Game Story


Worcester, MA — The Worcester Railers returned to the DCU Center after six games in Florida, picking up a big two points in a shutout win over the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Saturday night.

John Muse earned his second shutout of the season and the seventh of his career with 30 saves. Zachary Émond made the start for the Lions and was pulled early into the third period after allowing four goals on 25 shots. Joe Vrbetic stopped all ten of the Railers’ shots after entering the game. Connor Welsh, Reece Newkirk, Jack Quinlivan, and Andrei Bakanov each had the tallies for Worcester. Anthony Callin had three assists for his eighth multi-point game of the season and it was the third time he’s had three points in a game, all of which have been assists. The attendance for this game was 5,720, which the team lists as a sell-out and was a Harry Potter-themed night.

Connor Welsh picked up a loose puck after Anthony Callin went for a pass from behind the net but was broken up by Zachary Émond. Welsh sent the puck top-shelf from the left circle for his fifth of the season at 2:34. Railers outshot the Lions 12-8 in the first period.

Reece Newkirk would extend the lead to 2-0 with an early goal at 1:30 in the second period on a wrist shot after a setup down the right side from Anthony Callin. Jack Quinlivan made it 3-0 after deflecting a shot from Connor Welsh with 32 seconds left in the second period.

Andrei Bakanov tipped in the fourth Railers goal 43 seconds into the power play at 3:48 in the third period. Trevor Cosgrove had the initial shot, and Bakanov scored on the rebound from the right side. This fourth goal would seal Zachary Émond’s night with Joe Vrbetic coming in for his relief effort, and with that Worcester’s offensive game would come to an end with things picking up physically.

In the last 16 minutes of the game, 40 penalty minutes would be handed out with Zsombor Garat and Nicolas Lariviere coming up short of a fight at 4:20. Lariviere would find a dance partner with Ryan Dickinson not long after serving his roughing penalty at 6:49. Lariviere would be back in the box for roughing again at 12:41, once again with Zsombar Garat serving for Worcester. With 1:05 left in the game, Garat, Lariviere, Charles-Antonie Paiment, and Artyom Kulakov would each get double minors for roughing and being sent off the ice for early showers after a brawl broke out in the Lions’ zone.

The three stars of the game were:

  1. John Muse (Worcester) – win, 30 saves, shutout
  2. Connor Welsh (Worcester) – 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Anthony Callin (Worcester) – 3 assists

The Railers are back to .500 with Reading and Maine not that far back at 51 and 50 points, respectively. They remain in fourth in the division with all three teams above them winning their games, and all three below them losing each of their games. Newfoundland shut out the Kalamazoo Wings 6-0 earlier in the night. Down in Norfolk, the Admirals beat the Mariners 7-3. The Adirondack Thunder beat the Reading Royals with the same score in Reading. Newfoundland will host the Kalamazoo Wings on Sunday for the other divisional matchup. There is still work to be done to improve this team with just 20 games left in the season for the Railers, 16 of those games are against the bottom 3 teams of the division, however, they are a combined 10-11-2 against those teams this season.

Railers and Lions are back at the DCU Center on Sunday afternoon for the usual 3 PM puck drop.

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Box Score


Scoring 1 2 3 T
0 0 0 0
1 2 1 4
Shots 1 2 3 T
8 14 8 30
12 7 16 35
Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type
0 – 1 2:34 – 1st C. Welsh (5) T. Goehring, A. Callin
0 – 2 1:30 – 2nd R. Newkirk (2) A. Callin
0 – 3 19:28 – 2nd J. Quinlivan (5) C. Welsh, A. Callin
0 – 4 3:48 – 3rd A. Bakanov (8) T. Cosgrove, J. Pivonka PP

