Game Story

Greenville, SC — The Worcester Railers traveled to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena (otherwise known as “The Well”) in Greenville this morning to take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for the first of two games between the two teams on their southern road trip.

Saturday night saw the switch of goaltenders with Evan Buitenhuis getting the start for Worcester with Mitch Gillam being benched after last night’s 4-1 loss to the South Carolina Stingrays. Though Friday’s loss could not be attributed to the goaltending last night, it was time to see some fresh legs in net for Worcester as Gillam started in five of the last six Railers games. Alex Vanier (1st) scored for Worcester in their first game against Greenville in the franchise’s history.

Alex Vanier picked up his first goal as a Railer to put the Railers up by one at 6:18 in the first. His goal came with a slapshot from the right circle that went top-shelf and was 18 seconds into the game’s first power play. Vanier was later called to the box for holding at 11:10, where the Railers pulled off one of their better penalty kills this season. Railers held their first lead of the weekend with the only goal of the game, with shots being in favor of Greenville at 9-6.

Greenville capitalized on a turnover in the Railers zone to get the game tied up in the second period. Tommy Panico threw a pass from behind the net which was intercepted by Kevin Miller who passed the puck to Jake Bolton and shot it home from between the circles at 2:36. Shots were 27-14 with the game tied up after two periods.

Things seemed to turn bad for Worcester very quickly with back-to-back goals by Greenville with under four minutes to go in the third period. Thomas Ebbing caught a pass at the left circle sending the shot top-shelf for the go-ahead goal. Chris Izmirlian extended the lead to 3-1 twelve seconds later after he managed to break through past the Railers defense and slipping the puck past Buitenhuis. Garrett Milan put the game away with the empty netter, securing the win for Greenville.

With 24 seconds remaining in the game, there was a near line brawl between Yanick Turcotte, Woody Hudson, Alex Vanier and a bunch of Greenville players on the ice. As the brawl was being broken up, another one started at the Greenville bench with Greenville skater squirting Turcotte with the water bottle as he skated by. Alex Vanier and Yanick Turcotte received game misconducts.

Railers (13-16-3-2) are now three games back from being .500 on the season.

The Three Stars of the Game were:

  1. Thomas Ebbing (Greenville) – 1 goal
  2. Chris Neil (Greenville) – 20 saves, win
  3. Chris Izmirlian (Greenville) – 1 goal

You’ve gotta show some heart: Swamp Rabbits and Railers will be back at it again tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM. Swamp Rabbits will be wearing autism awareness jerseys and hosting a sensory awareness night, so they will not be doing any goal horns or allowing cowbells during the game.

Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 0 0 0 0
Greenville Swamp Rabbits 0 0 0 0
Shots 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 0 0 0 0
Greenville Swamp Rabbits 0 0 0 0

 

