SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks get three in the third for comeback victory against Portland

The Worcester Sharks dug themselves a little bit of a hole early as they continued to have difficulty in lighting the lamp, but then the WorSharks exploded for three goals in the third period, including Freddie Hamilton’s first as a pro, to defeat the Portland Pirates 3-1 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts Friday night.

The WorSharks were hoping to carry the momentum of earning five points last weekend into the contest against the Pirates Friday night to help avenge a 7-4 drubbing in October where Portland completely outplayed the WorSharks over the last 40 minutes of that game, but those hopes were dashed just 62 seconds into the opening period when Chris Brown took Andy Miele’s feed and spun a backhander past Worcester goaltender Alex Stalock for the 1-0 Pirates lead. It was certainly a shot that Stalock would want another chance at.

For the longest time it seemed like that goal might hold up as Pirates netminder Chad Johnson, who has always played the WorSharks tough and entered the game 7-2-1 against Worcester in his career, looked to be in his usual WorSharks-killer form making several nice saves early to keep Portland in the lead. Johnson was also aided by Worcester doing what it does far too often–making that one extra pass when they should be looking to shoot. Odd man rushes by Jon Matsumoto and Bracken Kearns and Kearns and John McCarthy each fell by the wayside because an extra pass was either deflected away or brought the players too close to the net for a good shot.

Worcester also wasn’t getting much luck on the shots it was taking, with bids by both Danny Groulx and Jimmy Bonneau finding the iron behind Johnson. The WorSharks did have a glimmer of hope entering the third period after two quick penalties on Portland gave Worcester an extended five on three skater advantage to start the third period. Head coach Roy Sommer put an odd line-up on the ice for that power play, using three defenseman–Groulx, Matt Tennyson, and Matt Irwin–with Kearns and Tim Kennedy as the lone forwards. The WorSharks ran a pretty well executed set play but Irwin’s blast went just wide of Johnson. In the ensuing play Kennedy picked up a rebound of a Tennyson shot and wheeled to the far side of the net drawing the defense, and then found Kearns all alone at the near post behind Johnson for the easy score at :46 of the third.

After not having a lead in a game for 138:30 of playing time, a streak going back to late in the second period against St. John’s on Saturday night, the WorSharks would get another one past Johnson when Hamilton put his own rebound over the netminder and just under the crossbar. The play began with Hamilton receiving a pass from Brandon Mashinter and, as occasionally rookies do, Hamilton held on to the puck just a split second too long allowing Johnson to square for the shot. After the save Hamilton didn’t give up on the play and grabbed the rebound and put it in at 8:36. James Livingston had the second assist.

Portland really took it to Worcester from that point and Stalock rose to the challenge, making several key saves to keep his squad in the lead. Late in the period with Johnson pulled for an extra attacker Matsumoto would show his experience by not taking a long range shot at the empty net but instead skating a few strides before firing off a wrister to put the game on ice for the WorSharks. James Sheppard had the lone assist on that tally as Stalock ran his personal winning streak to five starts as Worcester’s points streak also hit the five game mark.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Brodie Reid (shoulder), Nick Petrecki (arm), Frazer McLaren (groin), Mikael Tam (foot), Marek Viedensky, Daniil Tarasov, and Yanni Gourde. There was very little information pregame about Petrecki’s injury other than it was not expected to be a short term injury, and that it occurred when he blocked a shot and not when he fell tangled up with a Manchester player. Petrecki is wearing a cast on his right arm that starts just below the elbow and continues past his wrist and covers his pinkie and ring finger. A couple of things about the injury. His taking the Manchester player to the ice happened after he blocked the shot, meaning he continued his physical play after what appears to be breaking a bone in his arm. Oh, yeah…he played another shift after that too. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

San Jose coach Todd McClellan was in the building for the game. It’s his first trip to Worcester since the exhibition games early in October.

Usually the visiting team’s bus beats this writer to the DCU Center by a good half hour or more as they try to make it at least two hours before puck drop, but due to heavy traffic Friday the Portland bus didn’t arrive until just after 6pm local time, or just 90 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time. The game went off on time and the Pirates looked no worse for wear.

There were some issues with “SharksVision” Friday, and the lower portion of the video board that displays the score, game time, and penalty times was not operational. There are two corner scoreboards at the DCU Center that were working, and PA announcer George Brown called out remaining penalty times as the clock wound down after being reminded to do so after the game’s first penalty. Repairs to the computer system were ongoing, and it was “temporarily working” for the third period. It was expected that permanent repairs would be completed by Saturday’s game.

As reported by old friend Chris Roy of the Maine Hockey Journal, Bracken Kearns’ goal ended Chad Johnson’s shutout streak at 113 minutes, 54 seconds, which is the longest shutout streak by a Pirates’ goaltender since David Leggio held a shutout for 122 minutes, 45 seconds from March 26, 2011 – March 30, 2011.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (gwg)
2. WOR – 16 Bracken Kearns (g)
3. WOR – 32 Alex Stalock (25 saves)

For his handful of bone crunching hits the Sharkspage player of the game was Matt Pelech.

BOXSCORE

Portland 1 0 0 – 1
Worcester 0 0 3 – 3

1st Period-1, Portland, Brown 3 (Miele, Conner), 1:02. Penalties-Louis Por (roughing, fighting), 1:38; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 1:38; Rechlicz Por (fighting), 5:22; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 5:22; Szwarz Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:06; Gogol Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:06; Sheppard Wor (slashing), 7:06; Rechlicz Por (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:22; Brown Por (boarding), 10:58; Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 13:50; Bolduc Por (cross-checking), 17:35.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Shinnimin Por (slashing), 3:24; Acolatse Wor (cross-checking), 3:24; Acolatse Wor (high-sticking), 15:22; Brown Por (holding), 19:26; Hextall Por (elbowing), 19:55.

3rd Period-2, Worcester, Kearns 4 (Kennedy, Tennyson), 0:46 (PP). 3, Worcester, Hamilton 1 (Mashinter, Livingston), 8:36. 4, Worcester, Matsumoto 3 (Sheppard), 19:21 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Portland 6-11-9-26. Worcester 13-7-13-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 3; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Portland, Johnson 3-4-0 (32 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Stalock 5-2-0 (26 shots-25 saves).
A-2,026
Referees-Keith Kaval (40).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).

Stalock, WorSharks earn hard fought 1-0 victory over Manchester

The Worcester Sharks didn’t score any goals Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center, but thanks to netminder Alex Stalock they didn’t surrender any either and then were able to get the better of the Manchester Monarchs in the shootout to claim the franchise’s first 1-0 shootout victory. The win gave the WorSharks five out of a possible six points during their divisional three-in-three weekend and propelled Worcester back to the .500 mark.

After the last time these two teams met, a 5-1 loss by the WorSharks on October 27th in Manchester where the score could have been even more lopsided had the Monarchs not pulled their collective foot off the accelerator, and with Manchester again having the night off before while Worcester played it had all the makings of an ugly situation for Team Teal. But what the fans ended up seeing was one of the best hockey games ever played at the DCU Center, with Stalock and Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones matching each other save for save.

Worcester had the shots and territorial advantage in the first period, with Jones making great saves on bids by John McCarthy and Jon Matsumoto to keep the WorSharks off the board and Stalock making big saves on a couple of Manchester bids at the other end. The highlights of the opening period were a kick save that Sena Acolatse was forced to make when a bouncing puck found its way behind Stalock and was heading toward the far post, and a shift from Nick Petrecki that lasted nearly three minutes after the defenseman was unable to make a line change while on the penalty kill. It didn’t get better at even strength as the Monarchs pinned the WorSharks in their own zone for almost a minute after the power play ended. Worcester intentionally iced the puck just to call timeout to give Petrecki a breather.

Early in the second period Worcester tried to keep pace with Manchester in an up-and-down style game, but the Monarchs fresher legs appeared to start wearing down the WorSharks. But Worcester may have gotten a little bounce back in their step after Richard Clune decided to jab at Stalock’s previously injured leg. Stalock retaliated and, of course, earned a slashing minor while Clune got off Scott-free. For a while after special teams would rule as the squads alternated power plays, with the WorSharks even having a brief five on three advantage after Manchester was called for too many men twice in about 90 seconds.

The third period was just about all Worcester, with Jones having to make save after save as the WorSharks continued to buzz the Monarchs net looking for that important first goal. The low-light of the period was on one of the few Monarchs flurries of the period Petrecki went down with looked to be an upper body injury. He went to the locker room for a short time, and returned to the bench to eventually play one more shift. After that shift it was obvious Petrecki’s night was over.

Eventually the game went to the overtime period, but with all the chances and shots going to Worcester Jones again kept the goal light off as the teams headed to the shootout. Matsumoto, James Sheppard, and McCarthy connected to Worcester while Marc-Andre Cliche and Robert Czarnik tallied for Manchester. Alex Stalock sealed the victory with a save against Tyler Toffoli in the fifth round to give Worcester it’s first shootout win since Feb 11, 2012 at Hershey.

GAME NOTES
WorSharks scratches were Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty, Brandon Mashinter, Frazer McLaren (groin), Brodie Reid (shoulder), Mikael Tam (foot), and Marek Viedensky. Doherty was considered a healthy scratch, but was held out to make sure he didn’t re-aggravate his rib injury playing three games in under 48 hours. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender.

The game marked the second time this young season that Worcester faced an opponent that had the previous night off while the WorSharks played. Over the course of the season that stat will tilt in Worcester’s favor. They were originally scheduled by the AHL for that to happen four times, but the rescheduling of the October 21st contest with Providence to March will make that five times the situation occurs. But by season’s end Worcester will have teams in the position of playing while the WorSharks have the night off seven times. Although with New England weather either of those numbers can change with a snowstorm or two.

While the WorSharks and Monarchs were combining for no goals on 65 shots down in Hartford the Connecticut Whale and Springfield Falcons were combining for 12 goals on 65 shots in the Falcons 10-2 win. What an odd game this can be.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 32 Alex Stalock (27 save shutout)
2. MCH – 31 Martin Jones (38 save shutout)
3. WOR – 7 John McCarthy (shootout game winner)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Nick Petrecki.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Clune Mch (fighting), 4:25; Kearns Wor (fighting), 4:25; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 4:38; Andreoff Mch (fighting), 7:03; Gogol Wor (fighting, misconduct – continuing altercation), 7:03; Bodnarchuk Mch (tripping), 8:22; Matsumoto Wor (slashing), 16:10.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Stalock Wor (slashing), 8:46; Kozun Mch (holding the stick), 10:05; served by Kozun Mch (bench minor – too many men), 13:35; served by Meckler Mch (bench minor – too many men), 14:58; Sheppard Wor (tripping), 16:32; Andreoff Mch (high-sticking), 18:42.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bodnarchuk Mch (hooking), 9:40; Voynov Mch (interference), 15:40.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Manchester 2 (Prokhorkin NG, Vey NG, Cliche G, Czarnik G, Toffoli NG), Worcester 3 (Matsumoto G, Oleksuk NG, Sheppard G, McCarthy G).
Shots on Goal-Manchester 5-16-6-0-0-27. Worcester 9-8-18-3-1-39.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 4; Worcester 0 / 7.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 5-2-1 (38 shots-38 saves). Worcester, Stalock 4-2-0 (27 shots-27 saves).
A-2,647
Referees-Graham Skilliter (48), Dave Lewis (46).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Robert St. Lawrence (10).

WorSharks lose 3-2 in overtime to IceCaps

The Worcester got first time professional goals from two different players and an incredible goaltending performance from Harri Sateri, but twice committed the hockey cardinal sin of surrendering goals in the last minute of periods and had a goal disallowed due to a quick whistle to result in a 3-2 overtime loss to the St John’s IceCaps Saturday night at the DCU Center. The IceCaps have never lost in Worcester.

The WorSharks are undefeated when scoring first and had the best opportunity early on in the opening period when they had a five on three power play for just over a minute, but two missed passes across the slot killed great chances and a nifty save by IceCaps netminder Mark Dekanich kept the game scoreless. It wouldn’t stay scoreless for very long when the IceCaps got a lucky bounce off an odd man rush.

When Danny Groulx got caught pinching in the offensive zone, something that happens on occasion with offensive minded defensemen, St. John’s broke in three against defender Taylor Doherty. The second year defenseman could have played it a little better, but the end result of a shot wide of Sateri was exactly what Worcester was looking for. Unfortunately for the WorSharks the lively boards at the DCU Center came back to haunt them as the puck bounded off the backboards and over to the near side of the net where Maxime Macenauer tapped the puck into a yawning net at 9:10.

In the opening minutes of the second period it was all IceCaps, and that was where Sateri single handedly kept the home town team in the game by ripping off three or four great saves in quick succession. That allowed Worcester weather the storm and regain some momentum, and they would eventually knot the game on Doherty’s first pro goal in his 70th AHL game.

The play started innocently enough with Jon Matsumoto grabbing an errant St John’s clearing attempt in the neutral zone and passing it over to Sebastian Stalberg in the middle of the ice just outside the IceCaps blue line. Stalberg threw a pass along the blue line to James Sheppard at the near side boards, and then Sheppard attempted to fire a return pass to Stalberg to lead the break in. But the pass was intercepted by Doherty as he skated into the St. John’s zone with a head of steam, and from the right wing circle with Dekanich leaning toward the near post Doherty fired a wrist shot just beyond the blocker and inside the far post at 5:14.

