Game Story

Henrik Tikkanen turned aside 28 shots in his third start of the year, putting together one of his strongest performances over the past two seasons, including his time in the AHL. Considering his only two wins for Worcester last season were shutouts and he had one shutout last season with Bridgeport, this is a close number four.

On the other side, the North Division’s top goalie Keith Petruzzelli stopped 27 shots for the win. He’s now riding a three-game winning streak this season and has won his last three appearances against Worcester, improving his career record against the Railers to 6-4-0.

Neither team found the back of the net in the first period, with each team getting a power play in the opening frame. Worcester’s only penalty of the game came at 11:52 with Riley Piercey heading off for interference, Carson Golder was called for slashing later in the period at 17:16. Worcester outshot Reading 8-5 through twenty minutes.

The scoreless tie was broken up 52 seconds into the second period when Kyle Haskins found the far corner of the net on a shot from the right faceoff circle. The Railers would have a power play 34 seconds later which turned into a 5-on-3 advantage, but once again had little success on those advantages. Max Dorrington tied it for Worcester at 6:02, when his fancy backhanded shot found its way behind Petruzzelli from in-between the faceoff circles. The Railers would get another power play at 10:56, but would once again find little luck on that advantage. Worcester outshot Reading 19-14 heading into the third period.

The game would remain tied through sixty minutes, heading into overtime where it would then head into the shootout. The Railers were outshot 12-5 in the third period, and then outshot Reading 4-3 in overtime. Carson Golder scored in the first round of the shootout, which would end up deciding the game. Reading’s Nolan Burke also had a shot but was denied by Tikkanen. Jesse Nurmi, Matt DeMelis, and Ryan Miotto were the shooters for Worcester, but were unable to crack Keith Petruzzelli.

The three stars of the game were:

1. Keith Petruzzelli (Reading) – win, 27 saves, 0.964 SV%
2. Carson Golder (Reading) – shootout game-winner
3. Henrik Tikkanen (Worcester) – 28 saves, 0.966 SV%

The Railers and Royals game was one of two North Division games that was decided in the shootout, the other was Maine beating Adirondack 2-1 after seven rounds. The Trois-Rivieres Lions beat the Greensboro Gargoyles 6-3 in the other division game played on Friday. All eight North Division teams play on Saturday.
The Bridgeport Islanders fell 3-2 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the road on Friday night. They’ll return to Bridgeport to host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Sunday.

The Railers and Royals pick things up on Saturday night, with a puck drop scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

—

Stay in the loop and never miss an update on Worcester Railers hockey by following Woo Hockey on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also get involved and connect with other fans of the team in the Worcester Railers Fan Club Facebook group, where you can share your thoughts on the team and discuss all things hockey.

Box Score

Scoring	1	2	3	OT	SO	T
	0	1	0	0	1	2
	0	1	0	0	0	1

Shots	1	2	3	OT	SO	T
	5	9	12	3	1	30
	8	11	5	4	0	28

Score	#	Per	Team	Time	Goals	Assists
1 – 0	1	2nd		0:54	K. Haskins (3)	N. Capone, B. Meehan
1 – 1	2	2nd		6:02	M. Dorrington (1)	D. Callin, T. Walsh

Rosters

	No	Name	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	0	0	0
D	3	E. Szmagaj	0	0	+1	0	0
D	6	V. Hadfield	0	0	-1	1	0
D	7	B. Meehan	0	1	+1	1	0
F	8	K. Haskins	1	0	+1	4	0
F	9	C. Golder	0	0	-1	1	2
F	11	N. Capone	0	1	+1	1	0
F	12	L. Devlin	0	0	0	3	0
F	13	M. Rizzo	0	0	-1	3	0
F	17	B. Saigeon	0	0	0	5	0
F	21	C. Cook	0	0	0	1	0
F	25	N. Burke	0	0	+1	1	2
F	28	A. Butcher	0	0	-1	2	2
F	34	J. Michel	0	0	0	3	2
F	36	S. Boulton	0	0	0	0	0
D	53	J. Willets	0	0	-1	0	0
D	88	A. Kulakov	0	0	0	0	0
F	91	Y. Mongo	0	0	0	3	0
		Team:	1			1
		Totals:	2	2	0	30	8

	Name	Min	SH	SVS	GA	SOG-S
80	K. Petruzzelli (W)	67:00	28	27	1	0-3
	Totals:	67:00	28	27	1

