Game Story

Reading, PA – After picking up a big win over the Reading Royals in overtime on Saturday, the Worcester Railers returned to the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania for game two of their opening weekend. Railers took a tough loss with a score of 6-4.

Sunday’s matchup was pretty entertaining if you enjoy fights, a lot of goals scored, and other shenanigans happening on the ice. I felt that the game best reminisced the game against Colorado on their first road trip last season (10/25/17), where the Railers ended up getting seven fighting majors and was accumulated one of the most penalty minutes in a single game that season. Mitch Gillam made 15 saves and allowed six goals before being replaced by Evan Buitenhus. Buitenhuis made a perfect nine saves on nine shots in what would end up being his pro debut.

Barry Almeida scored his second goal of the season off a pass from Tyler Barnes that was tipped-in past Royals’ goaltender Branden Komm. Jeff Kubiak and Dan Milan had their first fighting majors of the season. Reading’s Shane Walsh scored after intercepting the puck from Connor Graham, resulting in the breakaway opportunity and scored. Almeida took a delay of game penalty late in the period after inadvertently knocking the puck out of play on the backside of his stick. Reading made the most of their man-advantage and took their first lead of the night with a goal by Josh MacDonald. Railers trailed 2-1 after 20 but outshot Reading 12-9.

Royals’ Adam Swavely scored an insurance goal a little under a minute into the second period, putting the Royals up 3-1. Dumb mistakes came to bite the Railers in the second with Nick Sorkin and Yanick Turcotte taking simultaneous penalties halfway through the period, with the Royals extending their lead to 5-1 with two power-play goals by Tyler Brown and Shane Walsh (2) on those penalties. Royals would extend their lead to 6-1 on the power play. David Quenneville scored his first professional goal on the power play on the bottom left corner of the Royals net, leaving the score 6-2 after 40.

Connor Doherty and Frank DiChiara fought in the second period after DiChiara made a dirty hit on Josh Holmstrom. Doherty was the clear winner of the fight but left to get cleaned up after getting a nosebleed and leaving a pool of blood on the ice as a result of the fight. Each was issued five for fighting, with DiChiara getting an additional two for boarding. Yanick Turcotte fought Charlie Vasaturo later in the second period.

Railers had a solid amount of chances to make a comeback in the third period. Dylan Willick picked up his first goal of the season at 8:40 in the third. Holmstrom scored his second of the season off a rebound at 10:14. Tyler Barnes was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped up on a breakaway. The shot, which was unsuccessful, was the Railers first penalty shot this season.

Royals and Railers will face each other four more times this season. They’ll face each other in exactly one month in Worcester.

The Three Stars of the Game were:

1. Shane Walsh (REA) – 2 goals
2. Alex Krushelnyski (REA) – 3 assists
3. Josh MacDonald (REA) – 1 goal

Opening Weekend: The Railers will hold their home opener next weekend at the DCU Center. For those that wish to support both of Worcester’s pro hockey teams., the Worcester Blades will be having their home opener at the Worcester Ice Center at 3 PM, and will conclude about an hour or so before the Railers game which will start around 7 PM. A limited amount of lower bowl seats are still available and can be bought through Ticketmaster or the Arena Box Office.

Box Score

Notes

• Railers Scratches: Tommy Kelley (14-day injury reserve), Tommy Panico (reserve), Tommy Tsicos (reserve), Bryan Arneson, Nick Bligh, and Alexis Vanier.
• Royals Scratches: Anthony Cortese (reserve), Braeden Low, Scott Dombrock (14-day injury reserve), Steve Johnson, and Jack Riley.
• Connor Graham made his pro debut in Sunday’s game. He is the fifth person to wear #15 for the Railers, more players have worn that number than any other number.
• ECHL.tv once again had issues with the Railers (away) feed. Anyone looking for a workaround to hear the broadcast through the Nash Icon website or through iHeart Radio.
• I’ll be pitching these throughout the season, but if you haven’t already followed us on Facebook and Twitter, it would be greatly appreciated! A group of dedicated hockey fans created a Facebook group that is quickly approaching 300 members that we recommend all Railers fans check out.

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