After another IceCaps flurry that Sateri again looked very sharp during the WorSharks would grab a lead when Travis Oleksuk took a James Livingston feed and broke into the St John’s zone. Oleksuk threw a backhand centering feed that hit either IceCaps defenseman Ben Chiarot or Worcester winger Curt Gogol–this writer thinks it was Gogol–and bounded into the net at 8:36. Doherty was credited with the secondary assist for his first two point pro game.

It looked like that despite being outshot 15-5 the WorSharks were going to escape the period with the lead, but after a nice cross crease save by Sateri the Worcester defense cleared neither the puck nor the IceCaps and on St John’s 16th shot of the period with six seconds remaining John Albert was able to push the puck over the goal line to knot the score at 2-2.

In the third period while the shots were in the WorSharks favor most of the play took place on the Worcester end of the ice, and again it was Sateri keeping his team in the game. It looked like his play would pay off for Worcester when Yanni Gourde hit a yawning open net from the right wing circle at 18:56 of the third period, but referee Darcy Burchell was out of position as he trailed the rush into the IceCaps zone and blew the whistle when he lost sight of the puck just before it crossed the goal line.

With the clock winding down on the overtime period once again the WorSharks got caught running around in their own end and with just 12 ticks remaining on the clock Paul Postma roofed a 30 foot shot over Sateri to give St John’s the extra point.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Brodie Reid (shoulder), Jimmy Bonneau, Frazer McLaren (groin), Mikael Tam (foot), Marek Viedensky, Matt Pelech, and Daniil Tarasov. Alex Stalock was the back-up netminder.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 4 Taylor Doherty (g,a)
2. STJ – 4 Paul Postma (OT gwg)
3. STJ – 16 John Albert (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Harri Sateri.

BOXSCORE

St. John’s 1 1 0 1 – 3
Worcester 0 2 0 0 – 2

1st Period-1, St. John’s, Macenauer 3 (Sawada, Albert), 9:10. Penalties-Burmistrov Stj (cross-checking), 1:36; Albert Stj (tripping), 2:35; Gogol Wor (slashing), 9:24; Kennedy Wor (roughing), 12:35; Burmistrov Stj (holding), 17:33.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Doherty 1 (Sheppard, Stalberg), 5:14. 3, Worcester, Oleksuk 1 (Livingston, Doherty), 8:36. 4, St. John’s, Albert 2 (Macenauer, Sawada), 19:54. Penalties-Gourde Wor (high-sticking), 11:09; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 16:31.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

OT Period-5, St. John’s, Postma 1 (King, Jaffray), 4:48. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-St. John’s 7-16-6-3-32. Worcester 4-5-7-2-18.
Power Play Opportunities-St. John’s 0 / 4; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-St. John’s, Dekanich 3-0-0 (18 shots-16 saves). Worcester, Sateri 0-3-1 (32 shots-29 saves).
A-2,790
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks win first roadie of the season in 3-2 victory over Providence

The Worcester Sharks got two goals from Bracken Kearns and some timely saves by goaltender Alex Stalock to defeat the Providence Bruins 3-2 Friday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island in front of a crowd announced at 7,372. The victory snaps the WorSharks road winless streak, stretching back into last season, at 12 games (0-9-3).

Even though the season is still young Worcester has already learned the lesson about how important it is to grab the first goal of the game. Entering the contest the WorSharks were undefeated in the campaign when they got that goal, and winless when they didn’t. So things were looking up for Worcester at 7:12 of the opening period when Nick Petrecki took a John McCarthy pass and fired it on net, and Tim Kennedy was there to tip it past PBruins netminder Michael Hutchinson for the 1-0 lead. Just after the tally Providence would have a great chance to knot the score when a shot broke through Stalock and was heading toward the goal line, but defenseman Danny Groulx swept in to save his netminder and keep the one goal advantage.

With the two teams playing each other so often bad blood carries over from season to season, so it was no shock when Frazer McLaren and Lane MacDermid decided to drop the mitts near the halfway mark of the period in a battle that most local observers give an edge to McLaren.

That bad blood also means physical play, and after a high sticking call on Petrecki found the WorSharks down a skater Groulx found himself on the wrong end of a borderline call to put Worcester down two skaters. Just after the PBruins had a goal waved off for a hand pass Providence would get one that counted when Carter Camper took advantage of all the extra ice to sneak in behind Stalock and bang home a Jamie Tardif feed at 15:45.

Worcester would get its first power play in the last few minutes of the opening period, and would retake the lead with a man advantage goal of their own when Groulx fire a laser on net from the left point that Kearns was just able to get enough of to redirect it past Hutchinson at 18:26. Sena Acolatse picked up his sixth point in eight games with the secondary assist.

Off the ensuing face-off Providence tough guy Bobby Robins decided he wanted to introduce himself to WorSharks winger Brandon Mashinter. That likely didn’t go as well as Robins’ planned when Mashinter twice sent the PBruins forward to the ice, and Robins was saved for further pain when the linesmen jumped in. As Robins attempted to fire up the crowd skating to the penalty bench he sported an obvious cut. Mashinter looked like a guy that just beat the snot out of someone.

The physical play continued into the second period and after Curt Gogol obliterated Christian Hanson behind the PBruins net Hanson took a run at WorSharks defenseman Matt Irwin, earning himself a boarding minor. Irwin’s defensive partner Acolatse went after Hanson, and as every opponent of Acolatse has found out Hanson discovered he was in way over his head in the battle when he was dropped to the ice by the second year defenseman. Unofficially Acolatse has never lost a pro fight (7-0-1).

Kearns would grab his second power play goal of the game at 10:41 of the middle period on sort of broken play where with no better option he put the puck on net and beat Hutchinson. Kearns took a pass from Jon Matsumoto and flipped a backhander on net from between the circles, and the fluttering puck fooled Hutchinson and made the score 3-1.

Providence would carry the play most of the rest of the way but the Worcester defense kept the great chances to a minimum and Stalock was there on the ones where he needed to be. The PBruins did make it a game with a power play goal at 14:57 of the third period by Maxime Sauve and did have a couple good chances with Hutchinson pulled, but Worcester escaped the flurry to grab the first game of their three-in-three divisional weekend.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Brodie Reid (shoulder), Jimmy Bonneau, Travis Oleksuk, Mikael Tam (foot), Marek Viedensky, Matt Pelech (suspended, game four of four), and Daniil Tarasov (has not skated for the WorSharks yet this season). Earlier this week defenseman Mike Banwell was released from his PTO, going 0-1-1, +2 and winning a fight in his brief stint with Worcester. This writer won’t be surprised if Worcester runs into Banwell on another AHL team in the future. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender, and is expected to get the start Saturday night when the WorSharks host the St. John’s IceCaps.

The two teams combined for 70 penalty minutes in the game, and were a combined 4-9 on the power play.

Bill “Mr. Stats” Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette reported this morning that the win was Alex Stalock’s 63rd for Worcester, tying him with the IceCats’ Brent Johnson for second place on the all-time city list. Thomas Greiss is the wins leader with 74.

Streaking WorSharks: Danny Groulx (g,3a), John McCarthy (g,a), Jon Matsumoto (g,a), Sena Acolatse (g,3a), Tim Kennedy (2g,2a) all have two game point streaks. Sebastian Stalberg is the only player with at least one shot in every game this season. Nick Petrecki has been even or better in six straight games.

How bad has Providence goaltender Michael Hutchinson been this season? He gave up three goals on 20 shots and his goals against average went down (to 3.75) and his save percentage went up (to .838). Both are well off his career AHL numbers.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 16 Bracken Kearns (2g)
2. PRO – 19 Carter Camper (g)
3. WOR – 22 Tim Kennedy (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Sena Acolatse.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 2 1 0 – 3
Providence 1 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Kennedy 4 (Petrecki, McCarthy), 7:12. 2, Providence, Camper 1 (Tardif, Spooner), 15:45 (PP). 3, Worcester, Kearns 2 (Groulx, Acolatse), 18:26 (PP). Penalties-Groulx Wor (interference), 2:10; McLaren Wor (fighting), 9:26; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 9:26; Petrecki Wor (high-sticking), 13:59; Groulx Wor (cross-checking), 14:53; Florek Pro (tripping), 17:19; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 18:27; Robins Pro (fighting), 18:27.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Kearns 3 (Matsumoto), 10:41 (PP). Penalties-Acolatse Wor (fighting), 3:25; Hanson Pro (boarding, fighting), 3:25; Livingston Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:59; Bourque Pro (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:59; Petrecki Wor (slashing), 6:11; Exelby Pro (holding, misconduct), 6:11; McLaren Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:35; Robins Pro (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:35; Cohen Pro (tripping), 8:53; Groulx Wor (closing hand on puck), 15:30; served by Matsumoto Wor (bench minor – too many men), 18:58.

3rd Period-5, Providence, Sauve 4 (Krug, Bourque), 14:57 (PP). Penalties-Gourde Wor (tripping), 14:09.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-5-6-20. Providence 13-8-13-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 3; Providence 2 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 3-2-0 (34 shots-32 saves). Providence, Hutchinson 0-4-0 (20 shots-17 saves).
A-7,372
Referees-Chris Cozzan (18), Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Jack Millea (23), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks grab another victory over Bridgeport, 5-2

The Worcester Sharks, coming off another bad outing where they were totally dominated in every aspect of the game in their 5-1 loss in Manchester, put together another great team effort against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and behind multiple point nights by Danny Groulx, Sena Acolatse, and Tim Kennedy, and a 33 save performance by Alex Stalock defeated the Sound Tigers 5-2 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts for their second victory in three nights against Bridgeport.

Late arriving fans missed the WorSharks jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead when John McCarthy grabbed a goal just 46 seconds into the contest. The Worcester captain broke down the left wing side and skated hard to the Bridgeport net, holding on just long enough for Sound Tigers defenseman Ty Wishart to slide across his path allowing McCarthy a clear shooting lane. McCarthy’s shot wasn’t hard, but it beat Bridgeport netminder Kenny Reiter five-hole on the game’s second shift. Assists on the tally went to Kennedy and Matt Tennyson.

Kennedy would grab a goal of his own at 5:58 to make it 2-0 with a power play tally that started with another rush on the left wing side. Kennedy circled the net and with no Sound Tiger defenseman meeting him on the other side Kennedy wheeled and fired a shot that Reiter made the save on. The rebound when right back to Kennedy, who got enough of it to flip it over the netminder and into the net. Groulx and Acolatse had the helpers on that goal.

In keeping with the theme of assisting on a goal and then scoring one of your own Groulx netted a power play tally of his own at 10:04 to give the WorSharks a 3-0 lead. Groulx and Acolatse exchanged passes along the blue line, and when no Bridgeport player marked him Groulx let one fly from about 55 feet that beat Reiter through a screen. Kennedy had the second assist.

It took until 8:10 of the second period for the theme to continue, and with assists on the last two goals it was certainly Acolatse’s turn. With the puck moving around the boards in the offensive zone it was picked up my Matt Irwin and fed to Acolatse at the right point. The second year defenseman took one stride toward the net and fired a sneaky wrister on net that hit a Sound Tigers defender and deflected past Reiter. James Livingston’s clear around the board earned him the second assist.

Bridgeport would make a game of it with two second period goals of their own. Defenseman Jordan Hill would make it 4-1 at 10:08 with a booming slapshot from the point, and Colin McDonald finished off a rebound attempt at 14:11 to get the Sound Tigers within a pair. Over the next 20 minutes of game time Bridgeport really took it to the WorSharks, but several key saves by Stalock kept the advantage at two.

Jon Matsumoto put the game out of reach at 15:43 of the third with a goal that looked like it was happening in a practice drill. The play began with a Matsumoto and Sebastian Stalberg breaking into the Bridgeport zone two on one where a great backcheck by Sound Tigers center Johan Sundstrom made Stalberg shoot the puck wide. In the ensuing play Stalberg found Matsumoto so wide open in front of Reiter that Matsumoto was able to make two different moves on Reiter while he stood five feet in front of him. Reiter made a nice save on Matsumoto’s first bid, but with no player with acres of Matsumoto he was able to grab the rebound and flip it over Reiter to make it the 5-2 final.

GAME NOTES
WorSharks scratches were Jimmy Bonneau (healthy), Taylor Doherty (ribs), Matt Pelech (suspended, game three of four), Brodie Reid (shoulder), Mikael Tam (lower body), Daniil Tarasov (healthy), and Marek Viedensky (healthy).

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 22 Tim Kennedy (g,2a)
2. WOR – 32 Alex Stalock (33 saves)
3. WOR – 14 Sena Acolatse (g,2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Danny Groulx.

Even strength lines
Sheppard/Matsumoto/Stalberg
McCarthy/Kennedy/Kearns
Mashinter/Hamilton/Gourde
Gogol/McLaren/Livingston

Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Tennyson
Groulx/Banwell

BOXSCORE

Bridgeport 0 2 0 – 2
Worcester 3 1 1 – 5

1st Period-1, Worcester, McCarthy 1 (Tennyson, Kennedy), 0:46. 2, Worcester, Kennedy 3 (Acolatse, Groulx), 5:58 (PP). 3, Worcester, Groulx 1 (Acolatse, Kennedy), 10:04 (PP). Penalties-Cantin Bri (hooking), 4:02; Gallant Bri (slashing), 9:34; Niederreiter Bri (roughing), 15:00; Gourde Wor (roughing), 15:00; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 15:00; McLaren Wor (roughing), 18:05.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Acolatse 3 (Irwin, Livingston), 8:10. 5, Bridgeport, Hill 1 (Cantin, McDonald), 10:08. 6, Bridgeport, McDonald 1 (Watkins, Donovan), 14:11 (PP). Penalties-Riley Bri (roughing), 2:00; DeFazio Bri (fighting), 4:41; Nelson Bri (goaltender interference), 4:41; Banwell Wor (fighting), 4:41; Sheppard Wor (slashing), 12:32.

