Game Story

Glens Falls, NY — The Worcester Railers and Adirondack Thunder met on Friday for their second-to-last game of the regular season at the Cool Insuring Arena.

Evan Buitenhuis had his first start since February 20. He made 41 saves in his return to action for Worcester. Logan Thompson made his third straight start against Worcester with Alex Sakellarpoulous signing a PTO with the Springfield Thunderbirds this morning. Railers goals were scored by Nick Sorkin (14th), Ryan Hitchcock (13th)

With a number of missed-calls for penalties in the first period, there was a ton of tension between these rivals. Connor Doherty and Alex Carrier both sat for roughing two minutes into the game. Worcester Captain Mike Cornell fought Adirondack Captain James Henry after Tyler Mueller was taken down in the right corner in the Worcester zone for his eighth fighting major of the season. Nick Sorkin scored the lone goal of the period, netting a rebound from Barry Almeida on the power play at 16:48.

Ryan Hitchcock extended Worcester’s lead to two on a shot that went over the glove of Thompson and under the crossbar at 4:26 in the second period. Barry Almeida’s secondary assist on the goal was his 100th as a Railer. Matt Salhany scored Adirondack’s first goal in over five periods against Worcester at 14:10 in the period.

With just under two minutes to go in regulation, Adirondack head coach Alex Loh pulled Logan Thompson for the extra attacker. Adirondack broke through as Shane Conacher tied the game for Adirondack with 1:23 remaining in regulation on a shot between the pads of Evan Buitenhuis.

Each team had three shots in the overtime period, bringing the two to their second shootout this season. Tommy Kelley (1st), Almeida (4th), Brauer (7th) scored in the shootout for Worcester, Shane Conacher (3rd) and James Henry (4th) scored in the shootout for Adirondack.

The Three Stars of the Game were:

  1. Shane Conacher (Adirondack) – goal, shooutout goal
  2. Bo Brauer (Worcester) – game-winning shootout goal
  3. Ryan Hitchcock (Worcester) – goal

Worcester Railers (27-22-5-4) are just a single point out of a playoff spot, held by the Manchester Monarchs with one game in hand. Both teams have games tomorrow, so Worcester will be rooting for Adirondack to beat Manchester tomorrow as they take on Norfolk for the first time in franchise history at 7:05 PM.

Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 OT SO T
Worcester Railers 1 1 0 0 1 3
Adirondack Thunder 0 1 1 0 0 2
Shots 1 2 3 OT SO T
Worcester Railers 8 12 4 3 1 28
Adirondack Thunder 9 14 17 3 0 43

 

Railers Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 31 B. Wojtala 0 0 0 0 0
G 34 E. Buitenhuis 0 0 0 0 0
D 4 R. MacKinnon 0 0 -1 2 2
D 6 M. Cornell 0 0 -1 2 5
F 7 T. Barnes 0 1 +1 1 0
F 8 N. Sorkin 1 0 -2 1 0
F 11 D. Willick 0 0 0 0 0
F 12 J. Holmstrom 0 0 -2 5 0
F 15 B. Brauer 0 0 0 1 0
F 19 B. Almeida 0 2 +1 3 0
D 20 D. Quenneville 0 0 +1 3 0
F 21 M. Gaudreau 0 0 -2 0 0
D 24 T. Mueller 0 0 -1 1 0
F 27 R. Hitchcock 1 0 +1 2 0
D 28 C. Doherty 0 0 +1 2 2
F 37 T. Kelley 0 0 0 3 0
D 41 R. Powers 0 0 -1 0 0
F 51 Y. Turcotte 0 0 0 1 0
Team: 1 1
Totals: 3 3 -5 28 9
No Name Min SH SVS GA SOG-S
No Name Min SH SVS GA SOG-S
34 E. Buitenhuis (W) 65:00 43 41 2 2-7
Totals: 65:00 43 41 2
Thunder Roster # Name G A +/- SH PIM
G 35 A. Brey 0 0 0 0 0
G 40 L. Thompson 0 0 0 0 0
F 2 M. Salhany 1 0 +2 4 0
D 3 A. Tessier 0 0 +1 2 0
D 5 C. Sissons 0 0 0 4 0
D 6 M. Cleland 0 0 +1 6 0
D 7 J. Linhart 0 1 0 5 0
D 8 B. Thompson 0 0 -1 3 0
F 9 D. Petti 0 0 0 1 0
F 10 C. Bradshaw 0 0 +2 2 2
D 11 S. Federow 0 0 0 0 0
F 15 J. Henry 0 0 0 3 5
F 16 P. MacArthur 0 1 +1 5 0
F 17 A. Carrier 0 0 -1 1 2
F 19 S. Conacher 1 0 +1 6 0
F 21 D. Walchuk 0 0 0 0 0
D 27 K. Summers 0 0 +1 1 0
F 51 J. Reichert 0 0 -1 0 0
Team: 2
Totals: 2 2 6 43 11
No Name Min SH SVS GA SOG-S
40 L. Thompson (SOL) 64:27 27 25 2 3-7
Totals: 64:27 27 25 2
P T Player M Offense Time
1st V C. Doherty 2.00 Roughing – minor (51.2) 2:14
1st H A. Carrier 2.00 Roughing – minor (51.2) 2:14
1st V M. Cornell 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 7:58
1st H J. Henry 5.00 Fighting – Major (46.14) 7:58
1st H C. Bradshaw 2.00 Hooking – minor (55.2) 11:25
1st H Served by S. Conacher 2.00 Bench minor – Too many men (74.2) 15:40
3rd V R. MacKinnon 2.00 Holding – minor (54.2) 9:13

Notes

  • Railers Injures: Kyle McKenzie, Tommy Panico, Matt Schmalz, Alex Vanier
  • Railers Scratches: Ivan Chukarov, Ross Olsson
  • Thunder Injuries: Dennis Kravchenko, Michael Sdao, Carter Struthers
  • Thunder Scratches Nikolas Olsson, Mike Szmatula
  • Railers wore their white jerseys with the Thunder wearing Lavender jerseys for their “Stick it to Cancer” weekend.
  • With Adirondack hosting their “Stick it to Cancer” weekend, it was fitting that forward Shane Conacher made his return after missing the past two months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer days into New Year.
  • Mitch Gillam made his AHL debut on Friday, coming in to relieve Jeremy Smith after four goals allowed in the span of 22 minutes. Gillam allowed one goal in his 38 minutes in net as the Sound Tigers were shutout 5-0.
  • 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.

Railers Lines (Observed by order in which they appeared):

LW C RW
Forward Line 1  B. Almeida #19 “A”  R. Hitchcock #27  T. Barnes #7
Forward Line 2  J. Holmstrom #12 “A”  M. Gaudreau #21  N. Sorkin #8
Forward Line 3  B. Brauer #15 / Y. Turcotte #51  D. Willick #11  T. Kelley #37
G
Starting Goaltender  Evan Buitenhuis #34
Backup Goaltender  Blake Wojtala #31
LD RD
Defense Line 1  M. Cornell #6 “C”  T. Mueller #24
Defense Line 2  R. MacKinnon #4  R. Powers #41
Defense Line 3  D. Quenneville #20 C. Doherty #28

Highlights