SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks announce 2014-2015 regular season schedule

The long awaited AHL schedule was released today, and it’s more of the same for the Worcester Sharks as they will once again play a division heavy schedule as 40 of their 76 games will be played against their Atlantic Division rivals. With games split evenly home and away the WorSharks will face the Providence Bruins and Manchester Monarchs a dozen times each, and will see the St. John’s IceCaps and Portland Pirates eight times. The rest of Worcester’s schedule are the remaining Eastern Conference teams. The WorSharks will face the Springfield Falcons six times; the Albany Devils, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hershey Bears, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and Norfolk Admirals four times each. The remaining Eastern Conference teams, the Binghamton Senators, Syracuse Crunch, and Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins will see the WorSharks twice.

Thirty-two of the 38 Worcester home games will be played on the weekends, with 20 of the 32 occurring on either Saturday or Sunday. The WorSharks also have a weekday home game during December school vacation week (Tuesday, December 30th). Worcester will host 12 Friday home games this season with a start time of 7:30pm. The Friday December 26th game has a special 5pm starting time. The season opener is October 11th in Binghamton, the home opener is Saturday, October 18th against the Providence Bruins.

As has become tradition, Sharkspage tries to predict the number of nights the WorSharks will spend in hotels. In past years we’ve been almost spot on, so if that trend continues and knowing that the team will take advantage of an extra travel day or two built into the schedule it looks like Worcester will be spending 22 nights on the road, with most of them taking place in Pennsylvania or St. John’s.

Stay tuned to Sharkspage for full season coverage of the Worcester Sharks, and follow me on twitter for up to date goings on with the WorSharks.

