Game Story

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Railers concluded their fan appreciation event with another high-scoring game, defeating the Maine Mariners 9-5 on Sunday afternoon.

Henrik Tikkanen secured his tenth win in his 18th start of the season, making 22 saves on 27 shots during the afternoon. Brad Arvantis stopped 16 shots out of 22 for Maine before being replaced after the second period. Shane Starrett entered the game in the third period, making one save on three shots. Ashton Calder scored five goals, supported by Reece Newkirk, Christian Krygier, Brendan Robbins, and Ryan Verrier. Jake Pivonka recorded three assists, while Zsombor Garat, Keeghan Howdeshell, Joey Cipollone, Riley Piercey, Trevor Cosgrove, Connor Welsh, Ryan Scarfo, Anthony Callin, and Henrik Tikkanen each contributed with assists of their own. Bennett Stockdale, Brooklyn Kalmikov, Ethan Ritchie, Sebastian Vidmar, and Tyler Drevitch scored for the Mariners. This was the Railers highest scoring game in franchise history, and Ashton Calder’s five-goal, seven-point performance was the highest in franchise history.

Maine took the initial lead with Bennett Stockdale following up on a pass up front from former Railer Connor Doherty at 9:32. A minute and two seconds later, Ashton Calder tied the game up for his first of the game on a bounce off the pad of Brad Arvantis. Maine regained their lead at 11:39 with Brooklyn Kalmikov scoring over the glove of Henrik Tikkanen. Maine extended that lead to 3-1 as Tikkanen had no coverage to his right, sending Maine into the second period with a comfortable lead.

The Maine advantage was extended again to 4-1 when Sebastian Vidmar scored on the power play at 3:24 of the second period. Vidmar’s goal was reviewed for a kicking motion and was ruled a good goal, despite the overhead view showing a kicking motion. From that point until the end of the period, the Railers responded with five unanswered goals, completely shifting the momentum of the game in their favor. Ashton Calder completed his hat trick with two goals within 1:40 of each other, while Reece Newkirk evened the game with a 4-on-4 goal. Christian Krygier handed the Railers their first lead at 11:11, still playing 4-on-4. Calder then scored a powerplay goal at 18:14 of the period, giving the Railers a two-goal lead heading into the third period.

Shane Starett entered the game for Maine for the start of the third period, their third goaltender of the weekend. Early in the third period, Tyler Drevitch narrowed the Mariners’ deficit to one goal, making the score 6-5 in favor of the Railers. Ashton Calder scored his fifth goal after a turnover by Maine in their own zone, reinstating Worcester’s two-goal advantage. Brendan Robbins scored on the empty net at 18:17 in the period to tie the franchise record of eight goals in a game. Ryan Verrier scored twenty seconds after Robbins, bringing the game to its final score of 9-5.

The three stars of the game were:

  1. Ashton Calder (Worcester) – 5 goals, 2 assists
  2. Jake Pivonka (Worcester) – 3 assists
  3. Christian Krygier (Worcester) – 1 goal

The attendance for this game was 4,867 and with it being the final game of the season, the average for the 2023-24 season was 3,666.

As they approach the last weekend of the year, the Railers remain in charge of their playoff destiny. To secure a playoff spot, they will likely need to win at least two games in their upcoming weekend series against the Trois-Rivieres Lions. The Railers will play their final three games of the season on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday against the Lions at the Colisée Vidéotron.

