SHARKSPAGE

Irwin, Sexsmith Lead WorSharks Over Bears 3-2

The Worcester Sharks, playing without many of their offensive weapons, turned to defense and goaltending to help defeat the two time defending Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears 3-2 Wednesday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 2,645 fans.

Playing without offensive stars Jonathan Cheechoo, Jamie McGinn, and Benn Ferriero because of injuries and Crazed Rats center Andrew Desjardins due to recall to San Jose, WorSharks fans had legitimate doubts that their team could compete against one of the top teams in the American Hockey League. But Hershey had player issues of their own, with high scoring forwards Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon, and Steve Pinizzotto unavailable and key defenseman Patrick Wellar also missing, evening the scales just a bit.

The beginning of the game was all Bears as they swarmed the Worcester zone, winning nearly every individual battle along the boards to pin the WorSharks inside their own blue line for long stretches of time. Worcester did gain a little momentum in killing the first minor of the game, but was still spending far too much time hemmed in their own zone. Hershey was finally able to take advantage of a failed clearing attempt when defenseman Dmitry Orlov boomed a shot from the left face-off dot past Worcester goaltender Tyson Sexsmith at 7:35 of the period.

The WorSharks turned it up a notch after the Bears tally and controlled the next portion of the game, although Hershey kept the Worcester along the perimeter not allowing a quality scoring chance. After several close call Worcester would finally light the lamp when defenseman Jon Landry crashed the net and collected a rebound of Kevin Henderson’s shot and backhanded the puck around Bears netminder Nolan Schaefer at 11:06. Brandon Mashinter had the second assist for his feed to Henderson.

On the next shift Hershey almost retook the lead when Maxime Lacroix had the puck all alone about 10 feet in front of Sexsmith, but the netminder was able to flash out the glove to make the save. Despite Worcester outshooting Hershey 16-9 the scoring chances–and overall play–favored the Bears by a large margin.

The turning point in the contest took place early in the second period when the Bears had a two mad advantage for 1:37 but were unable to convert despite keeping the puck in the Worcester zone nearly the entire time. The kill added a little spring to the WorSharks’ step, and this time a failed clear by Hershey paid off for Worcester. With the top line on the ice for the WorSharks the Hershey defense tried to clear the puck along the boards to the right of Schaefer. Mashinter recovered the puck and fired it from just above the goal line on net as Michael Swift crashed the net looking for a rebound. Only there was no rebound to be had as the shot deflected off a Bears defenseman’s stick and over Schaefer into the net for the unassisted tally at 7:32.

The tide of play would swing back to Hershey’s favor, but several blocked shots and some timely saves by Sexsmith kept the home town team in the lead. With the third period not being kind to Worcester in the past fans were just waiting for a bad bounce to catch the WorSharks off guard and give Hershey the tying goal. It turned out the bounce that happened worked in Worcester’s favor when David de Kastrozza blast beat Sexsmith cleanly but rang off the far post and away from the Hershey forwards crashing the net about six minutes into the period.

As the third period play continued the WorSharks would get a five on three of their own when former San Jose prospect Aston Rome was called for hooking and then Boyd Kane was added to the sin bin for boarding Matt Irwin deep in the WorSharks zone. Irwin would have the last laugh on Kane when he took a Swift feed from behind the goal line and skated along the blue line to improve his angle. Irwin’s hard wrist shot through traffic hit nothing but the back of the net at 8:13 to give the WorSharks the 3-1 lead.

But nothing is ever easy for Worcester, and after Lacroix threw a nifty backhander over the glove of Sexsmith at 12:28 to get Hershey within one another lucky bounce saved the day for the WorSharks. With the Bears swarming the net Orlov found an open shooting lane low along the ice toward the far post with a screened Sexsmith having no idea a shot was coming. Luckily for Worcester Orlov found the far post, and after a few more tense minutes Worcester found themselves with an improbable victory.

