The Worcester Railers hosted the Norfolk Admirals Friday night at the DCU Center in the second of three matchups this week between the ECHL North Division rivals and used two third-period power play goals to gain another two points in a 3-2 victory.
Years ago, during my candlepin bowling days, a good friend named Skip Blodgett used to say, regarding getting spares and strikes, “It’s not how many, it’s when.” That perfectly described Worcester Friday night as they managed just 15 shots on goal in the contest, but they made the few they got count. Those 15 shots are the fewest a Railers team has ever had and still won the game.
Norfolk had the only goal of the opening frame, at 13:33, when Jack O’Leary intercepted a pass from Anthony Repaci to Michael Suda while the Railers were on the power play. O’Leary raced into the zone two on one against Suda, and as soon as the rookie defender left his feet to attempt to stop the cross ice pass, O’Leary lofted the puck to Nathan Noel, who had all 24 square feet behind Parker Gahagen to shoot at. It was a textbook example of how to complete a two-on-one rush.
The second period was almost all Admirals, but the cool and calm Gahagen turned aside all 12 shots he saw. At the other end, Isaac Poulter faced just four shots, but was only able to stop three as Anthony Repaci knotted the score 1-1 at 10:53.
Hometown scoring gives an assist to Ryan Miotto despite a Norfolk player touching the puck before Repaci could pounce on it.
Early in the third Admirals forward Marko Reifenberger was sent to the sin bin for high-sticking–a play this writer wanted to watch on replay for a possible slew foot, but FloHockey was still showing the video board promo–and Worcester was able to take advantage of the extra man as Cole Donhauser was able to poke a loose puck home to make it 2-1, with both Callin brothers assisting.
Norfolk grabbed their own power play goal at 8:03, to tie it 2-2 when Dawson Barteaux blasted one through traffic and beat Gahagen cleanly.
Twenty-five seconds later, the Railers were once again on the power play, and thirteen seconds after winning the ensuing face-off, Drew Callin knocked home another loose puck, and it was 3-2 Worcester at 8:41. Repaci and Suda had the helpers.
From there, it was all about Gahagen and the Worcester defense, and soon after, it was another two points for the Railers.
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, Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), and Tanner Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown). Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
On Tuesday, the Railers suspended defenseman Matt Stief, who was on the 14-day IR list after he left for Europe. Stief signed with CSM Corona Brasov, a Romanian team in the Erste Liga. On Thursday, the NY Islanders reassigned forward Gleb Veremyev from Worcester to Bridgeport (AHL).
With this weekend being the first time Worcester and Norfolk have faced off, we’ll take a look at some team and area connections between the squads. For the Admirals, defenseman Brehdan Engum played four seasons with UMass-Lowell and was an alternate captain in 2022-23, and followed that with a fifth year at Boston University. Forward Quinn Ryan played 14 games with the Railers in 2022-23, going 2-3-5 with a minus-1 rating. For the Railers, forward Tanner Schachle played 33 games for Norfolk in 2022-23, going 6-5-11 with a minus-5 rating.
We did not cover Wednesday’s 6-2 Railers win over Norfolk (you can read the eloquent musings of Bill Ballou’s press release for more information), but after some brief research, it appears to be the first time in the city’s pro hockey history that a Worcester team scored goals in all three periods with under ten seconds remaining in each frame.
Not only did we not cover the game, but this writer wasn’t even watching on FloHockey. But it was obvious that something had happened about ten minutes into the game when my phone exploded with messages about a disallowed goal. I didn’t even get to look at the play until Friday morning, and honestly, I have no idea how that goal was not allowed. Ross Mitton was hooked by Chase Yoder, a penalty that the officials called, and fell into Norfolk goaltender Isaac Poulter. Rule 69.1 says, in part: “If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.” Mitton was fouled (hooked), fell, and slid into Poulter, and had no chance to make a reasonable effort to avoid contact. By rule, that’s a good goal.
If you don’t recall Jason San Antonio being on the Railers, that’s OK because the former Mount St. Charles goaltender was just an EBUG for Worcester for a couple of games in early November of 2018, and was a distant memory soon after. So imagine my shock when I saw that San Antonio made the NHL on Thursday night. Well, sort of. With Tristan Jarry leaving the game for Edmonton after their opening period against the Bruins in Boston, Calvin Pickard took over between the pipes, meaning the EBUG in the building dressed for Edmonton, and it was none other than Mr. San Antonio.
And finally, because there are people paying attention to this for no reason I can fathom, the 210Sports Player of the Game for Wednesday was Anthony Repaci. And, oddly enough…
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #77 Drew Callin
2. WOR – #35 Parker Gahagen
3. NOR – #9 Jack O’Leary
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Repaci.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Mitton
Ginnell / D.Callin / A.Callin
Donhauser / DeMelis / Hatten
X / Dorrington / Walsh
McDonald / Suda
Blanchard / McCarthy
Hora / Piercey
Samuelsson
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers sail past Admirals in 3-2 victory
ADMIRALS: Recap: Late power play goal sinks Admirals in 3-2 setback
Our affiliates last night
Vancouver 4, NY Islanders 1
Bridgeport 5, Lehigh Valley 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Greensboro 3, Wheeling 0
Reading 5, Adirondack 3
Trois-Rivières 3, Maine 1
BOX SCORE
Norfolk 1 0 1 – 2
Worcester 0 1 2 – 3
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Noel 1 (O’Leary), 13:33 (SH). Penalties-Hatten Wor (hooking), 10:21; Young Nor (slashing), 10:32; Young Nor (interference), 13:10; Papp Nor (hooking), 18:07.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Repaci 8 (Miotto), 10:53. Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Period-3, Worcester, Donhauser 8 (Callin, Callin), 5:42 (PP). 4, Norfolk, Barteaux 4 (Conley, Zloty), 8:03 (PP). 5, Worcester, Callin 8 (Repaci, Suda), 8:41 (PP). Penalties-Mitton Wor (elbowing), 3:10; Reifenberger Nor (high-sticking), 5:08; Samuelsson Wor (tripping), 7:19; Jaunich Nor (interference), 8:28.
Shots on Goal-Norfolk 9-12-6-27. Worcester 5-4-6-15.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 1 / 3; Worcester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Norfolk, Poulter 4-5-0-0 (15 shots-12 saves). Worcester, Gahagen 6-1-1-0 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-2,024
Referees-Harrison O’Pray (40), Austin Rook (11).
Linesmen-Stephen Drain (52), Noah Merrow (57).
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