After a long early morning bus trip from Quebec the Worcester Railers, wearing their alter ego Monkey Wrenches jerseys, took on the Maine Mariners Saturday night at the DCU Center in front of a sellout crowd of 5,720 and took an early lead only to see it ripped away by two Maine goals early in the second period in a 2-1 loss to their ECHL North Division rivals.
With the loss, the Railers are six points out of the final playoff spot in the North Division, with sixth-place Trois-Rivières’ point total within their games in hand. No team in the playoff hunt has fewer regulation wins than Worcester, so currently, the Railers lose every tie-breaker.
Anthony Repaci had Worcester’s lone goal of the game at 9:28 of the opening period, and it was a classic Repaci goal as he just undressed Maine goalie Brad Arvanitis. Ryan Miotto and Lincoln Hatten had the helpers.
Worcester was playing well, although their anemic offence remains a huge issue, until all of a sudden, early in the second frame, the Railers went from leading 1-0 to trailing 2-1.
Jacob Hudson got the Mariners’ first goal at 1:36 of the middle period on one that Worcester netminder Tristan Lennox probably wants another chance at, as after a faceoff win, Hudson tipped Nick Anderson’s shot from the point. Lennox wasn’t square to the original shot, and that was the reason why the tip beat him.
Seventy seconds later, Liam Gorman made it 2-1 when a shot wide of the goal rebounded right to him, and he had all 24-square feet to shoot at. Currently, Arvanitis is listed as having the secondary assist, but that will change as Colin Felix touched the puck after he did.
From there, it was a complete lack of Railers offense and Worcester’s terrible power play that kept the score 2-1 as the Railers threw away at least one point in the standings.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Michael Ferrandino (14-day IR/Unknown), Connor Federkow, Parker Gahagen, Riley Ginnell (3-day IR), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Lower body), Ross Mitton (14-day IR/Upper body), and Achiel Schlepp. Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
At 2:12 of the third period, referee Alexandre Gagne went down hard after taking a puck up high after being struck by a Michael Suda keep-in bid. Play was stopped immediately, and Railers trainer Jake Reardon raced over to the downed official, quickly followed by Maine trainer Patrick Sponzo. Referee Gagne was eventually helped off the ice and did not return. Linesman Noah Merrow, who does not appear to have worked as a referee at any major level of hockey, took over calling the penalties. We’ll refrain from reviewing the calls–and non-calls–of Merrow, but suffice it to say that Railers head coach Nick Tuzzolino probably wasn’t a fan.
We confirmed our guess from yesterday, and Tristan Lennox did not make the trip to Quebec with the team; he instead stayed in the city and, as far as anyone knows, slept soundly as the Railers made their mad dash from Trois-Rivières. Now, obviously, the team was being coy about who would get the start Sunday, but the odds of it not being Parker Gahagen are pretty long. Who the backup goaltender will be is a better question, and while it’s likely to be Lennox, I can see the logic in picking Thomas Gale, too.
This writer, who is not exactly known for his photography skills, was trying to get a good picture of the Monkey Wrenches jerseys in action because they looked so cool. But, as it turns out, I was directly in line with backup netminder Thomas Gale, who was sporting one of the give-away bucket hats. A match made in heaven, and not a bad pic if I do say so myself.
The three stars of the game were
1. MNE – #1 Brad Arvanitis
2. MNE – #29 Liam Gorman
3. WOR – #81 Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game is Tristan Lennox.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / DeMelis / Hatten
Donhauser / A.Callin / D.Callin
Piercey / Miotto / Carson
Veremyev / Dorrington / Acosta
Pulkkinen / Samuelsson
McDonald / Blanchard
Suda / Odelius
Press Releases
RAILERS: Monkey Wrenches fall 2-1 to Mariners in Saturday night tilt
MARINERS: Mariners win streak reaches seven in Worcester
Our affiliates last night
NY Islanders 4, Columbus 3 OT
Providence 3, Bridgeport 2 SO
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Fort Wayne 6, Wheeling 4
Greenville 6, Reading 5
Norfolk 4, Greensboro 2
Trois-Rivières 4, Adirondack 3
BOX SCORE
Maine 0 2 0 – 2
Worcester 1 0 0 – 1
1st Period-1, Worcester, Repaci 17 (Miotto, Hatten), 9:28. Penalties-Acosta Wor (holding), 6:45.
2nd Period-2, Maine, Hudson 18 (Anderson, Andreev), 1:36. 3, Maine, Gorman 3 (Cheveldayoff, Arvanitis), 2:46. Penalties-Gorman Mne (cross-checking), 10:28; McDonald Wor (delay of game), 13:19; served by Repaci Wor (bench – too many men), 17:36.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Jordan Mne (high-sticking), 0:20; Underwood Mne (roughing), 3:54; Veremyev Wor (holding), 3:54; Felix Mne (high-sticking), 12:29; Hudson Mne (high-sticking), 16:22.
Shots on Goal-Maine 10-12-7-29. Worcester 12-6-8-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Maine 0 / 3; Worcester 0 / 4.
Goalies-Maine, Arvanitis 15-8-2-1 (26 shots-25 saves). Worcester, Lennox 5-10-1-0 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-5,720
Referees-Alexandre Gagne (44), -.
Linesmen-Cody Sullivan (82), Noah Merrow (57).
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