SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks slow start leads to 6-3 loss to Binghamton

The Worcester Sharks’ schedule said Wednesday night’s game against the Binghamton Senators started at 7pm, but apparently the WorSharks thought it started about 40 minutes later as Worcester fell behind 3-0 early to the American Hockey League’s best offense and could never catch up in dropping a 6-3 contest at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 2,533 clearly disgruntled fans. Binghamton left wing Mike Hoffman had four goals on his own, while Konrad Abeltshauser lead the WorSharks with a goal and an assist.

Worcester Sharks enforcer Jimmy Bonneau takes on Binghamton winger Darren Kramer during the first period of
Wednesday's game against the Senators. Bonneau won the fight, but the WorSharks lost 6-3 to the Senators.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For highlights, and despite the lopsided score there were a bunch of them, we once again point to AHLlive.com. A second highlights package, one that includes the Bonneau/Kramer fight, is at SendItToNews.com. One highlight that didn’t make the cut was an absolutely mind-bogglingly great save by Senators goaltender Nathan Lawson, where Lawson was down and out but still managed to snag Travis Oleksuk’s shot out of the air with the glove.

Scratches for Worcester were Chris Crane, Rob Davison, Matt Pelech (hand), Nick Petrecki, Brodie Reid (back), Daniil Tarasov (concussion). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. With the folding of the San Francisco Bulls, the San Jose Sharks and WorSharks ECHL affiliate, most of the contracted players to the Sharks organization ended up with the Ontario Reign (ECHL). Those staying on the west coast include defensemen Kyle Bigos and Steve Tarasuk, and forwards Riley Brace and Sebastian Stalberg. Goaltender J.P. Anderson, who currently has the dreaded “upper body injury”, was recalled to Worcester to work with San Jose assistant GM and goaltender coach Wayne Thomas for the week. Forwards Chris Crane and Tyler Gron were already in Worcester. And after all those transaction the WorSharks added another, signing left winger Scott Fleming to a PTO. Fleming was 11-23=34 and +13 in 39 games with the Fort Wayne Komets this season.

As it will be all weekend, the ice at the DCU Center was colored pink for Saturday’s “Pink in the rink” game against the Providence Bruins. It’s just a guess of this writer but it seems that the lines are tough to see for the linesmen–or at least it was for one of them–as many times plays that were obviously one way of the other were called incorrectly. It will be interesting to see what happens if video review is needed because the crease/goal line isn’t all that sharply contrasted either. A by-product of the pick ice is the white “snow” that accumulates during play is clearly visible. With about five minutes to play in the opening period you didn’t need to look at the scoreboard to see who was winning the game as the Worcester defensive end was all chewed up and the Senators side of the ice looked relatively clean.

Unofficial post count: the WorSharks found the iron four times behind Lawson, while Binghamton had three of there own against Worcester and Harri Sateri. There’s nothing better than hearing that sound while on defenseman and usually nothing worse while on offense.

With the oddities of the AHL scheduling the WorSharks and Senators, despite being in the same conference, hadn’t played each other since December 17, 2011. It was a 5-2 Worcester victory at Binghamton in a game that featured a four goal second period outburst by Worcester, including a Sean Sullivan shorthanded penalty shot goal. The two teams will meet again in Binghamton in just about two weeks, on February 15. The WorSharks are 6-3 all time against the Senators.

The three stars of the game were
1. BNG – 27 Mike Hoffman (4g,a)
2. BNG – 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau (4a)
3. WOR – 37 Yanni Gourde (2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Konrad Abeltshauser.

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

Abeltshauser/Acolatse
Comrie/Tennyson
DeMelo/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Binghamton 3 0 3 – 6
Worcester 0 2 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Binghamton, Robinson 8 (Eckford, Dziurzynski), 3:22. 2, Binghamton, Hoffman 19 9:08. 3, Binghamton, Hoffman 20 (Pageau, Wideman), 12:01 (PP). Penalties-Kramer Bng (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 2:00; Bonneau Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 2:00; Comrie Wor (cross-checking), 10:43.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Oleksuk 7 (Acolatse, Gourde), 6:45 (PP). 5, Worcester, Abeltshauser 2 (Gourde, DaSilva), 13:35 (PP). Penalties-Blood Bng (interference), 6:34; Viedensky Wor (hooking), 10:12; O’Brien Bng (tripping), 12:43; Cowick Bng (hooking), 15:24.

3rd Period-6, Binghamton, Schneider 15 (Hoffman, Pageau), 3:38 (PP). 7, Worcester, Gron 2 (Livingston, Abeltshauser), 7:38. 8, Binghamton, Hoffman 21 (Pageau, Schneider), 9:28. 9, Binghamton, Hoffman 22 (Pageau), 13:30. Penalties-Puempel Bng (slashing), 0:20; DaSilva Wor (slashing), 1:55; Schwartz Wor (hooking), 15:54; Kramer Bng (tripping), 18:36.

Shots on Goal-Binghamton 12-8-8-28. Worcester 6-15-8-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Binghamton 2 / 4; Worcester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Binghamton, Lawson 15-5-0 (29 shots-26 saves). Worcester, Sateri 12-16-1 (28 shots-22 saves).
A-2,533
Referees-Ryan Hersey (8), Tim Mayer (19).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Brian MacDonald (72).