3rd Period-7, Worcester, Matsumoto 2 (Stalberg, Groulx), 15:43. Penalties-Banwell Wor (delay of game), 2:08; Wishart Bri (elbowing), 6:27; Niederreiter Bri (kneeing), 16:42; Gallant Bri (fighting), 19:57; Hill Bri (hooking), 19:57; Gogol Wor (fighting), 19:57; McLaren Wor (misconduct – continuing altercation), 19:57.

Shots on Goal-Bridgeport 12-15-8-35. Worcester 19-9-18-46.
Power Play Opportunities-Bridgeport 1 / 4; Worcester 2 / 7.
Goalies-Bridgeport, Reiter 0-1-0 (46 shots-41 saves). Worcester, Stalock 2-2-0 (35 shots-33 saves).
A-2,061
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks silence Sound Tigers, win 5-1

The Worcester Sharks finally put together a full 60 minute effort on both ends of the ice and behind multiple point nights by Tim Kennedy, Bracken Kearns, and John McCarthy defeated the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-1 Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts for their first victory of the season.

Despite the opening 20 minutes being scoreless it was undoubtedly the best period of the season, at least until that point, for the WorSharks. Without several big saves in the first period from Bridgeport netminder Kevin Poulin Worcester could have easily blown the Sound Tigers right back to the Nutmeg State, but the real improvement for the WorSharks was in their own end. The shot totals say Bridgeport had five in stanza, but none were great scoring chances and were easily turned aside by goaltender Alex Stalock. Several other scoring chances were lost by Bridgeport as they were separated from the puck by Worcester blue liners, lead by Nick Petrecki who leveled at least four different Sound Tigers before the game was even 10 minutes old.

With Jimmy Bonneau suiting up for the first time in this campaign after serving an eight game suspension that carried over from last season fans figured it wouldn’t take too long for him to get back into the swing of things, and after a face-off in the neutral zone at 6:45 of the first period Bonneau found a willing dance partner in Brett Gallant. It was a spirited bout–hometown scoring gives the edge to Bonneau–after which both players exchanged sort of a “high five” while being separated by the linesmen.

During the first intermission, despite the obvious improved play by the WorSharks, several different fans were grumbling how this was looking a lot like games of last season where the WorSharks would control play for huge stretches of the contest only to fall behind when luck broke in the other direction. It took just 29 seconds of the middle period to put them at ease a little bit when Kennedy beat Poulin to the blocker side. The play began with McCarthy leading a three on two rush down the left wing side into the Bridgeport zone. McCarthy hit Sena Acolatse, who had joined the rush up the center of the ice, with a nice pass at the Sound Tigers blue line and as the defenseman crashed the net he continued the puck over to Kearns on the right wing side. Kearns fired a pass back to McCarthy just inside the left circle, where the Captain spotted Kennedy trailing the play. An easy pass over to his line mate followed by a nice wrist shot to the far post lit the lamp for Worcester.

Worcester would get a couple of power play chances, including one called against Sound Tigers defenseman Nathan McIver for throwing a check to the head of diminutive forward Yanni Gourde that was the correct call despite no real damage being done, but it was Bridgeport having the best chance over that span when Colin McDonald ripped one that beat Stalock to the glove side. But luckily for the WorSharks the puck found all iron and bounded away harmlessly. Unluckily for McIver it was Frazer McLaren that found him soon after McIver got out of the box, and after just a few seconds McIver gave up the battle after appearing to be injured by a McLaren punch. McIver went off to the locker room and did return to the penalty box before his time expired, although he did not play in the third period.

Soon after there was a scary moment when Bridgeport forward Kirill Kabanov skated over to the Sound Tigers bench obviously injured and the coaching staff started yelling at the on ice officials to stop play so Kabanov could be removed from the ice to seek medical treatment. At the DCU Center the access to the visitor’s locker room is not behind the player’s bench but is instead across from the Zamboni entrance, so play needed to be stopped to get him off the ice. At the time details were sketchy as to what happened, although spectators sitting behind the WorSharks net–the net on the Bridgeport bench side–were all calling the injury serious. Since the game ended a video was popped up that appears to show Petrecki inadvertently cut Kabanov’s right hand/wrist area with his skate as Kabanov was falling to the ice. There was no official word from the Sound Tigers last night, but sources are saying Kabanov was taken by ambulance to St Vincent Hospital, which is directly across from the DCU Center, for treatment.

A few moments later the WorSharks would make it 2-0 when Bridgeport got caught watching two Worcester forwards exchange passes from behind the Sound Tigers net. Kennedy and Kearns both touched the puck twice during the exchange, and as neither was well marked by the defense each had plenty of time to make a good play with the puck. After Kennedy’s second return pass to Kearns he went right to the front of the net drawing a crowd, which allowed Curt Gogol to skate from the bench on a line change all the way to the low slot with no Bridgeport player picking him up. With no player guarding Kearns behind the goal line he easily slid over enough to create a clear passing lane and Gogol connected on the bang-bang play at 9:20.

Acolatse would increase the WorSharks lead to 3-0 with a booming slapshot from the top of the left wing circle. The defenseman collected a nice diagonal cross ice pass from Freddie Hamilton and teed up the puck for a blast only to have McDonald slide across in an attempt to block the shot. Acolatse, who earlier in the game had taken a high hit from McDonald, got his revenge by simply out waiting the sliding forward and then ripped a blast on Poulin that beat the netminder to the stick side at 15:48. Travis Oleksuk had the second assist.

Bridgeport would finally get on the board at 8:56 of the third period with an even strength goal after Stalock stoned the Sound Tigers twice while they had the man advantage. It was some nice tic-tac-toe passing that got Brock Nelson all alone with the puck to the left of Stalock, and had Nelson waiting just a split second longer to fire it Stalock might have gotten to that shot too. But Nelson, who had 36 goals in two season with North Dakota (NCAA), knows how to score and made sure Stalock had no time to react.

Unlike the past couple of seasons where the WorSharks would sit back with the lead Worcester never took their foot off the accelerator and continued to press Bridgeport all over the ice surface. That style of play lead to a frustration slashing penalty on the Sound Tigers, and a penalty for delay of game to Bridgeport for falling on the puck gave the WorSharks a late five on three advantage. Jon Matsumoto would grab his first of the season when Sebastian Stalberg took a pass from Matt Tennyson found Matsumoto all alone at the back post behind Poulin for the easy empty netter at 18:32. Kearns would make it 5-1 with 57.8 seconds remaining with a goal that looked a lot like Matsumoto’s tally, only with Kearns a little farther away from the net. McCarthy and Kennedy had the assist on that goal.

The two teams each head away from Worcester for road game Saturday night, the WorSharks in Manchester to take on the Monarchs and the Sound Tigers in Springfield to take on the new-look Falcons, but will meet again Sunday afternoon at the DCU center for a quick rematch.

GAME NOTES
Worcester’s scratches were Taylor Doherty (ribs), James Livingston (healthy), Brandon Mashinter (healthy), Matt Pelech (suspended, game one of four), Brodie Reid (shoulder), Mikael Tam (lower body), Daniil Tarasov (healthy), and Marek Viedensky (healthy). With the WorSharks down to five healthy defenseman they dipped into the ECHL and signed Mike Banwell from Trenton. Banwell played college hockey here in New England at Maine, and has played a handful of AHL games over the past two seasons for Albany. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

Since this writer is not afraid of pointing out how poorly some AHL officials go about their jobs it’s only fair that it be mentioned when one does a good job. Pierre Lambert, who officiated in the Quebec Major Junior League last season and was doing his first AHL game, looked invisible on the ice. And in officiating, that’s a good thing. If you were to ask both coaches about the officiating of the game odds are they’d be hard pressed to come up with anything major missed. The same may not be said for the next two WorSharks games, who will have to contend with Terry Koharski in both games as he’s paired with Chris Brown Saturday in Manchester and Sunday back here with Mark Lemelin.

Even strength lines
Sheppard/Matsumoto/Stalberg
McCarthy/Kennedy/Kearns
Gourde/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Gogol/McLaren/Bonneau

Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Tennyson
Groulx/Banwell

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 22 Tim Kennedy (g,2a)
2. WOR – 14 Sena Acolatse (g)
3. WOR – 13 Curt Gogol (gwg)

This is why the WorSharks should wait until the end of the game to figure out the three stars. My original Sharkspage player of the game was going to be Nick Petrecki for all his huge hits early in the game, but now it will go to Bracken Kearns as he should have been the #2 star of the game.

BOXSCORE

Bridgeport 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 0 3 2 – 5

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Niederreiter Bri (hooking), 0:33; Kearns Wor (hooking), 1:37; Gallant Bri (fighting), 6:45; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 6:45; Kearns Wor (roughing), 16:25.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Kennedy 2 (McCarthy, Kearns), 0:29. 2, Worcester, Gogol 1 (Kennedy, Kearns), 9:20. 3, Worcester, Acolatse 2 (Hamilton, Oleksuk), 15:48. Penalties-Ness Bri (interference), 1:13; McIver Bri (checking to the head), 3:57; McIver Bri (fighting), 6:56; McLaren Wor (fighting), 6:56; Persson Bri (interference), 19:27.

3rd Period-4, Bridgeport, Nelson 2 (Landry, Ness), 8:56. 5, Worcester, Matsumoto 1 (Stalberg, Sheppard), 18:32 (PP). 6, Worcester, Kearns 1 (McCarthy, Kennedy), 19:02 (PP). Penalties-Gogol Wor (high-sticking), 6:51; Riley Bri (slashing), 16:28; Hamonic Bri (closing hand on puck), 17:33.

Shots on Goal-Bridgeport 5-8-6-19. Worcester 11-13-8-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Bridgeport 0 / 3; Worcester 2 / 6.
Goalies-Bridgeport, Poulin 3-1-0 (32 shots-27 saves). Worcester, Stalock 1-2-0 (19 shots-18 saves).
A-2,363
Referees-Pierre Lambert (39).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Robert St. Lawrence (10).

WorSharks have a devil of a time against Albany, lose 4-0

The Worcester Sharks opened their home slate of games Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts with a huge opening ceremony to mark the start of their seventh campaign, but it was the Albany Devils who controlled the ice during the game as they swept in and captured a 4-0 victory to spoil the WorSharks home opener and send many of the sellout crowd of 6,659 home early.

The WorSharks would get the first power play of the game at 5:30 of the opening period, but it was Albany that would have the best chance in those two minutes. It took a nifty save by Worcester goaltender Harri Sateri to keep the Devils off the board. Worcester had no good chances on their power play, and soon after with a delayed penalty against the WorSharks being signaled and Team Teal getting caught running around in their own end the puck ended up on the stick of Harri Pesonen standing all alone about 15 feet out in front of Sateri. Pesonen saw Adam Henrique skating out of the right wing corner all alone to make it two attackers against the lone goaltender, and Pesonen threw a nice pass to Henrique that he tipped just inside the near post for the 1-0 Devils lead at 8:53. To add further insult, it was a slash that had knocked Henrique’s stick out of his hands that was the delayed call.

Worcester best bid came about halfway through the stanza when newcomer Jon Matsumoto skated through the Albany defense and put a video game quality deke on Devils netminder Keith Kinkaid, but the puck just flipped on edge before Matsumoto’s backhand attempt and the puck went inches high over the crossbar. That miss would loom large as Albany would connect at 14:20 of the period for their first power play goal on the season when Pesonen tipped a booming slapshot from Bobby Butler past Sateri.

It was another case of “one pass too many”, something that’s already happening far too often this season for the WorSharks, that set up the Devils third goal. Rookies Travis Oleksuk and Yanni Gourde broke into the Devils zone on a two on one but fumbled pass attempts back at each other instead of either one taking a shot, and Albany recovered the puck and broke back all nearly all 200 feet for a scoring chance of their own. Jacob Josefson was the player to take the shot for the Devils about 15 feet out just inside the right wing circle, and the puck broke through Sateri and just inches over the goal line at 15:39.

After Sena Acolatse drew a boarding minor early in the third period fans were hoping that would begin a late comeback bid, but again Worcester fumbled an extra pass attempt that sent the Devils breaking into the Worcester zone where Josefson notched his second of the game at 4:13 to make it a 4-0 Albany lead. A couple of minutes later defenseman Nick Petrecki took exception to a clean hip check thrown against him by Tim Sestito and started pounding away. When Alexander Urbom skated over to defend Sestito Brandon Mashinter one-punched him to the ice. Both Petrecki and Mashinter earned double minor roughing penalties–Petrecki also received a well deserved 10 minute continuing altercation misconduct–which killed any chance of a miracle comeback.

Ironically, it was while two men down that Worcester looked its best, with John McCarthy and Matt Pelech each blocking shots and Sateri coming up big with a couple nice saves.

Things got a little chippy late in the contest after former WorSharks captain Jay Leach cross checked Freddie Hamilton twice in the back in front of the Devils bench. Pelech came over to defend his rookie teammate while Leach held on for his life wanting no real part of fighting Pelech. Leach received an extra minor for the cross check, but referee Jon McIsaac gave Pelech a game misconduct for leaving the bench to start an altercation. It looked to this writer that Pelech was already on the ice when the cross check happened. In the closing seconds Worcester defenseman Mikael Tam and Albany forward Joe Whitney looked interested in making acquaintances, but the linesmen jumped in to break the pair up.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks scratches were Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty, Curt Gogol, James Livingston, Daniil Tarasov, Brodie Reid, and Marek Viedensky. Bonneau has now served all eight games of his suspension that carried over from last season and could be in the line-up Friday against Bridgeport. Gogol and Tarasov have yet to see action for Worcester. Alex Stalock was the back-up netminder.

