SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks steal point in 3-2 overtime loss to Manchester

The Worcester Sharks were completely dominated by the Manchester Monarchs in every aspect of the game except for shots on goal, and it looked like they were heading toward being shutout for just the second time this season when in the span of 28 seconds late in the third period the WorSharks stuck twice to stun the Monarchs faithful and force the game into an extra session where they gave up a power play goal to lose a 3-2 overtime contest Saturday night in Manchester, New Hampshire.

To say the two teams don’t like each other might be the understatement of the year, so fans on both sides knew it wouldn’t take long for some fisticuffs to break out. After a couple of encounters where the linesmen stepped in Curt Gogol and Richard Clune finally got the dance party started at 3:31. Two seconds later Frazer McLaren and Justin Johnson went at it in a battle of heavyweights. It took eleven more seconds for fight number three to break out, this one between Sena Acolatse and J.D. Watt. Acolatse was the clear winner in his bout by continuously pounding Watt, with Watt not landing a single punch. Sharkspage has both Gogol and McLaren on the wrong end of their contests.

There was still a lot of hockey to be played, and unfortunately for the WorSharks they would find themselves down 1-0 after twenty minutes when Justin Azevedo scored at 15:49 on the power play. Monarchs defenseman Patrick Mullen began the play with a pass to winger Stefan Legein at the Worcester blueline. Legein skated to the left wing halfboards and threw a nice backhand pass to Azevedo standing all alone at the far post. Azevedo, who had beat WorSharks defenseman Mike Moore to the spot, knocked the bouncing puck into the open net behind Worcester netminder Tyson Sexsmith to light the lamp.

It could have been worse than that one goal deficit but luckily for the WorSharks Jordan Nolan somehow missed a wide open net in the final few seconds of the period. Worcester outshot the Monarchs 10-7, but the scoring chances were tilted far in Manchester’s favor as most of Worcester’s shots were long ranged and seen clearly by Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff. The same would hold true in the second period as the WorSharks had a 9-8 shots advantage but the scoring chances were again owned by Manchester, and they would convert on one to make it 2-0 after two.

A few moments after a Manchester goal was disallowed because it was kicked in, Dwight King collected a neutral zone pass and broke into the WorSharks zone and skated around a flatfooted Nick Petrecki and beat Sexsmith five hole with a backhander at 5:56. Worcester had a few chances in the middle stanza but as has been an issue all season seem to show a reluctance to shoot the puck and instead make an extra, unnecessary pass. The WorSharks had three odd man rushes in the period that resulted in no shots on goal as Manchester broke up that extra pass.

About nine minutes into the third period the WorSharks were certain they’d gotten on the scoreboard when Jack Combs beat Zatkoff, but the netminder was apparently able to reach behind and grab the puck before it slid completely over the goal line. WorSharks forward John McCarthy, who was standing just outside the crease, told Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram that the puck was completely over the goal line. The video is inconclusive on if the puck went over the line or not, but it was conclusive that referee Jean Hebert was well out of position to make any sort of call. McCarthy would make sure there was no question on the WorSharks next scoring opportunity.

With Worcester was on the power play the WorSharks circled the puck along the perimeter, ending with Chad Costello finding Combs alone behind the net. Combs, who is one of the best Worcester players ever behind the goal line, saw McCarthy all alone in the slot and hit him with a nice pass that McCarthy could one-time on net. Zatkoff made the quick save but the rebound bounced right back to McCarthy who didn’t miss the second time, cutting the Monarchs lead to 2-1 at 16:06.

Twenty-eight seconds later Worcester would light the lamp again after Zatkoff stopped Marek Viedensky’s backhand bid. After taking a Taylor Doherty feed to the left wing side Viedensky skated hard to the net and tried to force a backhander home but Zatkoff, who plays like a sheet of plywood in front the goal, made the save. The puck dropped into the top of the crease where it became a race between Zatkoff’s glove and James Livingston’s stick. Zatkoff won, but Livingston was still able to jam the puck home at 16:34. The assist was Doherty’s first pro point.

Both teams slowed the play down as neither looked to be willing to give up a scoring chance to lose the point they’d gain in overtime, but Worcester threw it into high gear in the extra session with two great chances. Manchester would get a power play chance when Mike Connolly slashed the stick out of Monarchs player to break up an odd man rush, and Jake Muzzin would take advantage of the extra space and beat a screened Sexsmith on Manchester’s only shot of overtime at 3:56.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks had a couple of transactions over the last week, with defenseman Sean Sullivan being traded by San Jose to Florida in exchange for forward Tim Kennedy. With Sullivan leaving Worcester decided to release defenseman Brain O’Hanley from his pro-out contract and sign him to an AHL standard contract. That transaction was almost a forgone conclusion based on previous comments made by WorSharks GM Wayne Thomas and head coach Roy Sommer, who had both expressed how impressed they were with O’Hanley’s play and knew that should he be released from his PTO and sent back to the ECHL he wouldn’t be there for long as many AHL teams were showing interest in the defender.

For the first time in weeks the WorSharks had three healthy scratches, with Nathan Moon, Brodie Reid, and Jimmy Bonneau all sitting out. Worcester’s injury list remains the same as Ben Guite, Cam MacIntyre, and Tony Lucia are all sidelined. Matt Pelech left the game in the second period after colliding with teammate Curt Gogol behind the Manchester net, but the defenseman turned forward indicated he was not significantly injured and should be ready for next weekend’s trip to Canada to take on the St John’s IceCaps.

Interesting stat: All of WorSharks rookie James Livingston’s points (4 goals, 4 assists) this season have come in the third period.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – Muzzin (OT gwg)
2. WOR – Livingston (g)
3. MCH – Zatkoff (33 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was John McCarthy.

Even strength lines
Costello/McCarthy/Combs
Kennedy/Connolly/Mashinter
Gogol/Del Monte/Livingston
McLaren/Viedensky/Pelech

Irwin/Acolatse
Moore/O’Hanley
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 0 2 0 – 2
Manchester 1 1 0 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Manchester, Azevedo 8 (Legein, Mullen), 15:49 (PP). Penalties-Gogol Wor (fighting), 3:31; Clune Mch (fighting), 3:31; McLaren Wor (fighting), 3:33; Johnson Mch (fighting), 3:33; Acolatse Wor (fighting), 3:44; Watt Mch (fighting), 3:44; Kennedy Wor (cross-checking), 7:49; McCarthy Wor (tripping), 15:16; Vey Mch (slashing), 17:13; McLaren Wor (roughing), 20:00; Clune Mch (roughing), 20:00.

2nd Period-2, Manchester, King 10 (Kozun, Mullen), 5:56. Penalties-McCarthy Wor (hooking), 9:35; Clune Mch (hooking), 12:40.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, McCarthy 12 (Combs, Costello), 16:06 (PP). 4, Worcester, Livingston 4 (Viedensky, Doherty), 16:34. Penalties-Acolatse Wor (hooking), 1:12; Azevedo Mch (interference), 6:44; Clune Mch (slashing), 14:09.

OT Period-5, Manchester, Muzzin 4 (Kozun, Azevedo), 3:56 (PP). Penalties-Connolly Wor (slashing), 3:28.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-9-13-3-35. Manchester 7-8-7-1-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Manchester 2 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Sexsmith 9-8-5 (23 shots-20 saves). Manchester, Zatkoff 13-8-1 (35 shots-33 saves).
A-7,545
Referees-Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Scott Whittemore (96), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks clawed by Falcons, lose 4-2

The Worcester Sharks took to the ice Wednesday but played most of the game like they had the night off and dropped a 4-2 decision as the Springfield Falcons converted several WorSharks mistakes into goals at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 2,222 fans.

Despite a slow start that would see most of the play in the Worcester end of the ice and the WorSharks behind on the shot total it was the hometown team that would jump out to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 8:39. A few minutes after a WorSharks brain cramp play almost resulted in the Falcons getting what would have been an easy goal into an empty net Worcester got one of their own when Matt Irwin fired the puck around the boards and Falcons netminder Paul Dainton went behind the cage to stop the puck. Jack Combs met Dainton behind the net and out-muscled him for the puck, and then fended him off long enough to throw a pass to the slot where Mike Connolly stood. With Springfield players sliding across the open net and Dainton scrambling to get back Connolly calmly shot at the open side of the net to light the lamp.

WorSharks goaltender Harri Sateri started the contest with a chance to break Alex Stalock’s team shutout minutes record, and with a few great early saves eclipsed the old mark of 135:30 in the opening period. Unfortunately for Sateri the streak would come to an end at 7:25 of the second period–for a total of 157:37–when Alexandre Giroux tipped a cross slot backhand pass from Dane Byers over Sateri as the Worcester defense stood around and watched to knot the game 1-1. The goal by Giroux was his 354th career AHL goal, moving him into 9th place all-time on the AHL career goal scoring list.

During that second period Dainton almost single-handedly held the WorSharks at bay with great saves on bids by Marek Viedensky and Connolly, and then had three quick saves on consecutive high quality shots by Combs, Costello, and Connolly. Dainton also stopped a penalty shot by Brandon Mashinter, one that this writer thought was poetic justice as the call likely should have just been a tripping minor.

Turnovers in their own zone have been an issue all season for the WorSharks, and the Falcons grabbed two early third period goals directly off turnovers. Giroux would net his second of the game when Mashinter backpassed the puck to his own slot to Brodie Reid, who didn’t have a stick. Reid did a great job in trying to glove the puck out of the zone but Giroux picked the clearing attempt off and skated in on Sateri and beat him at 5:10. Byers would convert at 8:39 when the WorSharks twice failed to clear the puck, and Tomas Kubalik added a back breaking power play goal at 16:34 to round out the scoring for the Falcons.

The WorSharks would get a rare full two minute five on three power play after some shenanigans in the game’s last minute, and would double up the Falcons skaters when head coach Roy Sommer pulled Sateri in favor of a sixth attacker. Matt Irwin would break an 18 game goalless drought by banging one off the far post and in, assisted by Combs and Sena Acolatse, with six second remaining in the game. But it was far too little far too late.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Cam MacIntyre, Ben Guite, Tony Lucia, Ryan Del Monte, and Nick Petrecki. John McCarthy was reassigned to Worcester prior to the game but was held out as it would have been his fourth game in five days. Tyson Sexsmith was the backip goaltender.

There’s been nothing said here in Worcester, either officially or unofficially, about the Antero Niittymaki waiver situation. That’s not all that surprising as all player decisions like that situation are made in San Jose and previous comments here on player transactions are along the lines of “we play the guys that are here”.

The three stars of the game were
1. SPR – Giroux (2g)
2. SPR – Dainton (37 saves)
3. SPR – Byers (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jack Combs.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Connolly 8 (Combs, Irwin), 8:39 (PP). Penalties-served by MacLeod Spr (bench minor – too many men), 5:40; Atkinson Spr (hooking), 7:30; Moon Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:57; Gogol Wor (tripping), 18:13; Calvert Spr (high-sticking), 18:16.

2nd Period-2, Springfield, Giroux 14 (Byers, Cullity), 7:25. Penalties-Doherty Wor (roughing), 5:15; Giroux Spr (roughing), 9:25; Doherty Wor (roughing), 9:25; Calvert Spr (high-sticking), 10:05; Irwin Wor (delay of game), 12:20.

3rd Period-3, Springfield, Giroux 15 (Cullity, Drazenovic), 5:10. 4, Springfield, Byers 9 (Joudrey, Mayorov), 8:39. 5, Springfield, Kubalik 8 (Savard, St. Pierre), 16:34 (PP). 6, Worcester, Irwin 8 (Combs, Acolatse), 19:54 (PP). Penalties-Joudrey Spr (high-sticking), 0:04; Combs Wor (boarding), 12:44; Irwin Wor (hooking), 15:44; Kubalik Spr (roughing), 16:34; O’Hanley Wor (cross-checking), 16:34; served by MacLeod Spr (bench minor – unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:04; Giroux Spr (roughing, slashing), 19:04; Gogol Wor (roughing), 19:04.

Shots on Goal-Springfield 10-10-7-27. Worcester 16-12-11-39.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 6; Worcester 2 / 7.
Goalies-Springfield, Dainton 2-2-0 (39 shots-37 saves). Worcester, Sateri 9-6-0 (27 shots-23 saves).
A-2,222
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Chris Millea (33).

WorSharks grab a hard earned point in 3-2 shootout loss to St John’s

Fans of the Worcester Sharks were worried about the team having a hangover after Saturday night’s thrilling overtime victory against Providence, but the WorSharks came firing out on all cylinders and continued their aggressive style against the Atlantic Division leading St John’s IceCaps and grabbed a hard earned point in a 3-2 shootout loss Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,619 fans.

With both teams playing their third game in just 42 hours each had a ready-made excuse to come out of the gate a little sluggish, but the WorSharks made it clear they were full of energy as their fourth line started the contest and threw booming hit after booming hit. The biggest hit of the opening period was Curt Gogol pounding Jason King into the endboards on a hard, clean check. King went to the IceCaps locker room soon after and did not return.

St John’s would have the only two power plays in the period, and thanks to some great saves by WorSharks netminder Tyson Sexsmith and some solid team defense the IceCaps were unable to light the lamp. The WorSharks also had a little luck on their side when the duel referees called Jimmy Bonneau for roughing when he jumped Kenndal McArdle after he threw a clean, open ice hit on Brian O’Hanley. Bonneau landed several body shots as McArdle turtled and should have been called for an instigator minor and fighting major instead of just the roughing minor.

