Game Story

Worcester, MA — The Worcester Railers picked up a 3-1 victory over the Reading Royals on Saturday night, securing three out of four points during IceCats weekend.

Hugo Ollas made his debut for the Railers on Saturday, stopping 31 shots to secure his first ECHL win since November 27. Prior to this, he had posted a 0-4-1 record with the Bloomington Bison. Keith Petruzzelli, who made 28 saves for Reading, also had not won a game since November 30 and now carries a 0-8-1 record after this matchup. Worcester’s goals came from Kolby Johnson, Ryan Mahshie, and Anthony Callin, while Matt Miller scored Reading’s lone goal on a power play. Connor Welsh extended his point streak to six games, tallying 1 goal and 8 assists.

The game drew a crowd of 8,056, marking only the sixth time in franchise history that over 8,000 tickets were sold. Worcester has won all six of these high-attendance games. The upper 200 and 300 levels of the arena were opened up for ticket sales, which does not happen often. This writer took in the second and third periods from the 300 level, although the audio from the PA system was muffled, there is still a decent view from those seats.

The first period ended scoreless, although a late goal was waved off because it was scored after the whistle. Mason Klee’s shot hit the post, deflected off Petruzzelli’s back, and was eventually scrambled into the net, but the referee waved it off, and video review confirmed the puck had not crossed the line in time. Worcester outshot Reading 7-3 in the opening period.

In the second period, Worcester took the lead with two quick goals. Kolby Johnson scored 21 seconds into the period, and Ryan Mahshie followed at 6:29 with a power-play goal from a pass by Jordan Kaplan. Reading responded with a power-play goal by Matt Miller at 13:26, narrowing the score to 2-1. Worcester held a 20-15 shot advantage in the period.

The Railers maintained their lead in the third period, with Ollas stopping all 14 shots he faced. Petruzzelli was pulled with 3:32 left for an extra attacker, but Anthony Callin sealed the 3-1 victory for Worcester with an empty-net goal at 18:12.

The three stars of the game were:

  1. Hugo Ollas (Worcester) – 31 saves, win, 0.969 SV%
  2. Ryan Mahshie (Worcester) – 1 goal
  3. Kolby Johnson (Worcester) – 1 goal

In other North Division action, the Maine Mariners secured a 3-0 shutout victory over the Tahoe Knight Monsters during their throwback night. The Trois-Rivières Lions defeated the Adirondack Thunder at home, earning their 20th win of the season. The Norfolk Admirals dominated the Wheeling Nailers with a 9-3 win, fueled by a six-goal outburst in the first period. Maine will conclude the weekend facing Tahoe, while Adirondack and Trois-Rivières will meet for two North Division matchups on Sunday.

The Bridgeport Islanders fell 6-3 to the Rochester Americans on Saturday, Henrik Tikkanen played for 25 minutes before being replaced by Jakub Skarek. Jack Randl was a -1 in the game while Riley Piercey was a healthy scratch.

The Railers hit the road to face the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday and Sunday for the first time this season. Puck drops at 7:10 p.m. on Saturday.

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Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 T
0 1 0 1
0 2 1 3
Shots 1 2 3 T
3 15 14 32
7 20 4 31

 

Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type
0 – 1 0:21 – 2nd K. Johnson (2) R. Ginnell, C. McDonald
0 – 2 6:29 – 2nd R. Mahshie (2) J. Kaplan, C. Welsh PP
1 – 2 13:26 – 2nd M. Miller (5) S. Sedley, J. Smith PP
1 – 3 18:12 – 3rd A. Callin (8) C. Welsh EN