Sat, Oct 11, 2014 Worcester at Binghamton 7:05 pm EDT
Fri, Oct 17, 2014 Worcester at Providence 7:05 pm EDT
Sat, Oct 18, 2014 Providence at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Tue, Oct 21, 2014 Hartford at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Oct 24, 2014 Syracuse at Worcester 7:30 pm EDT
Sun, Oct 26, 2014 Portland at Worcester 3:00 pm EDT
Wed, Oct 29, 2014 Portland at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Sat, Nov 1, 2014 Hershey at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Sun, Nov 2, 2014 Worcester at Hartford 3:00 pm EST
Wed, Nov 5, 2014 Lehigh Valley at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sat, Nov 8, 2014 Providence at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Tue, Nov 11, 2014 Worcester at Springfield 3:00 pm EST
Fri, Nov 14, 2014 Manchester at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Nov 15, 2014 Springfield at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Wed, Nov 19, 2014 Worcester at Manchester 10:00 am EST
Fri, Nov 21, 2014 Worcester at Lehigh Valley 7:05 pm EST
Sat, Nov 22, 2014 Worcester at Hershey 7:00 pm EST
Wed, Nov 26, 2014 Worcester at Portland 7:00 pm EST
Fri, Nov 28, 2014 Springfield at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Nov 29, 2014 Providence at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Fri, Dec 5, 2014 Worcester at St. John’s 7:30 pm NST
Sat, Dec 6, 2014 Worcester at St. John’s 7:30 pm NST
Fri, Dec 12, 2014 Worcester at Hartford 7:00 pm EST
Sat, Dec 13, 2014 Manchester at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Dec 14, 2014 Portland at Worcester3:00 pm EST
Fri, Dec 19, 2014 Worcester at Manchester 7:00 pm EST
Sat, Dec 20, 2014 Worcester at Portland 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Dec 21, 2014 Worcester at Bridgeport 3:00 pm EST
Fri, Dec 26, 2014 Manchester at Worcester 5:00 pm EST
Sat, Dec 27, 2014 Worcester at Syracuse 7:00 pm EST
Tue, Dec 30, 2014 Bridgeport at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Fri, Jan 2, 2015 Manchester at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Jan 3, 2015 Worcester at Springfield 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Jan 4, 2015 Worcester at Providence 3:05 pm EST
Fri, Jan 9, 2015 Binghamton at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Jan 10, 2015 Providence at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Tue, Jan 13, 2015 Manchester at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Fri, Jan 16, 2015 Manchester at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Jan 17, 2015 W-B/Scranton at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Jan 18, 2015 Worcester at Manchester 3:00 pm EST
Wed, Jan 21, 2015 Worcester at Portland 7:00 pm EST
Fri, Jan 23, 2015 Albany at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Jan 24, 2015 Worcester at Albany 2:00 pm EST
Fri, Jan 30, 2015 Worcester at Providence 7:05 pm EST
Sat, Jan 31, 2015 Providence at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Wed, Feb 4, 2015 Worcester at Lehigh Valley 7:05 pm EST
Fri, Feb 6, 2015 Worcester at Norfolk 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Feb 7, 2015 Worcester at Norfolk 7:15 pm EST
Sat, Feb 14, 2015 Worcester at St. John’s 7:30 pm NST
Sun, Feb 15, 2015 Worcester at St. John’s 4:00 pm NST
Fri, Feb 20, 2015 Norfolk at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Feb 21, 2015 Norfolk at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Feb 22, 2015 Worcester at Manchester 3:00 pm EST
Fri, Feb 27, 2015 St. John’s at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Feb 28, 2015 St. John’s at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Mar 1, 2015 Worcester at Manchester 3:00 pm EST
Fri, Mar 6, 2015 Hartford at Worcester 7:30 pm EST
Sat, Mar 7, 2015 Bridgeport at Worcester 7:00 pm EST
Sun, Mar 8, 2015 Worcester at Providence 3:05 pm EDT
Wed, Mar 11, 2015 Worcester at Bridgeport 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Mar 13, 2015 Worcester at Albany 7:00 pm EDT
Wed, Mar 18, 2015 Hershey at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Mar 20, 2015 St. John’s at Worcester 7:30 pm EDT
Sat, Mar 21, 2015 Lehigh Valley at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Mar 27, 2015 Worcester at Springfield 7:00 pm EDT
Sat, Mar 28, 2015 St. John’s at Worcester 7:00 pm EDT
Sun, Mar 29, 2015 Springfield at Worcester 3:00 pm EDT
Wed, Apr 1, 2015 Worcester at Hershey 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Apr 3, 2015 Worcester at W-B/Scranton 7:05 pm EDT
Tue, Apr 7, 2015 Worcester at Portland 7:00 pm EDT
Fri, Apr 10, 2015 Worcester at Providence 7:05 pm EDT
Sat, Apr 11, 2015 Providence at Worcester7:00 pm EDT
Sun, Apr 12, 2015 Albany at Worcester 3:00 pm EDT
Fri, Apr 17, 2015 Worcester at Providence 7:05 pm EDT
Sat, Apr 18, 2015 Worcester at Manchester 7:00 pm EDT
Sun, Apr 19, 2015 Portland at Worcester 3:00 pm EDT

2013-2014 WorSharks final report card

As the American Hockey League playoffs swing through the second round and more teams join the Worcester Sharks in having the rest of the spring off it’s time to grade the WorSharks players. We’ve set the limit at 38 games played–half the season–and are only grading players that finished the season playing in the organization. The players are listed by position, with forwards going first, followed by the defense and goaltenders. Forwards and defenseman are listed in order of their point totals for no other reason than that’s how we’ve always done it. The last section is off ice personnel.

Players have been graded on how well they’ve done against the expectations that have been set for them and how well they’ve done compared to the other players on the roster. When looking at the grades remember that a “C” is average, meaning the player has done what was expected of them or that their play, based on the other players on the roster, has been average in nature. The contract status listed is what they will be as July 1st at the time of this posting, and NHL salary listed is their potential amount against the NHL salary cap.

FORWARDS
Freddie Hamilton (64 games, 22-21-43, -14, 6PIM)
Contract status: Final season of NHL ELC ($626,667/$67,500)
Hamilton is on the cusp of being an everyday NHL player, although it won’t be in the top six role he plays in Worcester. Hamilton should do well in San Jose as a third line checking forward and penalty killer. Likely will never see the twenty goal plateau in the NHL, if he gets enough games in the AHL next season he should easily hit that number again. He was one of the few players that excelled with everyone he was teamed with, and in turn made every one of those players better.
Grade: A