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 1 Z. Émond 0 0 0 0 0
G 35 J. Vrbetic 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 C. Thomas 0 0 -1 1 0
D 6 J. Paquette 0 0 -1 1 0
D 14 B. Martin 0 0 0 1 0
D 18 C. Ortiz 0 0 0 0 2
F 19 A. Voyer 0 0 -1 4 2
C 21 C. Montminy 0 0 0 0 0
F 24 N. Yaremko 0 0 -1 1 0
D 44 L. Matthews 0 0 -1 0 0
C 47 M. Kohn 0 0 -1 1 0
F 55 N. Lariviere 0 0 -1 1 13
F 71 J. Ducharme 0 0 -1 0 0
F 72 C. Paiement 0 0 0 1 4
RW 85 J. Parker-Jones 0 0 0 3 2
C 86 J. Novak 0 0 -2 4 6
D 89 M. Tourigny 0 0 -2 5 2
RW 91 N. Guay 0 0 -1 4 0
F 92 A. Beauregard 0 0 -2 3 0
Team:
Totals: 0 0 -15 30 31
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
1 Z. Émond (L) – 25 21 4 –
35 J. Vrbetic – 10 10 0 –
Totals: – 35 31 4 –
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 C. Ceci 0 0 0 0 0
G 40 J. Muse 0 0 0 0 0
F 5 Z. White 0 0 0 2 0
D 8 C. Krygier 0 0 +1 1 0
D 10 T. Cosgrove 0 1 +1 3 0
F 11 A. Bakanov 1 0 +1 7 0
F 12 J. Cipollone 0 0 +2 1 0
F 13 J. Pivonka 0 1 0 2 0
F 15 B. Robbins 0 0 0 4 0
F 17 K. Howdeshell 0 0 0 3 0
F 23 T. Goehring 0 1 +1 0 0
F 24 J. Quinlivan 1 0 +1 2 0
D 25 R. Dickinson 0 0 0 0 9
D 26 C. Welsh 1 1 +2 3 0
F 29 R. Piercey 0 0 0 2 0
F 37 R. Newkirk 1 0 +1 1 0
F 44 A. Callin 0 3 +3 3 2
D 70 Z. Garat 0 0 +1 0 8
D 88 A. Kulakov 0 0 +1 1 4
Team:
Totals: 4 7 15 35 23
Player MIN SH SVS GJ SV%
40 J. Muse (W) – 30 30 0 –
Totals: – 30 30 0 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
4:13 – 1st A. Callin 2 Cross-Checking Minor (59.2)
10:39 – 1st C. Ortiz 2 Interference – minor (56.2)
4:41 – 2nd J. Novak 2 High-sticking – minor (60.2)
9:45 – 2nd R. Dickinson 2 Cross-Checking Minor (59.2)
14:14 – 2nd R. Dickinson 2 Elbowing – minor (45.2)
19:28 – 2nd A. Voyer 2 Slashing – minor (61.2)
3:05 – 3rd J. Novak 2 High-sticking – minor (60.2)
4:20 – 3rd N. Lariviere 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
4:20 – 3rd Z. Garat 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
6:49 – 3rd N. Lariviere 5 Fighting – Major (46.14)
6:49 – 3rd J. Parker-Jones 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)


Notes

  • Worcester Scratches: Anthony Repaci, Ashton Calder, Carson MacKinnon, John Copeland, Ryan Verrier, and Tristan Lennox.
  • Trois-Rivières Scratches: Markuss Komuls, Matthew Boucher, Parker Saretsky, Xavier Filion, and Zachary Bouthillier.
  • The Railers formally announced that Trevor Cosgrove, Connor Welsh, and Jack Quinlivan had been named alternate captains earlier in the week. Cosgrove and Welsh were no surprise, already being listed as alternate captains on the gamesheets last weekend against the Everblades. None of the original three captains are on the active roster with Anthony Repaci heading to injured reserve and Blade Jenkins joining the Hartford Wolf Pack. A third alternate captain to replace Jake Schultz was never named after his departure.
  • Reece Newkirk was assigned to the Railers on Saturday, and it seems the Railers were expecting a second player as they still have a roster spot open. Newkirk was a healthy scratch on Wednesday in the Baby Isles’ 4-0 shutout loss to Laval.
  • Following Saturday’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
    • Zach White is without a point in his last eight games.
    • Trevor Cosgrove is on a four-game point streak. (1-3-4)
    • Andrei Bakanov is on a three-game point streak. (2-2-4)
    • Joey Cipollone is without a point in his last ten games.
    • Keeghan Howdeshell is without a point in his last four games.
    • Todd Goehring snapped a three-game scoring drought with an assist.
    • Ryan Dickinson is without a point in his last four games.
    • Connor Welsh snapped a six-game scoring drought with a goal and an assist.
    • Riley Piercey is without a point in his last six games.
    • Artyom Kulakov is without a point in his last three games.

Railers Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Andrei Bakanov #11 Reece Newkirk #37 Anthony Callin #44
Forward Line 2 Riley Piercey #29 Jake Pivonka #13 Jack Quinlivan #24
Forward Line 3 Keeghan Howdeshell #17 Brendan Robbins #15 Zach White #5
Rotated Forwards – Joey Cipollone #12 Todd Goehring #23
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Trevor Cosgrove #10 Ryan Dickinson #25
Defense Pair 2 Connor Welsh #26 Christian Krygier #8
Defense Pair 3 Zsombor Garat #70 Artyom Kulakov #88
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Cole Ceci #30
Backup Goaltender John Muse #40

Opponent Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Cedric Montminy #21 Nicolas Guay #91 Alex-Olivier Voyer #19
Forward Line 2 Jakov Novak #86 Nolan Yaremko #24 Justin Ducharme #71
Forward Line 3 Charles-Antoine Paiement #72 Mason Kohn #47 Anthony Beauregard #92
Rotated Forwards Nicolas Lariviere #55 – John Parker-Jones #85
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Brycen Martin #14 Chris Ortiz #18
Defense Pair 2 Cory Thomas #2 Miguël Tourigny #89
Defense Pair 3 Jacob Paquette #6 Lukash Matthews #44
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Joe Vrbetic #35
Backup Goaltender Zachary Émond #1

On-Ice Officials

– –
Referee Hunter Mottinger (9)
Referee –
Linesman Matthew Heinen (93)
Linesman Antoine Bujold-Roux (72)




Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


Lions Lines


Connor Welsh goal (1-0 Railers)


Reece Newkirk goal (2-0 Railers)


Jack Quinlivan goal (3-0 Railers)


Andrei Bakanov goal (4-0 Railers)