Game Story

Glens Falls, NY – The Worcester Railers continued their four-game road trip on Friday against the Adirondack Thunder.

Kyle Thomas, Matt Schmalz, and Nic Pierog scored for Worcester. Linus Soderstrom made his North American pro debut after spending the first couple of weeks up in Bridgeport. Soderstrom made 25 saves. A former teammate and another former Islander draft pick Eamon McAdam had 26 saves for the Thunder. The Railers had a combined 66 penalty minutes, the most either team has had so far this season.

Kyle Thomas got Worcester on the board 20 seconds in, slipping the puck in at Eamon McAdam’s crowded net. Matt Schmalz deflected a shot from JD Dudek later in the period while on a man-advantage for his first of the season. Railers led 2-0 through the first period much like last Saturday’s game against the Thunder last weekend.

Tensions flared in the period after a number of missed calls by the on-ice officials which resulted in Tanner Pond and Michael Sdao dropping the mitts, moments after Kyle Thomas was boarded by Sdao behind the play. A line brawl broke out 17 seconds after the fight, involving Connor Doherty, Ross Olsson, James Henry, and Gabriel Verpaelst. Mike Cornell and Craig Thomas were also involved in the brawl, both managed to get away without a single penalty. Kyle Thomas, in the box serving Olsson’s extra two minutes for roughing, was ejected with a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct after slamming his stick in the penalty box. Thomas’ will receive a call from the league with a possible fine and suspension for his game misconduct, which is listed as Abuse of Officials (39.5) on the scoresheet. After an all-around explosive first period due to some missed calls, things were a lot tamer in the second and third.

Linus Soderstrom’s only goal allowed came at 4:45 as Adirondack’s Curtis Curti ripped the shot on a 2-on-1, his third goal in back-to-back games against Worcester. Nic Pierog scored his first of the season on the power play later in the period with a pass from Cody Payne which found its way into the wide-open net of Eamon McAdam.

Nic Pierog had the first penalty shot for Worcester this season after being tripped on a potential breakaway. Pierog had a shot that went just wide in the attempt but would make up for later on in the period. With around 3 minutes left in regulation, Eamon McAdam was pulled for the extra attacker, where the Railers eventually found the net again with 2.7 seconds left in the game with Pierog getting credit on the goal.

Railers were 2-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. The Railers are the only team in the ECHL without a goal allowed on the penalty kill.

The Three Stars of the Game were:

  1. Linus Soderstrom (Worcester) – 25 saves, win
  2. Barry Almeida (Worcester) – assist
  3. Charlie Curti (Adirondack) – 1 goal

The Railers will bus up to Brampton, Ontario overnight where they’ll face the Beast for the first of two games on Saturday.

Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 2 1 1 4
Adirondack Thunder 0 1 0 1
Shots 1 2 3 T
Worcester Railers 16 8 6 30
Adirondack Thunder 9 11 6 26

 