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 29 V. Purpura 0 0 0 0 0
G 80 K. Petruzzelli 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 R. Stucker 0 0 -1 0 2
F 5 L. Denis 0 0 -1 1 0
D 9 S. Sedley 0 1 -1 1 0
F 13 C. Cook 0 0 0 1 0
F 16 S. Sellar 0 0 0 1 0
F 17 T. Skirving 0 0 -1 1 0
F 18 R. Leibold 0 0 0 0 4
F 19 B. Caufield 0 0 -2 5 0
F 20 M. Miller 1 0 0 4 0
F 21 A. Master 0 0 0 0 0
D 23 G. Cassaro 0 0 -2 3 0
D 28 C. Walters 0 0 0 4 0
F 37 M. Brown 0 0 -1 2 0
F 39 C. McMenamin 0 0 0 0 0
D 46 C. Valerian 0 0 0 1 0
D 57 K. Johnson 0 0 0 1 0
F 59 T. Gratton 0 0 -1 3 0
F 71 J. Smith 0 1 -1 4 0
Team:
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
80 K. Petruzzelli (L) 57:40 30 28 2 0.933
Empty Net 00:00 1 1 0.000
Totals: 57:40 31 28 3 0.000
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 H. Ollas 0 0 0 0 0
G 32 M. Bullion 0 0 0 0 0
F 4 R. Mahshie 1 0 0 2 0
D 8 C. Krygier 0 0 +1 1 0
F 9 R. Ginnell 0 1 +1 1 0
F 10 J. Kaplan 0 1 0 2 0
F 12 K. Johnson 1 0 +1 1 0
D 14 M. Rajaniemi 0 0 0 2 0
C 15 J. Dudek 0 0 +1 2 0
F 16 G. Loughran 0 0 0 3 2
F 18 M. Kopperud 0 0 0 0 0
D 22 G. Luce 0 0 +1 0 0
D 24 M. Klee 0 0 0 2 0
D 26 C. Welsh 0 2 +1 0 0
D 27 C. McDonald 0 1 +1 1 0
F 29 C. Donhauser 0 0 +1 0 0
F 33 L. Hatten 0 0 0 2 0
F 37 M. DeMelis 0 0 +1 1 0
F 44 A. Callin 1 0 +1 4 0
F 81 A. Repaci 0 0 0 7 0
Team: 2
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
30 H. Ollas (W) – 32 31 1 –
Totals: – 32 31 1 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
2:26 – 2nd R. Leibold 2 Interference – minor (56.2)
5:04 – 2nd R. Stucker 2 High-sticking – minor (60.2)
7:16 – 2nd R. Leibold 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
12:52 – 2nd G. Loughran 2 Slashing – minor (61.2)
12:27 – 3rd Served by L. Hatten 2 Bench minor – Too many men (74.2)


Notes

    • Worcester Scratches: Brenden Rons, Dante Giannuzzi, Justin Gill, Matthew Boudens, and Ryan Dickinson.
    • Reading Scratches: Emile Chouinard, Jacques Bouquot, Logan Britt, Nick Capone, Nolan Welsh, Powell Connor, and Tony Malinowski.
    • The live auction results for the IceCats jerseys were:
      • Jordan Kaplan #10 – $525
      • Griffin Loughran #16 – $675
      • Anthony Repaci #81 w/ C – $2000
      • Blank Jersey worn by Adam Webster – $400
      • Christian Krygier #8 – $425
      • Kolby Johnson #12 – $750
      • Matt Gaudreau’s IceCats jersey was the only jersey that was sold through the Buy-It-Now option, which went for $1,500. All proceeds from that jersey will be going to his family. Matt’s wife Madeline gave birth to their son, Tripp Matthew, on December 29.
    • Following Saturday’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
      • Christian Krygier is without a point in his last three games.
      • Kolby Johnson snapped a ten-game scoring drought with a goal.
      • Matias Rajaniemi is without a point in his last four games.
      • JD Dudek is without a point in all ten games he’s played in this season.
      • Griffin Loughran is without a point in his last three games.
      • Griffin Luce is without a point in his last seven games.
      • Connor Welsh extended his point streak to six games. (1-8-9)
      • Cole Donhauser is without a point in his last four games.

Railers Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Anthony Repaci #81 Jordan Kaplan #10 Griffin Loughran #16
Forward Line 2 Matthew Kopperud #18 Anthony Callin #44 Lincoln Hatten #33
Forward Line 3 Cole Donhauser #29 Matt DeMelis #37 Ryan Mahshie #4
Forward Line 4 Riley Ginnell #9 JD Dudek #15 Kolby Johnson #12
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Griffin Luce #22 Connor Welsh #26
Defense Pair 2 Matias Rajaniemi #14 Mason Klee #24
Defense Pair 3 Kolby Johnson #12 Cam McDonald #27
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Hugo Ollas #30
Backup Goaltender Michael Bullion #32

On-Ice Officials

– –
Referee Chazz Knoche (33)
Referee –
Linesman Jack McQuesten (53)
Linesman Matthew Heinen (93)


Highlights

Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


IceCats pregame pics


Kolby Johnson goal


Ryan Mahshie goal


Matt Miller goal


Hugo Ollas Save


Anthony Callin ENG