The WorSharks would get their first power play chance early in the second period and took full advantage of the extra man when Brodie Reid found Brandon Mashinter all alone in the slot. Mashinter’s first bid went wide but Nathan Moon recovered the puck from behind the net and fed it back to the front. Mashinter didn’t miss the second time as he beat IceCaps goaltender David Aebischer at 2:27. Worcester would get another power play soon after, but the best scoring chance over the two minutes went to St John’s on John Albert’s shorthanded breakaway. Sexsmith snuffed out that bid with a great glove save.

St John’s would finally get one past Sexsmith at 9:09 when Ben Maxwell beat Sexsmith to the blocker side. The play began as a three on two rush and after two nice passes the IceCaps center had an open shooting lane and beat Sexsmith clean.

Both squads had golden chances early in the third period to take the lead, but Jason DeSantis’ laser rang off the post to the left of Sexsmith and down at the other end some tic-tac-toe passing left Jack Combs all along in front of a yawning net but somehow the winger missed wide. Unfortunately for the WorSharks despite some good defense it was the IceCaps that would grab the lead when Garth Murray deflected McArdle’s shot into the top corner at 9:43 of the third.

Worcester continued to press for a goal of their own but several unlikely bounces and some timely saves by Aebischer kept them at bay. The WorSharks knew they just needed one break to get back to even, and they got one when Mashinter, who was the extra attacker on the ice when Sexsmith went to the bench. The IceCaps had everyone covered well but couldn’t account for Mashinter, and when Combs threw a centering pass the defense converged into the slot but the wide open Mashinter had little trouble firing the puck into the net at 18:33.

Sexsmith and Aebischer owned the overtime period as each made great saves with bodies flying all over the ice as both referees decided to put their whistles away. In the waining seconds of overtime Worcester had a great chance but Aebischer stoned Combs for a third time in the game. Seconds later the IceCaps broke into the WorSharks zone three on one but couldn’t get a shot off thanks to an incredible diving play by Sena Acolatse.

The game went to a shootout, and Worcester missed on all five of their attempts while Sexsmith was nearly perfect on his end. But ‘nearly perfect’ wasn’t enough as Murray beat Sexsmith in round number four for the only goal in the shootout to send the hometown fans home a little disappointed.

GAME NOTES
Ryan Del Monte and Taylor Doherty were healthy scratches for Worcester, with Cam MacIntyre, Ben Guite, and Tony Lucia still holding down spots on the injured list. It’s possible that list will grow by one as it appeared Harri Sateri may have been injured in warm-ups. He was on the bench for the game and didn’t seem to be in any distress while walking to and from the locker room between periods so if he is injured it likely isn’t serious. Currently San Jose has two goaltenders in Stockton (ECHL), Thomas Heemskerk and Alex Stalock, so if a replacement is needed there is organizational help available.

Streaking WorSharks Brandon Mashinter (2g,a) and Chad Costello (2a) have two game streaks. Curt Gogol has been even or better in nine straight (with a nine game break in the middle due to a concussion). Frazer McLaren and Marek Viedensky has gone eight straight without finishing minus for the game (with a 23 game NHL recall between games seven and eight for McLaren)

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Mashinter (2g)
2. STJ – Murray (g, SO gwg)
3. STJ – Maxwell (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Tyson Sexsmith.

Even strength lines
Combs/Connolly/Costello
Mashinter/Viedensky/Reid
Gogol/Moon/Livingston
Bonneau/McLaren/Pelech

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/O’Hanley

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Moore Wor (roughing), 8:11; Bonneau Wor (roughing), 12:31.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Mashinter 6 (Moon, Reid), 2:27 (PP). 2, St. John’s, Maxwell 4 (Redmond, Machacek), 9:09. Penalties-Ramsey Stj (slashing), 1:41; Maxwell Stj (tripping), 3:53; O’Hanley Wor (double minor – high-sticking), 11:11; Weller Stj (boarding), 13:49; Livingston Wor (slashing), 17:21; Weller Stj (high-sticking), 17:27.

3rd Period-3, St. John’s, Murray 2 (McArdle, Klingberg), 9:43. 4, Worcester, Mashinter 7 (Connolly, Costello), 18:33. Penalties-No Penalties

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – St. John’s 1 (Gagnon NG, Maxwell NG, Holzapfel NG, Murray G, Machacek NG), Worcester 0 (Combs NG, Reid NG, Mashinter NG, Costello NG, Sullivan NG).
Shots on Goal-St. John’s 10-8-15-5-1-39. Worcester 6-8-8-2-0-24.
Power Play Opportunities-St. John’s 0 / 5; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-St. John’s, Aebischer 12-5-1 (24 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 9-7-5 (38 shots-36 saves).
A-3,619
Referees-Jarrod Ragusin (54), Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Bob Paquette (18), Ed Boyle (81).

WorSharks get Moore in overtime, beat Providence 3-2 before sellout crowd

The Worcester Sharks were looking for some payback after losing Friday night to the Providence Bruins on the road, and in front of an overflow crowd of 8,840 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts got the revenge they were looking for when Mike Moore tipped a puck home to give them a 3-2 overtime win over the Baby-Bs.

During Friday’s loss Providence had the last change and did everything they could to avoid the WorSharks tough guys and instead threw their weight around against players not so physical. On Saturday the WorSharks had the last change, and used it to their advantage right away in starting their 4th line. With Worcester being able to match up lines it kept the P-Bruins from being able to take runs at the WorSharks top line. It opened the ice a little and the clubs played huge stretches playing wide open end to end hockey, at one point going over eight minutes without any whistles.

It took almost the entire period for one of the Baby-Bs to step up and do battle with a member of the self-nicknamed “Goon Squad”, but when Lane MacDermid decided to drop the gloves with Jimmy Bonneau he found the WorSharks enforcer a little tougher than Taylor Doherty, the player he fought on Friday after boarding Nathan Moon. Bonneau had little trouble with MacDermid early in the fight and busted his opponent wide open. MacDermid came back a little in the end and landed one good shot, but Bonneau was the easy winner in the battle.

Just when it looked like the clubs would end the first period scoreless newcomer Chad Costello, signed to a PTO Friday and playing his first game for the WorSharks, led his new team into the zone down the right wing side and found Sean Sullivan streaking into the zone down the left. His hard pass hit Sullivan in stride, and the defenseman continued the puck forward with a nice pass to Jack Combs in the slot. Combs was fighting off a defender and the puck hit his skate and deflected past Providence netminder Michael Hutchinson to light the lamp at 19:18.

Providence came out of the gate in the middle stanza on fire and took it to the WorSharks trying to get the equalizer, and after hemming Worcester in their own zone Bobby Robbins was able to beat Worcester goaltender Antero Niittymaki to the blocker side. The shot rang off the iron but bounded right back into Niittymaki and then into the net at 4:27 to knot the game 1-1.

The Baby-Bs would grab a lead on a power play goal that was one of several that Niittymaki should have stopped over the weekend. David Warsofsky took a Cater Camper feed and intentionally fired it wide of the WorSharks net. Josh Hennessy grabbed the loose puck and wheeled around the back of the net to the far post and shot one over Niittymaki, who inexplicably tried to slide over to the far post along the ice and left the upper half unguarded in the slow developing play.

Marek Viedensky would draw the WorSharks back to even on a great individual rush up ice after taking a feed from Brandon Mashinter. Viedensky broke down the left wing side but was being angled off by the defense and couldn’t get to the front of the net. He did the next best thing while he was heading past the net and reached toward the front of the goal and slid the puck past Hutchinson at 15:50.

Both clubs would have great chances to grab the lead in the third period. P-Bruins center Jamie Arniel had a golden opportunity early on when he broke in alone, but he misfired on goal and missed a huge opening on Niittymaki’s stick side. Mike Connolly would also have a huge portion of an open net in front of him a little later in the period but he couldn’t pull his stick free from a check and the puck bounced away without an attempt.

The WorSharks would get two power play chances late in the period but couldn’t convert on either of them, and then got a little lucky when Robins came flying out of the penalty box to lead a scoring chance only to see his shot ring off the crossbar behind Niittymaki. As time was winding down Worcester almost jammed home a game winner but Hutchinson was just able to cover the puck to keep it out of the net.

Overtime began at even strength, but just 42 seconds into the extra session referee Chris Brown called a very suspect high sticking call on Costello after he and a Providence player collided at center ice. The WorSharks did a good job limiting the P-bruins chances, and turned the tables when Connolly broke in all alone on Hutchinson. The goaltender made the save but in the ensuing play Connolly was boarded by Warsofsky, leading to a some rare three on three play.

Providence had the best of that play early, and the only thing that kept the WorSharks in the game was a great play by Sena Acolatse to keep the puck out of the net after Niittymaki was down and out. Mike Moore would grab the game winner on a play that looked a lot like the WorSharks first goal. Viedensky brought the puck into the P-Bruins zone and found Sullivan along the left side. Sullivan’s sent the puck along toward the net where Moore got a piece of it to deflect it under Hutchinson to light the lamp just as Costello was stepping out of the box at 2:45 of overtime.

GAME NOTES
Worcester’s injury list got a little lighter with Curt Gogol making his return. The list is now down to three players, Cam MacIntyre, Ben Guite, and Tony Lucia. Brian O’Hanley, Tyson Sexsmith, and Alex Bourret were healthy scratches, although that will be all for Bourret as he was released from his PTO. The Worcester Shuttle had not arrived to drop off Frazer McLaren, who cleared waivers Saturday and was assigned to the WorSharks, but when it arrives it will be picking up Antero Niittymaki as his conditioning stint with the WorSharks is over and he will need to be recalled to San Jose. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender

The 8,840 in attendance was the 2nd largest crowd at the DCU Center to see the WorSharks play. The largest crowd ever was 9,803 exactly one year ago today against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Salute to the IceCats night. Had it not been for the snowfall that held down walk-up sales Director of Ticket Sales Jason Jones thinks they could have made a good run at that record.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Moore (OT gwg)
2. WOR – Viedensky (g,a)
3. PRO – Hennessy (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Sean Sullivan.

Even strength lines
Combs/Connolly/Costello
Mashinter/Viedensky/Reid
Gogol/Del Monte/Livingston
Bonneau/Moon/Pelech

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Combs 7 (Sullivan, Costello), 19:18. Penalties-Caron Pro (tripping), 1:01; Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 8:48; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 18:04; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 18:04.

2nd Period-2, Providence, Robins 2 (Whitfield, MacDermid), 4:27. 3, Providence, Hennessy 13 (Warsofsky, Camper), 11:38 (PP). 4, Worcester, Viedensky 4 (Mashinter), 15:50. Penalties-Doherty Wor (high-sticking), 11:23.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Whitfield Pro (high-sticking), 3:20; Robins Pro (high-sticking), 17:32.

OT Period-5, Worcester, Moore 2 (Sullivan, Viedensky), 2:45 (PP). Penalties-Costello Wor (high-sticking), 0:42; Warsofsky Pro (boarding), 1:21.

Shots on Goal-Providence 11-6-9-2-28. Worcester 10-10-14-4-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 3; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 3-8-0 (38 shots-35 saves). Worcester, Niittymaki 2-3-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-8,840
Referees-Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Scott Whittemore (96), Brian MacDonald (72).

WorSharks all defensive in 3-2 loss to Providence

The Worcester Sharks took their rag tag roster down to Rhode Island to take on the Providence Bruins, but with a line-up comprised of more punchers than scorers couldn’t overcome several late mental errors and sub-par goaltending in dropping a 3-2 decision Friday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

With the recall of John McCarthy prior to the game Worcester was forced to dress all eight of their defensemen and use two at forward. Nick Petrecki joined fellow blueliner Matt Pelech and enforcer Jimmy Bonneau to form quite a musclebound fourth line–with Pelech centering no less–but after several shifts on the ice it appeared referee Terry Koharski had seen enough of the smash and bash show and whistled Petrecki for a borderline boarding call after several big hits. Going in to the game the WorSharks had one of the best penalty kills in the league and Providence had the lowest ranked power play in the AHL, so it came as quite a shock when the P-Bruins’s opening goal came on that man advantage.

McCarthy is one of the WorSharks best penalty killers so missing him was likely going to cause problems, but throughout much of Providence’s power play Worcester did a good job of limiting their chances. The P-bruins would finally connect at 16:22 when Matt Bartkowski fired a shot intentionally wide of the net and when WorSharks netminder Antero Niittymaki failed to hold the post Andrew Bodnarchuk was able to get it past him and into the net for the 1-0 lead. It was even more shocking when Providence connected on their second power play chance at 2:53 of the second period when Yannick Riendeau beat Niittymaki with a blast from the left wing circle. Despite it being a three on one break the WorSharks defense played it well in forcing a longer range shot, and it was one an NHL calibre goaltender should have made the save on.

Despite all the fighters in the line-up for the WorSharks it seemed the Baby-Bs tough guys wanted no part of them and instead used the last change to their advantage and threw their weight around when there was no chance at retribution. In the middle of the second period after Lane MacDermid boarded Nathan Moon all ten players got together in a large scrum, but instead of MacDermid challenging one of the Worcester tough guys on the ice he took on rookie Taylor Doherty. The WorSharks bench took notice.

With most of their offensive weapons in San Jose it would be up to everyone to pick up the slack, and Ryan Del Monte was able to do just that at 14:15 of the middle period when he tipped Matt Irwin’s blast from the blue line past Providence netminder Anton Khudobin to cut the deficit to 2-1. Alex Bourret had the second assist on the goal. On the ensuing face-off just one second later Pelech was able to show why the Providence “tough guys” were avoiding the WorSharks fighters when he dropped the mitts with Bobby Robbins and pummeled his opponent so badly Pelech stopped throwing punches and waved in the linesmen.

