SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks face too many hurdles in St John’s, lose 5-2

The Worcester Sharks got off to a quick start but unfortunately some poor play and two outrageously bad calls by referee Mark Lemelin put the WorSharks too far behind to be able to catch up as they dropped a 5-2 contest to the St John’s IceCaps Saturday night at the Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada in front of their 100th consecutive sellout crowd of 6,287.

Worcester Sharks Rylan Schwartz scoring from the left circle to get the WorSharks within one, but
that was as close as Worcester would get in dropping a 5-2 contest to the St John's IceCaps.
Photo courtesy of the St John's IceCaps

For highlights we’ll use the IceCaps YouTube channel and take advantage of their video.

Scratches for the WorSharks were J.P. Anderson (upper body), Adam Comrie, Scott Fleming, John McCarthy, Matt Pelech (hand), Daniil Tarasov (concussion), Matt Tennyson, and Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. Both McCarthy and Tennyson were assigned to Worcester but did not make the trip to Canada with the team. Tarasov and Pelech also stayed behind in the Bay State due to their injuries. Eriah Hayes was assigned to the WorSharks earlier in the week and made the trip with the team. On Wednesday San Jose traded forward Curt Gogol to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for forward Chad Rau. Part of that deal sent Riley Brace from Worcester to the Iowa Wild (AHL). Brace had been playing for the Ontario Reign (ECHL), and the Wild reassigned him back to the Reign.

Late in the first period with the WorSharks trailing 2-1 Nick Petrecki beat IceCaps goaltender Michael Hutchinson to apparently tie the score, but referee Mark Lemelin waved off the goal. According to the public address announcer, it was “no goal” because a Worcester player was in the crease. The only problem with that is there is no such rule in the American Hockey League, and even if that was the rule the closest Worcester player to Hutchinson, Yanni Gourde, was not in the crease at all. To make matters worse, early in the third period Lemelin awarded a penalty shot to St John’s penalty killer John Albert after Lemelin ruled Brodie Reid fouled Albert during a breakaway. If Reid hooked Albert, and if he even did is certainly debatable, that foul happened after Albert shot the puck. Albert scored on the penalty shot to make it 4-2.

Konrad Abeltshauser’s goal 35 seconds into the contest was the fourth quickest goal in WorSharks history. The quickest goal in team history belongs to Curt Gogol, who scored 28 seconds into the March 9, 2012 contest against the Portland Pirates. Both Andrew Desjardins and Patrick Traverse have goal 34 seconds into games.

Newly acquired center Chad Rau played in his 300th AHL game Saturday, and was called for his first minor penalty against since March 15, 2013, a span of 47 games without heading to the sin bin.

Worcester wore their home whites for the game as the IceCaps wore a dark third jersey. The WorSharks will again wear white tomorrow.

The three stars of the game were
1. STJ – 16 John Albert (2g)
2. STJ – 47 Adam Lowry (g)
3. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (no idea why)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Rylan Schwartz.

Even strength lines
Gourde/Oleksuk/DaSilva
Scheidl/Hamilton/Reid
Gron/Rau/Hayes
Bonneau/Schwartz/Livingston

Abeltshauser/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Abeltshauser 3 (Reid), 0:35. 2, St. John’s, Mouillierat 13 (Jaffray, Cormier), 14:07. 3, St. John’s, Albert 7 (Jaffray, Mouillierat), 14:23. Penalties-Melchiori Stj (interference), 4:35; DaSilva Wor (cross-checking), 19:17.

2nd Period-4, St. John’s, Samson 17 (Gordon, MacKinnon), 5:54. 5, Worcester, Schwartz 4 (Livingston), 12:12. Penalties-Davison Wor (fighting), 3:48; Brassard Stj (fighting), 3:48; Rau Wor (high-sticking), 14:30.

3rd Period-6, St. John’s, Albert 8 2:22 (SH PS). 7, St. John’s, Lowry 12 (Riley, Lipon), 8:20. Penalties-Hill Stj (high-sticking), 1:23; Reid Wor (hooking), 8:42.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-12-9-33. St. John’s 8-6-13-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; St. John’s 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 12-17-1 (27 shots-22 saves). St. John’s, Hutchinson 7-2-0 (33 shots-31 saves).
A-6,287
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Justin Day (79), Todd Horwood (34).