SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks lose 3-1 to Hershey, now need miracle comeback to avoid elimination

The Worcester Sharks once again couldn’t solve Hershey Bears goaltender Pheonix Copley, and with only Eriah Hayes finding the back of the net the WorSharks now head off to Pennsylvania down two games to none in their best of five series against Hershey after a 3-1 loss to the Bears Saturday night at the DCU Center. Copley had 33 saves in the winning effort, while WorSharks netminder Aaron Dell stopped 26 shots in a losing effort. Game three will be in Hershey on Wednesday night.

WorSharks forward Eriah Hayes scored the only goal for Worcester in the
WorSharks 3-1 game two loss to the Hershey Bears. Hayes had the whole net
to shoot at after being set up by a nice pass from linemate Ryan Carpenter.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll use, hopefully not for the last time, the WorSharks YouTube channel.

Worcester head coach Roy Sommer went with the same lineup as Friday night, with J.P. Anderson, Julius Bergman, Jimmy Bonneau, Daniel Ciampini, Taylor Doherty, Daniel Doremus, John McCarthy (shoulder), Joakim Ryan, and Matt Willows all scratches. Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender.

Far too often this season the WorSharks have allowed an opponent to answer a Worcester goal back in the next couple of shifts, and that happened again Saturday against Hershey when just 48 seconds after Eriah Hayes tied the score for Worcester the Bears lit the lamp to retake the lead. That all comes down to coaching, and we won’t be beating that dead horse here again.

Although on second thought, maybe we will. With the WorSharks trailing by two goals with just over two minutes remaining in the game and applying some pressure on the Bears Worcester head coach Roy Sommer did what he always does, which is stand there with his hands in his pockets while Aaron Dell continually looked over to the bench for the signal to come off for the extra attacker. All the screaming the fans were doing trying to implore Sommer to pull Dell for the extra attacker must have woken Roy up, because he finally did pull Dell with just under 90 seconds left. Sommer’s tactics when trailing late in games are the things you’d see in pee-wee hockey, and on the long list of things Worcester fans will miss about the WorSharks leaving Roy Sommer’s coaching will not be one of them.

While the final score reads 3-1 Hershey actually beat Dell four times. Late in the second period Bears forward Liam O’Brien fired a wicked wrist shot that beat Dell cleanly and bounded away from the net quickly. Referee Chris Brown emphatically gave the “wash out” sign, meaning the puck didn’t go in. This writer immediately tweeted we would be going to video review because it was clear to those around my perch that the puck did go in, hit the middle support, and came out quickly. The end of the second period was the next whistle, and we all stood by waiting for the referee to review the goal. The Bears were quick to point out one should be done, but after a brief consultation with each other the officials skated off the ice. Worcester fans from that end of the building all agreed–good goal. Only for referee Brown, not so much.

Just a scheduling note, win or lose Wednesday night there will be no Sharkspage update for the game. With my work schedule as it is and Thursday afternoon and evening being taken up by another activity there just isn’t time to put one up. If the WorSharks win game four would be Friday night with the usual Saturday morning posting happening. If they are eliminated the regular “end of season” postings will begin on Monday afternoon.

The three stars of the game were
1. HER – 5 Cameron Schilling (g)
2. HER – 14 Jim O’Brien (g)
3. HER – 30 Pheonix Copley (33 save win)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Eriah Hayes.

Even strength lines
Tarasov/Tierney/Goodrow
Lerg/Trupp/Goldobin
Hayes/Haley/Carpenter
Schwartz/Oleksuk/Langlois

DeMelo/Stollery
Young/Fedun
Tennyson/Taormina

BOX SCORE

Hershey 0 3 0 – 3
Worcester 0 1 0 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Tarasov Wor (high-sticking), 1:29; Kennedy Her (high-sticking), 6:03; Fedun Wor (roughing), 6:03; Brown Her (slashing), 14:45.

2nd Period-1, Hershey, J. O’Brien 1 (Vrana), 1:03. 2, Worcester, Hayes 1 (Carpenter), 2:46. 3, Hershey, Conner 1 (Kennedy), 3:34. 4, Hershey, Schilling 1 (L. O’Brien), 13:58. Penalties-Mitchell Her (roughing), 14:41; DeMelo Wor (roughing), 14:41; Fedun Wor (tripping), 16:18.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-J. O’Brien Her (slashing), 8:44; Brown Her (tripping), 13:44.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 9-13-7-29. Worcester 13-10-11-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0 / 2; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Hershey, Copley 2-0-0 (34 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Dell 0-2-0 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-4,045
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Robert St. Lawrence (10), Todd Whittemore (70).