Travis Oleksuk (74 games, 19-21-40, -1, 20PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
Oleksuk started off the 2013-14 season the same way he ended the 12-13 campaign, and that’s not a good thing. Oleksuk looked over his head at the AHL level and once again slowly drifted down the depth chart. The beginning of 2014 was like the light finally going on and Oleksuk suddenly was on fire and almost couldn’t be stopped. His 16 goal and 27 point improvement from last season are anecdotally the best ever in Worcester pro hockey history. An almost certainty San Jose qualifies him in the off season.
Grade: B

Dan DaSilva (61 games, 17-20-37, -13, 67PIM)
Contract status: UFA
After two seasons of WorSharks fans screaming they wanted DaSilva back in a teal jersey Worcester Sharks GM Joe Will knew exactly who to turn to when the WorSharks offense was sputtering and on the verge of collapse. It took DaSilva a week to get back into the swing of things, but from that point on the Worcester Sharks were a completely different team. Fans are now yelling for DaSilva to be brought back for next season to wear the captain’s “C”. Hopefully Will is listening.
Grade: A

Daniil Tarasov (47-17-14-31, +2, 40PIM)
Contract status: Final season of NHL ELC ($680,000/$65,000)
Tarasov has tons of raw offensive skill and his defensive game is getting better, but his big issue is avoiding injury. Multiple stints on the injured list have hampered his development, and Tarasov’s game really needs lots of refinements for him to have any chance at the NHL. The only question is if San Jose wants to keep trying to tap into his potential or will they look in another direction. With so little offensive talent in the pipeline the Sharks may have no choice but to keep trying with Tarasov.
Grade: C

Brodie Reid (55 games, 11-14-25, -1, 8PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
Another oft-injured player, Reid’s big issue most of the season was staying out of WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer’s dog house. A player with legitimate AHL top six talent Reid spent a significant amount of the season on the third and fourth lines where his skills couldn’t be put to good use. On a team that lacked scoring having a player with his skill level in the bottom six, for whatever the reason, is inexcusable. It will be interesting to see if San Jose qualifies Reid. In this writer’s opinion, they should.
Grade: C

Bracken Kearns (45 games, 6-19-25, -12, 72PIM)
Contract status: UFA
Kearns had some success in the NHL but with Worcester his play was very streaky and he never seemed to find his groove. Many times it seemed like Kearns was a half-step behind where he should have been, and he was never able to really establish himself in front of the net as he had in years past. His play on the power play was still fairly good because of the extra space he was given, but at even strength he was “just another guy” out there as opposed to the offensive leader he was expected to be.
Grade: C

Marek Viedensky (54 games, 6-17-23, +1, 29PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
It was another odd year for Viedensky, who looked good when he played but spent far too much time on the injury list or being a healthy scratch. For a guy that was so highly regarded coming out of juniors there is obviously something going on that is causing issues with him getting in the line-up. Viedensky certainly has the skills to play in the AHL but it’s still a question if he can play in the NHL. It’s also a question if San Jose qualifies him, and I’m far from certain they will. He’s currently playing for Slovakia in the World Championships.
Grade: C

Eriah Hayes (59 games, 12-9-21, -15, 43PIM)
Contract status: Final season of NHL ELC ($655,000/$70,000)
Hayes made his NHL debut just after the new year following a rather pedestrian end to 2013, but if San Jose had a deeper prospect pool he likely would not have seen any NHL action. His play right after his return from the NHL was unimpressive, but a positive March and April showed signs of what Hayes has the potential to do over an entire season. The Sharks should bring in a veteran AHL power forward to really show Hayes the ropes so he can hopefully reach his full development.
Grade: C

Rylan Schwartz (73 games, 5-13-18, -16, 25PIM)
Contract status: Final season of NHL ELC ($650,000/$50,000)
Another player with an impressive scouting report that didn’t meet those expectations. Schwartz was supposed to be an above average play maker and goal scorer but didn’t do either of those things particularly well in the AHL. Schwartz did have a four game points streak in early March, but was otherwise mostly invisible on the ice. With so many centers in front of him on the depth chart Schwartz will need a big 2014-15 campaign to stick in the organization.
Grade: D

