It was less than 24 hours between the end of Saturday night’s 4-2 win against Maine and the Railers’ upcoming puck drop Sunday afternoon against the Trois-Rivières Lions, and the difference was night and day as Worcester did just about everything wrong that they could do in a 5-2 loss at the DCU Center.
It would be very easy to place part of the blame on rookie ECHL referees Mark Dungan and AJ Potvin, who were simply overmatched in the game. But we will have none of that today. The league did a massive disservice to them and both teams by not having each work with a more veteran official in their early games this season.
The real reason the Railers lost was that they suffered a complete failure of their special teams. They went 1-6 on the power play, but their power play goal was really on an odd-man rush that took place after Lincoln Hatten’s penalty expired while the teams were skating four-on-four. They also allowed a shorthanded goal by knocking the puck into their own net.
Their penalty kill was nothing short of terrible, allowing two goals in three chances. The Lions’ third power play goal was into an empty net, so hardly the fault of the penalty killers on the ice. No, the fault for that goal falls 100% on Michael Suda, who took the most brainless slashing minor while Worcester was skating with an extra attacker.
In order to win consistently this season, the Railers need to play mistake-free hockey and have their special teams performing at least as well as the ECHL average team does. They did zero of those things Sunday, and not so ironically, zero is the number of points they got in the standings.
Down 2-0, Cole Donhauser had the opening Railers goal, his first since January 2nd. Hatten and Jordan Kaplan had the helpers.
MacAuley Carson’s third-period goal made it 4-2 Lions. Hatten and Cooper More had the helpers on the goal that went to video review.
Worcester gets a few days off before spending next Saturday and Sunday in Portland, Maine, for a pair against the Mariners.
The good: Those new Heart of the Commonwealth jerseys really look great on the ice. That cream color, which this writer thinks should permanently replace the white sweaters, really looks sharp.
The bad: Dumb hockey is losing hockey, and on Sunday the Railers played a whole lot of dumb hockey.
The obvious: Like last season (and the season before), if the Railers can’t find a way to improve their power play and solidify their penalty kill, Worcester fans will be in for another long season.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Michael Abgrall, Chase Clark, Dalton Duhart, Connor Federkow, Riley Ginnell (7-day IR/unknown), Anthony Repaci (7-day IR/Upper body), and Adam Samuelsson. William Lavallière was the backup goaltender. Repaci was once again behind the bench with head coach Nick Tuzzolino and assistant coach Chris Rumble, standing with the forwards.
Word came to this writer pregame that fans were saying that some of the Maine players and staff were complaining about Anthony Repaci being behind the bench. We don’t usually deal with rumors like that here, because if I don’t have a solid source for something, I don’t bother mentioning it here. So while I think the idea of Maine complaining about it is total bunk, I did ask Railers COO Mike Myers if the rules for a player being behind the bench had changed. He indicated that the rules remain the same as they always have been: that one scratched, non-suspended player is allowed to act as a coach behind the bench, and said player’s name is noted on the official lineup sheet handed to the scorers and the league. So, like I said, total bunk.
In case there’s someone out there that hasn’t realized it yet, here on the blog the graphic that’s posted matches the style of jersey the team wore in the game. With the new “Heart of the Commonwealth” jerseys it’s a touch different, as instead of using the “W” that’s on the front we’ve got the new red-colored secondary logo. It just looks cleaner to me, so that’s what we’re using.
This writer has never been a big fan of how the ECHL puts their schedule together, where their final result only ends up being slightly better than what a half-dozen drunk elementary school kids could come up with. Case in point, it’s the regular season opening weekend, and Worcester is already playing a game with a scheduling disadvantage. The Railers played last night and then had the quick turnaround for Sunday’s 3pm puck drop, while Trois-Rivières played Friday night at home and was able to take a leisurely bus ride to the Hilton Garden Inn Saturday morning.
The three stars of the game were
1. TR – #42 Mathieu Bizier
2. TR – #90 Francesco Lapenna
3. TR – #91 Anthony Beauregard
The 210Sports Player of the Game was MacAuley Carson.
Even Strength Lines
Piercey / DeMelis / Moses
Donhauser / Kaplan / Fawcett
Hatten / Carson / Stange
McDonnell / Hobbs / X
Suda / Corcoran
Wheeler / Kehrer
McDonald / Moore
Blanchard
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers split opening weekend with 5-2 loss to Lions
LIONS: Special Teams Power the Lions to Their First Road Win of the Season
Our affiliates last night
(Sunday)
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
(Sunday’s results)
Norfolk 3, Atlanta 2
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 1 1 3 – 5
Worcester 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period-1, Trois-Rivières, Beauregard 2 (Dion, Dufort), 5:32 (PP). Penalties-Suda Wor (interference), 4:12; Huard Tr (slashing), 9:23; Charron Tr (interference), 11:06; Gravelle Tr (holding), 12:16; Hatten Wor (cross-checking), 12:16; Charron Tr (tripping), 15:00.
2nd Period-2, Trois-Rivières, Charron 1 (Hutcheson, Ergang), 3:55. 3, Worcester, Donhauser 1 (Hatten, Kaplan), 14:32 (PP). Penalties-Hatten Wor (cross-checking), 12:17; Bizier Tr (tripping), 12:34; Bizier Tr (high-sticking), 19:12.
3rd Period-4, Trois-Rivières, Bizier 2 (Dufort, Beauregard), 1:36 (PP). 5, Trois-Rivières, Bizier 3 10:17 (SH). 6, Worcester, Carson 1 (Hatten, Moore), 11:41. 7, Trois-Rivières, Beauregard 3 (Kalmikov), 19:29 (PP EN). Penalties-Suda Wor (high-sticking), 1:24; Dufort Tr (boarding), 9:27; Suda Wor (slashing), 18:48.
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 4-7-8-19. Worcester 11-9-6-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 3 / 4; Worcester 1 / 6.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Lapenna 1-0-0-0 (26 shots-24 saves). Worcester, Gahagen 1-1-0-0 (18 shots-14 saves).
A-3,251
Referees-Mark Dungan (65), AJ Potvin (27).
Linesmen-Trevor Davis (81), Joshua Rosenbaum (40).
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