Saturday afternoon, a bunch of guys wearing Worcester Railers jerseys headed northeast-ish to the Harold Alfond Forum in Biddeford, ME to play a bunch of guys wearing Maine Mariners jerseys in an exhibition game that evening, and the guys in the white Maine jerseys got a late third-period goal to defeat the Worcester players in the blue jerseys 3-2. Both teams will put jerseys on their actual players for Saturday’s regular-season opener at the DCU Center.
This writer paid almost no attention to the game, although it was just enough to notice that the Railers switched out goaltenders halfway through, removing starter Luke Pavicich and putting Thomas Gale between the pipes. They combined for 40 saves on 43 shots, so it seems like both played rather solidly. If you follow me on Twitter/X, you know it was the first time since Friday, October 15, 2021 that Worcester used two goalies in a preseason game. Corbin Kaczperski (19 saves on 21 shots, and an assist) got the win in relief of Justin Kapelmaster (16 saves on 17 shots) in that game. It’s possible Railers broadcaster Tim Foley mentioned it as I tagged him in the tweet just for that purpose.
(This is where I’ll mention that one of things I did instead of listening to the game was watch Star Trek: Section 31, and truth be told, it was so bad I probably should have listened to the game instead. I’ll never get those 95 minutes back in my life.)
I have no idea how any of the goals were scored, but if you’re interested both the Railers’ and Mariners’ press releases on the game are linked below.
There is a scoring curiousity on Worcester’s first goal. Again, I don’t know what happened other than what each team wrote about it, but the goal that reads “1, Worcester, Campagna 1 (Hatten, Schachle), 0:30” was lsited as unnassisted for a decent amount of time, and when assists were added neither Lincoln Hatten nor Tanner Schachle received a “plus” for the goal. That’s not unheard of with line changes behind the play, but for both assisters to not get a “plus” is, well, rare.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Callin, Drew Callin, Cole Donhauser, Kabore Dunn, Cole Fraser, Tristan Lennox, Cam McDonald, Ryan Miotto, Riley Piercey, Anthony Repaci, Porter Schachle, Matt Stief, Henrik Tikkanen, and T.J. Walsh. Thomas Gale started the game as the backup goaltender and entered the game midway through the second period. Dunn, Fraser, Repaci, and Stief didn’t dress for either game this weekend.
I forgot to mention this yesterday morning, but the ECHL official scorers working in the Worcester Ice Center have an incredibly tough time in the building, as you can’t see the entire ice surface from their vantage point at the top of the seating section. Both near corners are often obstructed by fans, and the boards that run opposite the benches would be blocked from view even without fans in the way. At points during the game, some were standing on chairs to get a better view of the ice. That being said, they still do a great job, with the only minor hiccup being someone accidentally switched the Railers goalies in the scoring system for a short while. This writer saw it during the second intermission, and because the scoring folks in Worcester are so good at the DCU Center, I just assumed I missed it because I wasn’t exactly paying 100% attention to what was happening on the ice. When Henrik Tikkanen returned to the net to start the third, it didn’t take long for the error to be noticed and corrected.
Over the past few seasons, the Railers have missed the playoffs each year by just a handful of points. Part of the reason is, oddly enough, that they tend to lose games in regulation as opposed to gaining a single point for getting games to overtime, and they allow their opponents to get games into the extra session before defeating them. Now, if you think that’s something silly to be talking about, let’s just look at the Railers and Mariners head-to-head over the last five seasons. They have played 46 times, with each team winning half. The big difference is how each team lost. Worcester is 23-21-2-0 in those games, for 48 points and a points percentage of .522. Maine, on the other hand, is 23-18-3-2, for a .554 points percentage, gaining them 51 points. How big would those extra points be for Worcester over the past few seasons? And now apply that against every divisional team they face. The Railers need to be better at winning games in regulation so they don’t give points away to division rivals, and they need to get more games to overtime. We won’t even mention scoring more in the shootout, because that’s been a big issue for Worcester teams since the shootout started in the 2004-05 season.
Because we like to keep the record complete here on 210Sports, this writer is now compelled to write something that might be the silliest inclusion in a post about a preseason game, because we’re going to mention a scoring change from the Railers’ last regular-season game in the 2024-25 campaign. Their final goal of the season, scored by Anthony Callin in the third period, was originally listed as being assisted by Matthew Kopperud and Jordan Kaplan. At some point, the scoring was changed, and that goal now reads “Worcester, Callin 24 (DeMelis, Kopperud), 15:25 (PP)”. So take a helper from Kaplan and add one to Matt DeMelis. Although you really shouldn’t, as everyone starts from zero again in a few days.
The three stars of the game were
1. MNE – #11 Ty Cheveldayoff
2. MNE – #13 Robert Cronin
3. MNE – #1 Brad Arvanitis
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Tyler Kobryn.
Even Strength Lines
Ginnell / DeMelis / Kobryn
T.Schachle / Campagna / Hatten
Myers / Gilmour / Berke
Maxwell / Pennucci / Johnson
Hora / Ferrandino
Ring / Dickinson
Lindberg / Stevens
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers wrap-up preseason with 3-2 loss in Maine
MARINERS: Mariners sweep preseason series from Railers
Our affiliates last night
Washington 4, NY Islanders 2
Providence 3, Bridgeport 2 OT
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Greenville 3, Wheeling 0
Adirondack 3, Trois-Rivieres 0
Savannah 5, Greensboro 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 0 – 2
Maine 2 0 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Campagna 1 (Hatten, Schachle), 0:30. 2, Maine, Cheveldayoff 2 (Lamppa, Hemstrom), 1:39. 3, Maine, Deveaux 1 (Cheveldayoff, Stewart), 17:42. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-4, Worcester, Kobryn 1 (Lindberg), 3:59. Penalties-served by Perreault Mne (bench – too many men), 4:42; Marooney Mne (slashing), 16:45.
3rd Period-5, Maine, Cronin 1 (Element, Lamppa), 17:26. Penalties-Berke Wor (tripping), 5:32; Perreault Mne (slashing), 6:13; Pennucci Wor (holding), 11:57; served by DeMelis Wor (delay of game – faceoff infraction), 17:41.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-9-8-25. Maine 12-17-14-43.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Maine 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Pavicich 0-0-0-0 (19 shots-17 saves); Gale 0-1-0-0 (24 shots-23 saves). Maine, Arvanitis 1-0-0-0 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-1,000
Referees-Dominic Cadieux (3), -.
Linesmen-Noah Merrow (57), Michael Tarquinio (45).
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