The P-Bruins would again increase their lead to two goals at 3:28 of the third period when Craig Cunningham beat Niittymaki high glove after collecting a rebound of a Bodnarchuk attempt. The WorSharks would return the favor of a rebound goal when Marek Viedensky threw a nice backhander past Khudobin at 10:51 after he made the original save on Mike Connolly’s bid. Irwin had the second assist on that play.

Unfortunately for the WorSharks a couple of silly penalties late in the game, one to Jack Combs for interference and another on Connolly for hooking in the final minutes, prevented any sort of legitimate attempt to get back to even.

GAME NOTES
As noted above, prior to the start of the game the Worcester Shuttle stopped in the Bay State to pick up John McCarthy and drop off Antero Niittymaki to finish his conditioning stint. The shuttle is starting to rack up some miles and it’s expected to drop off Frazer McLaren Saturday presuming the winger passes through waivers. There are also rumors the WorSharks have signed a player out of the ECHL, although as of posting time there was no further information. WorSharks injury scratches were Ben Guite, Cam MacIntyre, Tony Lucia, & Curt Gogol. Harri Sateri was a healthy scratch, and Tyson Sexsmith was the back-up goaltender.

EDIT: Just after the original posting it was announced the WorSharks had signed Chad Costello from the Colorado Eagles to a PTO. He has 22 goals and 57 points in 34 ECHL games this season.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – Cunningham (gwg,2a)
2. PRO – Bodnarchuk (g,2a)
3. WOR – Irwin (2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Marek Viedensky.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Providence, Bodnarchuk 4 (Bartkowski, Cunningham), 16:22 (PP). Penalties-Hennessy Pro (holding), 3:37; Petrecki Wor (boarding), 14:43.

2nd Period-2, Providence, Riendeau 3 (Cunningham, Bodnarchuk), 2:53 (PP). 3, Worcester, Del Monte 3 (Bourret, Irwin), 14:15. Penalties-Connolly Wor (slashing), 0:59; Moon Wor (high-sticking), 8:22; Doherty Wor (fighting), 10:56; MacDermid Pro (boarding, fighting), 10:56; Pelech Wor (fighting), 14:16; Robins Pro (fighting), 14:16.

3rd Period-4, Providence, Cunningham 8 (Bodnarchuk, Caron), 3:28. 5, Worcester, Viedensky 3 (Connolly, Irwin), 10:51. Penalties-Riendeau Pro (hooking), 8:28; Combs Wor (interference), 14:51; Connolly Wor (hooking), 18:05; Combs Wor (roughing), 19:54; Khudobin Pro (roughing), 19:54.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-6-12-30. Providence 8-10-8-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Providence 2 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Niittymaki 1-3-0 (26 shots-23 saves). Providence, Khudobin 14-14-3 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-10,431
Referees-Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Bob Paquette (18), Brian MacDonald (72).

Sexsmith, WorSharks put Syracuse in dog house with 3-2 shootout win

The Worcester Sharks played uninspired hockey for most of their game against the Syracuse Crunch Sunday afternoon but thanks to an outstanding performance from goaltender Tyson Sexsmith were able to steal a point when the game went to overtime, and then thanks to a little slight of hand by the rookie netminder were able to steal the win in a 3-2 shootout decision at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 4,287 fans including 75 dogs on Pucks and Paws Day.

It was fitting that the house included canines because Syracuse should have dog tired after playing their third game on the road in 43 hours, but it was the WorSharks that looked like mutts in the first period by being outshot 14-7 and being beaten in every aspect of the game. Were it not for Sexsmith the Crunch could have put the game away early, but time and time again he rose to the challenge to keep the WorSharks close to even. Only one shot beat Sexsmith in the opening twenty minutes, a highlight reel worthy backhander by Luca Caputi over Sexsmith’s blocker that just snuck inside the far corner at 8:24.

The goal seemed to fire up Worcester a little, and a turnover in the neutral zone sent Mike Connolly in all alone on Syracuse goaltender Iiro Tarkki. Connolly was caught from behind by the Crunch defense and didn’t get a good chance off, but in the ensuing play the puck ended up on the stick of Sena Acolatse at the right point. His blast was easily handled by Tarkki, but the rebound went right at Jack Combs. The puck was heading toward his backhand so Combs pulled a min spin-o-rama to get the puck on his forehand and buried it into the net at 10:15.

Fans were also looking forward to seeing the WorSharks extend their consecutive games in fight streak but in two opportunities during the period the Crunch player, in both cases Matt Smaby, played the role of “tough guy” until the altercation was to start and turtled both times. He ended the period with three stays in the sin bin, two roughing minors and an elbow. The rest of the game he spent staying away from the WorSharks tough guys.

The Smaby elbowing minor toward the end of the period gave the WorSharks a five on three advantage to start the second period, but passed the puck around far too much getting only a single non-threatening shot on goal. Most of the remaining 45 seconds on Smaby’s elbowing minor were just as poor for the WorSharks, but at the tail end of power play Mike Moore began a rush up ice that would eventually result in an even strength goal. After Moore entered the Syracuse zone with the puck he hit Brodie Reid with a pass to the left wing circle. His blast on net was saved by Tarkki, and after a misfire on the rebound by Brandon Mashinter John McCarthy lit the lamp at 2:00.

It looked like Sexsmith was going to steal the win for Worcester with his play until the middle of the third period when Crunch winger Patrick Maroon fired a shot on goal that was going well wide. Center Peter Holland was crashing the net and deflected the wide shot into the goal with his skate. Worcester protested but the goal at 7:03 stood and the game was tied. From that point on in the game Sexsmith put on a goaltending exhibition, making every type of save imaginable to keep the WorSharks in the lead. And he had to make a lot of them as the WorSharks went the entire second half of the third period without a shot on goal.

As the game went into the overtime period the WorSharks carried the play but could not get another shot past Tarkki, and with Worcester being winless in the shootout fans weren’t all the excited about the prospects of grabbing the extra point. Holland scored first for the Crunch, but consecutive goals by McCarthy and Mashinter sent Worcester to the 5th round leading by one. Dan Sexton connected to get Syracuse back to even, and Tarkki made the save on Marek Viedensky’s game winning bid.

The shootout headed into the sudden death rounds, and as Crunch forward Mark Bell came in on Sexsmith the netminder got caught a little to deep in his crease and as he made the save slid on to and over the goal line. Nearly all of Sexsmith was in the net, but with a little flick of his foot the rookie was able to slide the puck out of the net–video shows it was clearly all the way over the goal line–before Referee Ryan Fraser could catch sight of it as he ruled no goal. The replay shown in the building, which the AHL does not use to determine if the puck is in the net or not, raised the ire of the Syracuse bench. As they were yelling and complaining Reid swooped in on his attempt and buried a wrist shot for the 3-2 victory.

GAME NOTES
Worcester went with the same line-up as Sunday’s shutout wins over the weekend. The only change was Tyson Sexsmith getting the start in net and Harri Sateri being the backup.

Prior to the start of the game the WorSharks held their first “State of the Sharks” meeting between fans and San Jose hockey operations. You can check out Sharkspage’s coverage of the event here.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Reid (SO gwg)
2. WOR – Sexsmith (40 saves)
3. WOR – McCarthy (g)

Tyson Sexsmith was the AHL’s number one star of the night.

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jack Combs.

Even strength lines
Connolly/McCarthy/Combs
Reid/Moon/Mashinter
Bourret/Del Monte/Livingston
Pelech/Viedensky/Bonneau

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Syracuse 1 0 1 0 – 2
Worcester 1 1 0 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Syracuse, Caputi 4 (Jacques, Carle), 8:24. 2, Worcester, Combs 6 (Acolatse, Connolly), 10:15. Penalties-Smaby Syr (roughing), 0:19; Bonneau Wor (roughing), 0:19; Smaby Syr (roughing), 13:34; Pelech Wor (roughing, high-sticking), 13:34; Zimmerman Syr (interference), 19:11; Smaby Syr (elbowing), 19:56.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, McCarthy 11 (Mashinter, Reid), 2:00. Penalties-Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 15:53; served by Mashinter Wor (bench minor – too many men), 19:38.

3rd Period-4, Syracuse, Holland 13 (Maroon), 7:03. Penalties-Petrecki Wor (holding), 5:20; Jacques Syr (high-sticking), 6:15; Del Monte Wor (goaltender interference), 11:54.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Syracuse 2 (Holland G, Maroon NG, Caputi NG, Jacques NG, Sexton G, Bell NG), Worcester 3 (Connolly NG, Combs NG, McCarthy G, Mashinter G, Viedensky NG, Reid G).
Shots on Goal-Syracuse 14-12-15-1-0-42. Worcester 7-9-4-3-1-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Syracuse 0 / 5; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Syracuse, Tarkki 9-11-2 (23 shots-21 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 9-7-4 (42 shots-40 saves).
A-4,287
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Bernard (42).

WorSharks hold “State of the Sharks” gathering featuring San Jose hockey operations

Sunday afternoon the San Jose Sharks hockey operations held their first “State of the Sharks” gathering in Worcester where they answered the questions of season ticket holders, fans, and several media outlets. The panel members included Doug Wilson, Wayne Thomas, Tim Burke, John Ferguson Jr., Bryan Marchment, and Mike Ricci. The original plan was for Sharkspage to record all of the answers given by the panel and then edit in the questions for a seamless presentation. That idea would have worked well as my 60 minute flip camera had more than enough space to record all the answers. My brand new batteries had a different plan, so I was limited to the first 20 minutes or so because I brought no extra batteries. Lesson learned.

Looking back on the event, Wilson’s opening remarks and the first two answers were actually the most important of all the information given. The rest of the answers I took notes on are below the videos. The videos aren’t super quality because of the lighting high behind the panel, but the audio is really all that’s needed and that came out fine.

Wilson’s opening remarks

Wilson and Burke on veteran leadership

Wilson and Thomas on putting a roster together

Some other topics brought up were
* The lack of true play making centers on the roster. Wilson and Thomas addressed some of that earlier on the video, but Burke specifically mentioned Freddie Hamilton and Micheal Sgarbossa as young players that will make an impact in that area next season. Burke also mentioned the Sharks have their eyes on some free agents, and drew a laugh from the spectators when he obviously refused to mention names when prompted.

* The number of goaltenders on the roster. Wilson was very candid that “more is better” because they “can disappear fast” due to injuries. He mentioned that last year was very hard on the organization with all the injuries in that position, and he and Thomas were “holding their breaths” at points last season because of how far down the depth chart they had gone and that the cupboard was bare if there were more injuries. Thomas called the current situation a “fortunate problem to have”.

* Info on Alex Stalock: After his injury the Sharks were so concerned for his future they sought out the best surgeon in that field and flew Stalock out to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on a private jet owned by one of the owners of SVSE. It was announced that Stalock is “fully recovered” and the plan is for him to play “in seven to ten days” for the WorSharks.

* How it’s decided on which player is recalled. In most cases San Jose head coach Todd McLellan calls WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer and they discuss the role the recalled player is needed for and based on Sommer’s input on how well that player is current playing a decision is made. Wilson came right and said he knows those recalls hurt Worcester’s roster, but that’s what life is about in minor league hockey. When asked about recalls just prior to WorSharks games Wilson said the timing is all based on making sure all of San Jose’s roster spots were covered, and again noted that’s one of the issues that just happens to minor league teams. That topic rolled into the next one…

* The lack of Sharks owned players in the ECHL. This was probably the most eye opening answer given in the entire program, and one that now WorSharks fans have heard seems pretty obvious: the vast majority of ECHL players don’t want to sign two-way contracts with AHL clubs because it inhibits them in getting chances to make the next level full time. Thomas noted “it’s not like baseball” where players are owned by teams throughout the levels because while the NHL to AHL relationship between clubs is “very tight” the relationship between AHL teams and ECHL teams isn’t so rigid. The team has its eye on some players that they can sign out of the ECHL/CHL based on need and availability.

* Having a preseason game in Worcester. Wilson said it’s been talked about in the past, but to fly 6,000 miles to play one or two games makes no sense financially and the additional wear and tear of trips across the country and back before the season even starts makes it unlikely. He did note that if the NHL were to start San Jose’s season on the East coast it would make playing a preseason game in Worcester much more attractive and in that case they would certainly look into it.

* Why Dan DaSilva was not re-signed. Thomas was pretty candid about that, and said DaSilva was looking for an NHL contract and San Jose was not able to offer him one and that they had other players penciled into the spots he might possibly have occupied. Thomas continued that he liked DaSilva as a player and was up front with him about the situation.

* The continued rumors of San Jose moving their affiliate out west. Wilson almost laughed out loud as he said those rumors have been around “for 15 years” and that he and the organization feel that Worcester is the perfect place for developing prospects. Everyone on the panel chimed in on the issue, including Marchment who related his experiences in the AHL while playing in Moncton. He said that by having the team in Worcester so close to other teams that there are virtually no days lost to travel, and because of that every day is a practice or development day. Previously the Sharks have brushed off the issue about recalling prospects, indicating that there are several airports within an short drive from Worcester that allow access to most NHL cities.

* Making the “State of the Sharks” meeting in Worcester a yearly event. Wilson indicated he was all for it. Because the team holds its organizational meetings every year in Worcester there really is no reason to not hold one yearly.

After the gathering Sharkspage was hoping to have a few moments with Wilson for some questions, but that didn’t totally pan out as there was several folks looking for autographs and pictures and his time was short, but Wilson did laughingly tell a great story when asked about Calgary defenseman Chris Butler tying Wilson’s mark of going minus-seven in a game. He mentioned that center Dean Evason was a little emotional about being minus-5 and couldn’t take the draw until Wilson told Evason that he was minus-7 and to get in the face-off circle (as you might expect in a hockey story, there was the hint of some foul language being used in that conversation). Wilson also mentioned that Neil Wilkinson was responsible for him being minus-7 because he short shifted in front of Wilson and Wilson had one skate on the ice for one of the goals which gave him the minus instead of Wilkinson.

