For the third time in 44 hours, the Worcester Railers took on the Maine Mariners, and while the outcome was the same on Sunday afternoon as the previous two meetings, the Railers looked like a completely different team in their 4-2 loss than fans saw in their previous couple of meetings.
There are no moral victories in hockey, just points for wins and, well, some losses. But after looking like 18 guys that had never met each other on Friday and Saturday, the Railers finally looked like a team on Sunday. I’ll grant you it was a team that made a ton of mistakes, but a team nonetheless.
And the mistakes we saw can be fixed.
First and foremost, Worcester needs to stop taking brainless penalties. Jesse Nurmi took one just 1:10 into the game, and Jacob Perreault made it 1-0 Maine just eight seconds later.
Later in the period, three different Railers players had the puck roll past them before Lynden McCallum ultimately beat Thomas Gale with an absolute laser over Gale’s glove and into an opening about as big as a business envelope at 17:17.
With 31.6 seconds remaining in the frame, Riley Ginnell beat Luke Cavallin on the power play to make it 2-1, or so everyone at the DCU Center thought. The Mariners complained a bit, and the referees reviewed the play for goaltender interference.
The referee wearing #14, who we assume was Austin Rook despite him being listed as #11 on the scoresheet, was the official who originally signaled a good goal. Jamie Pavia was the high official on the play, and during the review, which this writer can see clearly from his perch, seemed to think it was a good goal while Rook, who made the original call, wanted to disallow the score. Rook won, and it was ruled that Max Dorrington pushed Maine defender Zachary Massicotte into Cavallin, preventing him from making the save.
After several views of the play from multiple angles, let’s just say this writer disagrees.
What I don’t disagree with is the Railers stole that goal back at 1:48 of the second period when Calle Odelius stickhandled the puck across the blueline and out of the zone and then brought it back in, with no call from the linesmen. Drew Callin converted for the goal, with Ryan Miotto adding a helper.
Another one of those brainless penalties led to another Maine goal when Anthony Repaci, who was completely unchecked, flipped the puck into the crowd in the Worcester defensive end. A few moments later, McCallum had his second of the game, and the Mariners had a 3-1 lead.
The Railers would cut the Maine lead to one with a goal from an unlikely source when
Kolby Johnson got one of those rare “right place, right time” goals for Worcester. Lincoln Hatten and Dorrington had the assists.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Worcester would get as they looked fairly inept with the extra attacker, another thing that can be fixed, and Sebastian Vidmar put one into the empty Railers net for the 4-2 final.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Callin (Suspended, game 3 of 4), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Unknown), Tyler Kobryn, Tristan Lennox, Riley Piercey (Suspended, game 3 of 7), Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), Tanner Schachle (3-day IR), and TJ Walsh (14-day IR/Upper body). Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender. Before the game, Worcester released defenseman Jason Horvath.
The three stars of the game were
1. MNE – #27 Lynden McCallum
2. MNE – #33 Luke Cavallin
3. WOR – #33 Thomas Gale
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Kolby Johnson.
Even Strength Lines
Donhauser / D.Callin / Repaci
Ginnell / DeMelis / Kobryn
Nurmi / Miotto / Mitton
Johnson / Dorrington / Hatten
McDonald / Dunn
Stief / Odelius
Suda / Ferrandino
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester’s comeback falls short in 4-2 loss to Mariners
MARINERS: Mariners complete three game sweep of Worcester
Our affiliates last night
(Sunday)
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
(Sunday)
Reading 3, Trois-Rivières 2
Adirondack 6, Norfolk 2
BOX SCORE
Maine 2 1 1 – 4
Worcester 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period-1, Maine, Perreault 5 (Thompson, Kalmikov), 1:58 (PP). 2, Maine, McCallum 4 (Perreault, Beaulieu), 17:17. Penalties-Nurmi Wor (slashing), 1:50; DiPaolo Mne (tripping), 2:54; Andreev Mne (interference on the goalkeeper), 8:29; Kalmikov Mne (hooking), 17:39; Bellamy Mne (roughing), 19:48.
2nd Period-3, Worcester, Callin 2 (Miotto, Odelius), 1:48 (PP). 4, Maine, McCallum 5 (Kalmikov, Thompson), 7:46 (PP). Penalties-Gallatin Mne (tripping), 1:58; Repaci Wor (delay of game), 6:15; Miotto Wor (boarding), 8:05; Callin Wor (tripping), 12:50.
3rd Period-5, Worcester, Johnson 1 (Hatten, Dorrington), 9:35. 6, Maine, Vidmar 1 (Andreev), 18:47 (EN). Penalties-McCallum Mne (hooking), 5:33.
Shots on Goal-Maine 9-17-4-30. Worcester 9-7-8-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 2 / 4; Worcester 1 / 6.
Goalies-Maine, Cavallin 6-1-0-0 (24 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Gale 0-1-0-0 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-2,481
Referees-Austin Rook (11), Jamie Pavia (26).
Linesmen-Jack McQuesten (53), Sam Schildkraut (46).
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