With 32 games and three months in the books, the Railers (13-14-3-2) are slowly making the climb up the standings after going 5-4-1-2 (13 pts) in twelve games in December, all of which were against division teams. They close out the month of December sitting in a tie with the Brampton Beast for fifth place in the north division with 31 points. The Railers are still recovering from the seven-game losing streak earlier in the season and if they had a few wins mixed in when they were on that slump, they could’ve been fighting for third with 37 points or higher. They will need to find the net and get a winning-streak early as they start the new year this weekend.

Here are my thoughts and notes through the month of December.

The Good:

  • Nick Sorkin finally broke his cold spell by scoring his first goal of the season on December 7. Sorkin would go on to produce 11 points in the month of December. (7-4-11)
  • Going 6-3-9 during the month of December, Tyler Barnes continues to be the top goal scorer for Worcester.
  • Acquiring Matt Schmalz seems to be a fair trade-off for Nick Bligh. The two weren’t traded for each other, but one was sent out and the other was shipped in on the same day.
  • Ryan MacKinnon has an active five-game point streak, which is one of the longest streaks going so far this season.
  • Trading Austin Block to Manchester might be the start of more transactions as 2019 comes around. Block had one of the lowest points per game averages out of all forwards on the team and with no goals to show for it.
  • Mitch Gillam and Evan Buitenhuis continue to look good in net even when the offense isn’t so great in front of them. Both rank in the top 20 goaltenders in several categories.
  • Railers are ranked second on the penalty kill at home. Shouldn’t be too much longer before they regain the top spot for that category.
  • Tyler Barnes, Barry Almeida, Josh Holmstrom, Mike Cornell, and Nick Sorkin have all played in every game so far this season and it should remain that way, pending any call-ups or injuries.

The Bad:

  • Defensemen account for just eight of the 74 goals scored by Worcester this season.
  • The Railers had their first shootout losses this season, both to Maine on the road and at home.
  • Losing Ryan Hitchcock and Matt Gaudreau to recalls will make a big impact on the Railers’ offense heading into January.
  • Barry Almeida had just two goals and two assists during the month. He ends the month on a seven-game cold streak.
  • Alex Adams, Tommy Kelley*, Kyle McKenzie, Yanick Turcotte, and Alex Vanier have yet to score goals this season.
  • Railers have dropped around 600 fans from their average for attendance and are now ranked 14th. However, this should improve in January considering there are more Saturday and Sunday games at home and those typically have better turnouts than Wednesday and Friday games.

The Ugly:

  • Railers have the worst power play in the league and the second-worst power play at home. Not a good look on top of having the lowest scoring in the league.
  • Worcester’s biggest problem is scoring this season. They have scored 74 goals in 32 games which averages to 2.31 goals per game. Railers can always stick with it when it’s a one-goal game, but when it’s two or three, they’ve dug themselves a bigger hole they can’t get themselves out of.
  • Woody Hudson’s 14-game cold streak is not that great considering he was the top goal scorer in comparison to this point last season.
  • Railers are still the only team without a shorthanded goal this season.
  • Railers have not been above .500 on the season since October 26.
  • Injuries: Malcolm Gould, Kyle McKenzie, David Quenneville

Scoring Leaders for December:

  1. Nick Sorkin (7-4-11), 12 games
  2. Tyler Barnes (6-3-9), 12 games
  3. Ryan MacKinnon (1-7-8), 12 games
  4. Mike Cornell (0-8-8), 12 games
  5. Matt Gaudreau (3-4-7), 11 games

Trends and Numbers:

  • When scoring first: 8-4-1-2
  • Leading after 20 minutes: 4-0-1-2
  • Leading after 40 minutes: 7-0-0-1
  • Tied after 20 minutes:  5-8-2-0
  • Tied after 40 minutes: 6-4-2-1
  • Trailing after 20 minutes: 4-6-0-0
  • Trailing after 40 minutes: 0-10-1-0
  • Out Shooting Opponent: 4-7-1-1
  • Out Shot by Opponent: 7-7-2-1
  • Wearing Specialty Jerseys: 0-2-1-0 (7-2-1-0 all-time)