Sateri, WorSharks blank Providence 1-0

The Worcester Sharks only scored one goal Friday night against the Providence Bruins, but Harri Sateri made Brandon Mashinter’s third period breakaway tally stand up as the rookie netminder registered his second consecutive shutout with a 1-0 whitewash at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island before 9,682 fans.

In last Saturday’s contest between the two teams it took all of two seconds for the WorSharks consecutive fight streak to continue, so fans had a pretty good idea that not only would it eventually reach 22 games but it would also happen early. Despite Matt Pelech and Jimmy Bonneau both being available to drop the gloves P-Bruins enforcer Bobby Robins chose Nick Petrecki as his dancing partner at 1:48 of the first. Several twitter posts comment on how one sided the battle was, but a quick look at the video shows that while Robins threw more than a handful of punches only one really connected. Petrecki threw a haymaker that missed. Throughout the rest of the game Robins played the role of Providence’s tough guy while hiding behind the linesmen.

The opening twenty minutes saw the WorSharks outshoot the Baby-Bs 11-5, but neither team really sustained any pressure in the other’s zone as the teams skated even strength through the whole period. The chances each team did have were easily turned aside by Sateri and P-Bruins netminder Michael Hutchinson. The second period would see each team get a power play advantage, with Pelech getting called for high sticking on a shift where that was likely the only thing he didn’t do in trying to get anyone in a Providence jersey to drop the gloves with him, and Trent Whitfield being called for a trip that was hardly as egregious as some of the other things let go by referee Ryan Hersey.

The highlight of the period was a late battle between WorSharks captain Mike Moore and Nathan McIver. Moore, who just recently shed full face protection after being hit with a puck and then taking a high stick to the nose area that makes him look like a victim of a slasher movie, answered the bell when challenged by McIver despite having every excuse not to. In the end McIver was probably wishing Moore had begged off as he was absolutely pounded by Moore in a one sided fight that earned Moore a TKO with a big knock down.

Both goalies were again perfect in the stanza with Providence edging Worcester 11-9 in the period.

In scoreless games going into the third period more often than not it’s a lucky bounce that leads to a team lighting the lamp, but Friday it was a heads up play by Nathan Moon that set the wheels in motion. After some pressure by Providence along the walls Matt Irwin picked up a loose puck deep in the WorSharks zone and pushed it forward to Moon to start a break out. Only Moon didn’t rush up ice, he saw Mashinter breaking through the P-Bruins defense and threw an absolutely perfect pass that hit Mashinter in stride just beyond the center face-off dot. Mashinter fired a wrist shot from between the circles that went low blocker on the left handed Hutchinson to light the lamp at 1:16 of the third. Irwin isn’t credited with an assist on the play but he most certainly should be.

Providence picked up the pace trying to get back to even but could only generate a couple serious bids that were turned aside by Sateri. The Baby-Bs would get a gift power play late in the third when Mike Connolly was called for charging, but the team killed the penalty fairly easily. Their forecheck kept Hutchinson in his net for a lot longer than the P-bruins would have liked, but even when he did get off the WorSharks deflected away every challenge. John McCarthy had a chance at the open net from the neutral zone with seconds remaining but his shot rang off the post keeping the score 1-0.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks went with the same line-up as Sunday’s victory against Portland, with Ben Guite, Cam MacIntyre, Tony Lucia, and Curt Gogol all still on the injured list. Brain O’Hanley was a healthy scratch. Tyson Sexsmith was the back-up netminder. Matt Pelech skated at forward and skated alongside Jimmy Bonneau, making for one of the most physical pairings in WorSharks history. Eventually teams will have to learn to keep their heads up when the fourth line is on the ice.

Presuming he plays Sunday against Syracuse Mike Moore will become the WorSharks all-time leader in games played. With Friday’s game in the books he’s now tied with Lukas Kaspar at 216 games played. Nick Petrecki, who hasn’t been recalled to San Jose yet in his pro career, is second on the active list with 167 games. The record for games played for the Worcester Sharks without ever playing for San Jose is 197 by Patrick Traverse.

Friday was the 1st time in 436 regular season games the WorSharks won a game with a 1-0 score. They have a playoff 1-0 victory, ironically against Providence in the AHL divisional finals on May 9, 2009. It also took those same 436 regular season games for a WorSharks netminder to register back to back shutouts. Sateri’s shutout streak currently stands at 130:12. Worcester has registerd back to back shutouts before, with Carter Hutton blanking Providence–sensing a theme here–on February 5, 2011 and Daren Machesney following suit against Springfield on February 10.

I was happy to see that Jon Landry, the former Holy Cross defenseman that was signed by Worcester last season, had finally gotten another AHL chance with a pro try out with Bridgeport. Unfortunately, that’s not the Jon Landry the Sound Tigers signed. There were two of them in the ECHL, and the Jon Landry Bridgeport signed was the “other” one, who is also a defenseman. The Landry that played for Worcester (and to make it even more confusing, Bridgeport) last season is apparently out of pro hockey.

The WorSharks played the game in their home whites as Providence went with a black third jersey that looks exactly very similar to the Boston Bruins alternate sweater.

Bob Howard over at the The Power Play Post Show has an interview with Jimmy Bonneau. Well worth a listen.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Sateri (23 save shutout)
2. WOR – Mashinter (gwg)
3. PRO – Robins (not sure why)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Mike Moore.

Even strength lines
Connolly/McCarthy/Combs
Reid/Moon/Mashinter
Bourret/Del Monte/Livingston
Pelech/Viedensky/Bonneau

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 0 1 – 1
Providence 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Petrecki Wor (fighting), 1:48; Robins Pro (fighting), 1:48.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Pelech Wor (high-sticking), 6:02; Whitfield Pro (tripping), 14:05; Moon Wor (roughing), 18:49; Robins Pro (roughing), 18:49; Moore Wor (fighting), 18:58; McIver Pro (fighting), 18:58.

3rd Period-1, Worcester, Mashinter 5 (Moon), 1:16. Penalties-Connolly Wor (charging), 14:43.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-9-6-26. Providence 5-11-7-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 1; Providence 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 9-5-0 (23 shots-23 saves). Providence, Hutchinson 3-7-0 (26 shots-25 saves).
A-9,682
Referees-Ryan Hersey (46).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Paquette (18).

Reid scores two as WorSharks, Sateri blank Pirates, 5-0

The Worcester Sharks took advantage of a team not playing well and on the strength of two Brodie Reid goals and twenty-five saves by Harri Sateri took out some previous frustrations by pounding the Portland Pirates 5-0 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,162 very vocal fans.

In the previous meeting between the two clubs Pirates enforcer Mike Hoffman did battle with Jimmy Bonneau after Bonneau had been injured by a check, and it was obvious that Bonneau wanted some payback as once Hoffman was on the ice for a face-off Bonneau jumped the boards to line-up with him. It took almost the whole shift before Hoffman would go, but Bonneau was able to extract some revenge and set the tone for the entire game. Soon after the fight Nick Petrecki reinforced that the WorSharks wouldn’t be pushed around with a huge hit on former Sharks prospect Ashton Rome.

The WorSharks power play hasn’t exactly been impressive as of late, but they made their first chance against Portland count when Brandon Mashinter threw a nice feed to Brodie Reid breaking into the Pirates zone. Reid unleashed a 30 foot wrist shot that beat Portland goaltender Justin Pogge clean to the blocker side to light the lamp at 6:49 of the opening period. Sean Sullivan had the second assist on the play for his pass from the WorSharks zone to Mashinter at the left wing dot just outside the blueline.

The rookie didn’t let scoring the opening goal go to his head, and during his next shift after getting caught flat-footed in the neutral zone Reid skated hard back to the WorSharks net to catch his man to break up a great scoring chance by timing a stick lift perfectly. He then cleared away a loose puck to keep Worcester in the lead.

Portland came out of the gate in the second period with a little more life than the opening twenty minutes and that’s when Sateri really had to be on his game, making several nice stops including a very nice pad save on Brock Trotter. One shot did manage to get past Sateri but Sullivan, who had lost his helmet earlier in the play, swooped in and swept the puck off the goal line.

With Mashinter and Rome in the box for matching roughing calls the teams skated four on four, and John McCarthy took advantage of the extra space to give himself a little more room to shoot. Mike Connolly found McCarthy wide open in the slot with a pass from behind the goal line, and McCarthy slapped the puck home past Pogge from about five feet out to make it 2-0 at 15:12. Matt Irwin had the secondary assist.

Reid would make it 3-0 on a play very similar to McCarthy’s tally. In a goal that’s officially a power play tally because Jack Combs had stepped out of the penalty box to give the WorSharks a man advantage newcomer Alex Bourret found Reid all alone just inside the right wing circle from behind the goal line and Reid’s one-timer beat Pogge at 17:55. Sena Acolatse picked up an assist for flipping the puck in deep around the boards to Bourret.

Even though the WorSharks were obviously playing a more defensive game in the third period trying to protect Sateri’s shutout bid they still had several great scoring chances. Marek Viedensky was stoned twice by Pogge while shorthanded, including once getting a great shot off with a Pirates defender draped over him like a blanket. Connolly and Combs took advantage of the Pirates pushing to score by breaking into the Portland zone two on one. Combs held the puck as long as he could to force the defender to make a play, and as soon as there was an opening threw a cross slot pass to Connolly. The pass was slightly behind the onrushing forward, but Connolly got just enough of it to deflected it along the ice and just inside the far post at 13:54 to make it 4-0. Sullivan grabbed the second assist.

While most folks were on the edge of their seats on every save Sateri made rooting for the shutout, and the netminder had to make several good ones along the way, the WorSharks took advantage of the Pirates slowing up a little. With a delayed call coming up on Portland James Livingston took an outlet pass from Bourret off the right wing boards and broke in all alone beating Pogge high glove to light the lamp for the first time in 30 games at 18:18. Ryan Del Monte is credited with the secondary assist.

All that was left was to see if Sateri would get his first professional shutout, and after a few tense moments the WorSharks held firm to keep the Pirates off the board. Worcester finished the game two for three on the power play and a perfect seven for seven on the penalty kill.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks went with the same skaters all weekend, with the only change being Pelech moving up to forward and Acolatse moving back to defense. If the WorSharks are going to continue to play seven defensemen Pelech at forward looks to be their best option. The win improves Worcester’s record dressing seven defensemen to 2-3-1.

In addition to the Jimmy Bonneau/Mike Hoffman scrap the WorSharks were in two other battles, with Nathan Moon taking on Ethan Werek and Taylor Doherty dropping the mitts with Ryan Hollweg in battles that were fairly even. With the three fights Worcester now has 62 through 35 games, the most in the AHL. The WorSharks also have at least one fight in 21 straight games (45 fights total in those 21 games). Moon and Warek also got together after the final horn and both picked up high sticking minors.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – Sateri (25 save shutout)
2. WOR – Reid (2g)
3. WOR – Viedensky (great plays while shorthanded)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Mike Connolly.

Even strength lines
Connolly/McCarthy/Combs
Reid/Moon/Mashinter
Bourret/Del Monte/Livingston
Pelech/Viedensky/Bonneau

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Acolatse
Petrecki/Doherty

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 6 (Mashinter, Sullivan), 6:49 (PP). Penalties-Hoffman Por (fighting), 1:38; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 1:38; Brodeur Por (cross-checking), 5:09; Bourret Wor (roughing), 7:09; Hollweg Por (roughing), 16:05; Livingston Wor (roughing, goaltender interference), 16:05; Del Monte Wor (hooking), 18:32.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, McCarthy 10 (Connolly, Irwin), 15:12. 3, Worcester, Reid 7 (Bourret, Acolatse), 17:55 (PP). Penalties-Summers Por (holding the stick), 1:20; Rome Por (roughing), 13:58; Werek Por (fighting), 13:58; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 13:58; Moon Wor (fighting, misconduct – continuing altercation), 13:58; Combs Wor (slashing), 15:53; Goncharov Por (hooking), 17:20; Petrecki Wor (tripping), 18:22.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Connolly 7 (Combs, Sullivan), 13:54. 5, Worcester, Livingston 3 (Bourret, Del Monte), 18:18. Penalties-McCarthy Wor (hooking), 8:25; Hollweg Por (fighting), 10:45; Doherty Wor (fighting), 10:45; Bonneau Wor (delay of game), 15:09; Werek Por (high-sticking), 20:00; Moon Wor (high-sticking), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Portland 7-8-10-25. Worcester 10-9-6-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 7; Worcester 2 / 3.
Goalies-Portland, Pogge 5-4-3 (25 shots-20 saves). Worcester, Sateri 8-5-0 (25 shots-25 saves).
A-3,162
Referees-T.J. Luxmore (47), Jon McIsaac (39).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Joe Ross (92).

WorSharks bomb before a sellout crowd in 5-2 loss to Providence

The Worcester Sharks played well enough over the first 40 minutes to trail just 1-0 going into the final period, but then fell asleep for the early part of the third and nearly got blown out their own building in front of a sell out crowd against the Providence Bruins Friday night at the DCU Center before showing some signs of life and grabbed a couple late to make the 5-2 score look at least moderately respectable.

This writer was so angry–and if you follow along on Twitter (@210Darryl) you sure heard about it–that he threw away his notes for the game before leaving the building. Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, the true professional that he is, has a game story and notes column. Like the WorSharks in the early part of the third period the Providence Journal apparently forgot there was a hockey game going on and didn’t send a reporter 45 minutes north on Rt 146 to cover the contest.

