Game Story

Worcester, MA — The Worcester Railers returned to the DCU Center for their final game before the holiday break against the Reading Royals on Saturday night.

Mitch Gillam was the starter for the Railers for the third consecutive game. Ryan Hubbard was dressed as the back-up for Worcester as Evan Buitenhuis is away on family leave. Former Railers goaltender Charlie Millen was traded by Reading to the Orlando Solar Bears this afternoon. Tyler Barnes (9th and 10th), Nick Sorkin (6th), Matt Schmalz (4th), and Josh Holmstrom (8th) scored for Worcester in their 5-3 win.

Tyler Barnes put the Railers on the board at 1:29 with a set-up to the left of the Reading, receiving a pass from Ryan MacKinnon and burying the puck on an open left from the left circle. Royals tied the game up with 10.1 seconds left in the first period as Josh MacDonald slapped the puck in with a feed at the crease. After twenty minutes of action, we were tied, and a pretty even period with the shots being 11-7 Reading.

Josh MacDonald scored his second of the night as the teams were 4-on-4, ripping a shot from between the circles in the Railers zone to put the Royals up 2-1. Nick Sorkin tied it back up on another 4-on-4 with some quick back-and-forth passes with Matty Gaudreau between the circles in the Reading zone. The game was tied once again at the end of two, shots were 23-17 Reading.

Reading regained the lead at 11:18 in the third period. Jack Riley recovered a rebound from Adam Schmidt and shot the puck into the net behind Mitch Gillam from the left side. Matt Schmalz scored his fourth goal of the season with a shot that went five-hole through the pads of Callum Booth. Tyler Barnes put the game away with a goal on an open net (Callum Booth was headed to the bench for the extra attacker) with 55.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

The Three Stars of the Game were:

  1. Josh Holmstrom – game-winning goal
  2. Josh MacDonald – 2 goals
  3. Tyler Barnes – 2 goals

A Festivus for the Rest of Us: With the season upon us, the Railers will be off for the next five days. They’ll pick things up on December 28 with a quick trip to Portland to face the Maine Mariners at 7 PM.

Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 T
Reading Royals 1 1 1 3
Worcester Railers 1 1 3 5
Shots 1 2 3 T
Reading Royals 11 12 16 39
Worcester Railers 7 10 11 28

 

Royals Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 1 C. Booth 0 0 0 0 0
G 30 A. D’Agostini 0 0 0 0 0
F 3 C. McCarthy 0 2 -2 4 0
D 5 S. Dornbrock 0 0 -1 3 2
F 7 T. Bird 0 0 0 0 0
D 8 D. Drake 0 0 0 2 2
F 9 B. Low 0 0 0 3 0
D 11 C. Vasaturo 0 0 0 0 0
D 13 J. Houk 0 2 -2 4 0
F 14 A. Schmidt 0 1 -1 2 0
F 16 A. Roos 0 0 0 1 0
F 18 T. Brown 0 0 -1 1 0
LW 21 F. DiChiara 0 0 -1 4 2
D 25 N. Luukko 0 0 0 3 0
F 27 K. Goumas 0 1 +1 4 0
F 29 J. Riley 1 0 +1 3 0
D 43 F. Hora 0 0 -2 2 0
F 86 J. MacDonald 2 0 -2 3 0
Team:
Totals: 3 6 -10 39 6
No Name Min SH SVS GA
1 C. Booth (L) 59:21 28 23 5
Totals: 59:21 28 23 5
Railers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 35 M. Gillam 0 0 0 0 0
G 39 R. Hubbard 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 T. Panico 0 0 +1 1 0
D 4 R. MacKinnon 0 2 +2 1 2
D 6 M. Cornell 0 1 0 4 0
F 7 T. Barnes 2 0 +3 4 0
F 8 N. Sorkin 1 0 +3 2 0
F 9 A. Block 0 0 -1 0 0
F 10 I. Kosorenkov 0 1 +1 2 0
F 12 J. Holmstrom 1 0 +1 3 0
F 17 M. Schmalz 1 0 0 1 0
F 19 B. Almeida 0 0 -1 4 2
F 21 M. Gaudreau 0 1 +1 2 0
F 23 W. Hudson 0 1 0 1 2
D 24 T. Mueller 0 1 +1 0 0
D 28 C. Doherty 0 0 -1 2 0
F 37 T. Kelley 0 0 0 1 0
D 44 A. Adams 0 0 0 0 0
Team:
Totals: 5 7 10 28 6
No Name Min SH SVS GA
35 M. Gillam (W) 59:58 39 36 3
Totals: 59:58 39 36 3
P T Player M Offense Time
2nd H R. MacKinnon 2.00 Tripping – minor (57.2) 0:41
2nd H B. Almeida 2.00 Delay of Game (63.2) 6:47
2nd V F. DiChiara 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 7:52
2nd V S. Dornbrock 2.00 Boarding – minor (41.2) 11:42
2nd H W. Hudson 2.00 Slashing – minor (61.2) 11:53
2nd V D. Drake 2.00 Hooking – minor (55.2) 13:32

Notes

  • Railers Injuries: Malcolm Gould, Kyle McKenzie, David Quenneville, Yanick Turcotte
  • Railers Scratches: Evan Buitenhuis, Dylan Willick, Alex Vanier
  • Railers wore their Orange jerseys for the first time this season in a game that wasn’t a Sunday.
  • One of the biggest surprises of the night was Matty Gaudreau being in the line-up for Worcester.
  • Tommy Kelley made his return to action tonight after being stretchered off the ice on March 18, 2018.
  • The ECHL announced that Adirondack Thunder’s Michael Sdao was suspended and fined as the supplementary discipline as a result of his illegal check to the head on Railers’ Matty Gaudreau last night. Gaudreau, who left the game last night in the first period, was a scratch at tonight’s game.
  • The ECHL’s Christmas Waiver and Trade Freeze went into effect today at 5 PM and will stay in effect until the 26th at noon. Teams can still negotiate transactions during this period, they will just have to wait until the period is over for it to be processed by the league and become official. Games are on hold after tonight and pick back up on December 27th.
  • Former Brampton Beast Goaltender Marcus Hogberg is the latest former ECHL player to reach the NHL as he was called up to the Ottawa Senators this morning. If he ends up playing, he’ll be the 650th former ECHL player to play in the NHL.
  • For up-to-date news on all things Worcester Hockey, Like us on Facebook at Woo Hockey – Worcester Hockey News, Follow us on Twitter @WooHockeyNews, and join our Facebook Group – Worcester Railers Fan Club.
LW C RW
Forward Line 1  J. Holmstrom #12 “A”  N. Sorkin #8  T. Barnes #7
Forward Line 2  B. Almeida #19  M. Schmalz #17  I. Kosorenkov #10
Foward Line 3  T. Kelley #37 / A. Block #9  M. Gaudreau #21  W. Hudson #23
LD RD
Defense Line 1  T. Panico #2  M. Cornell #6 “C”
Defense Line 2  C. Doherty #28  R. MacKinnon #4
Defense Line 3   T. Mueller #24  A. Adams #44
G
Starting Goaltender  Mitch Gillam #35
Backup Goaltender  Ryan Hubbard #39

Highlights

Highlights will be posted upon completion of the game.