Game Story

Tristan Lennox made his 14th appearance of the season for Worcester, making 21 saves. Alex Worthington made 19 saves for Norfolk in his second career appearance against Worcester. Drew Callin, Jesse Pulkkinen, Anthony Repaci, Khristian Acosta (in his ECHL debut), Lincoln Hatten, and Matt DeMelis scored for Worcester. Brady Fluerent, Kevin Conley (who scored twice), Grant Hebert, and Chase Yoder scored for Norfolk.

Worcester’s 6-5 victory ends a 3-game losing streak, and also ends Norfolk’s 7-game winning streak that started at the beginning of January. Anthony Callin (3-6-9) extended his point streak to seven games, Jesse Pulkkinen (3-3-6) and Anthony Repaci (1-4-5) extended theirs to four games.

As this writer predicted on social media last night, it was a high scoring game.Tristan Lennox (3.70 GAA) and Alex Worthington (4.00 GAA) had the second and third highest goals allowed averages going into the game. It was an easy prediction but turned out to be true. With five goals allowed, his new average is .03 lower than the highest at 4.19 GAA. Another predictable trend is letting the same player open up scoring in back-to-back games, just as Andrew Nielsen did last weekend in Friday and Saturday’s games against Maine.

Brady Fluerent opened up scoring at 6:01, connecting with a setup from Grant Hebert from the corner in front of Tristan Lennox to give Norfolk the initial 1-0 lead. Drew Callin evened the score 9:30 later on a tip-in from his brother Anthony. Kevin Conley brought the game to 2-1 on a deflection that went through the legs of Tristan Lennox. Jesse Pulkinen scored with 14 seconds left in the period on a slapshot to keep the game tied heading into the second period. Worcester doubled Norfolk’s shot count 12-6 in the opening frame.

Anthony Repaci gave Worcester their first lead of the night at 13:34 in the second period, tipping in the initial shot from Lincoln Hatten for his eleventh goal of the season. Norfolk scored on what would end up being their only power play of the night with Ryan Miotto heading to the box on a tripping call. Grant Hebert scored on the doorstop to keep the game tied at 3 with 27 seconds left in the second period. Shots were tied up at 17.

The third period went on with just a few stoppages other than scoring, no penalties were called in the period after Norfolk had four penalties and Worcester had just one. Kevin Conley scored his second of the game on a one-timer from the right face-off circle at 9:48 to bring the game to 4-3. Khristian Acosta tied it back up one minute later, crashing the net on a setup from MacAuley Carson. 27 seconds later Chase Yoder regained Norfolks lead at 5-4. Riley Piercey setup Lincoln Hatten from behind the net with 3:34 left in the period to once again keep the game tied. The game would look to be destined for overtime but Matt DeMelis would make the game deciding goal with 14 seconds left, connecting on a pass from Max Dorrington in front of Alex Worthington to secure two points for Worcester, 6-5. Shots were 26-25 Worcester at the end of 60 minutes.

The three stars of the game were:

1. Matt DeMelis (Worcester) – 1 goal, 1 assist
2. Kevin Conley (Norfolk) – 2 goals, 1 assist
3. Drew Callin (Worcester) – 1 goal, 1 assist

This was the latest game played in the North Division, with the three other games being moved up due to the impending snow storm hitting the east coast. The Adirondack Thunder beat the Greensboro Gargoyles in Greensboro 4-1. The Reading Royals beat the Wheeling Nailers in Wheeling 5-2. The Maine Mariners beat the Trois-Rivieres Lions 7-1.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers fell 4-3 to the Providence Bruins earlier in the evening. Former Railer Daylan Kuefler had an assist. They face the Wolf Pack next Friday in Hartford.

The Railers close out their road 3-in-3 on Sunday against the Admirals at 3 p.m.

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Box Score

Scoring	1	2	3	T
	2	1	3	6
	2	1	2	5

Shots	1	2	3	T
	12	5	8	25
	6	11	9	26

Score	#	Per	Team	Time	Goals	Assists
0 – 1	1	1st		6:01	B. Fleurent (14)	G. Hebert, K. Papp
1 – 1	2	1st		15:30	D. Callin (11)	A. Callin, C. Donhauser
1 – 2	3	1st		17:35	K. Conley (6)	B. Engum, J. McDougall
2 – 2	4	1st		19:46	J. Pulkkinen (5)	D. Callin, A. Repaci
3 – 2	5	2nd		13:34	A. Repaci (11)	L. Hatten, R. Miotto
3 – 3	6	2nd		19:43	G. Hebert (8)	K. Conley, B. Crane
3 – 4	7	3rd		9:48	K. Conley (7)	B. Crane, J. Young
4 – 4	8	3rd		10:48	K. Acosta (1)	M. Carson, R. Miotto
4 – 5	9	3rd		11:15	C. Yoder (10)	J. McDougall, B. Engum

