SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks use full team effort to down Adirondack 4-1

The Worcester Sharks may have been eliminated from playoff contention with Wednesday night’s loss to Hartford, but they put together one of their best games of the season Friday night at the DCU Center against the Adirondack Phantoms and behind multiple point nights by Adam Comrie, Freddie Hamilton, and Travis Oleksuk defeated the Phantoms 4-1 to hand Adirondack goaltender Cal Heeter his AHL leading 25th loss on the season.

Worcester Sharks defenseman Adam Comrie (#44) guards Adirondack winger Derek Whitmore
during the WorSharks 4-1 victory Friday night. Comrie had a highlight game winning goal
and an assist in the contest and was named the game's #1 star.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll do as we usually do and point to AHLlive.com. You’ll have to crank the sound up a bit because the game was on local TV here in Worcester, and that occasionally causes audio issues in the highlights package.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Konrad Abeltshauser (lower body), Sena Acolatse (leg), Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty (lower body), Brock Higgs, and John McCarthy (hand). Troy Grosenick was the backup goaltender.

There were two goals in a game where who scored them was in dispute. In the first period both Brodie Reid and Marek Viedensky took a whack at the puck as it lay just inside the crease and with a yawning net in front of it. The goal was credited to Reid, but we’ll see if that gets changed. The second was Worcester’s third goal originally credited to Freddie Hamilton and changed to Eriah Hayes. Several folks, this writer included, were waiting for the goal to be waved off because while it’s not clear from the video it was definitely clear from our vantage point the puck was redirected into the net by a kicking motion. When the goal was credited to Hamilton that would mean it was the Phantoms defenseman that did it accidentally and it would be a good goal. But when the goal was changed to Hayes that means it had to have been Hayes that kicked it in, so it shouldn’t have counted.

It’s rare for there to be three defensemen on the ice for a goal scored by a team, but Worcester did just that on Adam Comrie’s game winner when Mirco Mueller stepped out of the penalty box after serving his two minutes for boarding. Instead of skating to the bench to get an additional forward on the ice Mueller went into the offensive zone after a loose puck and in a play that was more like a veteran forward as opposed to a teenaged defenseman didn’t force the issue and let the support come to him, finding Comrie screaming into the zone unchecked by a Phantoms player. In an even more head’s up play, Mueller still didn’t go to the bench but instead headed to Comrie’s now vacant defensive spot as Comrie went in basically all alone on Adirondack goaltender Cal Heeter.

Had a great pregame conversation with WorSharks tough-guy Jimmy Bonneau. He had the night off and was going to be doing some intermission stuff during the TV broadcast so he had a few minutes to kill and struck up a conversation with several of us on the concourse behind press row. Bonneau might not make the NHL as a player, but I have zero doubt that when he’s done playing if he goes the coaching route–and he absolutely could–he will find himself behind an NHL bench someday. Bonneau also has an amazing grasp of the business side of the game and a pretty good eye for talent, so maybe a front office job could be in his future too. The one thing I would love to see is Bonneau take a shootout attempt. With three games left this season, hopefully there’s a chance.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 44 Adam Comrie (gwg,a)
2. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (33 save win)
3. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (g,a)

The boxscore lists Mirco Mueller as the game’s #1 star, but it was announced in the arena and in the radio/TV broadcast as Comrie.

The Sharkspage player of the game was Travis Oleksuk.

Even strength lines
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Tarasov/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schmidt/Rau/Schwartz
Pelech/Viedensky/Reid

The defense went out as mixed pairings throughout most of the game.

BOXSCORE

Adirondack 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 1 2 1 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 11 (Viedensky, Pelech), 5:57. Penalties-Tarasov Wor (hooking), 10:24; Mueller Wor (boarding), 18:47.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Comrie 3 (Mueller, Oleksuk), 1:01. 3, Worcester, Hayes 11 (Hamilton, Comrie), 8:41. Penalties-Brown Adk (hooking), 2:19; Oleksuk Wor (hooking), 11:28; Noebels Adk (hooking), 14:49; Tennyson Wor (goaltender interference), 15:04; Alderson Adk (hooking), 16:32.

3rd Period-4, Adirondack, Alderson 10 (Whitmore, Cousins), 0:52. 5, Worcester, Hamilton 22 (Oleksuk, DeMelo), 18:40 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 11-13-10-34. Worcester 11-13-8-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 4; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Adirondack, Heeter 16-25-2 (31 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 18-23-2 (34 shots-33 saves).
A-3,117
Referees-Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Todd Whittemore (70).