Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center, the Worcester Railers hosted the Adirondack Thunder for their home regular season finale and had a late-game goal disallowed for an alleged hand pass, allowing the Thunder to get the game into overtime, where they handed the Railers a 3-2 defeat.
Despite the loss, Worcester still controls its own playoff fate, with what they need to have happen in Reading next weekend becoming clear when the Royals play their game in hand Wednesday night in Norfolk.
Pretty much anyone reading this only wants to hear about the disallowed goal, but we’ll show the two goals that the Railers scored that counted.
Justin Gill opened the scoring with a power play goal at 12:20 of the opening period, assisted by Connor Welsh and Anthony Repaci. That was Repaci’s 62nd point on the season, setting a new Railers franchise record.
In the third period, Ryan Mahshie gave Worcester a 2-1 lead with a power play goal at 3:49. Cam McDonald and Repaci had the helpers on that goal.
And, just for good measure, we’ll throw in Michael Bullion’s save after the Railers’ goal was disallowed.
So, now we get to what everyone wants to read about. For those who don’t know what happened, I’m just going to copy and paste the three tweets I made to set this up.
“I just watched the disallowed goal for a hand pass. Based on the broadcast camera angle, the Railers 100% got jobbed on the call by referee Marc-Olivier Phaneuf. The broadcast video angle shows (Anthony) Callin catching the puck and dropping it in a scrum of players. The puck emerges the scrum on Callin’s stick, it slides to Repaci, who puts it in. The above the net angle would be 100% definitive, and if referee Marc-Olivier Phaneuf made the right call, the ECHL should show that video. If not, they owe the Railers and their fans an apology. Although another thing I’m 100% certain of is that neither will happen.”
I’ve now seen a second video of the play, filmed from where the visiting team enters and leaves the ice, making it appear that Repaci doesn’t touch the puck. Again, this is where the overhead camera would show exactly what happened. There is also a still photo posted by Don Nash in the Worcester Railers Booster Club Facebook group that shows the puck on Callin’s stick.
The fact that Referee Phaneuf blew the call is pretty much set in stone. Again, that top view would settle it for certain. But I doubt that will ever be seen by anyone not working for the Railers or ECHL.
Now the question becomes, why wasn’t the play reviewed? The unfortunate answer is that hand passes aren’t reviewable. The play becomes dead once any official determines, correctly or not, that a hand pass has taken place. There also isn’t any portion of the ECHL’s video rule that could be twisted to cover this situation. In the past, referees used the excuse of goaltender interference to check for high sticks, which the ECHL remedied by making those reviewable this season.
We can all argue what the rule should and shouldn’t be, but the only thing about the rules that matters is that there was no reason within the rule book for Referee Phaneuf to look at the video.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Ryan Dickinson (IR/unknown), JD Dudek (IR/unknown), Kolby Johnson (IR/upper body), Jordan Kaplan (lower body), Tyler Kobryn, Griffin Loughran (3-day IR), and Matt Ustaski (IR/unknown). Hugo Ollas was the backup goaltender.
One the more common things that happens to this writer is people messaging or coming up during games asking about some particular play that was overlooked by the officials or something that everyone on the ice missed. Usually, I’m as polite as possible but don’t get caught up in what they’re saying, mentioning that I rewatch every game I’m at and will look out for it. And, yes, I do look, and just about every single time, it’s nothing. Saturday night was not the “usual”, as one of the most observant people around swore the Railers scored in the first period and everyone on the ice missed it. For the entirety of the first intermission, he and I watched the footage on FloHockey on my phone. As we were doing this, another fan came up and had the same exact story to tell. Now, I think we might be on to something. It took some doing, but based on their description, we found the play. However, because the screen on my phone is, well, phone-sized, it was very hard to tell where the puck went. So after getting home, I rewatched the play, and the puck was very clear on my gigantic monitor, and it absolutely didn’t go it. I then went back and rewatched the last ten minutes of the period on the off chance we missed something. While it wasn’t the play in question, I think what they, and now I hear some others, saw was Mason Klee’s shot hit the post so hard it shook the water bottle holder at the back top of the net, leading folks to believe the puck went in. It clearly did not. So now, all it is is just a story to tell to fill some column inches.
The three stars of the game were
1. ADK – Jeremy Brodeur (#35)
2. WOR – Ryan Mahshie (#4)
3. WOR – Anthony Repaci (#81)
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Michael Bullion.
Even Strength Lines
Donhauser / Callin / Repaci
Kopperud / X / Gill
Ginnell / DeMelis / Cicero
Schachle / Mahshie / Hatten
Welsh / Luce
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Walton
Dunn
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester Takes Five of Six-Points From Adirondack
THUNDER: Thunder Down Railers in Overtime 3-2
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 4, Washington 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Wheeling 3, Reading 1
Norfolk 5, Iowa 3
BOX SCORE
Adirondack 0 1 1 1 – 3
Worcester 1 0 1 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Worcester, Gill 8 (Welsh, Repaci), 12:20 (PP). Penalties-Gibson Adk (high-sticking), 12:11.
2nd Period-2, Adirondack, Ebrahim 2 (Less, Carrabes), 8:07. Penalties-Gervais Adk (roughing), 9:59; Gulka Adk (fighting – major), 9:59; Hatten Wor (fighting – major), 9:59; Kopperud Wor (cross-checking major, game misconduct – cross-checking), 9:59; Conroy Adk (slashing), 13:49; Donhauser Wor (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 16:42; Ebrahim Adk (hooking), 18:43.
3rd Period-3, Worcester, Mahshie 4 (McDonald, Repaci), 3:49 (PP). 4, Adirondack, Filmon 19 (Fox, Carrabes), 8:17. Penalties-Smith Adk (tripping), 1:54; Wheeler Adk (holding), 5:21; Luce Wor (tripping), 19:43.
1st OT Period-5, Adirondack, Gervais 11 (Pierce), 4:57. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Adirondack 5-12-11-3-31. Worcester 16-9-15-2-42.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 4; Worcester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Adirondack, Brodeur 11-10-0-1 (42 shots-40 saves). Worcester, Bullion 17-14-1-2 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-5,592
Referees-Trevor Wohlford (38), Marc-Olivier Phaneuf (23).
Linesmen-Davids Rozitis (90), Matthew Heinen (93).
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