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Box Score


Scoring 1 2 3 T
3 1 1 5
1 5 3 9
Shots 1 2 3 T
8 12 7 27
11 11 4 26
Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 1 B. Arvanitis 0 0 0 0 0
G 40 S. Starrett 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 A. Peski 0 0 -1 0 0
D 3 G. Chicoine 0 0 -1 3 0
F 7 O. Pederson 0 0 -2 0 2
F 8 S. Vidmar 1 1 -2 5 0
F 9 B. Kalmikov 1 0 -1 1 0
F 10 C. Sarlo 0 1 -2 0 0
F 11 G. Ness 0 0 -2 0 0
F 12 X. Lamppa 0 0 -2 1 0
D 15 F. Gordeev 0 0 -2 3 0
F 16 N. Noel 0 0 -3 0 0
F 18 B. Stockdale 1 1 0 2 0
D 21 E. Ritchie 1 0 0 4 0
F 23 A. Kile 0 2 -1 1 0
F 24 A. Mechura 0 3 +1 1 2
D 27 Z. Malatesta 0 0 -3 0 0
D 28 C. Doherty 0 1 +1 2 2
F 42 T. Drevitch 1 0 +1 4 0
Team: 2
Totals: 5 9 -19 27 8
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
1 B. Arvanitis (L) – 22 16 6 –
40 S. Starrett – 3 1 2 –
Empty Net – 1 1 –
Totals: – 26 17 9 –
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 39 H. Tikkanen 0 1 0 0 0
G 40 J. Muse 0 0 0 0 0
D 3 R. Verrier 1 0 +4 3 0
D 8 C. Krygier 1 0 +3 3 0
F 9 R. Scarfo 0 1 -1 0 0
D 10 T. Cosgrove 0 1 +1 1 0
F 11 A. Bakanov 0 0 0 0 0
F 12 J. Cipollone 0 1 +1 0 0
F 13 J. Pivonka 0 3 +2 2 2
F 15 B. Robbins 1 0 +1 2 0
F 16 A. Calder 5 2 +5 6 0
F 17 K. Howdeshell 0 1 +1 2 0
F 19 B. Jenkins 0 0 +1 1 0
D 26 C. Welsh 0 1 0 0 0
F 29 R. Piercey 0 1 +2 0 0
F 37 R. Newkirk 1 0 -1 3 0
F 44 A. Callin 0 1 -1 3 0
D 70 Z. Garat 0 1 0 0 0
D 88 A. Kulakov 0 0 0 0 4
Team:
Totals: 9 14 18 26 6
Player MIN SH SVS GJ SV%
39 H. Tikkanen (W) – 27 22 5 –
Totals: – 27 22 5 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
7:03 – 1st Served by B. Stockdale 2 Bench minor – Too many men (74.2)
3:12 – 2nd J. Pivonka 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
10:05 – 2nd A. Mechura 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
10:05 – 2nd A. Kulakov 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
18:05 – 2nd O. Pederson 2 Holding – minor (54.2)
7:19 – 3rd C. Doherty 2 Delay of Game (63.2)
11:06 – 3rd A. Kulakov 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)


Notes


Worcester Scratches: Anthony Repaci, Austin Heidemann, CJ Regula, Jack Quinlivan, John Copeland, Ryan Dickinson, Tristan Lennox, and Zach White.
Maine Scratches: Alex Sheehy, Cameron Askew, Chase Zieky, François Brassard, Gabe Guertler, Jason Horvath, Kyle Keyser, and Wyllum Deveaux.
Ryan Verrier was a +3 on Sunday afternoon, and now has a team-leading +10 this season. He’s had goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Ashton Calder is just one point away from averaging a point per game. He’ll need two on Friday to get there, and he’s the third player who’s around that average – Blade Jenkins has recorded 55 points in 53 games, while Reece Newkirk has accumulated 13 points in the same number of games.
Ashton Calder became the 35th player in ECHL history to score 5 goals (or more) in a game. (ECHL on X)
Ashton Calder is the only player this season to score 5 goals (or more) in a single game, while many players have scored four in a game this season.
Following Sunday afternoon’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
Joey Cipollone snapped a four-game scoring drought with an assist.
Ashton Calder is on a four-game point streak. (6-5-11)
Blade Jenkins snapped a five-game point streak. (4-6-10)
Riley Piercey snapped a fourteen-game scoring drought with an assist.
Reece Newkirk is on a three-game point streak. (2-2-4)
Anthony Callin is on a three-game point streak. (1-2-3)
Artyom Kulakov is without a point in his last three games.

Railers Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Andrei Bakanov #11 Blade Jenkins #19 Anthony Callin #44
Forward Line 2 Reece Newkirk #37 Jake Pivonka #13 Ashton Calder #16
Forward Line 3 Keeghan Howdeshell #17 Zach White #5 Brendan Robbins #15
Rotated Forwards Riley Piercey #29 Joey Cipollone #12 –
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Christian Krygier #8 Trevor Cosgrove #10
Defense Pair 2 Ryan Verrier #3 Connor Welsh #26
Defense Pair 3 Zsombor Garat #70 Artyom Kulakov #88
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Henrik Tikkanen #39
Backup Goaltender John Muse #40

On-Ice Officials

– –
Referee Tyler Hascall (8)
Referee –
Linesman Shane Kanaly (74)
Linesman Antoine Bujold-Roux (72)


Highlights

Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


Bennett Stockdale goal


Ashton Calder goal


Brooklyn Kalmikov goal


Ethan Ritchie goal


Sebastian Vidmar goal


Ashton Calder goal


Ashton Calder goal


Reece Newkirk goal


Christian Krygier goal


Ashton Calder goal


Tyler Drevitch goal


Ashton Calder goal


Brendan Robbins goal


Ryan Verrier goal