Saturday afternoon saw the Worcester Railers and Trois-Rivieres Lions face each other for the fourth consecutive game, and for the first time in this mini-series Trois-Rivières finally remembered they were the better team, and instead of trying to beat the Railers at their own game decided to go back to what made them one of the ECHL’s top squads and overwhelmed Worcester in a three goal middle period to win 4-2.
The Lions grabbed the first goal of the game at 7:03 when Logan Nijhoff fired one through a screen on the Worcester net. Railers’ netminder Hugo Ollas got a bit of it, but not enough to keep it out of the goal.
Mason Klee would tie the game for Worcester at 14:52 while the two teams were skating four-on-four. Connor Welsh and Anthony Repaci had the assists.
With time running down in the first period, Pito Walton made the Trois-Rivieres defenders look silly as he skated around the Lions’ zone before firing one past Hunter Jones to make it 2-1. Welsh and Cole Donhauser had the helpers.
That would be the last highlight of the game for the Railers as Trois-Rivieres completely controlled the middle frame, putting up three goals on 18 shots. Tommy Cormier (4:59), Xavier Cormier (8:18), and Anthony Beauregard (13:41) were the goal scorers, all at even strength.
Heading to the third period, Worcester needed to do two things to have any chance of winning: stay out of the penalty box and take advantage of any power play chance they got. They did neither and instead put up 34 minutes in penalties and were shorthanded three times. They also managed just a single shot on their one power play opportunity, and even the most ardent of fans wouldn’t call the one they got a scoring chance.
The last regular-season matchup between the two teams is Sunday, with a 3pm puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Ryan Dickinson (3-day IR), JD Dudek (IR/unknown), Kabore Dunn, Justin Gill, Riley Ginnell (IR/unknown), Kolby Johnson (IR/upper body), and Matt Ustaski (IR/unknown). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender.
The Railers had 38 penalty minutes for the game, giving them a new franchise record of 1,056 for the season. That current total isn’t even half of what the Worcester pro record is, as the 1996-97 IceCats had 2,238 in an 80-game campaign. When I mentioned this record to Booster Club president Rich Lundin, he remarked that he thought the WorSharks Goon Squad season would be the record. That 2011-12 season saw them with 1,620 minutes. You can tell how much hockey has changed by the fact that the IceCats had seven seasons with a penalty minute total higher than that.
A quick look at the ECHL transactions shows that Florida has, just like last season, signed former NY/Bridgeport Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang to a late-season contract. It makes one wonder why a player of Ho-Sang’s stature would bother playing for $575 per week at the end of a season, unless, of course, he’s perhaps being paid more by some other method that’s not being reported. Not that the Everblades have ever been accused of that by fans before, of course. More of just a thought experiment. Last season, Ho-Sang played 33 regular-season and playoff games for Florida, going 3-30-33. He could have easily gotten an AHL job had he wanted one. Maybe there’s bigger money available this way? There shouldn’t be, of course, but as I said, it’s just a thought experiment.
The three stars of the game were
1. TR – Anthony Beauregard (#91)
2. TR – Tommy Cormier (#78)
3. TR – Xavier Cormier (#18)
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Connor Welsh.
Even Strength Lines
Donhauser / Callin / Repaci
Kopperud / Kaplan / Cicero
Kobryn / DeMelis / Loughran
Schachle / Mahshie / Hatten
Welsh / Walton
Luce / Klee
Rajaniemi / McDonald
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers Fall 4-2 To Lions In Afternoon Game
LIONS:
Our affiliates last night
Tampa Bay 5, NY Islanders 3
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Wheeling 4, Cincinatti 1
Norfolk 6, Savannah 1
Adirondack 1, Indy 0
Maine 5, Reading 2
BOX SCORE
Worcester 2 0 0 – 2
Trois-Rivières 1 3 0 – 4
1st Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Nijhoff 24 (Beauregard, Martin), 7:03. 2, Worcester, Klee 7 (Welsh, Repaci), 14:52. 3, Worcester, Walton 3 (Welsh, Donhauser), 19:11. Penalties-Loughran Wor (holding), 14:24; Coxhead Tr (roughing), 14:24; Welsh Wor (high-sticking), 15:26.
2nd Period-4, Trois-Rivières, Cormier 15 (Sévigny, Cormier), 4:59. 5, Trois-Rivières, Cormier 15 (McLeod, Cormier), 8:18. 6, Trois-Rivières, Beauregard 24 (Jandric), 13:41. Penalties-Beauregard Tr (hooking), 5:17; McLeod Tr (cross-checking), 10:48.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Novak Tr (holding), 2:44; Kaplan Wor (high-sticking – double), 13:53; Hatten Wor (high-sticking, misconduct), 19:06; served by Loughran Wor (bench – unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:28; Donhauser Wor (double – roughing), 19:31; Cormier Tr (roughing), 19:31; Kopperud Wor (roughing), 20:00; Loughran Wor (game misconduct – abuse of officials), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-10-9-27. Trois-Rivières 12-18-5-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Trois-Rivières 0 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Ollas 11-15-1-2 (35 shots-31 saves). Trois-Rivières, Jones 14-3-5-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-3,159
Referees-Chad Ingalls (15), Alexandre Bechard (27).
Linesmen-Ben Fortin (44), Maxime Carre (77).
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