GAME NOTES
Prior to Sunday’s loss to Connecticut San Jose recalled Andrew Desjardins. The recall left mnay Worcester fans with a sour taste in their mouths considering San Jose didn’t play again until Tuesday. After Wednesday’s game the WorSharks released Daren Machesney from his PTO. Tony Lucia, James Marcou, Jonathan Cheechoo, Alex Stalock, Jody Pederson, Jamie McGinn, and Benn Ferriero did not dress for Worcester. Carter Hutton was the back-up netminder.

Hershey center Mathieu Perreault will certainly be hearing from the AHL in the next couple of days after smashing his stick in the visitors penalty box after being called for holding the stick with 35 seconds to go in Wednesday’s night contest. After Perreault slammed his stick it exploded into several pieces, with one hitting penalty box attendant Dave Wilson in the head. Wilson, who suffered a minor injury to his forehead but was otherwise unhurt, showed his displeasure in Perreault’s childish actions. After the game Wilson reported the incident to referees Gino Binda and Tim Mayer, who took the broken stick as evidence. The incident was also captured by WCTR-3 in Worcester as they aired the game live.

WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer isn’t known for getting his ire raised up, but he was visibly angry at a non-call deep in the Worcester zone when Dan DaSilva got boarded along the goal line to the left of Sexsmith. As play continued Kevin Henderson was called for a very marginal hooking minor, which set Sommer off. Referee Tim Mayer, the target of Sommer’s outburst, must have felt the complaint had some merit as it took all of 15 seconds for him to call Hershey with a borderline hooking call of their own. Sommer also had some choice words for linesman Joe Ross later in the contest about an icing that inexplicably waved off.

In an oddity, Hersey’s two man advantage lasted 1:37. Worcester’s two man advantage, ended by Irwin’s goal, had the potential to last the same 1:37.

An update on linesman Bob Paquette; he suffered a concussion in hitting the boards Saturday night is at home recovering. Paquette is one of the good guys in the AHL, and this writer wishes him a speedy recovery.

The three star of the game were
1. WOR – 20 Matt Irwin (gwg)
2. WOR – 5 Jon Landry (g)
3. HER – 27 Dmitry Orlov (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Tyson Sexsmith

Even strength lines
Trevelyan/Swift/Mashinter
McCarthy/Quirk/Wingels
Henderson/Davis/DaSilva
Loprieno/McLaren/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Landry

Penalty kill lines
Quirk/McCarthy
Davis/Henderson

Moore/Sullivan
Petrecki/Schaus

Power play lines
Trevelyan/Swift/DaSilva
Mashinter/McCarthy/Wingels

Irwin/Sullivan
Moore/Landry

BOXSCORE
Hershey 1 0 1 – 2
Worcester 1 1 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Hershey, Orlov 1 (Joudrey, Lacroix), 7:35. 2, Worcester, Landry 3 (Henderson, DaSilva), 11:06. Penalties-Swift Wor (tripping), 1:02; Kane Her (hooking), 13:27; Wingels Wor (hooking), 17:16; Willsie Her (holding), 17:54.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, Mashinter 13   7:32. Penalties-DaSilva Wor (holding), 4:24; Quirk Wor (tripping), 4:47; Henderson Wor (hooking), 9:34; Perreault Her (hooking), 9:49.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Irwin 10 (Swift, Trevelyan), 8:13 (PP). 5, Hershey, Lacroix 4 (Rome, McNeill), 12:28. Penalties-Rome Her (hooking), 6:59; Kane Her (boarding), 7:22; Perreault Her (holding the stick), 19:25.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 9-16-8-33. Worcester 16-8-5-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0/5; Worcester 1/6.
Goalies-Hershey, Schaefer 10-18-2 (29 shots-26 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 2-2-1 (33 shots-31 saves).
A-2,645
Referees-Geno Binda (22), Tim Mayer (19). Linesmen-Jack Millea (23), Joe Ross (92).

One Response to “Irwin, Sexsmith Lead WorSharks Over Bears 3-2”