As usual, the WorSharks and P-Bruins have their own unique perspectives.

GAME NOTES
Despite having only 11 healthy forwards in Worcester for some time now San Jose doesn’t seem in any hurry to sign a player out of the low minors–which they have to do seeing as they have no skaters playing on their ECHL “affiliate” in Stockton–so Sena Acolatse was again skating up front for the WorSharks. Worcester went with the same line-up as Friday in Springfield, and both goaltenders got in the game when head coach Roy Sommer pulled Tyson Sexsmith with about ten minutes to go in the contest in favor of Harri Sateri. The only logical reason I can think of is Sommer plans on coming back with Sexsmith this afternoon.

Fight fans will be happy to hear the WorSharks streak has reached 20 games. Unlike Friday night where it took 64:30 of action to extend the streak Jimmy Bonneau decided to get it out of the way quickly by dropping the mitts with Bobby Robins in a fairly one-sided bout won easily by Bonneau. He also got into an altercation with Marc Cantin where Bonneau pummeled the rookie forward with several unanswered shots.

After taking a shot to the face during the second period and then being high-sticked in the third period Friday against Springfield Mike Moore looked like a prize fighter on the wrong end of a beating, and wore a full face cage to start the game. He switched to a larger visor and jaw guard after the first intermission.

All scoring changed needed to be made from the Springfield game have been made.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – Hutchinson (29 saves–largely untested in the game)
2. PRO – Miller (2a)
3. PRO – Ridderwall (g)

For the second game in a row the Sharkspage player of the game was Sean Sullivan

BOXSCORE

Providence 1 0 4 – 5
Worcester 0 0 2 – 2

1st Period-1, Providence, Tardif 9 (MacDermid, Miller), 2:27. Penalties-Robins Pro (fighting), 0:02; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 0:02.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Cantin Pro (fighting), 6:40; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 6:40; MacDermid Pro (boarding), 15:27.

3rd Period-2, Providence, Arniel 2 (Caron, Hennessy), 1:18. 3, Providence, Ridderwall 3 (MacDonald), 5:22. 4, Providence, MacKinnon 5 (Bartkowski, Miller), 8:35. 5, Providence, Cunningham 6 (Whitfield, Robins), 9:48. 6, Worcester, Sullivan 5 (Viedensky, McCarthy), 17:03. 7, Worcester, Connolly 6 (Moon, Reid), 18:31. Penalties-Petrecki Wor (misconduct – continuing altercation), 5:22; Pelech Wor (charging), 19:34.

Shots on Goal-Providence 11-13-6-30. Worcester 13-12-6-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 0 / 1; Worcester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 3-6-0 (31 shots-29 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 8-7-4 (29 shots-25 saves); Sateri 7-5-0 (1 shots-0 saves).
A-7,257
Referees-Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Jack Millea (23), Joe Ross (92).

WorSharks steal a point in 4-3 shootout loss to Springfield

The Worcester Sharks traveled an hour west down the Mass Turnpike and played a see-saw contest with the Springfield Falcons, battling back from two one goal deficits and losing a lead of their own before ultimately losing a 4-3 shootout decision Friday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 3,433 that was heavily littered with WorSharks fans.

As has been a problem far too often for the WorSharks this season the team came out of the gate very slowly and were it not for goaltender Tyson Sexsmith the game would have been way out of hand early. In the team’s early power play opportunity the WorSharks didn’t register a single shot on goal and the Falcons had two, one of them a breakaway chance by Dane Byers that Sexsmith was able to flash a pad out to make the save on. The WorSharks were much better when shorthanded, killing all three of Springfield’s man advantages.

Despite his great play two shots made it past Sexsmith and lit the lamp, but luckily for Worcester only one of those two times counted on the board. At 16:50 of the period Aaron Bogosian blasted one past the netminder that rang off the iron as the goal light went on and the Falcons fans began to celebrate. Referee Keith Kaval correctly ruled the puck didn’t enter the goal, but inexplicably stopped play while Worcester was in possession of the puck as play continued. Cam Atkinson made sure the second time counted when he out-muscled defenseman Mike Moore and broke in alone on Sexsmith at 18:34.

The second period started out a lot like the opening stanza with Sexsmith being called upon very early to make some big saves, but eventually the WorSharks got into the flow of the game and picked up the pace in the second period. This time it was Falcons netminder Manny Legace that kept his team in the game, making several nice stops to keep the WorSharks at bay. Like Springfield in the opening period the WorSharks would light the lamp twice in the second period, but in their case both tallies counted.

The first came at 15:04 on the power play after Referee Kaval gave Chad Costello two minutes for goaltender interference and this writer gave Sexsmith 9.3 on the dive when on one of the rare occasions the WorSharks showed any continuity with the man advantage. Worcester had a couple nice chances that Legace turned aside, and as the pucked ended up on the stick of Matt Irwin at the blue line the defenseman wristed a shot on goal that John McCarthy was able to get a piece of and deflected into the net. Jack Combs ios listed as having the second assist on the goal.

Sixty-four second later the WorSharks would grab a 2-1 lead on an even strength goal that looked a lot like their first tally when again the puck ended up on the stick of Irwin high in the slot. His blast tipped off of Brodie Reid and past Legace at 16:08, with an assist listed to Mike Connolly.

It looked like the WorSharks would end the period with the lead only to see the Falcons light the lamp to make the game even with 5.6 seconds remaining, but after some discussion between the linesmen and Referee Kaval the breakaway goal was disallowed as the officials ruled that Matt Calvert knocked the puck into the net with his glove after being slashed by Matt Pelech. From this writer’s perch significantly closer to the action than the first disallowed goal it looked like it should have counted.

Worcester would have some penalty trouble early in the third period after Pelech’s crossover minor ended when they were called for two very borderline penalties that resulted with the team skating down two players for 23 seconds. Sexsmith kept his team in the lead for most of that stretch but after a couple nice saves couldn’t control the rebound of Tomas Kubalik’s shot and Atkinson was there at 5:34 to knot the score. The Falcons would take a 3-2 lead at 14:51 on a play that looked a lot like the WorSharks goals when Calvert tipped a blast by Byers past Sexsmith.

The WorSharks would get a late power play and had a golden chance to get back to even when Irwin found himself all alone about 15 feet in front of Legace, but his blast went well wide of the goal. Worcester then skated six on four for a brief time but couldn’t generate a significant scoring chance. The WorSharks would finally get a quality shot on goal in the last minute when a bouncing puck ended up on the stick of Sean Sullivan. The defenseman corralled it and fired it on net, and the fluttering shot fooled Legace enough to get it past him to make it 3-3 with just over 40 seconds to go in regulation.

Reid picked the absolute worst time to be called for his second minor of the season when he was whistled for an automatic delay of game minor in overtime for flipping the puck over the glass in his defensive end, but the WorSharks and Sexsmith stood firm during the four on three play. And they had to stand a little firmer when Sena Acolatse lost his stick with about 30 seconds remaining on the penalty kill, but the rookie defender showed the poise of a seasoned veteran by twice laying on the ice to the left of Sexsmith to block any chance of a cross slot pass. At one point he actually crawled along the ice trying to gather a loose puck to glove it out of the zone.

In a play that likely kept Worcester in the game Reid charged out of the penalty box when his minor was over and immediately handed his stick off to Acolatse, and then while stickless blocked a booming shot from the point that was about to head into traffic in front of Sexsmith. The game eventually went to a shootout, which is something the WorSharks are absolutely terrible at, and Friday night was no exception as Worcester would go scoreless in four attempts to lose the game 4-3.

GAME NOTES
As if there’s anyone that hasn’t heard, the Worcester Shuttle made a stop in the Bay State to pick up Tommy Wingels. Cam MacIntyre, Ben Guite, Brian O’Hanley, Tony Lucia, and Curt Gogol did not dress for Worcester. O’Hanley was the only healthy scratch. Sena Acolatse skated up front for most of the game as the WorSharks have extra defensemen and not enough healthy forwards, but the rookie defenseman was forced to go back to the blue line as Mike Moore, who had take a shot to the face earlier, went off to the dressing room in the third period with an as of yet disclosed injury. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

To take Wingels spot in the line-up the WorSharks dipped into the Central Hockey League and grabbed Alex Bourret. The former first round draft pick (Atlanta 2005, #16 overall) has AHL experience, and certainly has the speed to play at this level. His only appearance in the boxscore is a two minute minor for high sticking, a penalty call so bad that even Falcons fans were laughing about it between periods. And speaking of boxscores, whoever is the official scorer in Springfield needs to pay a tad more attention. All three WorSharks goals were–or still are–listed incorrectly.

One streak that looked like it was going to end was the WorSharks getting into a fight for 18 games in a row. Despite some pretty good hits the game really didn’t have any altercations that looked like they would break into a bout, so it was a surprise when Sean Sullivan and Cam Atkinson dropped the mitts with 30 seconds left on overtime. The only noteworthy thing about the battle was it extended the streak to 19 games, much to the excitement of Worcester broadcaster Eric Lindquist.

The MassMutual Center in Springfield is my favorite place on the road to see a game, and it’s the only arena I intentionally sit high in a corner to view the game from. The sightlines from there are some of the best in the AHL. The building also has some of the best food in the league and they’ve even added some great new things this season. WorSharks fans will be happy to know they’ll be able to make trips out to Springfield for the next two seasons as earlier in the week the Falcons announced they signed a new lease at the MassMutual Center for a minimum of two more seasons and have extended their affiliation agreement with Columbus thru the 2013-2014 campaign.

The three stars of the game were:
1. SPR – Atkinson
2. WOR – Irwin
3. SPR – Calvert

No stats mentioned for them because who the heck knows if they’re right or not.

The Sharkspage player of the game is Sean Sullivan, who when all the potential corrections are made might end up with a Gordie Howe hat trick.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Springfield, Atkinson 16 (Giroux, Legace), 18:34. Penalties-St. Pierre Spr (hooking), 4:23; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 6:30; Acolatse Wor (high-sticking), 9:18; Doherty Wor (hooking), 13:42.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, McCarthy 9 (Irwin, Combs), 15:04 (PP). 3, Worcester, Irwin 8 (Reid, Connolly), 16:08. Penalties-Bourret Wor (high-sticking), 5:04; Garlock Spr (hooking), 8:39; Costello Spr (goaltender interference), 14:13; Pelech Wor (slashing), 19:54.

3rd Period-4, Springfield, Atkinson 17 (Kubalik, Regner), 5:34 (PP). 5, Springfield, Calvert 4 (Byers), 14:51. 6, Worcester, Combs 6 19:19. Penalties-Combs Wor (kneeing), 3:27; Del Monte Wor (roughing), 5:04; Prout Spr (delay of game), 6:56; Kubalik Spr (holding), 17:12.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Reid Wor (delay of game), 1:52; Sullivan Wor (fighting), 4:30; Atkinson Spr (fighting), 4:30.

Shootout – Worcester 0 (Combs NG, Connolly NG, Mashinter NG, McCarthy NG), Springfield 2 (Regner NG, Giroux NG, Atkinson G, Kubalik G).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-15-8-2-0-29. Springfield 13-7-10-7-1-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 5; Springfield 1 / 8.
Goalies-Worcester, Sexsmith 8-6-4 (37 shots-34 saves). Springfield, Legace 8-11-1 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-3,433
Referees-Keith Kaval (40).
Linesmen-Kevin Redding (16), Brent Colby (7).

Tyson Sexsmith and Matt Irwin named to AHL East All-Star team

From the American Hockey League:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star rosters for the 2012 AHL All-Star Classic, to take place Jan. 29-30 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Each team comprises 24 players – 13 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders. Rosters were determined by committees of AHL coaches, and all 30 AHL teams are represented by at least one All-Star.

The 2012 squads feature 34 first-time AHL All-Stars, 13 rookies and 20 players who have skated in the National Hockey League already this season, including standout first-year players Cam Atkinson of the Springfield Falcons, Andy Miele of the Portland Pirates, Cade Fairchild of the Peoria Rivermen and Gustav Nyquist of the Grand Rapids Griffins. A total of 13 former first- and second-round draft picks were also named All-Stars, among them Milwaukee’s Ryan Ellis, Manchester’s Thomas Hickey, Syracuse’s Kyle Palmieri, Bridgeport’s Calvin de Haan, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Simon Despres, Oklahoma City’s Alex Plante and Toronto’s Joe Colborne and Nazem Kadri.

Players returning to the AHL All-Star Classic include AHL leading scorer Keith Aucoin of Hershey and reigning AHL MVP Corey Locke of Binghamton, both of whom will tie an AHL record with their sixth career All-Star appearance.

St. John’s IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge and Oklahoma City Barons head coach Todd Nelson will guide the Eastern and Western Conference All-Stars, respectively, after their teams finished play on Jan. 1 with the best records in their conferences.

From Jan. 5-23, fans will have the opportunity to vote for the starting lineups for the 2012 AHL All-Star Game by visiting theahl.com or facebook.com/theahl and completing the official Reebok AHL All-Star Fan Ballot. Voters will also be entered to win a grand prize of a team-signed authentic 2012 AHL All-Star jersey, and five more winners will each receive a pair of tickets to the 2012 AHL All-Star Skills Competition and All-Star Game, courtesy of Insurance Office of America.

Tickets for the 2012 AHL All-Star Classic – which include admission to both the 2012 AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 3 p.m. on Sunday, January 29, and the 2012 AHL All-Star Game at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 30 – are on sale now at the Boardwalk Hall box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling (800) 736-1420 or at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available for the Post-Skills Party (January 29, 5:30 p.m.) and the 2012 AHL Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Ceremony (January 30, 11 a.m.) at Caesars Atlantic City.

