SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks bobble but they don’t fall down, defeat Binghamton 2-1

The Worcester Sharks spent the first 51 minutes of Saturday night’s contest being unable to score but also keeping the Binghamton Senators off the board before surrendering the first goal of the game, but the offensively challenged WorSharks squad continued plugging away and scored two late third period goals to defeat the defending Calder Cup Champions 2-1 at the DCU Center in front of 5,206 fans on Lyndon Byers bobble head night.

The opening 20 minutes was played almost entirely in the Bingo end with the WorSharks having two power play chances and earning a 17-5 shots on goal advantage but Sens goaltender Mike McKenna, playing against Worcester on his fifth different team, withstood the barrage to keep the game scoreless. At the other end of the ice Tyson Sexsmith wasn’t nearly as busy but had to make a couple nice saves to keep the game scoreless. The first period also saw the only fight in the contest with heavyweights Jimmy Bonneau and Francis Lessard taking each other on at center ice in what could best be described as a “hug-fest”, with Bonneau landing a little more often than Lessard but not enough to consider it anything other than a draw.

The middle stanza may have been one of the most boring periods of hockey played in the WorSharks era, with each team getting a power play chance but neither really mounting any offensive pressure on the other and scoring chances were rare. The third period started out just like the second period with neither team truly getting an advantage over the other, so it was a mild shock when Bingo connected on what looked like a well covered rush up ice. Bingo center Pat Cannone took a feed and skated to the left wing circle where he appeared to be well marked by WorSharks defenseman Sena Acolatse. Cannone flipped a shot on Sexsmith that may have tipped off Acolatse, but no matter what happened it fooled the netminder enough to find the back of the net at 9:01. Mark Borowiecki and David Dziurzynski had the assists on the goal.

The WorSharks would get a power play chance soon after, and about a minute into the man advantage Roy Sommer used his timeout to give his first line a quick break. The move initially looked to backfire as Bingo won the next draw, but the WorSharks continued to press and crash the net and finally got one past McKenna. After the netminder made a saves on John McCarthy’s bid from a bad angle and a Benn Ferriero return blast the second rebound went right to Tommy Wingels with McKenna unable to stop the third chance at 13:05.

Over the past few seasons the key to much of the WorSharks success rested on the team’s tenacious third line known as the “Crazed Rats”. The current group of third liners has a long way to go to match the exploits of that line, but after scoring the game tying goal on Friday night and the game winner on Saturday they’re certainly raising some eyes. Ryan Del Monte had both of those goals, and each of them was set up by a great play by Tony Lucia.

With the line forechecking Lucia showed he is totally over his concussion symptoms by absorbing a big hit at the left wing halfboards as he pushed the puck deeper into the Sens zone. Bingo recovered the puck and as the Sens headed behind their own net to set up a breakout Lucia chased the player down and forced the puck on net where McKenna made the save. The rebound of the wobbly shot went up and Del Monte was able to pick it out of the air and dunk it into the top corner at 15:47.

From that point it was the Tyson Sexsmith Show, with the netminder making one big save after another. The constant pressure by Bingo forced the WorSharks to ice the puck three times–although once it was clear it should have been waved off–and without their timeout had to keep the same players on the sheet for a significant amount of time. Sexsmith also got a little luck when Mike Hoffman hit the post to his right, and luck is what Worcester is going to need a lot of if they can’t score more goals.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Mike Connolly (unknown), Taylor Doherty (healthy), Ben Guite (foot), Brandon Mashinter (unknown), Mike Moore (head), and Sean Sullivan (lower body). Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

Prior to the start of the game the WorSharks held a moment of silence to recognize the 12th anniversary of the deaths of six firefighters in the Worcester Cold Storage Fire. There were several commemorative WorSharks and Worcester IceCats “W6” tribute jerseys in the crowd.

In an oddity, because of injuries the Senators had no players wearing captain’s or alternate captain’s letters. Rookie Mark Borowiecki was the player designated on the scoresheet as an “A” but was not wearing the letter. Former WorSharks Riley Armstrong is on the Senators rosters playing under a PTO, but the forward is injured and did not play. He did make the trip and was well received by the many well wishers that went to greet him. Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner is with the club on a conditioning stint but did not play.

The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – Del Monte (gwg)
2. WOR – Wingels (g)
3. WOR – Sexsmith (21 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Tony Lucia.

Even Strength Lines
McCarthy/Ferriero/Wingels
MacIntyre/Moon/Reid
Lucia/Del Monte/Livingston
Gogol/Viedensky/Bonneau

Irwin/Braun
Petrecki/Acolatse
O’Hanley/Pelech

BOXSCORE

Binghamton 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 0 0 2 – 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Gryba Bng (elbowing), 1:13; Wiercioch Bng (hooking), 4:21; Lessard Bng (fighting), 11:54; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 11:54.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Irwin Wor (hooking), 14:47; Borowiecki Bng (interference), 16:40.

3rd Period-1, Binghamton, Cannone 6 (Borowiecki, Dziurzynski), 9:01. 2, Worcester, Wingels 4 (McCarthy, Ferriero), 13:05 (PP). 3, Worcester, Del Monte 2 (Lucia), 15:47. Penalties-Da Costa Bng (boarding), 11:14.

Shots on Goal-Binghamton 5-6-11-22. Worcester 17-7-11-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Binghamton 0 / 1; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Binghamton, McKenna 3-6-0 (35 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 4-5-2 (22 shots-21 saves).
A-5,206
Referees-Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Chris Millea (33).