With Winter Storm Fern raging outside the Norfolk Scope the Worcester Railers took on Admirals for the third time in three days, with each team looking for the victory to win the weekend series, and thanks to two goals from newcomer Khristian Acosta and 26 saves from Parker Gahagen Worcester would put the game in the win column 3-2 and earned another important two points.
With his two goals, Acosta became the first player in Railers franchise history to have three goals over his first two games with the team. Previously, the last player to do it in a Worcester jersey was Cory Larose, who did it for the WorSharks early in the 2008-09 season.
Because of technical issues inside the building, the FloHockey stream crashed before the opening puck drop, so we were forced to go old school and listen to the golden tones of Worcester broadcaster Tim Foley over the radio on 98.9 Nash Icon and the Railers radio network.
If somehow Norfolk puts together a video highlight package, we’ll add it here later.
While this writer joked about how this post would look…
…we’re really going to go deep into hockey history in the city, and we’ll go back to just posting links describing the action.
Of course, there is no mention of the game at all in the Worcester Telegram, but the Railers have a press release on their site, which I assume was composed by Foley.
For Norfolk, it looks like their local papers are all subscription only, so we won’t bother with those, but the Admirals also have a press release on their site.
Word is the Railers stayed in Norfolk last night and will make the trek home sometime Monday.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Michael Ferrandino (14-day IR/Unknown), Thomas Gale, Riley Ginnell (14-day IR/Upper body), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Lower body), Lazarus Kaebel, Case McCarthy (14-day IR/Unknown), Ross Mitton (14-day IR/Upper body), and Matt Myers. Tristan Lennox was the backup goaltender.
Frequent readers and Twitter followers will know this writer often needles former WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer, calling the too many men on the ice as “the Roy Sommer line change”, for instance, and pointing out several instances when Sommer incorrectly filled out his lineup card, but 13 years ago Sunday the WorSharks played a game against the Springfield Falcons a defenseman short for a reason no one would have ever thought would come up: they had too many veterans. It wasn’t noticed until after the team bus arrived at the Mass Mutual Center that they’d brought seven veterans (Patrick Rissmiller [715 games], Danny Groulx [608], Bracken Kearns [412], Jon Matsumoto [406], Tim Kennedy [305], Matt Pelech [301], and Mike Brennan [282]) with them, and the limit back then was, as it is now, six. “It was my fault. I screwed up,” Sommer told then-Telegram scribe Bill Ballou, “but it had never happened to us before. We just got Groulx and Kennedy back for the first time in a few weeks, and I’m sitting there making out the lineup and – what the heck – we’ve got all these veteran guys.” Brennan was the odd man out, and while defender Mike Banwell, who was not a veteran, made the trip on the bus, his equipment did not. So the WorSharks went with 13 forwards and five defenseman, with Matt Pelech occasionally spelling a blueliner when needed. The flub didn’t matter much as Worcester won 3-1, with Tommy Grant scoring a first-period unassisted shorthanded goal to tie it, and James Livingston scoring the game-winner halfway through the middle period. Daniil Tarasov added a third-period power-play insurance goal.
Over in the SPHL, the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs announced on Friday that goaltender Gabe Rosek has been called up by the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, and Bill Yox, a goaltender who is local to the Macon area, will serve as the emergency backup goaltender for the Dawgs when they took on the Macon Mayhem. Pretty standard stuff for the minor leagues. Only Yox isn’t the kind of EBUG you’d really expect in a pro game, as, according to Elite Prospects, he never played high school or college hockey. Leave it to longtime hockey scribe Dave Eminian to get all the facts.
So, when it comes to the lower level of pro hockey, I guess that still qualifies as “pretty standard stuff”.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #25 Khristian Acosta
2. WOR – #18 Michael Suda
3. NOR – #94 Brady Fleurent
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Parker Gahagen.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Hatten
Donhauser / A.Callin / D.Callin
Piercey / DeMelis / Dorrington
Carson / Acosta / Hall
Pulkkinen / Samuelsson
McDonald / Suda
Federkow / Blanchard
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester sails to 3-2 win over Norfolk in weekend finale
ADMIRALS: Norfolk drops series finale to Worcester 3-2
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Maine 5, Trois-Rivières 4
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3
Norfolk 1 1 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Yoder 11 (McDougall, Fleurent), 6:55 (PP). 2, Worcester, Acosta 2 (Suda), 18:18. Penalties-Dorrington Wor (holding), 6:20; Young Nor (holding), 11:53; Samuelsson Wor (slashing), 16:38; Yoder Nor (slashing), 16:38.
2nd Period-3, Norfolk, Papp 14 (Fleurent), 9:49. 4, Worcester, Acosta 3 (Suda, Miotto), 13:41. Penalties-Hebert Nor (high-sticking), 6:29; Dorrington Wor (holding), 16:45.
3rd Period-5, Worcester, Callin 12 (Pulkkinen), 6:11. Penalties-Crane Nor (slashing), 13:05; Suda Wor (slashing), 15:24.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-6-7-26. Norfolk 7-9-12-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Norfolk 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 9-3-2-0 (28 shots-26 saves). Norfolk, Poulter 12-7-0-0 (26 shots-23 saves).
A-3,176
Referees-Tyler Hascall (8), David Lilly (25).
Linesmen-Evan Knox (83), Joseph Johnson (78).
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