Game Story


Estero, FL — The Worcester Railers and the Florida Everblades for the first of a three-game series on Wednesday night at the Hertz Arena.

John Muse made 34 saves on Wednesday night. Muse has started in sixteen of the Railers last 25 games. Longtime Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson stopped all but one of Worcester’s 24 shots. Jake Pivonka scored Worcester’s lone goal, while Sean Josling, Joe Pendenza, and Oliver Chau scored for Florida. The Railers are now 1-3 on this southern road trip with two games left.

It was Florida who ended the scoreless tie at 5:12 in the first period. Sean Josling deflected a shot from Evan Nause for the first tally of the night. Despite trailing 1-0, the Railers were lucky considering the scoring opportunities the Everblades had in the opening frame.

Jake Pivonka scored Worcester’s lone goal at 17:06 in the second period while on the power play. Pivonka’s shot was a one-timer fed from Trevor Cosgrove, which was made from the right faceoff circle with 1:26 remaining on the man advantage. The tie would be broken a minute and eight seconds later, where former Manchester Monarch Joe Pendenza would score after the Railers failed to gain control of the puck and a quick tic-tac-toe sequence beat John Muse at 18:14.

Tensions were high heading into the second period after Artyom Kulakov boarded Luke Santerno, with several Everblades, notably Kyle Neuber, wanting a piece of Kulakov. Kulakov’s hit went unpenalized and Santerno did not return to the game. Kulakov would drop the gloves with Cam Hausinger at 1:35 in the third period, and despite Hausinger celebrating after the fight, Kulakov emerged victorious in his third bout of the season. As of Thursday afternoon Kulakov was fined and suspended for the unpenalized boarding infraction.

The Everblades would extend their lead to 3-1 at 2:56 in the third period with Oliver Chau scoring 24 seconds into a power play that had Jake Pivonka in the box for a tripping call. The Railers would be unsuccessful in getting back to within one goal as Muse was pulled with 2:24 left in the game, and despite the Railers having control of the puck for the majority of the last five minutes, the Everblades would take game one of the series.

The three stars of the game were:

  1. Oliver Chau (Florida) – 1 goal, 2 assists
  2. Sean Josling (Florida) – 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Cam Johnson (Florida) – 23 saves, win, 0.958 SV%

The Newfoundland Growlers beat the Reading Royals 5-3 earlier in the night, extending the Growlers’ lead to five points for third in the division over the Railers. All seven North Division teams play on Friday, Maine, Worcester, and Norfolk all play against opponents out of the division. Worcester is 4-5-1 in their last ten games, Maine has the same record while Reading and Trois-Rivieres have even worse records in that span, keeping some playoff hope alive with 23 games left on their regular season schedule.

The Railers are back at the Hertz Arena on Friday for game two of this series against the Everblades, puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.

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Box Score


Scoring 1 2 3 T
0 1 0 1
1 1 1 3
Shots 1 2 3 T
8 6 10 24
7 16 14 37
Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type
0 – 1 5:12 – 1st S. Josling (13) E. Nause, O. Chau
1 – 1 17:06 – 2nd J. Pivonka (14) T. Cosgrove, A. Callin PP
1 – 2 18:14 – 2nd J. Pendenza (16) S. Josling, O. Chau
1 – 3 2:56 – 3rd O. Chau (17) W. Reilly, J. Pendenza PP

