SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks once again bow to Monarchs, lose 2-1

The Worcester Sharks entered 2015 on three streaks, they’d won two in a row, had gotten points in four in a row, and having lost eight in a row to Manchester. Unfortunately for the WorSharks by game’s the one streak they wanted ended was the only one going after suffering a 2-1 loss to the Monarchs Friday night at the DCU Center for their ninth straight loss to their Atlantic Division rivals. Willie Coetzee scored the only goal for Worcester, while goaltender Troy Grosenick had 31 saves in a losing effort.

Worcester Sharks forward Willie Coetzee had the only goal in the WorSharks 2-1 loss to
the Manchester Monarchs. Coetzee has a goal and two assist in four games since being
signed by the WorSharks just before Christmas. File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we, as usual for home games, look toward the Worcester Sharks YouTube channel.

With the addition of Chris Tierney over the weekend the WorSharks had a forward to scratch, and as a surprise to no one it was Jimmy Bonneau. Andrew Blazek, Taylor Doherty (hand), Eriah Hayes, and Petter Emanuelsson were the other scratches, with Hayes no longer being listed as injured. He took part in warm-ups and is considered ready to play. Word is Doherty is getting closer to returning to the line-up, perhaps in a week to ten days. J.P. Anderson was the back-up goaltender.

One thing that is starting to get old here in Worcester is the attitude of hockey operations in San Jose toward the style of play used by the WorSharks. When asked about it the party line seems to be that the AHL has an undisciplined style of play where players tend to do their own things and not necessarily follow any particular system. Well, the Monarchs play the LA Kings system and Los Angeles has won a Stanley Cup. The same can be same for the Providence Bruins and Boston. It’s also true for Wilkes-Barre and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of the twelve teams in front of Worcester in the AHL’s Eastern Conference at least eight of them use the same general system as their parent club. So one way or another, thinking AHL teams don’t–and apparently can’t–play their affiliate’s NHL system is just another in a long list of things San Jose gets wrong in their AHL franchise.

Beating a dead horse time: If for over two periods your team is playing like they’ve never taken the ice together before why would you stand there with your hands in your pockets not doing any sort of coaching during the first media timeout of the third period, as WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer did Friday night? There’s no need to answer, Worcester Sharks fans already know.

Referee Alex Garon made his first appearance calling a Worcester Sharks game. Garon is good sized, at least as big if not bigger than most of the players on the ice, and skates real well. More importantly, he called a real good game. This writer doesn’t usually scout officials, but in the extremely small sample size of a single game Garon looked to have all the tools to be a very successful referee.

As expected, there was a scoring change from Tuesday’s 6-2 win over Bridgeport, and again, as expected, it was defenseman Dylan DeMelo losing a point of out change. It was not, however, the change this writer expected to see. Instead of DeMelo’s goal being changed to Oleksuk instead DeMelo lost an assist on Greger Hanson’s goal, with the assist going to Ryan Carpenter instead.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – 16 Sean Backman (g)
2. MCH – 35 Jean-Francois Berube (22 saves)
3. WOR – 26 Willie Coetzee (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Troy Grosenick.

Even strength lines
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Hanson/Burish/Carpenter
Lerg/Trupp/Langlois
Brace/Tierney/Coetzee

Abeltshauser/DeMelo
Young/Fedun
Taormina/Jones

BOX SCORE

Manchester 0 1 1 – 2
Worcester 0 0 1 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Fedun Wor (hooking), 4:26; Van der Gulik Mch (holding), 19:42.

2nd Period-1, Manchester, O’Brien 8 (Weal), 12:00. Penalties-Hamilton Wor (delay of game), 12:50.

3rd Period-2, Manchester, Backman 7 (O’Neill, Miller), 7:24 (PP). 3, Worcester, Coetzee 2 (Tierney, Taormina), 13:23. Penalties-Bodnarchuk Mch (interference), 0:35; Tierney Wor (hooking), 5:47.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 12-8-13-33. Worcester 9-8-6-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 3; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Manchester, Berube 19-4-1 (23 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 9-6-1 (33 shots-31 saves).
A-3,061
Referees-Alex Garon (64).
Linesmen-Alex Stagnone (7), Todd Whittemore (70).