The Worcester Railers, who haven’t played a game at the DCU Center since before Thanksgiving, finished off their season-long seven-game road trip with a Saturday night battle in Portland, Maine, and thanks to a two-point night from Cole Donhauser and Parker Gahagen making 32 saves defeated the Mariners 4-2 to end the trip with a 4-2-1 record.
Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning that Maine was wearing Portland Pirates throwback jerseys. As a longtime Worcester hockey fan, it would be great to see some of the former AHL cities get together and decide to wear throwback jerseys against each other in some of their games. However, since we can’t even get ECHL teams to agree to having color vs. color matchups in their usual jerseys, hosting throwback games is probably out of the question.
One thing we won’t be doing in this post is complaining about referee Alex Berard and Alexandre Bechard, other than saying they have no business officiating ECHL games. The number of non-calls and missed calls in this game in both directions, if listed, would max the word count here. So we’ll just not mention them again.
The teams were scoreless through the opening frame, with Maine’s Brad Arvanitis being the busier of the two netminders. It was still scoreless through the mid parts of the second when the Mariners headed to a power play. The Railers were killing the penalty well when they went off on a three-on-two shorthanded rush. You don’t have to be Carnac the Magnificent to know what happened next, as Maine was able to race off in the other direction, where Max Andreev made it 1-0 Mariners at 9:46.
That Mariners’ lead didn’t last long as eighty-five seconds later, Donhauser took matters into his own hands, forcing a turnover and taking it the distance himself.
There’s a long-shot chance Anthony Hora eventually picks up a helper on the play, but it doesn’t seem all that likely.
It went into the third period knotted 1-1 when Worcester took advantage of an odd bounce off a stanchion, and Matt DeMelis was able to jam home a loose puck to give the Railers a 2-1 lead at 5:41.
Donhauser and Riley Ginnell earned assists on the play. The scoring is currently not listed correctly, as Ginnell shouldn’t have been given a “plus” because he left the ice on a line change well before the goal was scored. That plus belongs to forward-turned-defenseman Riley Piercey.
With Max Dorrington in the box for one of the few correctly called penalties in the game, Robert Cronin tied the contest 2-2 at 9:12
It took just 73 seconds for Worcester to regain the lead when Case McCarthy led the rush into the zone, and Ryan Miotto fired a shot past a screened Arvanitis to make it 3-2 Railers.
After some shenanigans that saw far fewer penalties called than there should have been, and some of the ones called were flat-out wrong, Maine eventually pulled Arvanitis for an extra attacker. Drew Callin found the empty net at 19:34 for the 4-2 final.
That was the Railers’ first unassisted empty net power play goal in franchise history. And maybe, just maybe, this writer keeps track of too many odd stats.
Worcester returns to the DCU Center next Wednesday, December 17th, for the first of three against the Norfolk Admirals.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were MacAuley Carson (14-day IR/Unknown), Michael Ferrandino (14-day IR/Unknown), Tristan Lennox (14-day IR/Lower body), Luke Pavacich (travel), Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), Tanner Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), Matt Stief (14-day IR/Unknown), and TJ Walsh. Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
On Friday, Railers GM Nick Tuzzolino brought back goaltender Luke Pavicich, trading the ever-popular “future considerations” to Kalamazoo for the Clarence Center, NY native. Pavicich was at training camp for Worcester this season and started the Railers’ preseason game in Maine, making 17 saves on 19 shots before giving way to Thomas Gale after about 28 minutes of play. He was 2-4-1 this season with the K-Wings, with a 3.34 GAA and .902 save percentage.
With Maine wearing the Pirates throwbacks, there was no chance we weren’t going to take a look at the records of the IceCats and WorSharks against Portland. If you were listening to Tim Foley during the broadcast, you’ve already heard these stats, which we happily passed along to him, but Worcester pro teams had a 87-81-3-10 record in the AHL against the Pirates. The IceCats went 43-48-13 all-time against Portland, but after a 2-9-1 record in their unaffiliated inaugural season, they played the Pirates better than even the rest of the way. There were no shootouts until the ‘Cats’ final year, and they never lost one to Portland. For the WorSharks, they were 44-37-3-10 all-time against the Pirates. (In another note, Bill Ballou and I have the same win totals but different loss/tie/SOL numbers for the two AHL teams, so we’ll get together at some point and work that out.)
Over in Glens Falls, Adirondack Thunder forward Justin Taylor set a new ECHL record for career games played at 885, breaking the mark of short-term WorSharks forward Michael Pelech. The 36-year-old Taylor has been around so long that he’s one of the few active minor league players who could have had an opportunity to play against Worcester in the AHL. But, alas, he was a scratch for the then Sound Tigers in their 2010-11 season opener against Worcester. Because Maine played in Portland Pirates jerseys last night, we’ll mention that Taylor played two games against the Pirates, recording a single shot and having a minus-1 rating.
And while this has nothing to do with Worcester hockey, we all love a good story. Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit has had multiple hip and knee surgeries since April of 2024, and is slowly making his way back to game shape. He is currently on an injury rehab assignment in Rockford, where he’s currently 2-1-0 with a 3.39 GAA and a .900 save percentage. And, oh yeah, a goalie goal.
Even with that, Brossoit is facing an uphill battle to find a spot in Chicago’s future plans.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #29 Cole Donhauser
2. WOR – #10 Ryan Miotto
3. MNE – #13 Robert Cronin
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Parker Gahagen.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Mitton
Ginnell / D.Callin / A.Callin
Donhauser / DeMelis / Hatten
X / Dorrington / Veremyev
McDonald / Suda
Blanchard / McCarthy
Hora / Piercey
Samuelsson
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers sink Mariners 4-2 on throwback night
MARINERS: Railers double-up Mariners on Pirates night
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 3, Tampa Bay 2 SO
Bridgeport 2, Laval 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Greenville 4, Greensboro 1
Reading 7, Norfolk 3
Adirondack 3, Wheeling 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 3 – 4
Maine 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-1, Maine, Andreev 6 (Nielsen), 9:46 (PP). 2, Worcester, Donhauser 7 11:11. Penalties-Samuelsson Wor (holding), 1:58; Kalmikov Mne (holding), 3:51; Piercey Wor (tripping), 9:04.
3rd Period-3, Worcester, DeMelis 7 (Donhauser, Ginnell), 5:41. 4, Maine, Cronin 5 (Thompson, Hemstrom), 9:12 (PP). 5, Worcester, Miotto 3 (McCarthy), 10:25. 6, Worcester, Callin 6 19:34 (PP EN). Penalties-McCallum Mne (holding), 6:22; Dorrington Wor (high-sticking), 9:06; Callin Wor (roughing), 11:17; Blanchard Wor (fighting – major), 14:24; Donhauser Wor (diving/embellishment), 14:24; Hemstrom Mne (fighting – major), 14:24; Thompson Mne (roughing, slashing), 14:24; Cronin Mne (hooking), 18:08.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-9-12-34. Maine 7-15-12-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Maine 2 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 4-1-1-0 (34 shots-32 saves). Maine, Arvanitis 2-2-2-1 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-4,803
Referees-Alex Berard (36), Alexandre Bechard (27).
Linesmen-Stephen Drain (52), Jack McQuesten (53).
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