Game Story

Worcester, MA — The Worcester Railers and Maine Mariners met for the first of two meetings between the two clubs this weekend at the DCU Center on New Year’s Eve.

Blade Jenkins and Trevor Cosgrove were sent down the Islanders affiliate pipeline on Saturday afternoon, each had a primary assist on each of Bobby Butler’s goals. Butler scored the lone goal for Worcester, and what sounds like a broken record at this point – was not enough to bring home the victory. Maine had six different goal scorers: Mathew Santos, Cam Askew, Alex-Olivier Voyer, Patrick Shea, Reid Stefanson, and Marc-Olivier Duquette. Henrik Tikkanen had five goals allowed on 32 shots, which now puts him over the 3.00 goals allowed average in seventeen appearances this season. François Brassard stopped all but two of Worcester’s 28 shots on Saturday.

Mathew Santos scored ten seconds into Maine’s only power play which had Anthony Repaci in the box for high-sticking. The ECHL all-star netted his eleventh goal of the year on a wrist shot, beating Henrik Tikkanen at 6:43 in the first. Cam Askew doubled Maine’s lead with a wrist shot that went top-shelf from the left circle at 14:22. Bobby Butler put the Railers on the board with just under five seconds to go in the first period, with Blake Christensen and Tim Doherty getting early intermission breaks on roughing calls thirteen seconds prior. Bulter scored on a wrist shot setup from Trevor Cosgrove from the right circle.

A turnover from Brent Beaudoin at center ice led to a 3-on-2 rush for the Maine Mariners, resulting in Maine’s third goal at 1:53 to kick off the second period. Bobby Butler brought Worcester back to within one point later on in the frame following up on a rebound from Blade Jenkins at 14:51. That would be the closest the Railers would be to tying the game up with Patrick Shea scoring eighteen seconds later on a two-on-one rush with a shot from the right circle at 15:11.

Reid Stefanson followed up on a pass from Mathew Santos into the Railers zone at 3:23, scoring from the left circle to give Maine a 5-2 lead. Marc-Olivier Duquette put the end to the Railers’ year by scoring on the empty net seconds after the Railers went on the power play at 14:10 in the third period. Maine had the 6-2 win over Worcester Saturday, outshooting the Railers 33-28.

The three stars of Saturday night’s game were:

    1. Mathew Santos (Maine) – 1 goal, 1 assist
    2. Patrick Shea (Maine) – 1 goal, 1 assist
    3. Bobby Butler (Worcester) – 2 goals

Elsewhere, the Norfolk Admirals fell 3-2 to the Atlanta Gladiators and the Adirondack Thunder beat Trois-Rivieres 5-2. Newfoundland Growlers beat the Kalamazoo Wings in a close 2-1 game giving them a 4-point lead in the North Division. Reading Royals lost to the Wheeling Nailers in an inter-division matchup 6-5, so they still remain two points out of second place held by the Railers.

The New Year’s 3-in-3 weekend concludes Sunday with the Railers and Mariners meeting again, this time up in Portland. The puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Arena.


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Box Score


Scoring 1 2 3 T
2 2 2 6
1 1 0 2
Shots 1 2 3 T
18 8 7 33
8 14 6 28
Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type
1 – 0 6:43 – 1st M. Santos (11) N. Kallen, N. Master PP
2 – 0 14:22 – 1st C. Askew (6) P. Shea
2 – 1 19:55 – 1st B. Butler (12) T. Cosgrove, N. Delmas
3 – 1 1:53 – 2nd A. Voyer (9) T. Doherty, M. Fossier
3 – 2 14:51 – 2nd B. Butler (13) B. Jenkins, R. Newkirk
4 – 2 15:17 – 2nd P. Shea (13)
5 – 2 3:34 – 3rd R. Stefanson (6) M. Santos, A. Kile
6 – 2 14:10 – 3rd M. Duquette (1) F. Gordeev, R. Stefanson EN.SH