Rosters

	No	Name	G	A	+/-	SH	PIM
G	30	T. Lennox	0	0	0	0	0
G	35	P. Gahagen	0	0	0	0	0
D	6	C. McDonald	0	0	-1	0	0
F	7	M. Dorrington	0	1	+1	2	0
F	10	R. Miotto	0	2	0	1	2
F	11	L. Hatten	1	1	0	2	0
D	14	A. Samuelsson	0	1	0	2	0
D	18	M. Suda	0	0	0	0	0
F	19	R. Piercey	0	1	+2	1	0
F	20	M. Myers	0	0	-1	1	0
D	24	J. Pulkkinen	1	0	0	1	0
F	25	K. Acosta	1	0	0	3	0
D	28	C. Federkow	0	0	0	0	0
F	29	C. Donhauser	0	1	0	1	0
F	37	M. DeMelis	1	1	+2	3	0
F	44	A. Callin	0	1	0	2	0
F	74	M. Carson	0	1	0	1	0
F	77	D. Callin	1	1	0	3	0
F	81	A. Repaci	1	1	0	2	0
D	88	G. Blanchard	0	0	+2	0	0
		Team:	0			0
		Totals:	6	12	5	25	2

	Player	MIN	SH	SVS	GA	SV%
30	T. Lennox (W)	60	26	21	5	0.808
	Totals:	60	26	21	5	0.808

	No	Name	G	A	+/-	SH	PIM
G	32	A. Worthington	0	0	0	0	0
G	60	C. Propp	0	0	0	0	0
F	2	N. Noel	0	0	0	0	0
D	5	W. Magnuson	0	0	-1	2	0
F	6	B. Crane	0	2	0	0	2
F	7	C. Yoder	1	0	+1	3	2
D	8	D. Savenkov	0	0	-1	1	0
F	9	J. O’Leary	0	0	0	0	0
D	10	B. Engum	0	2	+2	2	2
F	12	K. Conley	2	1	0	3	0
D	15	D. Drake	0	0	-2	1	0
F	16	M. Reifenberger	0	0	0	0	0
D	19	C. Beamin	0	0	0	0	0
F	21	J. Young	0	1	-1	0	0
D	23	J. McDougall	0	2	0	3	0
F	24	K. Papp	0	1	-1	2	0
F	25	B. Osmundson	0	0	-1	0	0
F	26	J. Jaunich	0	0	0	0	0
F	93	G. Hebert	1	1	0	4	2
F	94	B. Fleurent	1	0	-1	5	0
		Team:	0			0
		Totals:	5	10	-5	26	8

	Player	MIN	SH	SVS	GA	SV%
32	A. Worthington (L)	59:45	25	19	6	0.760
	Totals:	59:45	25	19	6	0.760

Penalties

Time	Team	Player	Mins	Infraction
13:18 – 1st		B. Crane	2	Slashing – minor (61.2)
19:40 – 1st		B. Engum	2	Holding – minor (54.2)
02:23 – 2nd		C. Yoder	2	Interference – minor (56.2)
17:12 – 2nd		G. Hebert	2	Holding – minor (54.2)
19:01 – 2nd		R. Miotto	2	Tripping – minor (57.2)

Notes

• Worcester Scratches: Anthony Hora, Case McCarthy, Hunter Hall, Lazarus Kaebel, Michael Ferrandino, Riley Ginnell, Ross Mitton, and Thomas Gale.
• Norfolk Scratches: Brayden Nicholetts, Carson Musser, Connor Fedorek, Isaac Poulter, Jaxon Castor, and Jaydon Dureau.
• Following Saturday 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 is on a three-game point streak. (1-2-3)
  • Adam Samuelsson snapped a six-game scoring drought with an assist.
  • Jesse Pulkkinen extended his point streak to four games. (3-3-6)
  • Connor Federkow is without a point in his last ten games.
  • Anthony Callin extended his point streak to seven games. (3-6-9)
  • MacAuley Carson snapped a nine-game scoring drought with an assist.
  • Anthony Repaci extended his point streak to four games. (1-4-5)
  • Gabe Blanchard is without a point in his last nineteen games.
    

Railers Lines

On-Ice Officials

Notable X Posts as the Game Happened

Railers Lines

Brady Fluerent goal

Anthony Callin goal

Kevin Conley first goal

Jesse Pulkkinen goal

Anthony Repaci goal

Grant Hebert goal

Kevin Conley second goal

Khristian Acosta goal

Chase Yoder goal

Lincoln Hatten goal

Matt DeMelis goal