Railers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 35 M. Gillam 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 T. Panico 0 0 -1 1 0
D 3 A. Vanier 1 0 -2 1 12
D 4 R. MacKinnon 0 1 -2 2 0
D 6 M. Cornell 0 0 -2 0 0
F 7 T. Barnes 0 0 -2 1 0
F 8 N. Sorkin 0 0 -2 3 0
F 10 I. Kosorenkov 0 0 -1 0 0
F 11 D. Willick 0 0 -1 0 0
F 12 J. Holmstrom 0 0 -2 1 0
F 17 M. Schmalz 0 0 0 0 0
F 19 B. Almeida 0 1 -2 4 0
F 23 W. Hudson 0 0 -1 3 0
D 24 T. Mueller 0 0 -1 0 2
D 28 C. Doherty 0 0 0 1 0
F 37 T. Kelley 0 0 -1 3 0
F 51 Y. Turcotte 0 0 -1 1 16
Team:
Totals: 1 2 -21 21 30
No Name Min SH SVS GA
34 E. Buitenhuis (L) 59:07 36 33 3
Empty Net 1 1
Totals: 59:07 37 33 4
Swamp Rabbits Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 C. Nell 0 0 0 0 0
G 33 G. Bartus 0 0 0 0 0
D 3 S. Flanagan 0 0 +1 4 0
D 4 C. Duchesne 0 0 0 2 8
D 6 D. Milan 0 0 +1 4 0
D 7 A. Larkin 0 0 0 4 0
F 8 D. Vander Esch 0 0 +2 0 0
F 9 B. Harms 0 0 0 3 0
F 10 G. Milan 1 0 +1 1 0
F 13 K. Miller 0 1 +1 0 0
F 16 C. Izmirlian 1 0 +2 3 0
F 17 A. Brassard 0 0 0 2 0
F 18 T. Ebbing 1 0 +2 3 0
D 19 J. Bolton 1 0 +3 4 0
F 23 M. Pelech 0 0 +2 0 2
D 26 J. Faiella 0 0 +1 1 0
F 28 W. Merchant 0 1 +2 3 0
F 44 S. Pierog 0 1 +2 3 0
Team:
Totals: 4 3 20 37 10
No Name Min SH SVS GA
30 C. Nell (W) 60:00 21 20 1
Totals: 60:00 21 20 1
P T Player M Offense Time
1st H C. Duchesne 2.00 Tripping – minor (57.2) 6:00
1st V A. Vanier 2.00 Holding – minor (54.2) 11:10
2nd H M. Pelech 2.00 Holding – minor (54.2) 4:23
2nd V T. Mueller 2.00 Hooking – minor (55.2) 9:33
3rd H C. Duchesne 2.00 Tripping – minor (57.2) 9:13
3rd V Y. Turcotte 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 19:35
3rd V Y. Turcotte 4.00 Double Minor – Roughing 19:35
3rd V Y. Turcotte 10.00 Game Misconduct – Other Infraction (23.9) 19:35
3rd V A. Vanier 10.00 Game misconduct – Unsportsmanlike Conduct (75.5) 19:35
3rd H C. Duchesne 2.00 Roughing – minor (51.2) 19:35
3rd H C. Duchesne 2.00 Unsportsmanlike conduct – minor (75.2)

Notes

  • Railers Injuries: Malcolm Gould, Kyle McKenzie, David Quenneville
  • Railers Scratches: Alex Adams, Bo Brauer
  • In addition to Bruins Legend Terry O’Reilly, Former Quebec Nordique and NHL Referee Paul Stewart will be making an appearance at the game on January 18.
  • To my surprise, the Railers wore their white jerseys on Saturday. Seeing as the Swamp Rabbits are wearing blue jerseys tomorrow we’ll have to see which ones they go for tomorrow’s game.
  • The Greenville Swamp Rabbits wore “Rocket Power” themed jersey for their Nickelodeon night on Saturday. The jersey was a dark blue jersey featuring characters from the show and had an orange trim. They’ll wear an autism awareness jersey for tomorrow’s game. They will also be doing a “sensory awareness night” tomorrow, so there will not be any cowbells or goal horns during the game.
  • For up-to-date news on all things Worcester Hockey, Like us on Facebook at Woo Hockey – Worcester Hockey News, Follow us on Twitter @WooHockeyNews, and join our Facebook Group – Worcester Railers Fan Club.

Railers Lines (Observed by order in which they appeared):

LW C RW
Forward Line 1  J. Holmstrom #12 “A”  N. Sorkin #8  T. Barnes #7
Forward Line 2  B. Almeida #19 “A”  D. Willick #11  W. Hudson #23
Forward Line 3  Y. Turcotte #51 / I. Kosorenkov #10  T. Kelley #37  M. Schmalz #17
LD RD
Defense Line 1  T. Mueller #24  M. Cornell #6 “C”
Defense Line 2  R. MacKinnon #4  C. Doherty #28
Defense Line 3  T. Panico #2  A. Vanier #3
G
Starting Goaltender  Evan Buitenhuis #34
Backup Goaltender  Mitch Gillam #35

Highlights