Game Story

Worcester, MA — The Worcester Railers hosted the Maine Mariners for a preseason exhibition game on Saturday at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.

Ken Appleby made 24 saves in net for Worcester and opposite him, Boston Bruins’ prospect Brandon Bussi stopped all 15 shots the Railers made all night. Goaltending was the strong suit for Worcester and while on paper a 1-0 loss doesn’t seem like much, it was their performance on the ice that shows that this team is very much a work in progress. It felt like this team had no business on the ice, in both the literal and figurative sense, but there were many parts of the night that reminds us that nothing is perfect with playing a pro hockey game in a practice rink – even if that’s just for a preseason tilt. While no ECHL roster is really finalized and cuts are obviously soon to come, players are fighting for a roster spot with less than a week until the 2022-23 season begins.

There were many delays during this preseason game due to technical difficulties with the time clock and penalty timings. An example of this was during a stoppage of play Connor Doherty and Nolan Vesey were sent to the box at 4:54 in the first for what should’ve been a roughing call. Both players served four minutes when Vesey had a 10-minute misconduct and a matching two-minute minor with Doherty on the clock and as of this writing, both penalties are on the scoresheet as Interference – minor (56.2). These clock errors continued as penalties were issued throughout the game.

Nick Master scored the only goal of the game around the midpoint of the second period, scoring on a bounced puck at the crease of Ken Appleby at 9:49. Maine had a few shots throughout the night that if scored in an arena with video review cameras, would’ve deserved a second look. Maine outshot Worcester 25 to 15, and limited Worcester to just two shots on goal in the second period. If zone times were tracked in the ECHL it would probably show Maine having puck possession in their attacking zone for a majority of Saturday’s game – it was joked during a timeout that rink staff didn’t need to come out and scrape the Mariners’ side of the ice.

There were no three stars of the game listed on the ECHL website.

The Railers and Mariners will conclude their preseason schedule with another exhibition at the Norway Savings Bank Arena up in Auburn, Maine on Sunday. The puck drop for that game is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.