The WorSharks power play has been pretty bad so far this season, going a woeful 0-9 and giving up a goal on the power play Saturday night while converting on just three of 23 in their four games. Their two shorthanded goal allowed so far tie them for worst in the AHL. Worcester’s penalty kill is also near the bottom of the league as the WorSharks are averaging giving up a goal a game while shorthanded.

Worcester had 14 players that finished the game at (-1). Danny Groulx, Frazer McLaren, and Nick Petrecki were all even. Mikael Tam finished the game (-2). The only WorSharks skater that has played in all four games that is even or better is Tim Kennedy (even).

Being shut out usually ends player point scoring streaks, but Worcester has a player with a two game point streak still intact–goaltender Alex Stalock. Yes, you read that correctly. Stalock now has six career assists for the WorSharks, which is the team record for points by a goaltender. Stalock entered the season tied in that category with Thomas Greiss at four.

Telling stat of the game: Groulx, Kennedy, Freddie Hamilton, Bracken Kearns, and Yanni Gourde combined for no shots on goal. Now add to that John McCarthy, Brandon Mashinter, and James Sheppard each having just one. You can’t have a total of three shots from the players considered your “offensive weapons” and expect to win.

For any that may have missed it, the WorSharks game at Providence originally schedule for Sunday (10/21) has been rescheduled for Friday, March 1. The way Worcester is playing, that’s probably a good thing.

The three stars of the game were
1. ALB – 35 Keith Kinkaid (30 save shutout)
2. ALB – 10 Jacob Josefson (2g)
3. ALB – 18 Harri Pesonen (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jon Matsumoto.

Even strength lines
Sheppard/Matsumoto/Stalberg
Mashinter/Kearns/McCarthy
Oleksuk/Kennedy/Gourde
(spare)/McLaren/Hamilton

Groulx/Acolatse
Irwin/Tennyson
Tam/Pelech
Petrecki

BOXSCORE

Albany 2 1 1 – 4
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period-1, Albany, Henrique 1 (Pesonen, Anderson), 8:53. 2, Albany, Pesonen 1 (Butler, Larsson), 14:20 (PP). Penalties-Henrique Alb (hooking), 5:30; Groulx Wor (holding), 12:37; Leach Alb (cross-checking), 18:29.

2nd Period-3, Albany, Josefson 1 (Whitney, Larsson), 15:39. Penalties-Larsson Alb (boarding), 2:14; Leach Alb (hooking), 8:10; Henrique Alb (delay of game), 17:31; Gourde Wor (holding), 18:10; Josefson Alb (hooking), 19:29.

3rd Period-4, Albany, Josefson 2 (Sestito), 4:13 (SH). Penalties-Stalberg Wor (closing hand on puck), 0:17; Sislo Alb (boarding), 4:02; Mashinter Wor (roughing, roughing), 6:33; Petrecki Wor (roughing, roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 6:33; Sislo Alb (hooking), 9:15; Leach Alb (cross-checking, fighting), 14:05; Pelech Wor (fighting, game misconduct – leaving the bench), 14:05; Whitney Alb (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:06; Tam Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:06.

Shots on Goal-Albany 9-8-10-27. Worcester 8-14-8-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Albany 1 / 6; Worcester 0 / 9.
Goalies-Albany, Kinkaid 1-1-0 (30 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Sateri 0-1-1 (27 shots-23 saves).
A-6,659
Referees-Jon McIsaac (45).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).

Stalock, WorSharks get sunk by the Pirates, 7-4

The Worcester Sharks returned to New England after getting just one point in a two game swing into Norfolk last weekend and for 57 minutes of Friday night’s contest against the Portland Pirates played like they were still on the 12 hour bus ride back from Virginia and were overwhelmed in every aspect of the game in dropping at 7-4 contest at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine in front of 3,737 fans.

Because of video issues from the Androscoggin Bank Colisee Sharkspage was unable to see any of the game, so for the lowlights fans can check out Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and his game story and notes column. Paul Betit of the Press Herald has his story that contains a couple photos. Old friend Chris Roy, who writes for the Maine Hockey Journal, has his first Pirates story for the Sun Journal out of Lewiston.

And as usual the WorSharks have their side of the story on their official website. The Pirates site has not been updated at press time.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks scratches were Danny Groulx, Taylor Doherty, Curt Gogol, Daniil Tarasov, Marek Viedensky, Jimmy Bonneau, and Brodie Reid. Harri Sateri was the backup.

The Sharkspage player of the game was Freddie Hamilton.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 3 1 0 – 4
Portland 3 3 1 – 7

1st Period-1, Portland, Hextall 1 (Bolduc), 1:52 (SH). 2, Portland, Conner 1 (Goncharov, Werek), 4:19. 3, Worcester, Stalberg 3 (Tennyson, Irwin), 11:39 (PP). 4, Worcester, Acolatse 1 (Matsumoto, Stalock), 14:01 (PP). 5, Worcester, Gourde 2 (Hamilton, Kearns), 14:45. 6, Portland, Ekman-Larsson 2 (Brown, Rundblad), 15:09 (PP). Penalties-Goncharov Por (holding), 1:37; Lane Por (hooking), 11:21; Klinkhammer Por (hooking), 12:34; Stalberg Wor (tripping), 15:35; Gourde Wor (tripping), 18:08.

2nd Period-7, Portland, Conner 2 (Miele, Ekman-Larsson), 2:31. 8, Portland, Bolduc 1 (Szwarz, Klinkhammer), 9:20. 9, Worcester, Kennedy 1 (Hamilton, McCarthy), 13:42. 10, Portland, Ekman-Larsson 3 (Goncharov, Conner), 17:11. Penalties-Petrecki Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:36; Shinnimin Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:36; Shinnimin Por (roughing), 18:48.

3rd Period-11, Portland, Miele 2 (Conner, Rundblad), 16:56 (PP). Penalties-McLaren Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:09; Brown Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:09; Summers Por (tripping), 4:27; Shinnimin Por (delay of game), 8:48; Sheppard Wor (cross-checking), 15:08; Tam Wor (roughing), 18:32; Bolduc Por (roughing), 18:32.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-12-8-29. Portland 12-10-7-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 6; Portland 2 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 0-2-0 (29 shots-22 saves). Portland, Visentin 1-0-0 (29 shots-25 saves).
A-3,737
Referees-Jean-Philippe Sylvain (16).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Landon Bathe (80).

WorSharks announce 2012-2013 regular season schedule

A few seasons ago in a preseason interview with Sharkspage Mike Mudd, who at that time was the Worcester Sharks Vice President & Assistant General Manager, said that an early season road trip where the team could spend a few days together away from home was a great way to build camaraderie amongst the players. With the release of the American Hockey League’s 2012-13 schedule the now team President Mudd gets his wish as the WorSharks will begin their seventh campaign with a opening weekend trip to Norfolk, Virginia to take on the defending Calder Cup champion Admirals in a two game set beginning on October 12th. Norfolk heads to Worcester in mid April to complete their four game season series.

In the sometimes wacky world that is the AHL, while the WorSharks will be playing the defending championship franchise in Norfolk all of the Admirals players from last season have gone off to the Syracuse Crunch as the two organizations have switched NHL affiliations. The Tampa Bay Lighting were affiliated with Norfolk last season but have now moved on to The ‘Cuse, with the Anaheim Ducks moving their affiliation south to Virginia. The Crunch will make one visit to Worcester in late November, and the WorSharks close out their season with a game in Syracuse on April 20th.

The only changes from last season’s opponents are the addition of the Admirals to the WorSharks schedule and the dropping of the Binghamton Senators. With the trip to Norfolk Worcester will only be going to St. John’s, Newfoundland once to take on the reigning Atlantic Division champion IceCaps. Like last season they’ll play two games during the visit, meaning that despite playing in the same division they’ll meet only four times during the season. Worcester will face their other three division rivals, the Manchester Monarch, Portland Pirates, and Providence Bruins 12 times each.

Their remaining schedules breaks down to eight games against the Springfield Falcons, six vs the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, four each against the Hershey Bears, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and Connecticut Whale. The Albany River Rats and Adirondack Phantoms will each play Worcester twice, with Albany’s visit on October 20th being the WorSharks home opener.

The AHL is considered a “weekend league”, and this season is no exception with 33 of Worcester’s 38 home games coming on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Because of that the WorSharks will play three games in three days eleven times over the course of the regular season. Worcester will play all three games of those three-in-threes on the road twice, and have a home three-in-three once. The schedule is very well balanced between home and away games for Worcester, with the WorSharks longest road trip being six games in February while several trade shows take over the DCU Center for their yearly visits, and they have a handful of four game homestands.

One thing that’s noticeably missing from the schedule are the several “mad dashes” to outlying teams and back to the DCU Center for consecutive games that seem to have dotted the WorSharks schedule with alarming frequency over the years. In the upcoming campaign that happens only once, with the WorSharks playing Saturday in Hershey for a night contest and then rushing back home to take on Portland on Sunday afternoon in mid-December.

With Worcester traveling by bus to virtually all of their games hotel stays are rare for the team, and has become a tradition here at Sharkspage this writer likes to guess at the number of overnight stays the team will make. My track record is usually pretty good, and my initial guess before posting was the WorSharks would spend eight nights this season in hotel rooms. A second look at the schedule shows that prior to each of the two trips to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the WorSharks have the day off, so it’s likely the team will head out on the approximately six hour bus ride the day before, bringing the total nights in hotels up to ten.

October
Fri. 12, at Norfolk, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 13, at Norfolk, 7:15 p.m.
Fri. 19, at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sat. 20, Albany, 7 p.m.
Sun. 21, at Providence, 1:05 p.m.
Fri. 26, Bridgeport, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 27, at Manchester, 7 p.m.
Sun. 28, Bridgeport, 3 p.m.

November
Fri. 2, at Providence, 7:05 p.m.
Sat. 3, St. John’s, 7 p.m.
Sun. 4, Manchester, 3 p.m.
Fri. 9, Portland, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 10, Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Sun. 11, at Providence, 3 p.m.
Wed. 14, at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sat. 17, Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Fri. 23, at Manchester, 7 p.m.
Sat. 24, Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun. 25, Syracuse, 3 p.m.
Fri. 30, at Portland, 7 p.m.

December
Sat. 1, at Bridgeport, 7 p.m.
Sun. 2, at Providence, 3 p.m.
Sat. 8, Providence, 7 p.m.
Sun. 9, at Manchester, 3 p.m.
Wed. 12, at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Sat. 15, at Hershey, 7 p.m.
Sun. 16, Portland, 3 p.m.
Fri. 21, at Providence, 7:05 p.m.
Wed. 26, at Manchester, 7 p.m.
Fri. 28, Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 29, Providence, 7 p.m.
Mon. 31, at Manchester, 7 p.m.

January
Sat. 5, at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
Sun. 6, at Hershey 5 p.m.,
Tue. 8, at Portland, 7 p.m.
Fri. 11, Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 12, at Albany, 5 p.m.
Sun. 13, Portland, 3 p.m.
Wed. 16, Hershey, 7 p.m.
Fri. 18, Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 19, Adirondack, 7 p.m.
Fri. 25, at Springfield, 7 p.m.
Sat. 26, Providence, 7 p.m.

February
Fri. 1, at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sat. 2, Providence, 7 p.m.
Tue. 5, at St. John’s, 6 p.m.
Wed. 6, at St. John’s, 6 p.m.
Sun. 10, at Bridgeport, 3 p.m.
Fri. 15, at Springfield, 7 p.m.
Sat. 16, at Adirondack, 7 p.m.
Sun. 17, at Providence, 3 p.m.
Fri. 22, Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 23, Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun. 24, Springfield, 3 p.m.

March
Sat. 2, at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun. 3, at Springfield, 3 p.m.
Sat. 9, Providence, 7 p.m.
Sun. 10, Portland, 3 p.m.
Wed. 13, W-B/Scranton, 7 p.m.
Fri. 15, W-B/Scranton, 7:30 p.m.
Fri. 22, at Springfield, 7 p.m.
Sat. 23, Providence, 7 p.m.
Sun. 24, Hershey, 3 p.m.
Wed. 27, Manchester, 7 p.m.
Thu. 28, at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Sat. 30, St. John’s, 7 p.m.

April
Tue. 2, Bridgeport, 7 p.m.
Thu. 4, at Bridgeport, 11 a.m.
Sat. 6, Springfield, 7 p.m.
Sun. 7, Manchester, 3 p.m.
Fri. 12, Norfolk, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 13, Norfolk, 7 p.m.
Sun. 14, at Manchester, 3 p.m.
Wed. 17, Springfield, 7 p.m.
Fri. 19, at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
Sat. 20, at Syracuse, 7:30 p.m.

In one afternoon WorSharks go from pretenders to contenders

It’s amazing how six hours during a hot summer day can turn a team from pretender to contender, but San Jose showed it’s possible by announcing several signings during day two of the NHL’s free agency period that, at least on paper, turned the Worcester Sharks from cellar dwellers to a team that not only looks like it should be able to contend for the American Hockey League’s Eastern Conference Atlantic Division but has the potential to go deep into the Calder Cup playoffs.

