SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks grab first win of the season in 3-2 victory over Portland

The Worcester Sharks got two power play goals from Bracken Kearns and a highlight filled 30 save pro debut from goaltender Troy Grosenick to earn their first victory of the season in a 3-2 decision against the Portland Pirates Sunday afternoon at the DCU center in Worcester, Massachusetts. The victory snapped a ten game winless streak at home for the WorSharks dating back to March 23rd of last season.

Worcester Sharks goaltender Troy Grosenick looks around Pirates forward Chris Brown
during the WorSharks 3-2 win over Portland Sunday. It was Grosenick's pro debut.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

The sendittonews.com video is so bad we won’t bother imbedding it and will again link to the AHLlive highlights which are significantly better.

Scratches for the Worcester Sharks were Collin Bowman (head), Nick Petrecki, Lane Scheidl (knee), and Marek Viedensky. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender. Prior to the start of the game the Worcester shuttle made an east coast stop as both Freddie Hamilton and John McCarthy were recalled from the WorSharks and Matt Pelech was assigned to the AHL. With both Hamilton and McCarthy out of the line-up defenseman Adam Comrie was pressed into service as a forward.

It’s tough for most AHL clubs to deal with the local NFL team playing at the same time, and despite the WorSharks moving the game up to 5pm to avoid the New England Patriots game attendance was pretty low for the game. The good news for Worcester is this is the only time this season they have to deal with the Patriots playing early and drawing fans’ attention away. It should be noted that the crowd was pretty loud for its size.

This writer is hoping the WorSharks stop the silly back-pass in the neutral zone while they’re on the power play. Not only does it result in four flat footed offensive players waiting to enter the zone, it’s a pass they do so often it’s just begging to be picked off. And Sunday, it was as Portland read the play and had a penalty killer just waiting for the pass to occur. A Daniil Tarasov slash not only ended that threat but also the Worcester power play.

The Worcester penalty killers were a perfect four for four, which is only noteworthy because the Pirates came into yesterday’s game with the best power play (30%) in the AHL. The WorSharks have also switched from “passive box” to a much more aggressive style. Once they get the kinks worked out it should be a positive switch.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 16 Bracken Kearns (2g)
2. POR – 21 Andy Miele (2g)
3. WOR – 1 Troy Grosenick (30 save win)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Troy Grosenick.

BOXSCORE

Portland 1 1 0 – 2
Worcester 2 1 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Portland, Miele 2 (Brown, Szwarz), 4:25. 2, Worcester, Kearns 1 (Hayes, Reid), 6:24 (PP). 3, Worcester, Kearns 2 (Tarasov, Reid), 19:20 (PP). Penalties-Hextall Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:40; Louis Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 14:36; Bonneau Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 14:36; Brodeur Por (roughing), 17:26; Gogol Wor (tripping), 17:26; served by Hagel Por (bench minor – too many men), 18:24.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Tarasov 1 (Brace, Demelo), 15:53. 5, Portland, Miele 3 (Murphy, Gormley), 17:49. Penalties-Miele Por (holding), 0:30; Tarasov Wor (slashing), 0:56; Yip Por (interference), 2:19; McMillan Por (slashing), 4:19; Schwartz Wor (delay of game), 13:19.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Hagel Por (interference), 3:32; Brace Wor (tripping), 8:35; Brown Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing), 8:36; Doherty Wor (double minor – spearing (attempt)), 8:36; Tennyson Wor (holding), 11:16; Brisebois Por (slashing), 13:20; Brace Wor (misconduct – continuing altercation), 18:48.

Shots on Goal-Portland 13-8-11-32. Worcester 16-9-6-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 4; Worcester 2 / 7.
Goalies-Portland, Lee 0-2-0 (31 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 1-0-0 (32 shots-30 saves).
A-1,801
Referees-Trevor Hanson (47).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Chris Millea (33).