SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks streak into record book but still defeat IceCaps 5-2

The Worcester Sharks hit the ice Friday night after being shutout in their two previous games, and ran that scoreless streak up all the way to a new franchise record of 163:13 before Freddie Hamilton finally nabbed one that counted, and then the WorSharks added two more in the span of 3:16 on their way to a 5-2 win over the St. John’s IceCaps at the DCU Center in front of 3,698 fans. The second period was the first time since the third period on Friday, April 19, 2013 at Wilkes-Barre that Worcester had three goals in a single period.

Worcester's Freddie Hamilton ended his team's franchise record goalless streak
at 163:13 Friday night. The WorSharks would go on to win 5-2 over St. John's
Photo courtesy of the WORCESTER SHARKS

For video highlights we point to AHLlive.com. When you’re watching the video pay close attention to the WorSharks third goal and what Curt Gogol does with the puck before Marek Viedensky bangs it home into the yawning net. It’s essentially a pass off the opposing goaltender, and something Worcester doesn’t do often enough.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Jimmy Bonneau, Riley Brace, Travis Oleksuk, Nick Petrecki (back), Lane Scheidl (knee), and Matt Tennyson. Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender, but was pressed into action with seven minutes remaining in the third period when starter Harri Sateri couldn’t continue after a collision in front of his cage. Sateri looked no worse for wear in coming out to congratulate his teammates after the win.

Worcester had two goals disallowed prior to Hamilton’s streak ender, the first as a result of an alleged hand pass and the second when the referees indicated the WorSharks had interfered with IceCaps goaltender Jussi Olkinuora. The first goal was going to be reviewed, but due to issues with the replay system it was unavailable. Since hand passes aren’t reviewable in the American Hockey League your guess is as good as mine as to what they would be reviewing. The second was just a flat out bad call as there was no contact with Olkinuora, nor anyone really that close to him, until the puck was already in the net.

After Sateri went down and Grosenick was headed in to replace him by rule Grosenick isn’t allowed a warm-up, so many were wondering why Worcester head coach Roy Sommer didn’t use his timeout there. Being up 4-1 and about to begin a penalty kill one would think you’d want to give your new goaltender as much time as you could to prepare, but Sommer chose not to and the IceCaps scored on their second shot on Grosenick. That timeout must have been very valuable as Sommer took it into the dressing room with him when the game ended.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (34 saves, win)
2. WOR – 25 Marek Viedensky (gwg)
3. WOR – 4 Taylor Doherty (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was James Livingston.

Even strength lines
Hayes/Kearns/Tarasov
Reid/Schwartz/DaSilva
Stalberg/Viedensky/Livingston
Gogol/Hamilton/Pelech

Davison/Acolatse
Abeltshauser/Doherty
Comrie/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

St. John’s 1 0 1 – 2
Worcester 0 3 2 – 5

1st Period-1, St. John’s, Lipon 5 (Klingberg, Lowry), 5:18. Penalties-Redmond Stj (interference), 6:17; O’Neill Stj (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:54; Pelech Wor (boarding, unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:54; Lipon Stj (hooking), 16:05; Jaffray Stj (roughing), 18:45; Kearns Wor (roughing), 18:45; Comrie Wor (cross-checking), 19:14.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Hamilton 10 (Comrie, DeMelo), 15:25 (PP). 3, Worcester, Doherty 2 (Abeltshauser, Livingston), 15:57. 4, Worcester, Viedensky 3 (Gogol, Livingston), 18:41. Penalties-Doherty Wor (slashing), 1:00; Riley Stj (slashing), 8:50; Hill Stj (cross-checking), 14:13; Acolatse Wor (cross-checking), 14:13; O’Neill Stj (hooking), 14:30.

3rd Period-5, Worcester, Reid 3 (DaSilva, Schwartz), 11:11. 6, St. John’s, Redmond 5 (Jaffray, Gordon), 14:06 (PP). 7, Worcester, Hayes 5 (Hamilton, DeMelo), 18:58 (EN). Penalties-DeMelo Wor (hooking), 13:00; Livingston Wor (tripping), 15:43; Chiarot Stj (interference), 19:16.

Shots on Goal-St. John’s 16-13-9-38. Worcester 10-11-12-33.
Power Play Opportunities-St. John’s 1 / 4; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-St. John’s, Olkinuora 4-3-1 (32 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 7-9-1 (35 shots-34 saves); Grosenick 6-4-0 (3 shots-2 saves).
A-3,698
Referees-Trevor Hanson (47), Ryan Murphy (5).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Todd Whittemore (70).