Friday night, an enthusiastic standing room only crowd at the Worcester Ice Center watched the Worcester Railers, or at least the training camp version of the team, take on the Maine Mariners in the first of two exhibition battles between the two squads, with the Railers coming out on the wrong end of a 4-2 final.
For the most part, these games are essentially meaningless for players who are already inked on to the opening roster. But on the other hand, they are important for the try-out players battling for one of the open slots that need to be filled. Unfortunately for those players on the ice Friday night, no one looked to have played themselves onto the team.
The Callin brothers, Drew and Anthony, apparently need to be handcuffed to their locker stalls to keep them off the ice, and provided all the offense for Worcester, with Anthony scoring twice and older brother Drew assisting on both goals. T.J. Walsh and Anthony Hora provided the two other Railers points on the night.
Maine controlled the opening period, but thanks to some great saves by Henrik Tikkanen it was just a 1-0 defict after twenty minutes. The Mariners goal, on the power play, was a high-quality play where Ty Cheveldayoff tipped Cooper Jones’ blast from up high. Sometimes the defense can do everything right and the puck still ends up in their net, and that was the case on Cheveldayoff’s goal at 11:40. Shots were 17-9 after twenty minutes.
The remaining two periods were played pretty evenly, with the Railers outshooting Maine 15-14 over the final 40 minutes, but the key difference was the Mariners were able to take advantage of several Worcester miscues while the Railers always seemed just a half-step shy of being able to.
The two teams play again Saturday night at The Harold Alfond Forum, on the campus of the University of New England, in Biddeford, ME to wrap up the preseason. They then meet agaon Saturday, October 18th at the DCU Center in their regular-season opener.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Nathan Berke, J.C. Campagna, Matt DeMelis, Kabore Dunn, Cole Fraser, Thomas Gale, Lincoln Hatten, Tyler Kobryn, Chase Maxwell, Luke Pavacich, Anthony Repaci, Jack Ring, Tanner Schachle, and Matt Stief. Tristan Lennox was the backup goaltender.
Earlier Friday, the Bridgeport Islanders announced their season-opening roster, which included exactly zero former Railers. Currently, they’re carrying 15 forwards, nine defenders, and two goalies, which were the same numbers they had after assigning Henrik Tikkanen and Tristan Lennox to Worcester, meaning it looks like the Railers will be essentially on their own to start this season. Considering how poorly the Islanders organization has done lately, maybe that’s not a bad thing.
In other news from this past week, former Railers head coach Bob Deraney has returned to coach at Worcester State. Jay Punsky, who was coaching the Lancers’ Men’s team, left to coach at Salve Regina University. Once it was known Punsky would be heading to his alma mater he himself reached out to Deraney to make sure the Worcester State program would be in good hands. The enthusiastic Deraney was on board imediately, and Worcester State Athletic Director Mike Mudd wasted no time in bringing Deraney back. At the Railers preseason game at Worcester Ice, also the home of the Lancers, Mudd’s excitment to have Deraney back was obvious. “(Bob) is coming back to do what he does best, which is develop and mentor young athletes. We’re all excited to have him back in the program, and the team is looking forward to playing for him.” Deraney said in a press release, “…I look forward to working with the tremendous young men that make up the Worcester State Men’s Hockey program. They are the main reason I chose to come back. To have the opportunity to work with them every day and together strive towards taking this program to new heights every day is what I look forward to the most. I’m excited to get to work!” Talking about Deraney’s return to the Lancers, Railers Senior Director of Ticket Sales Connor Haynes said, “(Bob) might be the world’s nicest human.” That’s something said of a lot of people, but in Coach Deraney’s case, it’s close to the truth.
There will be some big changes coming to the DCU Center over the next few months. Along with the building’s name eventually being changed due to the merger between Marlborough-based Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) and First Tech Federal Credit Union, based in San Jose, it was announced Friday that both General Manager Sandy Dunn and Assistant General Manager Jim Moughan will retire in January. The news first broke on the subscription-based Worcester Bussiness Journal, and soon after the Worcester Guardian had the details.
The three stars of the game were
1) WOR – #44 Anthony Callin
2) ME – #37 Zackary Jones
3) ME – #5 Ryan Orgel
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Drew Callin.
Even Strength Lines
Walsh / Miotto / Donhauser
Piercey / D.Callin / A.Callin
Myers / Ginnell / Gilmour
P.Schachle / Pennucci / Johnson
McDonald / Ferrandino
Hora / Dickinson
Lindberg / Stevens
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers fall short in 4-2 preseason loss to Mariners
MARINERS Mariners open preseason with 4-2 win in worcester
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Greensboro 4, Jacksonville 1
Adirondack 3, Reading 1
BOX SCORE
Maine 1 1 2 – 4
Worcester 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period-1, Maine, Cheveldayoff 1 (Jones, Orgel), 11:40 (PP). Penalties-Dickinson Wor (holding), 11:31.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Callin 1 (Callin, Walsh), 9:23. 3, Maine, Jones 1 (Hudson), 15:32. Penalties-Bellamy Mne (holding), 0:28; DiPaolo Mne (holding), 7:19; Savenkov Mne (fighting – major), 9:25; Pennucci Wor (fighting – major), 9:25.
3rd Period-4, Maine, Hemstrom 1 (Jones, Orgel), 5:47. 5, Worcester, Callin 2 (Hora, Callin), 8:12 (PP). 6, Maine, Jones 1 (Bellamy), 13:39. Penalties-Donhauser Wor (high-sticking – double), 6:38; Cheveldayoff Mne (cross-checking), 7:09; Thompson Mne (interference), 7:45; Jones Mne (roughing), 16:33; Lindberg Wor (roughing, cross-checking), 16:33.
Shots on Goal-Maine 17-6-8-31. Worcester 9-8-7-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 1 / 3; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Maine, Pearson 1-0-0-0 (24 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Tikkanen 0-1-0-0 (31 shots-27 saves).
A-567
Referees-Michael Zyla (34), -.
Linesmen-Noah Merrow (57), Sam Schildkraut (46).
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