Jimmy Bonneau (45 games, 2-3-5, +3, 106PIM)
Contract status: UFA
Bonneau is the type of enforcer teams covet: knows when to drop the mitts, doesn’t take dumb penalties, and doesn’t kill you when he’s on the ice taking a shift. You don’t often see an enforcer wearing the alternate captain’s “A”, but Bonneau does and deservedly so. A plus player both on and off the ice the WorSharks should really be looking at bringing him back next season, and based on how–and when–Bonneau’s 2013-14 campaign ended it seems like they may be looking to do that.
Grade: B

Matt Pelech (32 games, 3-1-4, -2, 73PIM)
Contract status: UFA
Pelech is a player that WorSharks fans love and fans of everyone else hates. He’s tough to play against because he’s so physical and because he often skirts the line between clean and “not so clean” play. If you’re carrying the puck and Pelech is near you, you’re going to get hit. Being able to play both forward and defense in the AHL is a huge plus for a player like Pelech, and that is probably enough for the organization to think about bringing him back for another season. But after breaking his hand in a fight and then being reluctant to drop the gloves after he may have seen the last of the NHL.
Grade: C

DEFENSEMEN
Dylan DeMelo (68 games, 2-22-24, -17, 51PIM)
Contract status: 2nd of 3 year NHL ELC ($633,333/$65,000)
In an odd contradiction, as a defenseman Demelo lead all WorSharks in assists but also lead the team in being in the penalty box when a power play goal was scored against. His constantly turning the puck over in his own end that led to more than a handful of chances against his goaltender where the goalie had literally no chance at all of making a save was a tremendous issue. DeMelo really needs to work on his vision of the ice when he’s in his own end, otherwise he’ll be just another in a long line of offensive-minded defenseman littering low level minor league hockey.
Grade: D

Matt Tennyson (54 games, 7-14-21, -25, 33PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
To say Tennyson had a terrible season would be a massive understatement. His (-25) is by far the WorSharks worst ever, and were it not for a late season recall to San Jose Tennyson may have made a run at the lowest ever plus/minus in Worcester pro hockey history (Jarrett Deuling’s (-28) in 1994-95). Tennyson did do well on the power play (3-8-11), but the rest of his game was down right awful. San Jose will undoubtedly make him a qualifying offer because his upside is so high, but another season like 13-14 would be his last in the organization.
Grade: F

Konrad Abeltshauser (57 games, 6-15-21, E, 18PIM)
Contract status: Final season of NHL ELC ($633,333/$67,500)
With an over-ager year in juniors under his belt expectations were high for Abeltshauser, and after a slow start as he got used to the speed of the pro game his play began to look like what was expected out of him. A great end to the season solidified Abeltshauser as Worcester’s best overall defenseman, and were it not for a knee injury he would have been representing Germany in the ongoing World Championships. Word is he will be fully recovered by training camp next season, which is good because he’ll be looked at as a guy that might be splitting time between Worcester and San Jose.
Grade: B

Adam Comrie (56 games, 3-16-19, -11, 38PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
Comrie had a great end to the 2012-13 season and earned himself an NHL contract, but his 13-14 season will likely earn him a trip out of the organization. Comrie never got it going in the right direction this season, and was a healthy scratch for a large part of it. Silly penalties and poor play was his biggest issue, and the huge holes in his game were constantly exploited by opponents. In an organization with lots of defensive depth Comrie’s offensive skills might be useful, but as an everyday pro defenseman there are far too many with more complete games available.
Grade: D

Sena Acolatse (41 games, 5-12-17, -5, 66PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
Another season, another long-term injury for Acolatse. After back to back seasons with facial injuries this season Acolatse broke bones in his leg. It’s not like these are injures that could have been avoided by anything other than some luck, but once a player gets tagged with the “injury prone” label it’s hard to shake that off. He does have the skills to play pro hockey, and if he can actually stay on the ice for a full season might turn into a serviceable NHL player. It’s an almost certainty San Jose qualifies him, and hopefully luck will be on Acolatse’s side in 14-15.
Grade: C

Taylor Doherty (69 games, 4-11-15, -6, 111PIM)
Contract status: NHL RFA
A much better offensive season for Doherty than the past two, his biggest issue is once again his lack of ability to use size to his advantage. Because Doherty doesn’t play a particularly physical game opponents have no worries about skating toward him and trying to skate by him, and Doherty simply doesn’t have the speed or agility to stop them. He does use his reach fairly well, but that won’t be near good enough to make the NHL. Doherty really needs to learn to use his size or his future will be as an AHL depth defenseman.
Grade: D

