SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks blow two goal third period lead, suffer 4-3 shootout loss to Springfield

The Worcester Sharks appeared to have their Saturday night contest at the MassMutual Center against Springfield Falcons well in hand entering the third period with a 3-1 lead, but a total last period collapse put the game into overtime and then to a shootout where the WorSharks eventually lost 4-3 to their western Massachusetts rivals. J.P. Anderson was the hard luck loser, stopping 40 of the Falcons 43 shots.

Worcester Sharks forward Freddie Hamilton had two assists in the WorSharks
4-3 shootout loss to Springfield. Hamilton seems to have broken out of his
cold streaking with six points in his last three games.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll point to AHLlive. The Falcons YouTube channel has a highlight package of the game that inexplicably doesn’t have any highlights in it.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Jimmy Bonneau, Andrew Blazek, Riley Brace, Taylor Doherty (hand), and Petter Emanuelsson (shoulder). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender.

So yesterday we had a brief blurb about rookie referee Alex Garon and what a great job this writer thought he did. That great job continued into the Worcester/Springfield game until 3:55 of the overtime period when Garon called Chris Tierney for the absolute worst interference minor you will ever see. That’s because, even according to Falcons fans, it never happened. It was totally a phantom make-up call for the trip Garon called on Springfield forward T.J. Tynan seconds earlier. That call itself was on the weak side, but at least Tynan actually caused someone to fall down.

In the eight plus seasons the San Jose Sharks have had their AHL affiliate in Worcester head coach Roy Sommer has blamed his players numerous times for losses. It’s to the point of being humorous, especially since Sommer leads the AHL in career head coaching losses by a substantial margin. But for Sommer to do it after Saturday’s game is a travesty. The WorSharks were outshot 14-4 in the final period of regulation, gave up two goals including the tying tally with an extra attacker with under 90 seconds to go, and then almost did the unthinkable and gave up another goal as time was winding down. During the dryscrape before overtime one would expect a head coach in that situation to rally his players and get then ready for the overtime period. Thanks to Worcester season ticket holder Christine Jaffarian, we know what Sommer was doing during the approximately seven minute break:

He was doing nothing. While Falcons head coach Jared Bednar has his team gathered in front of him as he talks to them, Sommer is standing behind his bench with his hands in his pockets saying nothing. The WorSharks then went out and had no shots on goal for the seven minute overtime. This is the guy that’s supposed to be developing players for San Jose. How can anyone with the NHL club even say their satisfied with what Sommer has done. Seriously.
     Eventually San Jose will eventually be moving their AHL affiliate out west. Where they put the team is immaterial. Until they straighten out their hockey operations both in the AHL and NHL they won’t be winning anything. You can bet the bank on that.

The three stars of the game were
1. SPR – 15 Kerby Rychel (shootout game winner)
2. SPR – 10 Marko Dano (g,a)
3. WOR – 13 Evan Trupp (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was J.P. Anderson.

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

Abeltshauser/DeMelo
Young/Fedun
Taormina/Jones

BOX SCORE

Worcester 1 2 0 0 – 3
Springfield 0 1 2 0 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Lerg 4 (Carpenter, Hamilton), 18:21. Penalties-DeMelo Wor (delay of game), 5:05; Craig Spr (roughing), 10:52.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Tierney 2 (Hamilton, DeMelo), 3:39 (PP). 3, Springfield, Dano 7 (Vogelhuber), 8:35. 4, Worcester, Trupp 8 (Fedun, Taormina), 12:53 (PP). Penalties-Sifers Spr (tripping), 3:02; Hamilton Wor (high-sticking), 6:10; Young Wor (fighting), 11:03; Anderson Spr (boarding, fighting), 11:03; Vogelhuber Spr (hooking), 16:29; Abeltshauser Wor (interference), 18:40.

3rd Period-5, Springfield, Sifers 2 (Tynan, Dano), 3:17. 6, Springfield, Tynan 4 (Craig, Adam), 18:31. Penalties-Hanson Wor (checking to the head), 6:23.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Tynan Spr (tripping), 3:26; Tierney Wor (interference), 3:35.

Shootout – Worcester 0 (Lerg NG, Tarasov NG, Tierney NG), Springfield 1 (Tynan NG, Rychel G).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-13-4-0-0-27. Springfield 13-12-14-4-1-44.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 5; Springfield 0 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Anderson 3-6-1 (43 shots-40 saves). Springfield, Dansk 5-3-0 (27 shots-24 saves).
A-3,592
Referees-Alex Garon (64).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Rich Patry (52).