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 C. Ceci 0 0 0 0 0
G 40 J. Muse 0 0 0 0 0
F 5 Z. White 0 0 0 1 0
D 8 C. Krygier 0 0 -2 1 0
D 10 T. Cosgrove 0 1 0 4 0
F 12 J. Cipollone 0 0 -1 1 2
F 13 J. Pivonka 1 0 0 2 2
F 15 B. Robbins 0 0 -1 1 0
F 16 A. Calder 0 0 0 1 0
F 17 K. Howdeshell 0 0 -1 0 0
F 23 T. Goehring 0 0 -1 0 0
F 24 J. Quinlivan 0 0 -1 1 0
D 25 R. Dickinson 0 0 0 0 0
D 26 C. Welsh 0 0 -2 3 2
F 29 R. Piercey 0 0 -1 2 0
F 44 A. Callin 0 1 0 3 0
D 70 Z. Garat 0 0 0 0 0
F 81 A. Repaci 0 0 0 3 0
D 88 A. Kulakov 0 0 0 1 5
Team:
Totals: 1 2 -10 24 11
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
40 J. Muse (L) – 37 34 3 –
Totals: – 37 34 3 –
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 1 D. Tendeck 0 0 0 0 0
G 33 C. Johnson 0 0 0 0 0
D 2 C. Moberg 0 0 0 1 0
D 4 W. Reilly 0 1 +1 4 0
D 5 Z. Uens 0 0 0 1 0
F 7 L. Lambdin 0 0 0 2 0
F 8 B. Davis 0 0 0 1 0
F 11 C. Darcy 0 0 0 2 0
F 15 C. Hausinger 0 0 0 1 5
F 18 M. Senden 0 0 +1 2 0
F 20 O. Chau 1 2 +2 4 0
D 21 R. Zmolek 0 0 0 1 0
F 22 J. Pendenza 1 1 +1 4 0
F 24 K. Neuber 0 0 0 0 2
F 27 S. Josling 1 1 +2 6 0
F 29 L. Santerno 0 0 0 1 2
D 36 J. Sambrook 0 0 +1 4 0
D 44 N. Staios 0 0 0 0 0
D 55 E. Nause 0 1 +2 3 0
Team:
Totals: 3 6 10 37 9
Player MIN SH SVS GJ SV%
33 C. Johnson (W) – 24 23 1 –
Totals: – 24 23 1 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
16:32 – 2nd L. Santerno 2 Interference – minor (56.2)
1:35 – 3rd A. Kulakov 5 Fighting – Major (46.14)
1:35 – 3rd C. Hausinger 5 Fighting – Major (46.14)
2:32 – 3rd J. Pivonka 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)
5:06 – 3rd K. Neuber 2 Delay of Game (63.2)
8:31 – 3rd C. Welsh 2 Hooking – minor (55.2)
9:42 – 3rd J. Cipollone 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)


Notes

  • Worcester Scratches: Andrei Bakanov, Carson MacKinnon, John Copeland, Ryan Verrier, and Tristan Lennox.
  • Florida Scratches: Andrew Fyten, Bobo Carpenter, Chris Ordoobadi, Evan Boucher, Stanislav Demin, Tommy Apap, and Zach Tsekos.
  • The Everblades will be wearing specialty jerseys on Friday and Saturday. They’ll wear a Mandalorian jersey for Star Wars night on Friday, and a “Fire” first responders jersey on Saturday.
  • Connor Welsh was listed on the scoresheet as wearing an A, it did not appear that he was wearing the letter on Wednesday. No player was formerly announced as the new alternate captain after either Blade Jenkins or Jake Schultz left the roster. The scorers on Monday’s game against Orlando didn’t list any of the captains, including Anthony Repaci, on the scoresheet.
  • Following Wednesday night’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
    • Zach White is without a point in his last five games.
    • Christian Krygier is without a point in his last five games.
    • Joey Cipollone is without a point in his last seven games.
    • Brendan Robbins is without a point in his last five games.
    • Ryan Dickinson is without a point in his last three games.
    • Connor Welsh is without a point in his last four games.
    • Riley Piercey is without a point in his last three games.
    • Anthony Callin is without a point in his last four games.

Railers Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Anthony Repaci #81 Zach White #5 Anthony Callin #44
Forward Line 2 Riley Piercey #29 Jake Pivonka #13 Ashton Calder #16
Forward Line 3 Keeghan Howdeshell #17 Joey Cipollone #12 Jack Quinlivan #24
Rotated Forwards – Brendan Robbins #15 Todd Goehring #23
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Trevor Cosgrove #10 Ryan Dickinson #25
Defense Pair 2 Zsombor Garat #70 Artyom Kulakov #88
Defense Pair 3 Connor Welsh #26 Christian Krygier #8
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender John Muse #40
Backup Goaltender Cole Ceci #30

Opponent Lines

Forward Lines LW C RW
Forward Line 1 Oliver Chau #20 Joe Pendenza #22 Luke Santerno #29
Forward Line 2 Logan Lambdin #7 Mark Senden #18 Sean Josling #27
Forward Line 3 Brett Davis #8 Cam Darcy #11 Cam Hausinger #15
Rotated Forwards Nathan Staios #44 – Kyle Neuber #24
Defensive Pairings LD RD
Defense Pair 1 Zach Uens #5 Will Reilly #4
Defense Pair 2 Riese Zmolek #21 Cole Moberg #2
Defense Pair 3 Evan Nause #55 Jordan Sambrook #36
Rotated Defensemen – –
Goalie Tandem G
Starting Goaltender Cam Johnson #33
Backup Goaltender David Tendeck #1

On-Ice Officials

– –
Referee Brendan Schreider (12)
Referee –
Linesman Charlie O’Connor (43)
Linesman Billy Gubelman (77)




Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


Everblades Lines


Sean Josling goal (1-0 Everblades)


Jake Pivonka goal (Tied at 1-1)


Joe Pendenza goal (2-1 Everblades)


Artyom Kulakov v. Cam Hausinger


Oliver Chau goal (3-1 Everblades)