Rob Davison (65 games, 3-6-9, -5, 113PIM)
Contract status: UFA
Davison was a serviceable NHL defenseman during his career, and he likely ends his pro career as a borderline serviceable AHL defenseman. Davison no longer possesses the speed to stop offensive players skating near him, and his physical game was far too often out of control and caused issues with everyone he was paired with by them being forced to cover more ground. Davison had a decent run as a pro hockey player, but unless something odd happens the end has come for him.
Grade: D

GOALTENDERS
Troy Grosenick (35 games, 18-14-0, 2.62, .903)
Contract status: 2nd year of two year NHL contract ($625,000/$80,000)
No one really knew what Grosenick was going to bring to the pro game, but his upside was thought to be high enough that San Jose burned his entry level year last season and signed him to a two year NHL contract over the summer. What Grosenick brought to Worcester was visions of fan favorite Alex Stalock: a mobile, athletic goaltender that plays an unconventional style but just finds ways to keep the puck out of the net. Regardless of what happens with other players Grosenick should be entering next season as the organization’s #3 goaltender and getting the majority of starts in Worcester.
Grade: A

Harri Sateri (45 games, 18-24-2, 2.95, .894)
Contract status: NHL RFA
Sateri had a hot and cold season, and unfortunately for him and the WorSharks it was cold far too often and never really hot enough during the rare occasions it was going well. While a poor defense in front of him lead to lots of problems, Sateri constantly failed to help himself by just not being able to consistently make the easy saves a pro goaltender at this level should make. Sateri was tied for second in the AHL for most losses this season and was not in the top 30 in either goals against or save percentage. San Jose will probably still qualify him, but don’t be shocked if Sateri bolts for Europe.
Grade: D

HOCKEY OPS
Head coach Roy Sommer
Once again on paper this was a team that should have made the AHL playoffs. Instead, for the fourth season in a row, they finish outside the post season. Sommer did set the AHL record for career games as a head coach and the Sharks organization held a large ceremony honoring that achievement. Sommer is also the losingest head coach in the 78 year history of the AHL, but for some reason the organization didn’t hold a ceremony honoring that. At some point hockey operations in San Jose has to realize the Roy Sommer era needs to end, and that some new blood in developing prospects might help them in winning the Stanley Cup.
Grade: F

WorSharks GM Joe Will
Taking over for Wayne Thomas, Will inherited a team lacking any sort of offensive firepower. After giving the WorSharks players some time to see if a goal scorer emerged Will then went out and signed several legitimate minor league goal scorers to bolster the Worcester line-up. Some worked out, other didn’t. But Will kept trying, including having San Jose trade (or loan) away some NHL contracts in an “addition by subtraction” effort. For the most part, that worked out for the WorSharks. Will’s real test is next season. let’s see who he brings in to get this team into the post season.
Grade: B

The “210 Awards” for the WorSharks 2013-2014 season

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

Best Forward: Freddie Hamilton wins this one, not because he was the WorSharks point leader on the season but because no matter who he was lined up with he helped those players produce. Hamilton will likely not be a top-six forward in the NHL, but in the AHL there is little doubt he was the top forward in Worcester.

Best Defenseman: Konrad Abeltshauser. Defense was supposed to be the strength of the WorSharks, but it turned into its major Achilles’ heel. While Abeltshauser had a slow start to his rookie campaign by the end of the season he was by far the team’s best defender, and had he not been injured he was headed to the World Championships to play for Germany.

Tough Guy Award: Jimmy Bonneau. This award doesn’t have to go to the best fighter on the team, but this time it does as Bonneau was not only the best with his fists on the squad he was also one of the toughest guys for opposing forwards to play against.

Best Single Game Performance: Matt Nieto. In a last minute switch from Dan DaSilva’s Gordie Howe hat trick, Nieto’s two goals and three assists on December 6th against Portland takes this award after a “recount”. Things might have been different in Worcester this season had Nieto been here for more than two games.

