even if, Repaci will return to action.
One final word on Bloomington’s jersey antics from last weekend, or at least hopefully this is the last word, but any person blaming the Railers for both teams wearing light color jerseys either has an ax to grind with the organization or, to be blunt, has a room-temperature IQ. Bloomington was shown and told what the jerseys looked like, and they decided to bring white jerseys. The excuse “the road team is wearing white in the second half of the season” holds less water than a colander, because looking at just the 2018-19 season, Worcester wore the “opposite” standard color jerseys 12 times. That number doesn’t include their own specialty or third jerseys, that’s just wearing white or blue when the opposite color would have been the standard. And, yes, this writer has a list of every occasion that’s happened in Railers franchise history. So, this was entirely on Bloomington, and there’s no logical argument that can be made that shifts the blame. Oh, and by the way, the Railers were in blue Friday night, the “wrong” color.
Because folks mentioned they’d like to see it, we’re adding each team’s postgame press releases to the posts, located after the even-strength lines. The Railers have one for every game, the home versions often written by Bill Ballou, and most opponents also post one. Since adding them takes all of a minute, we’ll start including them today.
The three stars of the game were
1. TR – Anthony Beauregard
2. TR – Brycen Martin
3. TR – Nicolas Guay
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Cole Donhauser.
Even Strength Lines
Kopperud / Callin / Loughran
Donhauser / Kaplan / Dudek
Kobryn / DeMelis / Hatten
Ginnell / Cheremeta / Mahshie
Welsh / Luce
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Dickinson
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers Drop Opening Weekend Against Lions
LIONS: Anthony Beauregard leads the way
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Maine 2, Reading 1 OT
Florida 5, Norfolk 3
Adirondack 1, Wheeling 0 OT
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 0 – 1
Trois-Rivières 1 0 2 – 3
1st Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Martin 2 (Novak, Cavallin), 4:50. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Donhauser 6 (Callin, Welsh), 9:11. Penalties-Kopperud Wor (slashing), 8:20; Mianscum Tr (diving/embellishment), 8:20.
3rd Period-3, Trois-Rivières, Beauregard 21 0:12. 4, Trois-Rivières, Guay 9 (Cormier, Sévigny), 17:28. Penalties-Cormier Tr (slashing), 13:51.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 5-6-11-22. Trois-Rivières 13-13-7-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 1; Trois-Rivières 0 / 0.
Goalies-Worcester, Ollas 11-11-1-2 (33 shots-30 saves). Trois-Rivières, Cavallin 15-7-0-1 (22 shots-21 saves).
A-2,277
Referees-Chad Ingalls (15).
Linesmen-Nicolas Boivin (82), Anthony LaPointe (88).
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