The 2012 AHL All-Star Classic will feature the top young talent in the American Hockey League competing in an internationally televised showcase from historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Of the 562 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 93 percent have competed in the National Hockey League, including Patrice Bergeron, Dan Boyle, Daniel Briere, Ryan Callahan, Brian Campbell, Zdeno Chara, Jimmy Howard, Miikka Kiprusoff, Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, Pekka Rinne, Bobby Ryan, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, P.K. Subban and Tomas Vokoun.

The 2012 AHL All-Star Classic is presented by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, Caesars Entertainment, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the American Hockey League. For destination information about Atlantic City, please visit www.atlanticcitynj.com.

The announcement, along with the rosters for both the Eastern and Western conferences, can be found here.

Press release courtesy of the AHL.

WorSharks take a long holiday weekend, lose 4-0

The Worcester Sharks kicked off the new year by sleepwalking through their Monday matinee with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers where they were out-hustled, outhit, outplayed, and out-everything else you can be in a hockey game during a 4-0 drubbing at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In trying to come up with something positive about this debacle this is the best Sharkspage could come up with: at least it happened on the road where very few WorSharks fans saw it.

Seeing as the team took yesterday afternoon of Sharkspage will do the same this afternoon, and will simply point folks to what Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette had to say about the game and in his notes column. Michael Fornabaio from the Connecticut Post has the Bridgeport side of things in his game story and various blog posts.

As usual, both the WorSharks and Sound Tigers have their unique points of view.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Bridgeport 1 3 0 – 4

1st Period-1, Bridgeport, Cizikas 7 (Rakhshani, Ness), 5:19. Penalties-Petrecki Wor (tripping), 2:20; Klementyev Bri (slashing), 17:54.

2nd Period-2, Bridgeport, Romano 3 (Donovan), 11:21. 3, Bridgeport, Mouillierat 2 (Aubin), 15:29. 4, Bridgeport, Rakhshani 4 (Ness, Reese), 19:08 (PP). Penalties-Howes Bri (tripping), 2:22; Mouillierat Bri (slashing), 4:44; Poulin Bri (hooking), 11:44; McCarthy Wor (hooking), 18:56; Reid Wor (tripping), 19:27; Rakhshani Bri (hooking), 19:49.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Moon Wor (fighting), 14:43; Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 14:43; McNeely Bri (fighting), 14:43.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 7-7-7-21. Bridgeport 10-10-13-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 5; Bridgeport 1 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 7-5-0 (33 shots-29 saves). Bridgeport, Poulin 8-12-0 (21 shots-21 saves).
A-5,945
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Ryan Hersey (46).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Luke Galvin (2).

WorSharks sunk by Pirates 4-2

The Worcester Sharks ended 2011 against the team they started the year out against but unfortunately played the first period like it was the middle summer months to close out the year 4-2 losers against the Portland Pirates Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

For the second game in a row the WorSharks came out flatter than a fast food pancake, and unlike Friday where they got the bounces on Saturday the puck worked against them. The Pirates would get on the board early when Brock Trotter threw a nice backhander past Worcester goaltender Tyson Sexsmith and just under the crossbar. After a Andy Miele dump in was collected by Brett MacLean behind the Worcester net MacLean’s wrap around attempt went across the slot right to Trotter, who despite skating backwards toward the endboards was able to roof a backhander from a bad angle into the net at 3:33.

Portland would convert on a WorSharks turnover to make it 2-0 at 5:17 of the period when Matt Irwin inexplicably threw a lazy backhander from the corner to the right of Sexsmith into the slot. The only player even close to the puck was Pirates defenseman Michael Stone, and his wrist shot beat Sexsmith low to the glove side. The goal should have been unassisted as Irwin had clear control of the puck in the corner, but hometown scoring in Portland has added assists to Ryan Duncan and Matt Watkins.

In an attempt to fire up his team and maybe get into the head of the opposing goaltender Nathan Moon gave Portland netminder Justin Pogge a pretty good two-hander a few seconds after the second Pirates tally, which drew the ire of Dean Arsene who jumped to Pogge’s defense and showed Moon what a true AHL heavyweight can do to a middleweight. It was all for naught as the WorSharks continued along with their lackluster play.

Miele would give the Pirates a 3-0 lead at 17:25 after another WorSharks turnover just outside of their own zone. MacLean stole the puck out of the feet of Mike Connolly and sent Miele all alone into the WorSharks zone. Taylor Doherty did manage to hook Miele from behind, but all that did was to cause the onrushing forward to crash into Sexsmith as the puck was going over the goal line.

The WorSharks would make a game of it early in the second period when Tommy Wingels banged home a rebound at the top of the crease when Pogge made a save on John McCarthy’s original bid, also assisted by Irwin, and the goal added a little bounce to Worcester’s step. That bounce would go away quickly when Duncan beat Sexsmith from 50 feet away on a shot the netminder most definitely should have had at 11:27.

Tempers would boil over at 15:13 of the period when a Maxim Goncharov hit put WorSharks enforcer Jimmy Bonneau down behind the play. Matt Pelech jumped Goncharov in front of the Worcester bench to administer some frontier justice. While Bonneau was being helped up and back to the WorSharks bench he did battle with Mike Hoffman–there are conflicting reports on if Hoffman left the Pirates bench to engage Bonneau–and both were ejected for their brief altercation.

Jack Combs, who has been a great in-season signing, gave Worcester fans a little bit of hope when he beat Pogge five-hole at 6:31 of the third period, but three goal deficits are hard to overcome and the WorSharks couldn’t climb out of the hole the dug for themselves despite outplaying the Pirates over the last 20 minutes.

GAME NOTES
Worcester scratches were Cam MacIntyre, Tony Lucia, Brian O’Hanley, Ben Guite, and Curt Gogol. James Livingston was originally a scratch for the WorSharks but after warm-ups Lucia was unable to play, throwing Livingston back into the line-up. With Lucia’s previous concussion issue it’s hoped this is not related to the hard hit he took early in Friday’s game. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender.

The three stars of the game were:
1. POR – Stone (g,a)
2. POR – Miele (g,a)
3. POR – Pogge (33 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Ryan Del Monte

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Portland, Trotter 8 (MacLean, Miele), 3:33. 2, Portland, Stone 3 (Duncan, Watkins), 5:17. 3, Portland, Miele 9 (MacLean), 17:25. Penalties-Moon Wor (slashing, fighting), 5:32; Arsene Por (fighting), 5:32; Bloodoff Por (high-sticking), 13:31.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Wingels 13 (McCarthy, Irwin), 4:18 (PP). 5, Portland, Duncan 7 (Hextall, Stone), 11:27. Penalties-Wingels Wor (high-sticking), 0:02; Watkins Por (roughing), 3:49; Bloodoff Por (holding), 12:07; Bonneau Wor (fighting, game misconduct – secondary altercation), 15:13; Pelech Wor (fighting), 15:13; Goncharov Por (fighting), 15:13; Hoffman Por (fighting, game misconduct – secondary altercation), 15:13; Arsene Por (holding), 17:42.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Combs 5 (Sullivan, Del Monte), 6:31. Penalties-Miele Por (tripping), 3:23; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 4:05; Rome Por (roughing), 15:45; Livingston Wor (roughing), 18:56; Eckford Por (roughing), 18:56.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-12-12-35. Portland 12-9-4-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 6; Portland 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Sexsmith 8-6-3 (25 shots-21 saves). Portland, Pogge 5-3-3 (35 shots-33 saves).
A-6,759
Referees-David Banfield (44).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Landon Bathe (80).

WorSharks enjoy a dinner of Whale, beat Connecticut 4-3

The Worcester Sharks surrendered one goal leads three different times but made their fourth tally of the night stand up in route to defeating the Connecticut Whale 4-3 Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 5,091 fans.

Worcester has had some issues lately by giving up goals early, and it looked like that trend might continue after the WorSharks went shotless in their opening power play chance. But hockey is a game of bounces and Worcester got a good one to get on the board first. After some great work along the boards by Marek Viedensky the puck ended up on the stick of Brandon Mashinter, who fired a shot on Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot. The netminder quickly flashed out the glove but couldn’t catch the shot, and the puck bounced right to the stick of Tony Lucia who beat Talbot with a backhander at 5:20 of the first period.

Moments later Tommy Wingels was sprung on a breakaway bid but Talbot was able to make a great pad save. Not to be outdone WorSharks netminder Harri Sateri stoned two Connecticut bids within a handful of seconds of each other and got to make an easy save on a third thanks to a nice back check by Viedensky after a Worcester turnover at their own blue line.

Nathan Moon thought he had given the WorSharks a 2-0 when his shot broke through Talbot, but the puck rolled and hit the far post and stopped in the crease. No Worcester player could get a stick on the loose puck as several players converged on the crease. Talbot was able to fall back on the puck to stop the play.

Tempers were flaring the entire period, and with two minutes to go in the stanza Andre Deveaux dropped the mitts and started pounding on WorSharks defenseman Sena Acolatse. It took a few moments for the rookie to get free to start throwing punches in a bout that was generally scored even. Both received just fighting majors as both referees, Gino Binda and Ryan Hersey, chose to ignore textbook examples of an instigator minor for Deveaux and a continuing altercation misconduct for Acolatse.

The WorSharks survived a scare early in the second period when Pavel Valentenko boarded Lucia deep in the Worcester zone. Lucia, who missed a full season’s worth of games with a concussion last year was slow to get up but did eventually return. The WorSharks did everything but score on that man advantage and would soon regret not lighting the lamp when Valentenko blasted a shot on net that Jonathan Audy-Marchessault was able to tip at the top of the crease past Sateri at 5:02.

Just over two minutes later while the teams were skating four on four Worcester would reclaim the lead after converting a Whale turnover into a breakaway. Connecticut turned the puck over at the WorSharks blueline and while Mike Connolly struggled to control the puck John McCarthy broke straight toward the Whale end. Once Connolly settled the puck he hit McCarthy in stride as the forward outraced the defense into the zone, and McCarthy roofed a shot over Talbot at 7:10 for the 2-1 lead.

Jack Combs would be the next Worcester headed to the sin bin after mistiming a check and getting called for interference. Wingels had another great chance was shorthanded but Talbot again stoned him on a breakaway chance, and again that miss would come back to haunt the WorSharks when Tim Erixon buried a fifteen foot wrist shot past a partially screened Sateri to tie the game for a second time at 9:50.

The teams’ physical play would boil over again at the end of the period after Deveaux slashed Ryan Del Monte well after the whistle. Matt Pelech took exception to the cheap shot and went after Deveaux, but before he could get there Mashinter dropped the gloves with Jared Nightingale. Pelech and Deveaux got matching minors for their altercation.

In the third period Deveaux would make another trip to the penalty box, and just after his minor expired the WorSharks took the lead for the third time when Combs beat Talbot cleanly from the left side at 8:49. Mike Moore and Sean Sullivan had the assists on the play. It would then be the Whale’s turn to score just as a penalty expired when Sullivan was off for roughing. The defenseman was just on the ice when Andreas Thuresson tipped Erixon’s shot past Sateri at 13:32 to knot the game 3-3.

Connecticut really turned it on after the Thuresson goal and were it not for several great stops by Sateri the game would have likely had a different outcome. Mashinter made sure all those saves would mean something when he was all alone just outside the slot and buried a hard wrister past the blocker of Talbot, with assists going to Lucia and Del Monte, at 17:04 to give the WorSharks the 4-3 lead. Just moments later Viedensky almost made it a two goal lead but Talbot was able to make an incredible save to keep his team in the contest.

Unfortunately for Connecticut Worcester also managed to keep Talbot in his net for a lot longer than the Whale would have liked with a tenacious forecheck as time eventually expired with Connecticut being unable to muster much of a threat to tie the game.

GAME NOTES
The WorSharks injury list grew by one when Curt Gogol joined Ben Guite and Cam MacIntyre, although Gogol isn’t expected to be out long after suffering a minor head injury after being hit with a puck Wednesday. Worcester’s healthy scratches were Taylor Doherty and James Livingston. Tyson Sexsmith was the back-up netminder.

Looking at the boxscore one would think Nick Petrecki didn’t have much of a game as he’s listed with no shots, no penalty minutes, and being even for the game. Looking on the ice you could see Petrecki took being scratched for Wednesday’s game to heart and punished the Whale with several bone jarring checks. His huge open ice hit was what sprung the WorSharks second line into the Connecticut zone for the eventual game winner.

There was a Neil Diamond impersonator doing the National Anthem for the game…I kid you not. He was pretty bad. I hope the WorSharks decide to not bring him back.

Earlier this week the Whale recalled Jason Missiaen from Greenville (ECHL). It’s usually hardly worthy of a mention when an opponent recalls a back-up goaltender, but in this case it’s somewhat newsworthy as at 6’8″ Missiaen is tallest goalie in North American pro hockey. Watching him during warm-ups it was obvious the only place to beat him was on the glove side, and lots of shots were beating him there. Developmentally he’s a long way from surpassing Ben Bishop (6’7″) from the St. Louis Blues as the tallest goalie to play in the NHL.

Streaking WorSharks: Sean Sullivan has a six game scoring streak (g,6a), Ryan Del Monte has assists in two straight (3a total), and Gogol has a two game points streak (g,2a) that will continue when he returns from his injury. Doherty, Brian O’Hanley, and Sullivan have been even or better in 10 straight games. Gogol has been even or better in seven straight, and Brandon Mashinter has a six game streak going. Both Harri Sateri and Sexsmith are on personal four game winning streaks.

Mashinter’s Gordie Howe hat trick was the first one by a WorSharks player since Veteran’s Day in 2009 against Lowell. Not so surprisingly it was Mashinter who did it and it’s the third time in his pro career he’s had a goal, an assist, and a fight in the same game.