It started off with news that wasn’t unexpected, with San Jose announcing the signings of a couple of their restricted free agents; defenseman Matt Irwin and goaltender Alex Stalock. Both are former AHL All-Stars, and while they were each expected to be rejoining the WorSharks for the upcoming season it was good to hear their signings were taken care of quickly. Also announced by San Jose was the signing of Bracken Kearns, a 6’1″ 205 pound forward who is a veteran of 407 career AHL games. Kearns is coming off back-to-back 20 goal seasons with the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. Ironically, Kearns first career AHL game was under current WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer while the organization was in Cleveland as the Barons. Kearns had an assist in that game late in the 2005-06 season.

The shocking news in the opening salvo of signings was the announcement of the return of 2009-10 Eddie Shore Award winner (AHL’s best defenseman) and AHL All-Star Danny Groulx from the KHL. After his breakout season with the WorSharks Groulx went over to the KHL for two seasons, but never saw the success he had in his year in the Sharks organization. His puck moving skills and ability to captain a power play will be welcomed back to the WorSharks line-up.

Later in day the word began to leak out that San Jose re-signed unrestricted free agent John McCarthy to a two year contract. The left winger, a charter member of the “Crazed Rats” Line (with Dan DaSilva and current San Jose forward Andrew Desjardins) which won the team’s Unsung Heroes Award in McCarthy’s rookie season, is a proven AHL commodity that has been given a chance by Doug Wilson to show he has the skills to play in the NHL full time. Reportedly the second year of McCarthy’s offer is a one-way deal, meaning that’s a make-or-break year for him in the organization.

Just when the roars from Worcester began to die down Florida Panthers unrestricted free agent Jon Matsumoto tweeted that he was now part of the San Jose organization. Matsumoto, who was the Philadelphia Flyers third round pick (#79 overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, is coming off his fifth consecutive 20 goal AHL season. He would certainly be considered one of the top AHL players available through free agency, with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beat writer Jonathan Bombulie ranking Matsumoto as the seventh best AHL player available in the off season. For comparison’s sake, Bombulie has former WorSharks players Benn Ferriero ranked #23 and Tyson Sexsmith at #62.

Neither the McCarthy nor Matsumoto signings have been officially confirmed by San Jose by posting time.

Tuesday, which was day three of free agency, brought some mixed news out of Worcester. The good news was the team signed enforcer Jimmy Bonneau to an AHL contract. Bonneau set the WorSharks team record last season with 22 fighting majors and was tied with Matt Pelech as the leaders on the team in penalty minutes (168). Bonneau will have to wait a little while before starting an attempt to break his own team fights record as he still has three games to serve on his season ending suspension from last season. The bad news was not all that unexpected, but it was still sad for Worcester fans to officially hear of the departure of captain Mike Moore when he signed a contract with the Nashville Predators organization. If there is a player that personifies what being a WorSharks player is supposed to be all about it’s Moore, and this writer thinks Moore’s number 8 should be raised to the DCU rafters in the near future.

Some of the following players will likely have spots in San Jose, but just throwing them together in some theoretical lines–and including players that have been qualified but have not yet been re-signed–we end up with these lines. Players with an asterisk can be sent to the ECHL because they are on either AHL contracts or are on entry level NHL deals. Players with a pound sign can also be sent back to juniors for an over-ager year.

Kennedy/Matsumoto/Stalberg*
McCarthy/Kearns/Hamilton*
Mashinter/Oleksuk*/Gourde*
McLaren/Viedensky*/Tarasov*
Bonneau*/Reid*/Livingston*
Gogol*

Irwin/Groulx
Acolatse*/Petrecki
Tennyson*/Pelech
Doherty*
Abeltshauser#

Stalock
Sateri*
Heemskerk*
Anderson#

WorSharks summer report

With the NHL and AHL free agency period set to start tomorrow this is a good time to see what the Worcester Sharks roster looks like heading into the chaos of the mad summer scramble for free agents, and some other news from around the AHL.

Minor league rosters tend to have a decent amount of turnaround from season to season, and this coming season doesn’t look like it will be an exception. The WorSharks have just 10 players that ended last season with years remaining on their contracts and are expected to play in the AHL next season. Forwards Brodie Reid, James Livingston, Marek Viedensky, Curt Gogol, and Sebastian Stalberg; defensemen Sena Acolatse, Taylor Doherty, and Matt Tennyson; and Harri Sateri should all see significant time wearing the “W” shield logo of the WorSharks. Goaltender Thomas Heemskerk is also under contract to San Jose, but barring injuries looks to be heading back to the ECHL for his second pro season.

San Jose has three prospects that have graduated from the Canadian junior levels that are eligible to join the WorSharks for next season, lead by highly touted forward Freddie Hamilton, who averaged just under a point per game in four seasons with the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL. Defenseman Konrad Abeltshauser, who played for the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, is coming off his best season in juniors but rumors coming from the local media in Halifax are hinting that San Jose may assign him back to the Mooseheads for an over-age year. Doing so burns a year off his entry level contract, so the Sharks will have to be certain it’s the right thing to do for his development. Goaltender J. P. Anderson rounds out the junior group, and if he’s not returned to Sarnia Sting of the OHL for an over-age year of his own he’s likely headed to San Jose’s ECHL affiliate.

UM-Duluth forward Travis Oleksuk was signed as a collegiate free agent by San Jose, and is another player expected to pump up the offense of the WorSharks next season.

The organization has several restricted free agents (RFAs), many of which earned contract offers from the San Jose Sharks. The players offered contracts, which virtually guarantees they’ll be returning to the organization, are defensemen Matt Irwin, Matt Pelech and Nick Petrecki; forwards Tim Kennedy, Brandon Mashinter, and Frazer McLaren; and goaltender Alex Stalock. While it hasn’t been officially announced by the Sharks yet there are very credible reports Irwin has re-signed with San Jose for a one year, two-way deal.

The players not offered NHL contracts by San Jose were Benn Ferriero, Tony Lucia, James Marcou, Cameron MacIntyre, and Tyson Sexsmith, who along with John McCarthy, Mike Moore, and Ben Guite will be unrestricted free agents (UFAs) come July 1st. Additionally, the WorSharks had several players under AHL contracts that will also be UFAs, including Nathan Moon, Jack Combs, Ryan Del Monte, Brain O’Hanley, and Jimmy Bonneau. Del Monte has already signed a contract with Starbulls Rosenheim of the 2nd Bundesliga (Germany) so he will not be returning to the WorSharks next season, and there are several unconfirmed rumors Combs is also headed overseas. With San Jose having sent a contract offer to McLaren one has to wonder if enforcer Bonneau, a fan favorite, is in the organization’s plans for next season.

Since the end of last season the WorSharks have already signed two free agents forwards, Yanni Gourde and Daniil Tarasov, to contracts with the club. Gourde, who skated in four games with the WorSharks to end last season notching a goal and two assists, won the Jean Béliveau Trophy as the QMJHL’s top scorer and the Michel Brière Memorial Trophy and the league’s MVP. The four year veteran of the Victoriaville Tigres was also named a QMJHL First Team All-Star. Tarasov, a native of Russia, played the last two seasons with the Indiana Ice of the USHL and put up an impressive 84 goals and 132 points in 117 games. Last season he was named to the All USHL First-Team.

While there’s been nothing close to an official announcement from the Sharks organization one of the most prevalent rumors is the organization will be switching its ECHL affiliation from the Stockton Thunder to the expansion San Francisco Bulls. Organizationally the Sharks do not believe in using the ECHL much for player development, so other than what will likely be two goaltenders fans shouldn’t expect many other San Jose owned players to be playing for the Bulls next season.

Despite both the NHL and ECHL having released their schedules for next season the AHL still has not done so as they share some arenas with NBA teams and must wait until those schedules are out to finalize their own. With no franchise relocations happening this off-season the WorSharks schedule should be much like this past season’s. There was an affiliation switch recently, with the Calder Cup champion Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch trading NHL partners. The Admirals are now the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, while the Tampa Bay Lightning have affiliated with the Crunch. Worcester did not play the Admirals last season as they instead had two trips into Canada to play at St. John’s.

The AHL does allow teams to announce a handful of dates before the entire schedule is finalized, and with that the WorSharks have announced six home dates for next season and the promotions involved with those games.

Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 – opening night at the DCU Center
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012 – Sharks player autograph card giveaway
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 – Sharks movie poster giveaway
Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 – postgame fireworks
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013 – bobblehead night & Auburn vs. Wachusett HS Doubleheader
Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013 – Shrewsbury vs. Algonquin HS Doubleheader

There was some divisional movement in the Western Conference announced by the AHL a few days ago, with the Abbotsford Heat (Calgary) moving to the North Division, the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit) moving to the Midwest Division, and the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina) moving to the renamed South Division. The WorSharks did not play any teams from the Western Conference last season.

There were several rules changes announced by the AHL for next season, with the biggest being video review will now be used to determine goals when appropriate. The referees on ice will have total control of the system and determine its use, and will view replays from a monitor at the scorer’s table. The AHL has also adopted two of the NHL’s rule changes that include a minor penalty for covering the puck with an open hand to prevent an opponent from playing the puck, and the rule that penalizes players in face-offs from using their hands to deflect the puck.

The AHL will also be testing a new icing rule for the first month or so of the season. The rule is if the puck has already crossed the goal line on a potential icing play the players will no longer race to touch the puck but will race across an imaginary line between the two defensive zone face-off dots. If the defender wins the race the play is blown dead and icing is immediately called. If the attacker wins the race play continues until one of the two players touches the puck under the previous rule. If the puck has not crossed the goal line when the players break the plain of the imaginary line play will continue under the previous rule.

A look at this season’s free agent list for the WorSharks

With the off-season for the San Jose Sharks and Worcester Sharks coming far too soon for fans’ tastes, the focus now goes to the draft and free agency. Below is a list of free agents that spent time on the WorSharks roster this season and what this writer thinks the chances are they’ll be back in the organization next season.

NHL UFA
Ben Guite – While we’d like to see what Guite could do over a whole season without being injured the fact is he isn’t what the WorSharks really need. They need play makers and goal scorers, and Guite just doesn’t do either of those things very well. He was one of the better players Worcester had this season, which in itself explains why the team failed to make the playoffs. Fans probably wouldn’t mind if he was back here next season though.
Will he be back: Probably not

John McCarthy – McCarthy is an unrestricted free agent because he fell into the Group VI category, so unless San Jose is going to give the WorSharks leading point scorer a serious look next season there likely is little reason the Sharks will be bringing him back. He’s a solid AHL second liner, but unfortunately because of a lack of goal scorers in Worcester he was forced to play top line minutes. He does not have NHL top-6 upside.
Will he be back: Probably not

Mike Moore – Moore is everything an AHL team wants, a solid player that’s a great leader on and off the ice. But what Moore wants is a legitimate shot at the NHL, which is something he’s not going to get in the San Jose organization. After four full seasons here he’s certainly earned the right to move on to give himself a better shot at his dream.
Will he be back: Almost no chance

Andrew Murray – Murray was originally signed to play for the WorSharks but made San Jose’s roster out of camp. Were it not for the Sharks deciding to give guys like Tommy Wingels and Benn Ferriero a serious look Murray would likely have spent the entire season in San Jose. He was pretty good while in Worcester until a concussion ended his season. Murray will most certainly be looking for a full time NHL contract next season, and San Jose probably will be looking elsewhere.
Will he be back: Doubtful

Antero Niittymaki – The less said the better.
Will he be back: Not a chance

NHL RFA
Benn Ferriero – Ferriero was given his shot in San Jose and apparently didn’t impress as he wasn’t in the line-up after playing March 20th in Los Angeles. Ferriero doesn’t have the skill set to play on an NHL third or fourth line and doesn’t have the talent to be a top six forward. Worcester fans would sure like him back, but that’s probably not enough.
Will he be back: Unlikely

Matt Irwin – The second year defenseman started off on a hot streak but cooled as the season progresses, and seemed to regress a little bit after his brief recall to San Jose. There’s just way too much upside on Irwin to let him walk away for nothing.
Will he be back: Probably

Tim Kennedy – As the player returned in the Sullivan deal Kennedy gave the offense a must needed shot in the arm when he got here. He’s the kind of player where in the first half of the game you wonder why he’s not in the NHL, and in the second half you realize why. San Jose will probably want to give him a chance next season to show what he can do, but it will likely be just one chance.
Will he be back: Probably

Tony Lucia – Lucia lost a lot of the last two seasons with concussion issues, but when he played he was certainly good enough for San Jose to give him another season to show what he can do with a full healthy season. But he’s probably only going to get one chance to show he can play and stay healthy for a full season.
Will he be back: Likely

Cam MacIntyre – The oft injured MacIntyre was signed to a two year one way NHL contract without ever playing a single NHL game, and after playing just 66 AHL games over the last two seasons it’s now fair to call MacIntyre a bust. Because he was a free agent player San Jose didn’t lose anything but salary on him, and I can’t see the financially conscious Sharks putting another dollar into this project.
Will he be back: Unlikely

James Marcou – Like Lucia, Marcou has lost most of the last two season with concussion issues. But unlike Lucia Marcou was mostly ineffective when he did play, performing decently on the power play but was basically invisible at even strength. Since most of the game is played at even strength that’s a huge issue. His lack of size and inability to play any type of physical game is a huge issue at the pro level. Unless San Jose is looking for a power play specialist in Worcester he’ll be looking for a job over the summer
Will he be back: Unlikely

Brandon Mashinter – For Mashinter it depends on which one decides is going to show up. Is it the one that wants to be a power forward and battle in front of the net, or is it the one that fancies himself a goal scorer and doesn’t go to the net very often and shoots from all over the ice? We’ll take the power forward Mashinter, but the goal scorer Mashinter isn’t good enough to bother with. He has too much upside to cut loose right now.
Will he be back: Probably

Frazer McLaren – McLaren has some real issues due to mixed messages from the organization. In Worcester he’s supposed to be penalty killing third/fourth liner that gets a regular shift and fights a little, in San Jose he’s supposed to be a fourth line enforcer that doesn’t play hardly at all and play the enforcer role. What the organization ended up with is a kid that doesn’t know what his job is supposed to be and is now not good at any of them.
Will he be back: Long shot at best

Matt Pelech – Simply put, Pelech is the type of player every minor league team needs to have. Solid player on the ice, great person in the locker room. He’s the kind of player young draft picks can learn a lot from to help in their development, and in an organization that believes in “draft and develop” that kind of asset is mandatory. It’s been obviously lacking the last couple of seasons.
Will he be back: It’s probably 50/50, but if San Jose was smart they’d do everything within reason to re-sign him.

