SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks lose three goal lead, still win 4-3 in shootout

The Worcester Sharks had a quiet first 27 minutes of Sunday’s game against the Manchester Monarchs, only to explode for three goals in the next seven minutes and then watch that lead slowly roll away as the game headed into overtime and then a shootout where the WorSharks finally prevailed to win 4-3 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 5,091.

Worcester Sharks forward Jimmy Bonneau opened up the scoring Sunday with his second
goal of the season. The WorSharks would lead 3-0 before losing that lead and going to a
shootout when they defeated the Manchester Monarchs 4-3.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

We’ll use the Sendittonews.com video for now, but because the video autoplays we’ll replace it with a link to AHLlive.com before the next posting.
EDIT: The AHLlive.com link.

Scratches for Worcester were Matt Pelech (hand), Nick Petrecki, Brodie Reid (back), and Daniil Tarasov (concussion). Troy Grosenick was back to his usual spot backing up Harri Sateri, and as such Thomas Heemskerk was released from his PTO. Just prior to game time it was announced that San Jose was returning Taylor Doherty to Worcester, although he was not available for the game. Pelech’s hand has apparently turned into an issue, and word is Pelech plans on going to see a specialist about it. Hockey history is full of the names of players forced to retire because of hand injuries, and as Pelech makes his living using his hands on other players a prolonged injury–or worse, one that doesn’t heal properly–could be a major issue for him.

Looking at the box score you’ll see referee Pierre Lambert called a penalty seldom seen in pro hockey: clipping. This writer could get into a long explanation as to what the rule is, but it’s essentially throwing yourself at someone’s knees to knock them over. It is most often called on failed hip checks. Curt Gogol’s hip check was not failed. It was textbook, exactly as the film shows you how to do it. Referee Lambert miscalled it, and it resulted in a power play goal against. Ironically, Gogol’s hip check happened in almost exactly the same spot as one of the best hip checks ever thrown, by Worcester IceCats defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick in the late 1990’s. Fitzpatrick’s hip check was so good it was used in hockey training videos for years. Oh, by the way, Fitzpatrick was called for clipping too.

What you won’t see in the box score are two penalties to Manchester for players using broken sticks. Both happened right where the puck was and where referee Lambert should have been looking. Alas, no calls. There was also no call when Manchester had nine skaters on the ice and possession of the puck at their own bench. Perhaps there were too many to count…

In sort of a good news/bad news thing, the hit of the game was thrown in the open ice at the WorSharks blue line by Marek Viedensky. The bad news portion was the player he hit was teammate Chris Crane. Worse news for Crane was he also got crushed later in the game by a Monarchs player. Crane really doesn’t seem to have the talent level to play in the AHL, so it won’t be a shock if Worcester looks in a different direction by next Wednesday’s game.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – 19 Jordan Weal (g,a)
2. WOR – 5 Matt Tennyson (g)
3. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (SO game winner)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Harri Sateri.

Even strength lines
Gourde/Oleksuk/DaSilva
Scheidl/Hamilton/Gron
Gogol/Schwartz/Livingston
Crane/Viedensky/Bonneau

Abeltshauser/Acolatse
Comrie/Tennyson
Davison/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

Manchester 0 2 1 0 – 3
Worcester 0 3 0 0 – 4

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Bonneau 2 (Viedensky, Crane), 7:32. 2, Worcester, Tennyson 5 (Comrie, Gron), 12:26. 3, Worcester, Gourde 3 (DaSilva, Oleksuk), 14:29 (PP). 4, Manchester, Weal 10 (Vey, Deslauriers), 15:24 (PP). 5, Manchester, Miller 3 (Weal, O’Neill), 18:22. Penalties-Andreoff Mch (hooking), 13:53; Gogol Wor (clipping), 14:54; Backman Mch (slashing), 15:42.

3rd Period-6, Manchester, Gale 7 (LoVerde, Shore), 8:54. Penalties-Schwartz Wor (hooking), 2:24.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Campbell Mch (slashing), 4:48.

Shootout – Manchester 1 (O’Brien G, Shore NG, Weal NG, Vey NG, Pearson NG), Worcester 2 (Gourde G, Livingston NG, DaSilva G, Gron NG).
Shots on Goal-Manchester 8-11-12-0-0-31. Worcester 9-10-8-4-1-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 2; Worcester 1 / 3.
Goalies-Manchester, Niederberger 0-0-1 (31 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 12-15-1 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-5,091
Referees-Pierre Lambert (39).
Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Jeremy Lovett (78).