SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks enter All-Star break on a high note beating St John’s 4-2

The WorSharks Sharks jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Travis Oleksuk, Eriah Hayes, and captain Rob Davison, only to watch that lead slowly shrink to a single goal before Dan DaSilva’s empty netter as time was winding down sealed the deal in the WorSharks 4-2 victory over the St John’s IceCaps Sunday afternoon at the Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada in front of another sellout crowd of 6,287. The win earned Worcester a split of the two game weekend series.

IceCaps goaltender Michael Hutchinson waves his glove at Worcester Sharks captain
Rob Davison's (#3) one timer during the second period of the WorSharks 4-2 win over
St John's. It was Davison's first AHL goal since March 25, 2011.
Photo courtesy of the St. John's IceCaps

For highlights we’ll do as we did Saturday and grab the video from the IceCaps YouTube channel.

Scratches for Worcester were J.P. Anderson (upper body), Jimmy Bonneau, John McCarthy, Matt Pelech (hand), Nick Petrecki, Daniil Tarasov (concussion), Matt Tennyson, and Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder. Word from the WorSharks was Tarasov skated this weekend and felt “better”, so hopefully that means he’ll be ready for action next weekend.

It hard to believe the newly acquired forward Chad Rau only has one goal for the season so far. In Saturday’s game you could tell he was still getting his feet wet in the WorSharks system, but Sunday afternoon he was in fine form grabbing an assist on Hayes’ game winner after his shot was saved by IceCaps goaltender Michael Hutchinson. All three shots Rau took were quality ones requiring more than an average-type save and his hands with the puck, at least on video, looked superb. This could turn into a very good trade for the organization if Rau can find the scoring touch he showed in previous AHL seasons.

Goaltender Troy Grosenick is showing no ill effects from his knee injury last month, picking up his third win since coming back. His goals against of 2.00 and save percentage of .930 in those three games are both right in line to where he was before his knee sprain. Right now he’s working on a personal five game winning streak. It would be six, but Sateri earned the win in the game Grosenick was injured in despite him leaving with the lead.

With no Worcester player selected for the AHL’s All Star Game it will be a four day vacation for all members of the team. Worcester continues on their usual February road trip next weekend with games in Manchester, Binghamton, and Springfield. There’s a good chance this writer will be heading out to Springfield to catch the WorSharks play the Falcons next Sunday, which will mark the start of my traditional February vacation. As usual, that’s the weekend the DCU Center returns to “Sharks Territory” and there will be a slate of home games. This season I’ll be missing two home games that weekend. Ironically, those two games are both against St John’s.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 3 Rob Davison (g)
2. STJ – 21 Kael Mouillierat (g)
3. WOR – 27 Rylan Schwartz (a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Travis Oleksuk.

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

Abeltshauser/Acolatse
Comrie/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 1 2 – 4
St. John’s 0 0 2 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Oleksuk 10 (Schwartz, DeMelo), 5:27. Penalties-Acolatse Wor (fighting), 11:25; Riley Stj (fighting), 11:25; Fleming Wor (high-sticking), 12:24.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Davison 1 (Livingston, Fleming), 14:57. Penalties-Brassard Stj (interference), 3:35; DaSilva Wor (hooking, unsportsmanlike conduct – disputing decision), 5:12; Gordon Stj (high-sticking), 6:39; DeMelo Wor (high-sticking), 15:10; Lowry Stj (tripping), 16:06.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Hayes 6 (Rau, Hamilton), 2:50 (PP). 4, St. John’s, Riley 3 (Redmond, O’Neill), 8:50. 5, St. John’s, Mouillierat 14 (Klingberg, O’Dell), 14:50. 6, Worcester, DaSilva 11 (Gourde), 19:38 (EN). Penalties-Riley Stj (tripping), 0:59; Acolatse Wor (slashing), 3:12; Abeltshauser Wor (tripping), 12:14.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-10-7-28. St. John’s 10-9-12-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 3; St. John’s 0 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Grosenick 11-5-0 (31 shots-29 saves). St. John’s, Hutchinson 7-3-0 (27 shots-24 saves).
A-6,287
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Sheldon Keough (63), Todd Horwood (34).