Railers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 31 L. Soderstrom 0 0 0 0 0
G 34 E. Buitenhuis 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 J. Bolton 0 0 +1 0 2
D 5 K. McKenzie 0 0 +1 0 0
D 6 M. Cornell 0 0 -1 4 0
F 8 C. Payne 0 1 0 1 0
F 9 R. Olsson 0 0 0 1 8
D 13 I. Chukarov 0 0 0 0 0
F 14 J. Dudek 0 1 -1 4 0
D 16 A. Florentino 0 0 0 2 2
F 17 M. Schmalz 1 0 0 3 0
F 19 B. Almeida 0 1 +1 1 0
F 22 T. Pond 0 1 0 1 5
F 24 K. Thomas 1 0 +1 1 20
F 27 R. Hitchcock 0 2 +2 4 0
D 28 C. Doherty 0 0 +1 0 5
F 37 J. Samuels-Thomas 0 0 -1 1 0
F 61 N. Pierog 2 0 +1 7 0
Team:
Totals: 4 6 5 30 42
No Name Min SH SVS GA
31 L. Soderstrom (W) 60:00 26 25 1
Totals: 60:00 26 25 1
Thunder Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 M. McNiven 0 0 0 0 0
G 34 E. McAdam 0 0 0 0 0
F 2 M. Salhany 0 0 -1 1 0
D 3 C. Curti 1 0 0 7 0
D 4 M. Sdao 0 0 0 0 9
D 5 Z. Borsoi 0 0 0 0 0
D 6 T. Parran 0 0 0 0 2
D 8 B. Thompson 0 0 -1 3 0
F 9 A. Waked 0 0 0 2 0
F 10 H. Verbeek 0 1 0 1 0
F 12 N. Popugaev 0 1 +1 0 0
F 15 J. Henry 0 0 -1 0 4
C 18 C. Pierro-Zabotel 0 0 -2 1 2
F 20 C. Martin 0 0 0 1 0
F 23 R. Payne 0 0 +1 1 2
D 37 G. Verpaelst 0 0 -1 1 5
F 44 C. Riley 0 0 -1 4 0
F 91 M. Szmatula 0 0 -1 4 0
Team:
Totals: 1 2 -6 26 24
No Name Min SH SVS GA
34 E. McAdam (L) 56:39 29 26 3
Empty Net 1 1
Totals: 56:39 30 26 4
P T Player M Offense Time
1st V T. Pond 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 7:59
1st H M. Sdao 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 7:59
1st V C. Doherty 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 8:16
1st V R. Olsson 2.00 Roughing – minor (51.2) 8:16
1st V R. Olsson 4.00 Double Minor – Roughing 8:16
1st V K. Thomas 10.00 Misconduct (39.4) 8:16
1st V K. Thomas 10.00 Game misconduct – Abuse of Officials (39.5) 8:16
1st H J. Henry 4.00 Double Minor – Roughing 8:16
1st H G. Verpaelst 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 8:16
1st H M. Sdao 2.00 Interference – minor (56.2) 16:19
1st H M. Sdao 2.00 Roughing – minor (51.2) 17:09
2nd V R. Olsson 2.00 Elbowing – minor (45.2) 2:25
2nd H T. Parran 2.00 Tripping – minor (57.2) 6:01
2nd H C. Pierro-Zabotel 2.00 Elbowing – minor (45.2) 6:30
2nd V A. Florentino 2.00 Holding – minor (54.2) 9:37
3rd V J. Bolton 2.00 Hooking – minor (55.2) 7:55
3rd H R. Payne 2.00 Boarding – minor (41.2) 11:19

Notes

  • Railers Scratches: Bo Brauer, Drew Callin, Justin Murray, Chris Rygus, Henrik Samuelsson.
  • Thunder Scratches: Alexandre Carrier, Shane Conacher, Jake Linhart, Ara Nazarian, Ryan Walker.
  • On Monday, the Railers’ ‘Worcester 6’ jersey design surfaced courtesy of the Worcester FD hockey team. It is quite similar to the IceCats’ take on the jersey, this time with the firefighter’s names sublimated on the red portion of the jersey, and features ‘December 3, 1999, 20 years… Not Forgotten’ on the lower back. The Railers will wear the jerseys next weekend and will be auctioned off during and after the game. Proceeds will benefit Worcester Box 4, a local organization that provides first responders across the Massachusetts with incident rehab.
  • The Railers had their first recall and assignment of the regular season on Thursday with Linus Soderstrom being assigned to Worcester and Jakub Skarek getting recalled to Bridgeport. Soderstrom is the first Swedish-born player to suit-up for the Railers.
  • Around the ECHL, Woo Hockey alum Jack Combs has made his return to North America and has signed with the Wichita Thunder. The Railers don’t have any meetings scheduled with the Thunder this season, so we won’t be seeing him unless both teams make the playoffs and make it to the Kelly Cup Finals. The Sin Bin’s Matt Harding has some good coverage of the signing here.
  • 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  B. Almeida #19 “C”  N. Pierog #61  J. Dudek #14
Forward Line 2  R. Hitchcock #27  T. Pond #22  K. Thomas #24
Forward Line 3  J. Samuels-Thomas #37 “A”  C. Payne #8  M. Schmalz #17 / R. Olsson #9
LD RD
Defense Line 1  C. Doherty #28  M. Cornell #6 “A”
Defense Line 2  K. McKenzie #5  I. Chukarov #13
Defense Line 3  A. Florentino #16  J. Bolton #2
G
Starting Goaltender  Linus Soderstrom #31
Backup Goaltender  Evan Buitenhuis #34

Highlights