Nick Petrecki – After starting the season looking like an NHL defenseman Petrecki took some giant steps backwards in his development by committing the same dumb penalties that plagued his first two seasons. Petrecki also stumbled in other areas of his game that lead to him being a healthy scratch several times this season. To be blunt, he should be paying attention to how Matt Pelech goes about his business on the ice.
Will he be back: Probably, as a first round pick SJ is going to give him every chance it can to pan out.

Tyson Sexsmith – Sexsmith came into camp and was hard to recognize both on and off the ice as he was totally healthy for the first time in his pro career. He finally looked like the goaltender he was supposed to be, but it may be a case of “too little, too late” as San Jose has another goaltender entering the organization and there’s only room to sign one RFA goaltender and the Sharks have two.
Will he be back: That’s the big question over the summer, this writer is guessing no.

James Sheppard – He did virtually nothing in his conditioning stint here, but there’s no way San Jose cuts him loose after acquiring him last season knowing getting him on the ice in an NHL game was a long shot at best.
Will he be back: Virtually guaranteed

Alex Stalock – With a near miraculous comeback from a career threatening nerve injury to his leg Stalock appears to have made a full comeback in the few games he played this season. The problem is he played some of those games for another organization, which is usually a sign that player isn’t part of his own team’s plans. But this case might be different.
Will he be back: That’s the big question over the summer, this writer is guessing yes.

Tommy Wingels – Wingels was great for Worcester and was solid in his season end stint in San Jose. There isn’t a chance the Sharks don’t try to bring him back next season.
Will he be back: Absolutely

AHL UFA
Jimmy Bonneau – Goons are usually a dime-a-dozen type of player, but the WorSharks may have found one that’s worthy of keeping around for another season. Bonneau is one of the true heavyweights in the AHL, and while no one will compare him to Mario Lemieux he can certainly play enough to not hurt the team while he’s on the ice. Plus most enforcers don’t wear an “A”, but Bonneau did. That speaks volumes.
Will he be back: Like Pelech it’s probably 50/50, but if the WorSharks were smart they’d do everything within reason to re-sign him

Jack Combs – After joining the WorSharks mid-season Combs was on a scoring pace not seen in these parts in a long time. But as the season continued on Combs pace evened out a little, but he remained one of their best offensive threats. With virtually no defensive abilities Combs is the kind of player that will make his money in Europe, and that’s probably where he’s headed after this campaign.
Will he be back: Likely not

Yanni Gourde – The kid played just three games on an amateur try-out and made on thing very clear: he can flat out play. If fans don’t hear of Gourde signing an NHL contract over the summer they seriously need to question the scouting abilities of their organization.
Will he be back: Virtually guaranteed

Ryan Del Monte – He was the standard ECHL “filler” in an AHL line-up. He’s not bad, but he’s hit his ceiling. he can kill penalties, but that’s not such a rare skill that is means he’ll be back next season.
Will he be back: Likely not

Nathan Moon – A solid AHL player in the mold of Andrew Desjardins. He likely earned an NHL contract with his play during the season, and with lots of open slots San Jose has ample opportunity to give him a chance.
Will he be back: Probably

Brain O’Hanley – When the WorSharks ended up a little short on defense they dipped into the ECHL for O’Hanley, who was signed to an AHL contract for the best reason a player could be: Worcester knew he wouldn’t be available if they needed him again. San Jose is probably going to have a glut of defenseman again to start the season, only this time around O’Hanley will not be available if needed as some other organization will surely be grabbing him over the summer.
Will he be back: Likely not

A look back at some games where the WorSharks may have cost themselves some points

Every team can look back at some games during their season as say “if only…” in regards to contests they should have won or points they could have gotten for getting games into overtime. With the WorSharks finishing 13th of 15 teams in the American Hockey League’s Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs by ten points they would need a lot of those “if only” type games to make a difference. Well, they did had a lot of them.

This is a list of every game where the following happened to either team in a game the WorSharks were involved with:
A three goal lead at any point was lost
A two goal lead in the 3rd period was lost
A tying or game winning goal scored in the final three minutes of regulation
Also, the list includes games where if the WorSharks had scored just three goals they would have likely earned at least a point

The list doesn’t specifically include overtime/shootout losses unless something “out of the norm” took place that potentially caused a that bonus point to swing one way or the other, nor does it include games where Worcester may have potentially gained and lost points in the same contest. Also not listed were games like Worcester’s 5-1 loss to Manchester on March 25 where the WorSharks were playing their only game of the weekend while their opponent was playing their third game in 44 hours.

One thing to also remember is in games where Worcester potentially lost points their conference rivals also potentially gained points.

Points lost in standings
10/21/11 4-3 SO loss at Providence: Wor led 2-0 in 1st period, and 3-1 with 19:32 left in 3rd period. Gave up tying goal with 30 seconds left in regulation.
10/29/11 3-2 SO loss to Connecticut: Wor failed to score on an OT power play
11/05/11 3-1 loss to St. John’s: Wor allowed two power play goals and an empty net goal
11/12/11 2-1 loss to Manchester: Wor had one goal on 47 shots
11/13/11 3-2 loss to Providence: Wor two goals on 49 shots
11/16/11 3-2 OTL at Springfield: Mike Connolly missed penalty shot in overtime.
11/18/11 3-2 OTL at Manchester: Wor allowed two shorthanded goals in game
11/23/11 2-1 loss at Manchester: Wor allowed game winner with 88 seconds left in regulation
11/26/11 3-1 loss to Portland: Wor went 0-7 on the PP
12/04/11 2-1 SO loss at Manchester: Wor had one goal on 39 shots
12/18/11 3-1 loss at Manchester: Wor had one goal on 41 shots
01/20/12 3-2 loss at Providence
01/22/12 3-2 SO loss to St. John’s
02/03/12 3-2 loss at St. John’s
02/10/12 3-1 loss to Manchester
02/18/12 3-1 loss to Connecticut: Wor allowed three 3rd period goals
02/24/12 5-3 loss to Providence: Wor allowed four 3rd period goal to lose 3-1 lead.
02/28/12 2-1 SO loss to Connecticut: Wor scored one goal on 34 shots
03/06/12 3-2 loss to Bridgeport
03/10/12 2-0 loss to Providence: Wor no goals on 34 shots
03/27/12 5-4 loss at Bridgeport: Wor lost leads of 3-0 and 4-1
04/01/12 3-2 loss to Springfield
04/06/12 3-0 loss at Providence: Wor no goals on 34 shots
04/07/12 5-4 SO loss at Portland: Pirates used ineligible shooter in shootout, who then scored game winner
04/13/12 3-1 loss to St. John’s
04/14/12 3-2 loss at Adirondack: Wor two goals on 50 shots

Points gained in standings
11/25/11 4-3 OTL in Portland: Wor scored two 3rd period goals to get game into OT
12/11/11 5-3 win in St. Johns: Wor scored four 3rd period goal to erase 3-1 deficit
12/30/11 4-3 win vs Connecticut: Wor scored game winner at 17:04 of 3rd period
01/06/12 4-3 SO loss in Springfield: Wor scored game tying goal with 41 seconds left in regulation
01/22/12 3-2 SO loss vs St. John’s: Wor scored game tying goal with 87 seconds left in regulation
01/28/12 3-2 OTL in Manchester: Wor scored two 3rd period goal to erase 2-0 deficit
02/11/12 3-2 SO win at Hershey: Wor scores game tying goal 76 seconds left in regulation

There’s a lot more points potentially lost than gained by Worcester, and it’s amazing what scoring just three goals per game would have done for their playoff chances.

The “210 Awards” for the WorSharks 2011-2012 season

With the Worcester Sharks regular season campaign coming to an end without a playoff run for the second season in a row, it’s time to start with the end of season paperwork. Up first are the “210 Awards”. For those new to the “210 Awards”, they are a mix of serious and (hopefully) slightly humorous awards named for the moniker this writer uses on many message boards. This season’s winners are:

Best Forward: John McCarthy is the easy winner here, and that explains why this team wasn’t very good offensively. McCarthy is a solid hockey player, but if he’s your best offensive player you aren’t going to win many games. And the WorSharks didn’t.

Best Defenseman: Mike Moore gets the nod for this one, and his importance on the blue line was obvious when he served a three game suspension and the WorSharks were pathetic defensively without him. Actually, now that this writer thinks about it, as poorly as the WorSharks played while he was out teams with pathetic defenses would be offended to be compared to Worcester.

Tough Guy Award: Jimmy Bonneau returns the award back to the fighters after two seasons of Andrew Desjardins winning for gritty play. Bonneau broke the WorSharks record for most fighting majors in a season (22) and led the team with 168 penalty minutes. It was amusing to watch players skate away from him while he was on the ice.

Best Single Game Performance: Harri Sateri and his 49 save performance over the Manchester Monarchs on April 10th wins the award. It was a must win game for the WorSharks to keep their slim playoff hopes alive and it was the start of a great run statistically for Sateri to end the season.

Most Improved: Tyson Sexsmith went from being near the bottom of the goaltending depth chart to being the most solid goaltender in the organization. Worcester’s anemic offense caused Sexsmith’s record to not look that great (13-12-7), but more often than not he was the reason the WorSharks were in most games. His play this year is going to cause San Jose some issues over the summer about which free agent goaltenders they’ll be bringing back for next season.

Seventh Player: Matt Pelech is this season’s 7th player. Pelech started the season a healthy scratch for many games but became a mainstay in the WorSharks line-up after being thrust into the role of forward and being able to really show the physical side of his play. He also was one of the best shot blockers on the team, and occasionally had leg issues because of the sheer number he blocked.

Rookie of the Year: Sena Acolatse wins this one despite a huge season end rush from Sateri. Acolatse was one of the most feared members of the self nicknamed “goon squad”, and took on all comers without being on the wrong side of the decision very often this season. If Acolatse follows the developmental curve many young defenseman do this kid could be scary in a few seasons.

Most Valuable Player: Sexsmith continues the streak for goaltenders winning the MVP award for the WorSharks. If you watched Worcester at all this season two things were certain: the “goon squad” was going make it as uncomfortable for an opponent to play as possible, and Sexsmith was going to give the team a chance to win with a solid effort each and every night.

The Sharkspage Player of the Year: Sexsmith, who was named Sharkspage player of the game most (7) over the course of the regular season.

So now that we’ve gotten the serious awards out of the way, here’s a few that this writer thinks should be handed out…

The Two-By-Two Award: Matt Irwin, for having the most penalty minutes without major.

The Man In The Box Award: Tony Lucia, for being in the penalty box for the most power play goals against (7) for Worcester.

The Dead-Eye Award: Taylor Doherty, for having the lowest shooting percentage of any player with 50 or more shots on goal. Doherty went scoreless in 74 shots on goal.

The Grammy Award: Bonneau, for averaging 3.11 penalty minutes per game.

The Buzzer Beater Award: McCarthy for his goal at 19:59.9 of the first period December 11th in St John’s.

The Trick Shot Award: Tommy Wingels for his breakaway tally that he shot over the net…that then went off the glass, rolled off the top of the net over the crossbar, hit the back of the goaltender, and rolled into the net on December 11th in St John’s.

The Golden BB Award: Jack Combs for scoring on his first shot as a Worcester Shark on December 16 in Albany.

The Let Me See If I can Do That Again Award: Combs, for scoring on his second shot on goal in the same game.

The Roster Award: Nick Petrecki, who might want to brush up on which players are on his on his team and which players aren’t. Here’s a hint for next season: the guys you practice with every day are usually on your team, so they should be relatively easy to identify at a moment’s notice. It’s also wise to know the faces and names of the people who run the building you play in. Just sayin’.

The Rent Is Due Award: Justin Braun, who despite playing almost all season in San Jose was still paying his portion of the rent in the apartment he agreed to rent with some WorSharks teammates.

The Google Maps Award: To whoever is responsible for the WorSharks schedule this season. It’s inexcusable the number of times Worcester had a home game on Friday, then had to bus 3.5 or more hours to a Saturday road game, only to then have to rush home for a 3pm Sunday start in Worcester. If the AHL requires some help in making a sensible schedule for next season over the summer this writer will gladly lend a hand and will guarantee a better schedule for every team.

The David Haas Award: For the fifth time in six seasons, there is no winner of this “prestigious” award that goes to the player with the most talent that chooses to use none of it. There was a push by some to name WorSharks GM Wayne Thomas for this award, but the committee–namely, me–figured this should only go to a player, so it stays on the shelf collecting dust.

Usually the last award mentioned is the Haas, but this year we break tradition and add one more:

The Thanks for Everything Award: To Captain Mike Moore, who after four seasons with the WorSharks appears to heading off in search of a full time NHL roster spot. Good luck wherever you land Mike, and you’ll always have a home here in Worcester (except if you’re wearing an opponent’s jersey, then for 60 minutes we won’t like you as much).