The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – Mashinter (gwg, Gordie Howe hat trick)
2. WOR – Lucia (g,a)
3. CT – Erixon (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Harri Sateri

BOXSCORE

Connecticut 0 2 1 – 3
Worcester 1 1 2 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Lucia 3 (Viedensky, Mashinter), 5:20. Penalties-Deveaux Ct (boarding), 2:44; Deveaux Ct (fighting), 18:00; Acolatse Wor (fighting), 18:00.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Audy-Marchessault 11 (Valentenko, Newbury), 5:02. 3, Worcester, McCarthy 8 (Connolly), 7:10. 4, Connecticut, Erixon 2 (Newbury, Bell), 9:50 (PP). Penalties-Valentenko Ct (boarding), 1:24; Wingels Wor (holding), 6:30; Newbury Ct (interference), 6:34; Combs Wor (interference), 8:32; Pelech Wor (interference), 12:31; Bell Ct (tripping), 19:54; Deveaux Ct (slashing), 19:54; Nightingale Ct (fighting), 19:54; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 19:54; Pelech Wor (roughing), 19:54.

3rd Period-5, Worcester, Combs 4 (Moore, Sullivan), 8:49. 6, Connecticut, Thuresson 8 (Erixon, Bell), 13:32. 7, Worcester, Mashinter 4 (Lucia, Del Monte), 17:04. Penalties-McKelvie Ct (high-sticking), 4:17; Deveaux Ct (kneeing), 6:43; Sullivan Wor (roughing), 11:29.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 10-8-16-34. Worcester 13-7-11-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 4; Worcester 0 / 6.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 8-6-0 (31 shots-27 saves). Worcester, Sateri 7-4-0 (34 shots-31 saves).
A-5,091
Referees-Ryan Hersey (46), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks from the past: where are they playing now?

Prior to the WorSharks playing in Worcester the city was the home to the IceCats (1994-2005), the NHL affiliate of the St Louis Blues with the occasional duel affiliation with the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders thrown into the mix in the early seasons. I recently posted a a list on AHLfans.net of players that were still playing from the IceCats which drew some comments on twitter asking about former WorSharks and where they were playing.

Below is a list every former player for the WorSharks no longer in the San Jose organization and if/where they are playing this season. The teams that are listed are the highest level a player had played this season, or in the case of splitting time between the NHL and minors both teams are mentioned. Back-up goaltenders and other players that were signed but did not appear in games are not listed.

Riley Armstrong – SaiPa Lappeenranta (SM-liiga)
Steve Bernier – Albany (AHL)
Mathieu Biron – out of pro hockey
Chris Blight – Ritten Renon (Italy)
Tim Branham – out of pro hockey
Brendan Buckley – out of pro hockey
Marc Busenburg – out of pro hockey
Joe Callahan – Hamilton (AHL)
Trent Campbell – South Carolina (ECHL)
Matt Carle – Philadephia (NHL)
Tom Cavanagh – deceased
Jonathan Cheechoo – Peoria (AHL)
Will Colbert – Gwinnett (ECHL)
Gerald Coleman – Alaska (ECHL)
Sean Collins – out of pro hockey
Mathieu Curadeau – out of pro hockey
Taylor Dakers – out of pro hockey
Mathieu Darche – Montreal (NHL)
Dan DaSilva – Poprad Lev (KHL)
Patrick Davis – Wolfsburg (DEL)
Frank Doyle – Fassa HC (Italy)
Oren Eizenman – out of pro hockey
Brennan Evans – Peoria (AHL)
P.J. Fenton – Bietigheim-Bissingen SC (2.GBun)
Scott Ferguson – out of pro hockey
Matt Fornataro – Norfolk (AHL)
J.D. Forrest – out of pro hockey
T.J. Fox – Texas (CHL)
Matt Francis – Nottingham (EIHL)
Riley Gill – Kalamazoo (ECHL)
Josh Gorges – Montreal (NHL)
Danny Groulx – Khanty-Mansiysk (KHL)
Dwight Helminen – out of pro hockey
Kevin Henderson – out of pro hockey
Garet Hunt – Stockton (ECHL)
Sean Hurley – out of pro hockey
Carter Hutton – Rockford (AHL)
Mike Iggulden – Vaxjo HC (SEL)
Jeff Jakaitis – Gwinnett (ECHL)
Kyle Jones – Colorado (ECHL)
Matt Jones – out of pro hockey
Derek Joslin – Carolina (NHL)
Lukas Kaspar – Astana Barys (KHL)
Matt Kinch – Ravensburg (2.GBun)
Justin Kurtz – Linz EHC (Aust)
John Laliberte – Wolfsburg (DEL)
Jon Landry – out of pro hockey
Ryan Lannon – KalPa Kuopio (SM-liiga)
Cory Larose – out of pro hockey
Chris Lawrence – out of pro hockey
Jay Leach – Albany (AHL)
Brady Leisenring – Kaufbeuren ESV (2.GBun)
Claude Lemieux – out of pro hockey
Louis Liotti – Reading (ECHL)
Erick Lizon – Wichita (CHL)
Nathan Longpre – Chicago (AHL)
Joe Loprieno – Bakersfield (ECHL)
Dave MacDonald – out of pro hockey
Daren Machesney – South Carolina (ECHL)
Michal Macho – out of pro hockey
David Marshall – San Antonio (AHL)
Dennis McCauley – Reading (ECHL)
James McEwan – South Carolina (ECHL)
Jim McKenzie – Allen (CHL)
Kyle McLaren – out of pro hockey
Scott Mifsud – out of pro hockey
Graham Mink – Hershey (AHL)
Mike Morris – out of pro hockey
Glenn Olson – out of pro hockey
Sandis Ozolinsh – Riga (KHL)
Dennis Packard – out of pro hockey
Dmitri Patzold – Hannover (DEL)
Jody Pederson – Stockton (ECHL)
Joe Pereira – South Carolina (ECHL)
Todd Perry – out of pro hockey
Jason Pitton – Asiago HC (Italy)
Tomas Plihal – TPS Turku (SM-liiga)
Josh Prudden – Vipiteno (Italy)
Cory Quirk – Rosenheim (2.GBun)
Nate Raduns – out of pro hockey
Ashton Rome – Portland (AHL)
Leigh Salters – Florida (ECHL)
Nolan Schaefer – HC Ambrì-Piotta (Swiss-A)
Nick Schaus – Syracuse (AHL)
Devin Setoguchi – Minnesota (NHL)
Daniel Sisca – out of pro hockey
Dan Spang – Texas (AHL)
Garrett Stafford – Hamilton (AHL)
Brad Staubitz – Minnesota (NHL)
Grant Stevenson – out of pro hockey
Dean Strong – Lake Erie (AHL)
Michael Swift – out of pro hockey
Patrick Traverse – Hamburg (DEL)
Jonathan Tremblay – out of pro hockey
T.J. Trevelyan – Ausberg (DEL)
Craig Valette – out of pro hockey
Mitch Versteeg – Trenton (ECHL)
Ryan Vesce – Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)
Tom Walsh – out of pro hockey
Brett Westgarth – out of pro hockey
Brian White – out of pro hockey
Michael Wilson – Rio Grande (CHL)
Ty Wishart – Bridgeport (AHL)
Brian Yandle – out of pro hockey
Steven Zalewski – Albany (AHL)

WorSharks snap skid against Manchester, defeat Monarchs 3-1

The Worcester Sharks could only muster one win against the Manchester Monarchs in their previous six meetings this season, and were mired in a five game losing streak to their division rivals but thanks to multiple point nights from Curt Gogol and Ryan Del Monte plus a solid goaltending performance from Harri Sateri the WorSharks defeated Manchester 3-1 Wednesday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a very loud crowd of 4,069.

The first period was scoreless due to Sateri and Monarchs netminder Jeff Zatkoff making several key saves. Zatkoff had a great stop against a Mike Connolly bid shorthanded and then robbed John McCarthy halfway through the period. Sateri wasn’t truly tested, but on the shots Manchester did have Sateri made clean saves and controlled the rebounds.

Every game between the WorSharks and the Monarchs has a lot of huge hits, and the opening period was no exception with Mike Moore and Sean Sullivan crushing Manchester forward Cam Paddock in front of the Worcester goal. Paddock was slow getting up and didn’t return until the middle of the second period. Gogol, despite giving away three inches and 25 pounds, threw a bone jarring hit against Andrew Campbell at the WorSharks blue line.

Worcester did have a about 15 seconds in the middle stanza where it looked like they would lose two players to injury when Gogol took a puck to the side of the head on a failed clearing attempt. He did get to his feet quickly after play was stopped and was visibly angry as he stormed off to the dressing room. When play was restarted seconds later Matt Pelech blocked a shot and limped down the tunnel leaving the team with just 16 skaters. Both would eventually return, and would play major roles in the victory.

The period would also see the only fight in the contest when Jimmy Bonneau and Justin Johnson renewed acquaintances at center ice that most called even.

The second period would start just like the first with both goalies making saves and the teams trying to line each other up for huge hits. There was a slight delay about five minutes into the period when the glass behind Zatkoff broke–literally in half into two pieces–but that didn’t slow the pace of the game down one iota.

Zatkoff had given up just six goals in his previous four games against Worcester so the WorSharks knew they were likely going to need to get some luck to light the lamp, and they got just enough when Brodie Reid hit Sean Sullivan with a pass at the Manchester blue line. Sullivan teed the puck up and blasted it on net where Nathan Moon was just able to get just enough of the blast to tip it past Zatkoff for the 1-0 lead at 14:48.

Lady luck would again shine on the WorSharks when Zatkoff absolutely misplayed Pelech’s blue line blast. Gogol won a clean draw from the left wing circle over to Del Monte, who then threw a cross ice pass to Pelech at the blue line. Pelech’s unscreened laser along the ice from 60 feet away beat Zatkoff cleanly threw the five hole at 18:08. Sateri made sure it would stay that way through 40 minutes with a huge save against Robert Czarnik’s breakaway bid with just under 30 seconds remaining in the period.

Early in the third period the WorSharks defense would come up big in stopping odd man rushes by Manchester, with Brian O’Hanley using some timely back checking to break up a bid and Pelech blocking another shot that sent him beck to the bench limping on the same leg. Gogol would give the WorSharks a little extra cushion with a bang-bang goal right in front of the Monarchs net. After Del Monte was taken down hard in the left wing corner Bonneau was able to get a piece of the bouncing puck. Gogol finally got full control of it and whistled a shot from about five feet in front of Zatkoff into the net at 6:25.

The WorSharks would get their first, and only, power play chance of the game at 15:06, but it would be Manchester that grabbed a quick goal when Dwight King went on a three zone breakaway and beat Sateri five hole just ten seconds later. Sateri did stand tall the rest of the way, and with the help of several blocked shots by his defense sent the Monarchs home losers.

GAME NOTES
WorSharks scratches were Taylor Doherty, Ben Guite, Tony Lucia, Cam MacIntyre, and Nick Petrecki. Tyson Sexsmith was the back-up goaltender.

Anecdotal Wednesday is the lowest attendance night across the entire AHL, so it was a little bit of a shock to see the DCU Center so full for the contest against Manchester. Every AHL team lists tickets sold as their attendance number for each game, but the 4,069 listed in the box score looked to be pretty accurate with the lower bowl being mostly full. It was also one of the loudest crowds of the season. At the end of the game the WorSharks saluted the crowd at center ice.

The Jimmy Bonneau and Justin Johnson bout has edged the WorSharks to the 50 fight plateau through 29 games this season, which leads the AHL. Courtesy of the WorSharks, here’s a list of the fourteen different players with fighting majors this season Worcester fighters: Jimmy Bonneau and Curt Gogol both have 10 fights; Sena Acolatse, Cam MacIntyre, Nathan Moon, and Matt Pelech have each fought four times; Brandon Mashinter have been in three bouts; Frazer McLaren, Mike Moore, and Tommy Wingels have dropped the gloves twice; and Ryan Del Monte, Taylor Doherty, James Livingston, John McCarthy, and Nick Petrecki have all been in the sin bin once for fighting. The Sharks are on a pace to shatter their team record for fights in a season, set last season when they averaged on per game.

Worcester has been in a fight in 15 consecutive games, which according to Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, sets a city pro record. As Ballou listed in the paper today during the 2001-2002 season the IceCats had a 14 game streak.

If referee Chris Cozzan doesn’t look all black and blue after the game he can thank his equipment as he was hit with a puck at least a half dozen times in the first period alone. He might also wish to make sure his whistle works as it apparently malfunctioned several times during the game when he failed to blow it following obvious penalty calls in both directions.

The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – Gogol (g,a)
2. WOR – Sateri (22 saves)
3. WOR – Pelech (g, several blocked shots)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Ryan Del Monte.

BOXSCORE

Manchester 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 0 2 1 – 3

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Irwin Wor (tripping), 2:46; Mashinter Wor (interference), 11:05; Johnson Mch (fighting), 14:21; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 14:21.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Moon 6 (Sullivan, Reid), 14:48. 2, Worcester, Pelech 1 (Del Monte, Gogol), 18:06. Penalties-No Penalties

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Gogol 4 (Bonneau, Del Monte), 6:25. 4, Manchester, King 5 (Cliche), 15:16 (SH). Penalties-Muzzin Mch (tripping), 15:06.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 7-5-11-23. Worcester 13-16-6-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 2; Worcester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Manchester, Zatkoff 9-4-1 (35 shots-32 saves). Worcester, Sateri 6-4-0 (23 shots-22 saves).
A-4,069
Referees-Chris Cozzan (18).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Brian MacDonald (72).