	No	Name	G	A	+/-	Sh	PIM
G	30	T. Lennox	0	0	0	0	0
G	39	H. Tikkanen	0	0	0	0	0
D	6	C. McDonald	0	0	0	0	0
F	7	M. Dorrington	1	0	+1	2	0
D	8	M. Ferrandino	0	0	0	1	0
F	10	R. Miotto	0	0	0	1	0
F	11	L. Hatten	0	0	0	2	0
D	15	J. Horvath	0	0	0	0	0
F	16	R. Mitton	0	0	0	3	0
F	19	R. Piercey	0	0	0	3	2
D	24	J. Pulkkinen	0	0	0	2	0
F	25	J. Nurmi	0	0	0	0	0
F	26	T. Walsh	0	1	+1	0	0
D	28	K. Dunn	0	0	-1	1	0
F	29	C. Donhauser	0	0	-1	1	0
F	37	M. DeMelis	0	0	0	2	0
F	44	A. Callin	0	0	-1	3	0
D	74	C. Fraser	0	0	+1	3	0
F	77	D. Callin	0	1	+1	2	0
F	81	A. Repaci	0	0	-1	2	0
		Team:	0			0
		Totals:	1	2	0	28	2

	Name	Min	SH	SVS	GA	SOG-S
39	H. Tikkanen (SOL)	67:00	29	28	1	1-2
	Totals:	67:00	29	28	1

Penalties

P	T	Player	M	Offense	Time
1st		R. Piercey	2.00	Interference – minor (56.2)	11:52
1st		C. Golder	2.00	Slashing – minor (61.2)	17:16
2nd		J. Michel	2.00	Hooking – minor (55.2)	1:28
2nd		N. Burke	2.00	Bench minor – Too many men (74.2)	2:41
2nd		A. Butcher	2.00	Tripping – minor (57.2)	10:56

Notes

• Worcester Scratches: Anthony Hora, Kolby Johnson, Matt Stief, Porter Schachle, Riley Ginnell, Tanner Schachle, Thomas Gale, and Tyler Kobryn.
• Reading Scratches: Austen Swankler, Connor McMenamin, Emile Chouinard, Jack Page, Jacob Frasca, Jordan Frasca, Miles Gendron, and Patrick Moynihan.
• The Railers wore their new white jerseys for the first time on Friday night. While it would have been more fitting with a Halloween weekend to have the Railers wear their orange jerseys, as Reading wore their black jerseys, that was not in the cards. My guess is that the Railers will debut their new orange jerseys for the school day game against Maine on November 18.
• The Islanders shuffled a couple of players this week, recalling Calle Odelius to Bridgeport and assigning Jesse Nurni and Jesse Pulkkinen to Worcester. Both Nurmi and Pulkkinen made their ECHL debuts on Friday.
• As I headed to the DCU Center on Friday, I had noticed that the signage closest to the Box Office was off and the signage by the convention center was also off with some lifts on the sidewalk. Both sets of signs are due to be replaced as a part the ongoing renovations to the DCU Center, as confirmed by John Lahair for a conversation I was around for before the doors opened on Friday.
• The listed attendance for this game was 1439. Excluding a game that was closed to the public, this is unofficially the second-lowest attended game in franchise history. The lowest attended game occured last season, where 1339 fans were in attendance for Reading beating the Railers 5-2. This was also the second time in franchise history a game was played on Halloween, the first was during the inaugural season where the Toledo Walleye beat the Railers 3-2 in front of a crowd of 2130.
• I hope that this is the last mentioning of this jersey, but it was pointed out in the Worcester Game Worn Hockey Jersey Facebook group that there is another Anthony Repaci Military Jersey from last season, bringing the total to at least three. This one was a special order and customized, and was actually at Friday night’s game. It has a near-perfect sized nameplate and is signed differently than the actual game-worn jersey and Meigray’s game-issued jersey.
• The jersey raffle of the weekend is a 2024-25 Orange Jersey worn and signed by Jack Randl. The team will be pulling four names on Saturday night, with the other three winners receiving different “Jason” masks signed by players of the team. This raffle can be found here.
• For continuity purposes, I did not run into anyone I recognized eating Wonder Bar Pizza on the concourse during intermission to get a review. If you’re reading this and want a mention for Saturday’s game, let me know so I can get your rating.
• Following Friday night’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
  • Cam McDonald is without a point in his last four games.
  • Max Dorrington snapped a four-game scoring drought with Worcester’s lone goal.
  • Lincoln Hatten is without a point in his last five games.
  • TJ Walsh snapped a four-game scoring drought with an assist.
  • Kabore Dunn is without a point in his last four games.
  • Anthony Callin is without a point in his last three games.
  • Cole Fraser is without a point in his last five games.

Railers Lines

On-Ice Officials

Highlights

Notable X Posts as the Game Happened

Railers Lines

Kyle Haskins goal

Max Dorrington goal

Carson Golder shootout goal

Keith Petruzzelli shutout save