WorSharks are Gourde against Hershey Bears, win 3-2 in season finale

The Worcester Sharks ended the final weekend of the regular season on an up note as amateur try-out player Yanni Gourde scored his first professional goal and assisted on both other WorSharks tallies during a 3-2 victory over the Hershey Bears Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 5,810 fans.

With neither team playing for anything other than pride–the WorSharks were out of the Calder Cup playoff race and the Bears had their spot in the standings secured–fans were unsure of what type of game they would be in store for. Those in attendance, including a couple of busloads from Hershey, saw a spirited contest full of young players on both teams fighting hard for potential roster slots next season. They also some some great goaltending, with Worcester’s Harri Sateri and the Bears Scott Greenham combining to make 66 saves on 71 shots.

The first goal of the game went to the Bears after a WorSharks turnover deep in their own end. Hershey center Mike Carman grabbed the loose puck at the halfboards to the right of Sateri and threw a nice pass to former Boston College standout Barry Almeida between the circles. Almeida, playing his first game for Hershey, snapped off a one-timer that lit the lamp at 2:57 of the opening period.

Worcester got the equalizer at 8:12 after a great shift where they had a few good attempts turned aside by Greenham. After keeping the pressure on in the Bears zone Matt Irwin had a good look at the net from in close, but Greenham made the save. The Hershey defense whiffed at clearing the rebound away and the puck slid right to Gourde high between the circles. Gourde, the leading point getter in the QMJHL this season, did what a goal scorer does and almost shot the puck through the back of the net with a laser Greenham had no chance at all on. Ben Guite had the second assist on the goal.

Unfortunately for the WorSharks it took Hershey just 12 seconds to retake the lead as all five Worcester skaters stood around and watched as former IceCats forward D.J. King grabbed a loose puck behind the goal line and centered it to Garrett Mitchell. The winger misfired on his shot but the puck rolled right on the stick of Andrew Carroll, who beat Sateri for his first goal of the season.

Hershey’s first two penalties of the game were both nearly the exact play with a Hershey defenseman hooking Gourde as he broke into the Bears zone on a partial breakaway. The first was to Tomas Kundratek midway through the opening period that Hershey’s top five penalty kill had little trouble with, and the second was late in the period to Cameron Schilling that eliminated a Bears power play and put the teams at four skaters apiece. Worcester would get an abbreviated power play early in the second period because of the penalty, and Irwin and Gourde would hook up again to tie the score. This time it was a Gourde pass to Irwin at the top of the left circle that set up the goal, with Irwin’s shot ringing off the far post and into the net at 49 seconds of the second period. Matt Tennyson grabbed the second assist.

Gourde would again figure heavily on the WorSharks third goal when he grabbed a loose puck after a bad Hershey clearing attempt and flipped the puck on net. John McCarthy got a piece of it in front of the Bears net but Tim Kennedy got most of it and banged it home at 13:30 of the middle period. Both Sateri and Greenham stood tall in the third period with each making great saves to keep the score 3-2, and after surviving a last push by Hershey with the goaltender pulled the WorSharks would make it to the final horn with the lead to earn the victory.

Things got a little scary after the game when former WorSharks captain Graham Mink, apparently angered with referee Marcus Vinnerborg, broke his stick in the visitor’s players tunnel and threw the shaft of the stick back on to the ice towards the officials. Fans sitting in section 109 of the DCU Center ducked for cover as the stick went flying in their direction before hitting the boards on the fly. The stick was recovered, although immediately after the game the WorSharks were unsure if the incident was captured on video.

GAME NOTES
Taylor Doherty, Tyson Sexsmith, Brodie Reid, Jimmy Bonneau, Cam MacIntyre, Ryan Del Monte, James Livingston, Matt Pelech, Marek Viedensky, Frazer McLaren, and Jay Silvia all did not dress for Worcester.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Gourde (g,2a)
2. WOR – Irwin (g,a)
3. HER – Carroll (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game Matt Tennyson.

BOXSCORE

Hershey 2 0 0 – 2
Worcester 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Hershey, Almeida 1 (Carman), 2:57. 2, Worcester, Gourde 1 (Irwin, Guite), 8:12. 3, Hershey, Carroll 1 (Mitchell, King), 8:24. Penalties-Kundratek Her (hooking), 10:23; Gogol Wor (high-sticking), 18:16; Schilling Her (hooking), 19:49.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Irwin 11 (Gourde, Tennyson), 0:49 (PP). 5, Worcester, Kennedy 13 (Gourde, McCarthy), 13:30. Penalties-Mink Her (elbowing), 17:07.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Civitarese Her (high-sticking), 13:11.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 14-13-9-36. Worcester 9-17-9-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0 / 1; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Hershey, Greenham 0-3-0 (35 shots-32 saves). Worcester, Sateri 15-20-1 (36 shots-34 saves).
A-5,810
Referees-Marcus Vinnerborg (45).
Linesmen-Matt MacPherson (83), Ed Boyle (81).

WorSharks frozen by IceCaps 3-1

The Worcester Sharks, playing out the string after being eliminated from Calder Cup playoff contention with Wednesday’s Portland Pirates win over the Connecticut Whale, dressed five players on amateur try-out contracts and 11 rookies overall against the number two team in the AHL’s Eastern Conference and for the most part played the St. John’s IceCaps pretty evenly before finally dropping a 3-1 decision Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3898 fans.

The 3-1 final is a little misleading because were it not for WorSharks goaltender Harri Sateri and IceCaps netminder Eddie Pasquale this could have very easily looked like a basketball score with each making a large amount of great saves. Pasquale had two good ones early in the contest stopping Bobby Farnham and Jay Silvia on breakaway chances. Both forwards are newly signed amateurs, with Farnham coming from Brown University and Silvia formerly playing for Holy Cross here in Worcester. Sateri had a highlight save of his own later in the opening 20 minutes when he snuffed out a two on zero attempt right in front of him.

The IceCaps would finally break through at 6:04 of the middle period when Aaron Gagnon flipped the puck back to the defenseman Travis Ramsey, whose knuckling shot through traffic somehow made it through to screened Sateri and beat him five-hole.

Ben Guite would get Worcester back to even on a booming shot from the high slot. The play began with defenseman Dylan Demelo, another player on an ATO contract out of Mississauga of the OHL, dumping the puck down the right wing boards from the point. Brandon Mashinter grabbed the loose puck and fed Guite high between the circles for a one-timer that beat Pasquale clean at 11:32.

St. John’s would retake the lead at 13:41 after the WorSharks turned the puck over deep in their own end, and in the ensuring play Jason King snapped off a wrist shot from the right circle that beat a partially screened Sateri for a 2-1 IceCaps lead. The WorSharks really pressured Pasquale with some great attempts for the rest of the game but couldn’t light the lamp to get back to even. John Albert made it the 3-1 final with a bad angle empty net goal at 19:35.

GAME NOTES
With all the suspended players and injured the WorSharks scratch list is pretty long, with Taylor Doherty, Tyson Sexsmith, Brodie Reid, Jimmy Bonneau, Cam MacIntyre, Ryan Del Monte, James Livingston, Matt Pelech, Marek Viedensky, Frazer McLaren, and Curt Gogol all out of the line-up. Gogol is eligible to come back for Saturday’s game in Glens Falls against the Adirondack Phantoms, but this writer will not be surprised if Gogol is a scratch in the contest. Thomas Heemskerk was the back-up goaltender, and is expected to get his first AHL start in net against the Phantoms.

Prior to the start of the contest AHL President Dave Andrews presented Nick Petrecki with the AHL’s Yanick Dupre award. The award is presented to an AHL player for contributions to his local community and charitable organizations throughout the season. Each team has a “Man of the Year” named, and from those 30 finalists a league wide winner is selected. Sharkspage congratulates Petrecki on his winning the well deserved award, and also wishes to recognize Senior Director of Business & Community Development Mike Myers and the entire WorSharks staff for their tireless efforts in the Worcester community.

During the game the Worcester Sharks announced some team awards, with Matt Pelech being given the “Unsung Hero” award, Sena Acolatse winning rookie of the year, and John McCarthy was named as the WorSharks MVP. Tommy Wingels, currently with San Jose, was the “Three-star” winner.

The loss to Friday’s loss to St John’s is Roy Sommer’s 513th in his American Hockey League head coaching career, placing him at the top of the list in regular season head coaching losses in AHL history. His record currently sits at 508-513-93. Sommer’s coaching record doesn’t include playoffs, where his teams have gone 28-34.

The three stars of the game were
1. STJ – Pasquale (28 saves)
2. WOR – Guite (g)
3. STJ – King (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Harri Sateri.

BOXSCORE

St. John’s 0 2 1 – 3
Worcester 0 1 0 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Acolatse Wor (cross-checking), 7:14.

2nd Period-1, St. John’s, Ramsey 4 (Gagnon, Maxwell), 6:04. 2, Worcester, Guite 4 (Mashinter, Demelo), 11:32. 3, St. John’s, King 22 (Gagnon, Maxwell), 13:41. Penalties-Trotter Stj (slashing), 13:49; Mashinter Wor (slashing), 18:53; Petrecki Wor (slashing), 19:16.

3rd Period-4, St. John’s, Albert 9 (Festerling), 19:35 (EN). Penalties-Maxwell Stj (slashing), 6:17; Festerling Stj (hooking), 8:05; O’Dell Stj (cross-checking), 11:23; Farnham Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:23.

Shots on Goal-St. John’s 13-6-9-28. Worcester 7-12-10-29.
Power Play Opportunities-St. John’s 0 / 3; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-St. John’s, Pasquale 23-11-1 (29 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 14-20-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-3,898
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Chris Aughe (74), Bob Bernard (42).

WorSharks, Acolatse overpower Monarchs 4-1

The Worcester Sharks are needing to all win their remaining games and get a lot of help to make the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs, and behind Harri Sateri’s 49 saves and two power play goals from Sena Acolatse they took a baby step in the right direction by beating the Manchester Monarchs 4-1 Tuesday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

After a post game brawl in Portland on Saturday against the Pirates that led to suspensions to Jimmy Bonneau (8 games), Matt Pelech (4 games) and assistant coach David Cunniff (1 game) the last thing WorSharks fans were expecting to see was a pregame fight break out against Manchester, but those arriving late missed all the fireworks when Manchester’s Richard Clune started an incident with Frazer McLaren that lead to all 40 players gathering at the center red line and McLaren and Justin Johnson throwing bombs at each other. Worcester head coach Roy Sommer walked across the ice and went straight through the pile as players on both sides quickly separated in his wake. There was a brief flare up and Curt Gogol got involved, but with the help of the linesmen–dressed mostly in street clothes, no less–order was soon restored and the warm-up period ended.

Justice was handed out quickly by the AHL, and just prior to the posting of this article the AHL suspended both McLaren and Johnson three games, and Clune and Gogol got one game each.

The game itself was fairly quiet, with neither team really looking all that interested in reigniting the earlier battle. The WorSharks would have the only goal in the first 40 minutes when Sebastian Stalberg took a feed from Tony Lucia at 5:26 of the opening period and beat Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff over the shoulder from the right circle with an incredible shot. All three of Stalberg’s goals this season have been high quality tallies as he continues the scoring prowess he showed this season at the University of Vermont. Mike Moore had the second assist.

The real story of the game was Worcester netminder Harri Sateri, who did everything in the first 54 minutes of the game except resurface the ice. Sateri made save after save, and many of the 30 he made in the first two periods were against high quality attempts. But with a little help from his defense keeping the Monarchs away from any rebounds, and from Brian O’Hanley making a save behind him, Sateri was able to keep the WorSharks in the lead.

WorSharks fans have seen the team lose far too many third period leads of late, so when Sena Acolatse fired an absolute laser from 50 feet out at the left point at 14:51 on the power play, assisted by Ben Guite and Nathan Moon, a few sighs of relief were mixed into the loud cheers for the defenseman’s goal. At 17:05 Worcester fans got that sick feeling in their stomach again when David Meckler beat Sateri on Manchester’s 48th shot of the game when he poked a lose puck into the net on a power play chance of their own.

Acolatse would again connect with another power play goal, this one being almost an exact mirror image of his first with a 50 foot blast from the right point. Moon and Moore had the assists on the goal. Manchester would pull Zatkoff for an extra attacker, but the Monarchs couldn’t get anything going. Guite put the icing on the cake at 19:49 to give the WorSharks 24 more hours of hope.

GAME NOTES
Over the last couple of days the WorSharks have signed defenseman Dylan Demelo and forward Yanni Gourde to amateur tryout contracts. Both were pressed into service as Worcester was shorthanded after the suspensions. Tyson Sexsmith, Brodie Reid, Jimmy Bonneau, Cam MacIntyre, Taylor Doherty, Ryan Del Monte, James Livingston, Matt Pelech, and Marek Viedensky all did not dress for Worcester. With Frazer McLaren and Curt Gogol now being unavailable Worcester will likely need to sign some additional forwards to fill out their game roster.

With assistant coach David Cunniff suspended for a game San Jose Sharks goaltender development coach Corey Schwab filled in as assistant coach with Roy Sommer.

The AHL’s vice-president of hockey operations, Mike Murray, was in attendance at the game but did not answer any questions about the Portland suspensions. He indicated all inquiries should be made to the AHL’s PR department. Sharkspage has sent several questions to the AHL’s public relations department over the years and have never gotten an answer on any of them, so it’s unlikely any explanation will ever be found out.