WorSharks fight their way to 3-2 overtime win in Portland

The Worcester Sharks started their post holiday schedule about 20 minutes after their opponents did but after falling behind 2-0 early battled back–both literally and figuratively–to defeat the Portland Pirates 3-2 in overtime Monday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine to send home most of the 5,230 fans disappointed.

It would take just 52 seconds for the Pirates to capitalize on a WorSharks mistake when Jack Combs lost his man in front of the Worcester net. Brett MacLean spotted Portland “super rookie” Andy Miele streaking toward the net and after wheeling the net threw a nice pass into the slot. Miele was all alone and his shot beat WorSharks netminder Tyson Sexsmith to blocker side for the 1-0 lead.

Marc-Antoine Pouliot had two great chances to give the Pirates a two goal lead but Sexsmith was able to stone him twice in the span of a couple of shifts. On the other end Portland goaltender Justin Pogge was stellar, stopping consecutive bids by Brodie Reid and Nathan Moon and then later in the period holding the post on Brandon Mashinter’s attempt to jam home a lose puck at the far post.

Portland would eventually get that two goal lead while on the power play after the WorSharks again lost track of a player when Sena Acolatse passed off forward Brett Hextall to the other penalty killers and went after Brock Trotter along the left wing halfboards. No one picked up Hextall and Trotter just waited until Acolatse couldn’t retreat and threw a pass to Hextall heading toward the net. Sexsmith made the save on the first bid but had no chance on the second as his penalty killers stood around and watched the lamp being lit at 12:25. Both goaltenders made big saves soon after to keep the score at 2-0, with Pogge making stops on bids by Tommy Wingels and Mike Connolly and Sexsmith turning aside a Matt Watkins bid.

Jimmy Bonneau, seeing his team playing without a lot of spirit, did what he does best and took on Mike Hoffman in a center ice battle that looked to be pretty even but did light a fire under his teammates. The fire was so bright that with eight seconds left in the period a huge line brawl nearly exploded with John McCarthy and Tommy Wingels both taking on opponents after referee Terry Koharski let play continue along the boards for maybe a few seconds too long. McCarthy took on Miele and landed several clean shots, and even though Miele came on in the end McCarthy gets the decision as the referees were forced to jump in to break up the battle. Wingels took on former WorSharks Ashton Rome off screen in a fight that was broken up by the linesmen.

As time expired in the period James Livingston went after Pirates defenseman Chris Summers along the boards at center ice and threw a tremendous haymaker that unfortunately connected with linesman Joe Andrews. That didn’t stop Livingston who continued to throw bombs at Summers. Order would soon be restored and Andrews looked no worse for wear.

The Pirates had two great chances early in the second period to put the game away, but Jordan Szwarz shot rang off the post to the left of Sexsmith and the goaltender was able to get across the crease to stop Hextall’s one-timer that was going five hole. Seconds later Sean Sullivan had a shorthanded breakaway but Pogge was just able to get his left skate on the puck.

The WorSharks would finally get on the scoreboard at 11:10 on their first chance with the extra man in a play that worked just like head coach Roy Sommer drew it up. Combs won a face-off in the left circle cleanly back to Mike Moore at the blue line. Moore threw a pass over to Sullivan, who blasted a shot on net. Both Combs and Moon were in front of the net jamming at the rebound, and while the goal was credited to Moon it looks on the video like Combs was the last to touch it.

Two minutes later the WorSharks would get the tying goal from a very unlikely source when their fourth line was swarming the Pirates zone. The puck would end up on the stick of Moore at the left point, and the defenseman rifled a shot on net that Pogge got a piece of but couldn’t stop completely. The puck lay in the crease for a second or two until Bonneau jammed it home for his first goal in a Worcester uniform. Marek Viedensky was originally credited with the secondary assist, and later in the game it was changed to Curt Gogol. This writer thinks it needs to be changed again to Sullivan.

Sexsmith was the reason the WorSharks escaped the rest of the period still tied as he made several key stops to keep the Pirates from retaking the lead, including stoning Evan Bloodoff on a breakaway attempt and and a great pad save on MacLean’s quick one-timer. Early in the third period sexsmith came up big again stopping Ryan Duncan’s. Both goaltenders came up big in that third period to keep the score even, but as time was winding down Combs would beat Pogge cleanly to the glove side, but his shot found iron.

The overtime period started three on three with Moon and Nathan Oystrick getting matching roughing minors as regulation expired, and Worcester would eventually earn a four on three advantage when Maxim Goncharov was called for hooking Wingels. Sullivan and Moore would again assist on a goal, this time hooking up McCarthy for the short side game winner from the right wing dot at 2:56 of overtime.

GAME NOTES
WorSharks scratches were Ben Guite, Tony Lucia, Cam MacIntyre, Brian O’Hanley, and Matt Pelech. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

Jimmy Bonneau’s goal was his first since May 6, 2011 when he tallied the game winner for the Bulldogs in game five of the divisional finals series between Hamilton and Manitoba. His last regular season goal was February 21,2011 for Hamilton against Rochester.

Worcester was called for a too many men minor in the second period, and with two linesmen and two referees on the ice one has to wonder why it took over eight seconds for them to notice the WorSharks had six skaters on the ice.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – McCarthy (OT gwg)
2. POR – Miele (g,a)
3. WOR – Sexsmith (33 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Mike Moore.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Portland, Miele 8 (MacLean, Duncan), 0:52. 2, Portland, Hextall 4 (Trotter, Goncharov), 12:25 (PP). Penalties-Moore Wor (hooking), 10:42; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 14:40; Hoffman Por (fighting), 14:40; McCarthy Wor (roughing, fighting), 19:52; Wingels Wor (fighting), 19:52; Miele Por (fighting), 19:52; Rome Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 19:52; Livingston Wor (fighting), 20:00; Summers Por (fighting), 20:00.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, Moon 5 (Sullivan, Moore), 11:10 (PP). 4, Worcester, Bonneau 1 (Moore, Gogol), 13:11. Penalties-Viedensky Wor (hooking), 2:37; served by Gogol Wor (bench minor – too many men), 6:07; Moore Wor (interference), 7:57; Summers Por (holding), 11:03; Combs Wor (cross-checking), 17:59; Wingels Wor (slashing), 20:00.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Watkins Por (slashing), 14:00; Combs Wor (interference), 14:46; Moon Wor (roughing), 20:00; Oystrick Por (roughing), 20:00.

OT Period-5, Worcester, McCarthy 7 (Moore, Sullivan), 2:56 (PP). Penalties-Goncharov Por (hooking), 2:25.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-8-7-2-25. Portland 11-15-8-1-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 3; Portland 1 / 7.
Goalies-Worcester, Sexsmith 8-5-3 (35 shots-33 saves). Portland, Pogge 3-3-2 (25 shots-22 saves).
A-5,230
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Landon Bathe (80).

WorSharks lose to Springfield 6-3; Niittymaki’s numbers don’t reflect his play on ice

The Worcester Sharks returned home Wednesday night after a seven game road trip and played one of their worst games of the season that resulted in a 6-3 loss to the Springfield Falcons in a game that wasn’t anywhere near as close as the score indicates. The less said about the contest the better, but for folks that have some interest in the happenings you can check out what Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette had to say about the game and in his notes column. Dan Hickling has the Springfield side of the story for Masslive.com. Both the WorSharks and Falcons have their unique perspectives on their official sites.

The big news was Antero Niittymaki’s first home game on his conditioning stint. Despite finishing with some numbers that don’t look that impressive his play on the ice was certainly NHL quality. His 1-2-0 record includes a loss for the WorSharks in Manchester where they had no legs left after a five hour bus ride the night before and Wednesday night’s contest where there were so many odd man rushes against it looked like a practice drill. His 3.38 goals against and .878 save percentage are also reflected in those two outings.

His first game, a 5-1 win in Albany last Friday, really showed that that rust wasn’t going to be a long term. He was so superior to his opponents that on more than one occasion he reacted too quickly to the shot and ended up having to make a much more difficult save as a result. He also looked very good in Manchester in a 3-1 loss where he was all alone on several chances against and still was able to make saves to keep the WorSharks in it.

Of the ten goals Niittymaki surrendered only one looked like a save he should have made, and that was late in the Springfield game where he had already made a half dozen incredible saves. The rest were all odd man rushes or deflections in front of him.

Now that San Jose has recalled Niittymaki it appears the Sharks will go with three goaltenders for the near future.

BOXSCORE

Springfield 2 3 1 – 6
Worcester 0 1 2 – 3

1st Period-1, Springfield, Garlock 2 (Atkinson, Calvert), 6:16. 2, Springfield, Kubalik 4 (Giroux, Savard), 14:47 (PP). Penalties-Mayorov Spr (roughing), 1:02; Thomas Spr (tripping), 10:12; Lucia Wor (hooking), 12:56; Lebda Spr (holding), 19:21.

2nd Period-3, Springfield, Garlock 3 (Calvert), 0:49 (SH). 4, Worcester, McCarthy 6 (Sullivan, Combs), 3:15. 5, Springfield, Kubalik 5 (Russell), 10:03. 6, Springfield, Mayorov 1 (Regner, Russell), 12:28. Penalties-Bogosian Spr (roughing), 8:29; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 8:29; Petrecki Wor (slashing), 10:24; Thomas Spr (fighting), 12:31; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 12:31; Gogol Wor (slashing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:48.

3rd Period-7, Worcester, Reid 4 (Mashinter), 2:01. 8, Springfield, Atkinson 15 (Garlock), 2:13. 9, Worcester, Wingels 12 (Acolatse, Reid), 18:40 (PP). Penalties-Bogosian Spr (holding), 3:21; Spencer Spr (slashing, fighting), 18:08; Gogol Wor (fighting), 18:08; Ruth Spr (roughing), 18:33; Combs Wor (roughing), 18:33.

Shots on Goal-Springfield 10-8-9-27. Worcester 4-11-13-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 4; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Springfield, Legace 7-9-0 (15 shots-14 saves); York 1-1-0 (13 shots-11 saves). Worcester, Niittymaki 1-2-0 (27 shots-21 saves).
A-2,778
Referees-Geno Binda (22), Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks run out of gas in Manchester, lose 3-1

The Worcester Sharks had tired legs after playing last night in Binghamton, New York while their opponent had the night off and it showed on the scoreboard as the WorSharks end their season long seven game road trip with a 3-1 loss to the Manchester Monarchs Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. The WorSharks finished the road trip with a 5-1-1 record.

When the AHL released their schedule over the summer WorSharks fans knew this game was going to be one of the toughest on the schedule because of the travel before the game and the Monarchs getting the previous night off. Unfortunately it turned out they were right, and the WorSharks dug their hole deeper when Matt Irwin failed to clear the puck out of their zone and after a couple of nice passes Brandon Kozun was able to tip a Dwight King feed past Worcester netminder Antero Niittymaki and just inside the far post on their first shot on goal of the game at 2:01.

Jimmy Bonneau did what he could to try to fire up his teammates by taking on Justin Johnson in what was basically a wrestling match, and Curt Gogol followed by beating up Chris Cloud. It worked for a short while when after swarming the offensive zone Jack Combs banged one home past Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff at 7:23. The goal was assisted by Tommy Wingels and Mike Moore, although it did look like the second assist might belong to Brandon Mashinter.

As the game wore on Worcester would get its chances, but their road weary legs prevented the WorSharks from mounting any sort of prolonged attack. Worcester ended the game outshooting the Monarchs 41-28, but Zatkoff wasn’t truly tested that often. At the other end of the ice Niittymaki was stellar, many times making saves as open attackers had clean shots on goal.

Niittymaki could do nothing on Manchester’s second goal when Kozan and King broke in on a two on none. Matt Pelech did eventually catch Kozan, but it was after he made a pass to King. Niittymaki had no chance on the tip in at 5:59 of the middle period. The Monarchs third goal was very similar as Ray Kaunisto threw a pass under a diving Nick Petrecki to Linden Vey, who held it to freeze Niittymaki and then beat him to light the lamp at 8:47 of the third.

Worcester would pull Niittymaki with just over two minutes to go in the game but could muster just two shots, but at least didn’t lose one in goal differential when Manchester hit the crossbar on their only attempt at the empty net.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Mike Connolly (lower body), Ben Guite (concussion), Cam MacIntyre (unknown), Brian O’Hanley (healthy), Nathan Moon (unknown), Tyson Sexsmith (healthy), and Sean Sullivan (unknown). Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

Tommy Wingels (7g,3a) has a six game point streak. Jack Combs (3g,2a) and Mike Moore (3a) three game streaks.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – King (g,a)
2. MCH – Kozun (g,a)
3. MCH – Zatkoff (40 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jack Combs.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Manchester, Kozun 8 (King, Czarnik), 2:01. 2, Worcester, Combs 3 (Wingels, Moore), 7:23. Penalties-Bonneau Wor (fighting), 2:41; Johnson Mch (fighting), 2:41; Gogol Wor (fighting), 2:44; Cloud Mch (fighting), 2:44.

2nd Period-3, Manchester, King 4 (Kozun, Hickey), 5:59. Penalties-Combs Wor (tripping), 1:28; Muzzin Mch (tripping), 3:25; Hill Mch (delay of game), 19:31.

3rd Period-4, Manchester, Vey 7 (Kaunisto, Hickey), 8:47. Penalties-Legein Mch (tripping), 3:18; Moore Wor (hooking), 14:31.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 15-14-12-41. Manchester 9-9-10-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Manchester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Niittymaki 1-1-0 (28 shots-25 saves). Manchester, Zatkoff 9-3-1 (41 shots-40 saves).
A-3,802
Referees-Keith Kaval (40), Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Brian MacDonald (72).