Game Story
St. John’s, Newfoundland — The Worcester Railers’ Canadian road trip continued on Friday with the first of two games against the Newfoundland Growlers at the Mile One Centre.
Unlike the previous flight from Boston to Toronto, the Railers made their way to the rock by the end of the night on Wednesday. Evan Buitenhuis sat in net for Worcester, opposite of Woo Hockey Alum Eamon McAdam for the Growlers.
The Newfoundland Growlers looked like the better of the two teams for a majority of the opening period. They applied a ton of pressure and had control of the puck, taking advantage of Railers’ inability to take control of the puck and several turnovers that rendered the Railers unable to get the puck out of their zone. The only goal of the period came from Newfoundland’s Derian Plouffe at 12:39, who tapped in a puck at the crease seconds after James Melindy skated through four Railers’ skaters in front of the net. Things began to get physical in the second half of the period as James Melindy attacked Connor Doherty in the corner of the Growlers’ zone at 15:43 and later in the period as Yanick Turcotte and Melindy exchanged a few words and a couple of punches with 59 seconds remaining in the period. Turcotte got called to the box though there should’ve been a penalty given to both players. Growlers held the 1-0 lead, shots 15-7 Newfoundland.
Railers bounced back at the beginning of the second period with Nick Sorkin’s 10th goal of the season, top-shelf from the left circle. His goal came a second before Turcotte’s penalty expired and a little under a half a minute before a Growlers penalty expired, giving the Railers a power play that they couldn’t generate anything on. Josh Kestner and David Quenneville sat for penalties that would end up being killed off towards the end of the period. The game was tied at 1, shots 23-21 Newfoundland after two.
Things began to shake up after awful calls and missed calls by the officiating crew in the third period. After close to half a dozen or so no calls and a high-sticking call in which Matt Gaudreau drew blood, Ryan Hitchcock was called for holding at center ice. Barry Almeida was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and a ten-minute misconduct after he skated over to referee Jason Faist to question the call.
The Growlers tied things back up with a power-play goal by Zach O’Brien at 4:09 in the third period and regained the lead with James Melindy’s first goal of the season on a rebound at 11:54. Evan Buitenhuis was pulled for the extra attacker at 17:20 and Hudson Elynuik scored on the empty net seconds later. Evan Buitenhuis was pulled again less than a minute after that, and as you could guess, the Growlers scored their second empty-net goal, bringing their lead to 5-2 as the game came to a conclusion.
The three stars of the game were:
- James Melindy (Newfoundland) – goal, assist
- Derian Plouffe (Newfoundland) – goal
- Zach O’Brien (Newfoundland) – goal
The Canadian road-trip ends tomorrow as the same teams meet tomorrow at the same place, at the same time.
Box Score
| Scoring | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester Railers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Newfoundland Growlers | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Shots | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester Railers | 7 | 14 | 8 | 29 |
| Newfoundland Growlers | 15 | 8 | 10 | 33 |
| Railers Roster | # | Name | G | A | +/- | SH | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | 34 | E. Buitenhuis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 35 | M. Gillam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 2 | T. Panico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D | 3 | A. Vanier | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 |
| D | 4 | R. MacKinnon | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| D | 6 | M. Cornell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| F | 7 | T. Barnes | 1 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| F | 8 | N. Sorkin | 1 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| F | 10 | I. Kosorenkov | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F | 11 | D. Willick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| F | 12 | J. Holmstrom | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
