SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks ice cold in Maine, lose 5-1 to Portland

The Worcester Sharks made the long trek north to the Pine Tree State with a huge winter storm following close behind them, and then played the game like they were already snowblind as once again they could not put the puck in the net with any consistency in dropping a 5-1 contest to the Portland Pirates Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine in front of 1,860. Rylan Schwartz had the only goal for the WorSharks.

WorSharks defenseman Sena Acolatse (#14) tries to bang home a loose puck as Eriah Hayes (#18) fights
for position in front of the Portland net Saturday night. Worcester would lose 5-1 to the Pirates.
Photo courtesy of the PORTLAND PIRATES

For the highlights, such as they are, you can head over to AHLlive.com to watch.

Scratches for Worcester were Konrad Abeltshauser, Nick Petrecki (back), Brodie Reid, Lane Scheidl (knee) Daniil Tarasov (groin), and Marek Viedensky. Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. The WorSharks injury list looks like it will be growing again as in the first period Matt Pelech appeared to injure his left arm. He did not return.

Another player that missed most of the game was Adam Comrie, although he was on the bench the entire time. Either Comrie was injured or ill–if he was unable to play then why was he on the bench?–or Worcester heard coach Roy Sommer benched him. At the start of the third period Matt Tennyson was (-3) and captain Rob Davison was (-2) so the player Sommer apparently benches is Comrie? And he does it while already short a skater? Considering Comrie leads the blue liners in points one has to wonder if Comrie’s play was so bad–and it didn’t appear to be any worse than anyone else Saturday night–that Sommer had no choice but to bench him because if Sommer was doing it to “send a message” then it’s about time San Joe Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson sends Roy a message.

Speaking of cluelessness, no one can figure out why referee Ryan Hersey initially waved off Andy Miele’s first goal. On top of that, no can also figure out what referee Hersey was reviewing when he looked at the replay. The play was clearly a good goal from the get-go, and as he was the official to wave it off it’s not like he wouldn’t have known if the whistle blew or not because, well, he’d have been the one blowing the whistle. It should be noted that in the AHL the video replay has no sound. In the AHL all video reviews result in an incident report being filed by the referee. This writer would love get a gander at it, but alas, the AHL most certainly will be filing that one away never to be seen again.

Worcester had two goals on 71 shots this weekend for a slightly less than impressive .028 shooting percentage. The WorSharks are shooting just .067 for the season, which as near as this writer can tell is the worst in the AHL. The way the AHL handles shootout wins (it adds a goal and shot to team stats) makes figuring out teams actual shooting percentages more work that it’s usually worth, but as no team has a lower combined percentage and Worcester has five additional goals and shots added to their total it’s a safe bet they’re last. They also went oh-fer-12 on the power play this weekend, with that percentage being pretty easy to figure out. The WorSharks are 26th in the AHL on the power play this season (13.7%).

It’s amazing that as few goals as Worcester scores they haven’t been shutout yet this season. The WorSharks were blanked five times last season.

In the “that can’t possibly be true but is” department, the last three road games WorSharks broadcaster and PR man extraordinaire Eric Lindquist has mentioned that he wanted Chinese food this writer was eating Chinese food. Perhaps next weekend he could mention winning lottery tickets?

The three stars of the game were
1. POR – 21 Andy Miele (hat trick, 2a)
2. POR – 11 Chris Brown (2a)
3. POR – 29 Mark Visentin (30 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Rylan Schwartz.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 0 1 – 1
Portland 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Portland, Miele 8 15:47 (SH). Penalties-Gormley Por (interference), 5:38; Todd Por (holding), 15:13; Comrie Wor (roughing), 16:32.

2nd Period-2, Portland, Klesla 1 (Miele, Yip), 7:49. 3, Portland, Miele 9 (Brown, Werek), 11:26. Penalties-Gormley Por (tripping), 8:34; Bonneau Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 16:17; Louis Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 16:17.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Schwartz 3 (Oleksuk, Hamilton), 1:12. 5, Portland, Miele 10 (Todd, Visentin), 4:26 (PP). 6, Portland, Martinook 4 (Brown, Miele), 10:30 (PP). Penalties-Kearns Wor (hooking), 3:05; Veilleux Por (holding), 5:41; Brace Wor (goaltender interference, unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:21; Gogol Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 12:04; Veilleux Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 12:04; Kearns Wor (slashing), 13:44; Davison Wor (roughing, roughing), 19:06.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-8-11-31. Portland 4-12-10-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Portland 2 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 5-8-1 (26 shots-21 saves). Portland, Visentin 8-8-2 (31 shots-30 saves).
A-1,860
Referees-Ryan Hersey (8), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Jeremy Lovett (78).