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 33 F. Brassard 0 0 0 0 0
G 40 T. Gorsuch 0 0 0 0 0
D 3 G. Chicoine 0 0 +1 1 2
F 9 K. Jeri-Leon 0 0 +1 1 0
F 10 N. Master 0 1 0 1 0
F 11 M. Fossier 0 1 -1 3 0
D 12 G. Gabriele 0 0 0 1 0
F 14 R. Stefanson 1 1 +4 2 0
F 16 M. Santos 1 1 +1 5 0
F 17 T. Doherty 0 1 0 2 2
F 18 N. Jermain 0 0 +1 1 0
F 19 C. Askew 1 0 0 3 0
F 23 A. Kile 0 1 +1 1 0
D 24 M. Duquette 1 0 +2 1 0
D 26 N. Kallen 0 1 0 2 2
F 27 P. Shea 1 1 +2 2 0
D 28 C. Doherty 0 0 +2 1 0
D 41 F. Gordeev 0 1 +1 4 0
F 42 A. Voyer 1 0 +1 2 0
Team:
Totals: 6 9 16 33 6
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
33 F. Brassard (W) – 28 26 2 –
– – – – – – –
Totals: – 28 26 2 –
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 B. Moran 0 0 0 0 0
G 39 H. Tikkanen 0 0 0 0 0
F 7 L. Coughlin 0 0 -2 2 0
F 8 B. Butler 2 0 +1 4 0
D 9 N. Delmas 0 1 0 2 0
F 10 A. Bakanov 0 0 -1 1 0
F 11 N. Vesey 0 0 -1 1 0
F 12 B. Beaudoin 0 0 -3 3 0
D 15 C. Evers 0 0 -3 2 0
F 17 B. Jenkins 0 1 +1 2 0
F 18 B. Christensen 0 0 -2 2 2
F 19 Q. Ryan 0 0 -1 2 0
D 20 A. Terchiyev 0 0 0 0 0
D 22 J. Solow 0 0 0 1 0
D 26 J. Brandt 0 0 -2 0 0
F 29 Z. Bross 0 0 -1 1 0
F 37 R. Newkirk 0 1 0 3 0
D 44 T. Cosgrove 0 1 0 2 0
F 81 A. Repaci 0 0 -3 0 2
Team:
Totals: 2 4 -17 28 4
Player MIN SH SVS GJ SV%
39 H. Tikkanen (L) – 32 27 5 –
Empty Net – 1 1 –
Totals: – 33 27 6 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
6:33 – 1st A. Repaci 2 High-sticking – minor (60.2)
19:42 – 1st T. Doherty 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
19:42 – 1st B. Christensen 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
9:13 – 3rd G. Chicoine 2 Cross-Checking Minor (59.2)
14:04 – 3rd N. Kallen 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)

Notes

  • Worcester Scratches: Billy Jerry, Jack Quinlivan, Myles McGurty, and Philip Beaulieu.
  • Maine Scratches Alden Weller, Conner Bleackley, Jacob Wilson, Nick Isaacson, and Tyler Hinam.
  • Forward Blade Jenkins and defensemen Trevor Cosgrove were re-assigned to Worcester from Bridgeport Islanders Saturday afternoon. Defenseman Jake Schultz was released after Friday night’s game. He had two shots on goal in the contest.
  • Semyon Varlamov was back on the ice for Islanders practice, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic.
  • The Railers hosted a New Years’ celebration during the second intermission of Saturday’s game. The celebration involved a balloon drop from the rafters of the DCU Center, however, after a countdown the balloons failed to get free from the netting hoisted from the beams. After two or so minutes the balloons were freed onto the ice long after the countdown had expired.
  • The jersey raffle of the game was a White Jared Brandt (#5) jersey from the 2021-22 season.
  • Following Saturday night’s game, the Railers had the following streaks:
      • Reece Newkirk is now on a three-game point streak. (1-2-3)
      • Jared Brandt is without a point in his last eleven games.
      • Brent Beaudoin, Liam Coughlin, and Jeff Solow are without a point in their last five games.
      • Artur Terchiyev snapped a three-game point streak.
      • Trevor Cosgrove snapped an eight-game point drought with his first point of the season.
      • Andrei Bakanov is without a point in his last three games.

Railers Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Anthony Repaci #81 Liam Coughlin #7 Nolan Vesey #11
Forward Line 2 Reece Newkirk #37 Blade Jenkins #17 Bobby Butler #8
Forward Line 3 Andrei Bakanov #10 Quinn Ryan #19 Brent Beaudoin #12
Rotated Forwards Blake Christensen #18 – Zack Bross #29
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Christian Evers #15 Jared Brandt #26
Defense Pair 2 Trevor Cosgrove #44 Noah Delmas #9
Defense Pair 3 Jeff Solow #22 Artur Terchiyev #20
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Henrik Tikkanen #39
Backup Goaltender Brent Moran #30

On-Ice Officials

– –
Referee Sam Heidemann (22)
Referee Casey Terreri (14)
Linesman Laura Schmidlein (82)
Linesman Stephen Drain (52)




Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


View of Ballons hanging in the Rafters of the DCU Center


Matthew Santos goal (1-0 Mariners)


Cam Askew goal (2-0 Mariners)


Bobby Butler first goal (2-1 Mariners)


(3-1 Mariners)


Bobby Butler second goal (3-2 Mariners)


Botched Ballon Drop at the DCU Center


(4-2 Mariners)


(5-2 Mariners)