| F | 19 | B. Almeida | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| D | 20 | D. Quenneville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| F | 21 | M. Gaudreau | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| F | 23 | W. Hudson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F | 27 | R. Hitchcock | 0 | 1 | -1 | 7 | 2 |
| D | 28 | C. Doherty | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| F | 51 | Y. Turcotte | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Team: | |||||||
| Totals: | 2 | 4 | -7 | 29 | 32 |
| No | Name | Min | SH | SVS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | E. Buitenhuis (L) | 59:17 | 31 | 28 | 3 |
| Empty Net | 2 | 2 | |||
| Totals: | 59:17 | 33 | 28 | 5 |
| Growlers Roster | # | Name | G | A | +/- | SH | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | 34 | M. Garteig | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 35 | E. McAdam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D | 2 | A. Pardy | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| D | 5 | K. Rubins | 0 | 0 | +2 | 1 | 0 |
| D | 8 | E. Neugold | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| F | 9 | M. Power | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F | 10 | Z. O’Brien | 1 | 0 | -1 | 7 | 0 |
| F | 11 | D. Plouffe | 1 | 0 | +2 | 3 | 0 |
| F | 12 | S. Pooley | 1 | 1 | +3 | 2 | 0 |
| F | 14 | J. Piccinich | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| F | 16 | H. Elynuik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| F | 17 | G. Molino | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| D | 24 | A. Gudbranson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| F | 26 | J. Kestner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| F | 27 | M. Bradley | 0 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| F | 29 | G. Estephan | 0 | 1 | +2 | 3 | 0 |
| D | 43 | J. Melindy | 1 | 1 | +2 | 3 | 2 |
| D | 48 | G. Johnston | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Team: | |||||||
| Totals: | 5 | 5 | 11 | 33 | 8 |
| No | Name | Min | SH | SVS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | E. McAdam (W) | 60:00 | 29 | 27 | 2 |
| Totals: | 60:00 | 29 | 27 | 2 |
| P | T | Player | M | Offense | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | V | A. Vanier | 2.00 | Cross-Checking Minor (59.2) | 2:33 |
| 1st | V | C. Doherty | 2.00 | Unsportsmanlike conduct – minor (75.2) | 15:43 |
| 1st | H | J. Melindy | 2.00 | Roughing – minor (51.2) | 15:43 |
| 1st | V | Y. Turcotte | 2.00 | Unsportsmanlike conduct – minor (75.2) | 19:01 |
| 1st | H | H. Elynuik | 2.00 | Slashing – minor (61.2) | 19:32 |
| 2nd | H | J. Kestner | 2.00 | Tripping – minor (57.2) | 14:05 |
| 2nd | V | D. Quenneville | 2.00 | Slashing – minor (61.2) | 15:47 |
| 3rd | V | B. Almeida | 2.00 | Unsportsmanlike conduct – minor (75.2) | 3:24 |
| 3rd | V | B. Almeida | 10.00 | Misconduct (39.4) | 3:24 |
| 3rd | V | R. Hitchcock | 2.00 | Holding – minor (54.2) | 3:24 |
| 3rd | H | H. Elynuik | 2.00 | Slashing – minor (61.2) | 3:49 |
| 3rd | V | M. Cornell | 10.00 | Misconduct – Unsportsmanlike Conduct (75.4) | 18:17 |
Notes
- Railers Scratches: Kyle McKenzie, Tyler Mueller, Matt Schmalz
- Railers Scratches: Bo Brauer, Malcolm Gould, Tommy Kelley
- Growlers Injuries: Anthony Cortese, Maxim Mizyurin, IIya Nekolenko, Kristian Pospisil, Todd Skirving
- Growlers Scratches: Brady Ferguson (suspended), Sam Babintsev
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Railers Lines (Observed by order in which they appeared):
| LW | C | RW | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Line 1 | B. Almeida #19 “A” | R. Hitchcock #27 | T. Barnes #7 |
| Forward Line 2 | J. Holmstrom #12 | M. Gaudreau #21 | N. Sorkin #8 |
| Forward Line 3 | I. Kosorenkov #10 / Y. Turcotte #51 | D. Willick #11 | W. Hudson #23 |
| LD | RD | |
|---|---|---|
| Defense Line 1 | M. Cornell #6 “C” | R. MacKinnon #4 |
| Defense Line 2 | D. Quenneville #20 | C. Doherty #28 |
| Defense Line 3 | T. Panico #2 | A. Vanier #3 |
| G | |
|---|---|
| Starting Goaltender | Mitch Gillam #35 |
| Backup Goaltender | Evan Buitenhuis #34 |
Highlights
Highlights will be posted upon completion of the game.