Word from both the WorSharks and Monarchs was the AHL did admit an error was made Saturday night in Portland and Brett Sterling was not eligible to participate in the shootout. Manchester was more angry at the episode that Worcester was as the Monarchs are being chased by the Pirates in the playoff race. Sources told Sharkspage that referee Mark Lemelin, who was one of the two referees assigned to last night’s game, has been reprimanded, although the source did not know what that reprimand entailed.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Sateri (49 saves)
2. WOR – Acolatse (2g)
3. WOR – Stalberg (g)

Harri Sateri was also named the AHL’s #1 Star of the Night

The Sharkspage player of the game was Ben Guite.

BOXSCORE

Manchester 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 1 0 3 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Stalberg 3 (Lucia, Moore), 5:26. Penalties-Andreoff Mch (interference), 6:50; Hickey Mch (elbowing), 14:48; O’Neill Mch (hooking), 18:33.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Lucia Wor (hooking), 7:02; Acolatse Wor (tripping), 12:32; Gogol Wor (holding), 14:39; Guite Wor (boarding), 17:34.

3rd Period-2, Worcester, Acolatse 7 (Guite, Moon), 14:51 (PP). 3, Manchester, Meckler 10 (Mullen, Vey), 17:05 (PP). 4, Worcester, Acolatse 8 (Moon, Moore), 18:35 (PP). 5, Worcester, Guite 3 19:49 (EN). Penalties-Kolomatis Mch (high-sticking), 14:31; Lucia Wor (tripping), 15:31; Andreoff Mch (interference), 17:15.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 15-15-20-50. Worcester 12-11-10-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 5; Worcester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Manchester, Zatkoff 20-17-1 (32 shots-29 saves). Worcester, Sateri 14-19-1 (50 shots-49 saves).
A-1,906
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks game in Portland ends in controversy, brawl

The Worcester Sharks lost three separate one goal leads and then found themselves trailing after giving up an early third period tally, but then drew even in regulation on Matt Tennyson’s first professional goal only to lose 5-4 in a shootout to the Portland Pirates Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in front of 5,907 fans. The real fireworks happened after the game as the WorSharks were skating off the ice and engaged the Pirates in some post-game fisticuffs involving all 40 players.

After a win against the Albany Devils Wednesday kept Worcester’s slim playoff hopes alive a shutout loss in Providence Friday all but assured that next Sunday’s contest versus Hershey will end the season for the WorSharks. But there are several players sill playing for contracts next season and one of then, Nathan Moon, got Worcester on the board just 46 seconds in to the game when he stood at the near post behind Pirates goaltender Peter Mannino and converted a pass from Ben Guite into a yawning net. Brandon Mashinter had the second assist. Ethan Werek got Portland’s first game tying goal at 4:43 when the Pirates caught the WorSharks running around in their own zone and deflected a pass from Nick Ross past Worcester netminder Harri Sateri.

Worcester would grab the lead back at 7:12 with a power play tally that came about after the WorSharks swarmed the zone and had several great attempts. Sena Acolatse ended up in the left wing face-off circle and took a feed from Guite, and fired a laser through traffic that beat Mannino. Mike Moore had the second helper on the play. The Pirates would get their second tying goal from Ross at 10:35 while skating with a two man advantage after Worcester failed to clear the puck out of their zone on multiple occasions.

Curt Gogol gave the WorSharks their third one goal lead of the period at 12:54 when he banged home the rebound of Tony Lucia’s shot after a rush up ice. Brian O’Hanley was credited with the second assist on the play. Worcester made the goal stand up for the remainder of the period, but the Pirates would again draw even with the only second period goal of the game on defenseman Tyler Eckford’s laser over Sateri at 4:37 on the power play.

Werek would give Portland its first lead of the game on the opening shift of the third period when he banged home a rebound of Nathan Oystrick’s shot, but the WorSharks would follow the Pirates example and would have a game tyer of their own when Tennyson beat Mannino from the right wing boards on the power play at 10:26. Matt Irwin and Tim Kennedy had the assists.

The Pirates would have all four shots in the overtime period aided by a power play that resulted when Sebastian Stalberg skated over Mannino to be sent off for goaltender interference. As soon as the call was made Sateri went right after referee Mark Lemelin for the non-calls that resulted after Sateri had been run over several times. It then appeared the Pirates won the game with 15 seconds left in overtime when defenseman David Runblad beat Sateri, but Lemelin waved off the goal immediately saying Brett Sterling was in the crease. Video apparently shows the call was incorrect–this writer thought is was a good goal– and obviously Sterling thought so because he argued the call and Lemelin assessed Sterling a ten minute misconduct and Sterling was sent off the ice.

Before the shootout began Sterling returned to the ice, a violation of rule 70.6 that says in part “Any player who has been ordered to the dressing room by the
officials and returns to his bench or to the ice surface for any reason before the appropriate time shall be assessed a game misconduct and shall be suspended automatically without pay for the next six (6) regular League and/or Playoff games.” Inexplicably, despite rule 84.4 clearly stating that players serving 10-minute misconducts are not eligible to participate in the shootout, referee Lemelin allowed Sterling to be one of Portland’s shooters. After Sterling’s shot, which ended up being the game winner, he taunted the Worcester bench on his way by.

When Acolatse missed his attempt giving Portland a 5-4 victory frustrations boiled over for Worcester, and as they needed to skate by the Pirates to get to the dressing room several WorSharks skated into the Portland celebration causing a what was in essence a bench clearing brawl. The coaching staffs from both teams were involved in separating the players, and it looks like Jimmy Bonneau and Matt Pelech will be facing some supplementary discipline from the AHL for their roles in the fracas.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Tyson Sexsmith, Brodie Reid, Nick Petrecki, Cam MacIntyre, Ryan Del Monte, Jack Combs, and Marek Viedensky. James Livingston went off during the first period and did not return.

Despite the shootout loss WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer remains tied with Frank Mathers for most all-time losses in the American Hockey League at 512. The AHL considers shootout losses as ties getting Sommer off the hook for this one, so he’ll have a chance for the record Tuesday at home vs Manchester.

The three stars of the game were
1. POR – Ross (g, 2a)
2. WOR – Guite (2a)
3. POR – Werek (2g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Matt Tennyson.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 3 0 1 0 – 4
Portland 2 1 1 0 – 5

1st Period-1, Worcester, Moon 12 (Guite, Mashinter), 0:46. 2, Portland, Werek 9 (Ross, Oystrick), 4:43. 3, Worcester, Acolatse 6 (Guite, Moore), 7:12 (PP). 4, Portland, Ross 4 (Sterling), 10:35 (PP). 5, Worcester, Gogol 6 (Lucia, O’Hanley), 12:54. Penalties-Miele Por (slashing), 5:45; Acolatse Wor (hooking), 9:46; Pelech Wor (delay of game), 9:48.

2nd Period-6, Portland, Eckford 10 (Miele, Rundblad), 4:37 (PP). Penalties-Lucia Wor (hooking), 2:48.

3rd Period-7, Portland, Werek 10 (Oystrick, Ross), 0:53. 8, Worcester, Tennyson 1 (Irwin, Kennedy), 10:26 (PP). Penalties-Ross Por (tripping), 9:59; Pelech Wor (roughing), 15:18; Rome Por (slashing), 15:18.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Stalberg Wor (goaltender interference), 3:07; Sterling Por (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:45; Bonneau Wor (fighting, game misconduct – fighting other than during periods of game), 5:00; Pelech Wor (major – spearing, game misconduct – spearing), 5:00.

Shootout – Worcester 0 (Mashinter NG, McCarthy NG, Stalberg NG, Acolatse NG), Portland 2 (Duncan NG, Miele NG, Pouliot G, Sterling G).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-8-4-0-0-25. Portland 10-9-9-4-1-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 2; Portland 2 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 13-19-1 (32 shots-28 saves). Portland, Mannino 10-10-1 (25 shots-21 saves).
A-5,907
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Landon Bathe (80).

WorSharks Booster Club announces 2011-2012 season awards

At a banquet held for the Worcester Sharks players and staff, Booster Club President Rich Lundin announced the winners of the Booster Club team awards. The winners were:

Best Offensive Player – John McCarthy
Best Defensive Player – Mike Moore
Best Tough Guy – Jimmy Bonneau
Fan Favorite – Brandon Mashinter
Best Single Game Performance – Mashinter for his Gordie Howe Hat trick with game winning goal 12/30/2011 against the Connecticut Whale.
Seven Hills 7th Player – Matt Pelech
Rookie of Year – Sena Acolatse
MVP – Tyson Sexsmith

The Booster Club also presented WorSharks’ All Stars Tyson Sexsmith and Matt Irwin pucks from the AHL Skills Competition.

WorSharks playoff hopes slowly vanish as skid hits four games

The Worcester Sharks recently ended one of the most disappointing road trips in team history by going winless in three games where all events pointed to them winning the contests, and then ran their losing streak to four games after surrendering five of the games final six goals in a 5-3 loss to the Portland Pirates Friday night at the DCU center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 3,578.

In their previous three games the WorSharks have come back from a 5-1 deficit early when they apparently forgot there was a game going on to lose 6-5 in Albany when they stopped playing when they got the game to 5-5, and then take on a Manchester squad playing its third game in 46 hours while Worcester hadn’t played in four days only to see the WorSharks play like they were in the second game of a double header and lose 5-1. The follow up was a mid-week loss to Bridgeport where the team held a 4-1 lead 25 minutes into the game and the gave up five of the last six goals in the contest to lose 5-4. So no one at the DCU Center was shocked to see the WorSharks throw another two points away in the standings against Portland.

Conservatively figured Worcester’s ineptness this season has cost them 24 points in the standings.

Friday night’s collapse started after the WorSharks took a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Brodie Reid opening at 8:33 of the first period with a nice goal from behind the goal line. Brain O’Hanley dumped the puck behind the Portland net where Reid and Tony Lucia fought the defense for possession. Reid came up with the puck and while surrounded by three Pirates players backhanded the puck off Portland goaltender Peter Mannino and in for his ninth of the season. Matt Irwin would make it 2-0 Worcester with a booming blast from the blueline at 1:02 of the second period while on the power play. Tim Kennedy and Reid had the assists on the goal.

Nine seconds later Portland would get one back when the WorSharks misplayed the puck in their own end and Brett MacLean beat Worcester netminder Harri Sateri for the unassisted goal. Portland would tie the game at 15:51 with a power play tally of their own by Tyler Eckford, and then 10 seconds later would grab a 3-2 lead when Kenndal McArdle beat a down and out Sateri.

Worcester would keep fighting throughout the remainder of the period, and would knot the game 3-3 off an odd deflection on the power play that went their way. Moore fed the puck along the blue line to Sena Acolatse, who ripped a shot on net that was going wide. His blast hit Eckford’s stick shaft so solidly the stick broke into two pieces and the puck deflected just inside the far post at 18:47. Lucia had the second assist.

When things aren’t going good teams find ways to lose games, and that’s what happened in the third period when at 14:47 Worcester had a Portland rush covered pretty well but Andy Miele was just able to get enough stick on a Ryan Duncan pass to deflect it past Sateri and just inside the near post. Late in the period the WorSharks pulled Sateri in favor for an extra attacker, and were briefly saved from an empty net goal when O’Hanley made a heck of a block. But is was all for naught as Worcester couldn’t manage a shot on goal and Brett Sterling eventually hit the empty net for the 5-3 final.

Worcester’s playoff chances are pretty long now but they will help themselves tremendously with a win against Manchester this afternoon. Anything other than a regulation win will make it just short of impossible to make it into the Calder Cup playoffs.

GAME NOTES
Add Tyson Sexsmith to the WorSharks injury list. He injured his hand during warm-ups in Bridgeport and tried to play though it before being replaces to start the third period Tuesday. Thomas Heemskerk was recalled from Stockton to take his place on the roster. Other Worcester injury scratches were Ryan Del Monte, Cam MacIntyre, Andrew Murray, Nick Petrecki, and Marek Viedensky. Jimmy Bonneau was a healthy scratch.

The three stars of the game were:
1. POR – Miele (gwg,a)
2. WOR – Acolatse (g)
3. POR – Eckford (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Brodie Reid

BOXSCORE

Portland 0 3 2 – 5
Worcester 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 9 (Lucia, O’Hanley), 8:33. Penalties-Louis Por (fighting), 5:33; McLaren Wor (fighting), 5:33; Watkins Por (roughing), 9:19; Gogol Wor (roughing), 9:19; Reid Wor (hooking), 11:10; McCarthy Wor (goaltender interference), 14:23; Rundblad Por (slashing), 16:44.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Irwin 10 (Kennedy, Reid), 1:02 (PP). 3, Portland, MacLean 22 1:11. 4, Portland, Eckford 9 (Duncan, Miele), 15:51 (PP). 5, Portland, McArdle 9 (Rome), 16:01. 6, Worcester, Acolatse 5 (Moore, Lucia), 18:47 (PP). Penalties-Louis Por (hooking), 0:37; Pelech Wor (hooking), 1:56; Oystrick Por (roughing), 13:56; Pelech Wor (roughing, boarding), 13:56; MacLean Por (kneeing), 17:29.

3rd Period-7, Portland, Miele 14 (Duncan, Oystrick), 14:47. 8, Portland, Sterling 27 (Szwarz), 19:45 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Portland 10-17-10-37. Worcester 14-8-5-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 1 / 4; Worcester 2 / 3.
Goalies-Portland, Mannino 9-8-1 (27 shots-24 saves). Worcester, Sateri 12-16-0 (36 shots-32 saves).
A-3,578
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Todd Whittemore (70).