Most Improved: Travis Oleksuk. Last season Oleksuk went 3-10-13 (and -12) in 60 games, and looked just totally overmatched most of the season. Oleksuk unfortunately picked up where he left off, going just 3-3-6 thru the end of December. The changing of the calendar was good for Oleksuk, as he turned it all around to finish 19-21-40. It’s, anecdotally at least, the biggest improvement ever in Worcester pro hockey history.

Seventh Player: Travis Oleksuk. See “most improved” for the reason.

Rookie of the Year: Troy Grosenick. No one knew what Worcester was going to get from the Union alum, but San Jose was right in burning his ELC season at the end of last campaign to make sure Grosenick was in the fold. Most believe the rookie netminder has passed Harri Sateri on the depth chart. If he hasn’t, he will soon.

Most Valuable Player: Dan DaSilva. You don’t need stats to know why, because it doesn’t tell the whole story anyway. This team was a complete mess before DaSilva arrived from the ECHL for his second stint with the team, and his presence helped solidify the squad and got the WorSharks pointed in the right direction. By far the most valuable player on the roster.

The Sharkspage Player of the Year: Troy Grosenick. For the first time ever we had a three way tie for the most times named as the Sharkspage player of the game, so we opened it up to fan voting and Grosenick prevailed. Bracken Kearns and Travis Oleksuk were originally tied with Grosenick at six.

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

The Mike Moore Award: For the player that gives 100% every single shift no matter the score or the situation, the obvious answer this season is Matt Pelech. WorSharks fans love him, opposing fans hate him, but he’s always 100% every shift.

The Two-By-Two Award: Adam Comrie, for having the most penalty minutes without a major. Comrie had a very questionable ten minute misconduct in a game vs Portland, but still wins the award if you take that away.

The Iron Man Award: Usually given out to the player(s) playing in all 76 regular season games, will sit unawarded this season and no WorSharks player played every game this season. Travis Oleksuk gets an honorable mention for appearing in 74 of 76 games.

The Man In The Box Award: Dylan DeMelo, for being the reason Worcester was shorthanded when a power play goal was scored against them most often. DeMelo was in the sin bin seven times when a power play goal against was given up.

The Dead-Eye Award: Nick Petrecki, for having the lowest shooting percentage of any player with 50 or more shots on goal. Petrecki went 1 for 55, for 1.8%, with Worcester. Petrecki then went on to go 0 for 12 after being loaned to Rochester.

The Buzzer Beater Award: Tie; Brodie Reid for his goal with 1.5 seconds remaining in 1st period March 8th vs Portland; and Matt Pelech for his goal with 1.5 seconds left in the first period March 26th at Portland.

The “It’s not how many, it’s when” Award: Matt Pelech, whose lone NHL goal was a game winner for San Jose on October 10th, and who had three AHL goals that were a game winner, and buzzer beater, and a potential momentum shifting goal.

The “Get a Calendar” Award: The AHL, for having head coach Roy Sommer break the all-time games coached record on the road.

The “Why Is He In The Shootout” Award: Riley Brace’s dad, whose name I do not know, who after hearing Brace announced as the third shooter in a shootout in late November quipped to fans after the game “I have no idea why (Sommer) picked Riley, he can’t score on shootouts and never has”. Apparently not so surprisingly, Brace missed his attempt.

The “He’s My Favorite” Award: Tie between Dylan DeMelo and Chris Crane. This writer, when asked on Twitter how Crane was doing, replied that he didn’t belong in the AHL yet. Crane favorited the tweet, and then a couple days later was reassigned to the ECHL. Later in the season I tweeted that I’d seen enough of DeMelo, who favorited the tweet a day or so after. In the handful of games that followed DeMelo was an aggregate (-10).

The “I love to play against Portland” Award: Matt Pelech, who scored all three of his AHL goals this season vs the Portland Pirates.

The “Nostradamus” Award: To myself, for deciding to look up the last time the WorSharks scored 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 goals in a game just a few hours prior to Worcester’s December 6th game vs Portland. The WorSharks went on to score 8 goals that game.

The “Are You Nuts?” Award: To WorSharks broadcaster Eric Lindquist and Worcester Sharks Booster Club president Rich Lundin, for the look they gave this writer when I told them I had brought that information along “just in case”. I got the same look after the game too.

The “Not-so-Nostradamus” Award: WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer, for during the preseason season ticket gathering predicting Worcester would win the Calder Cup. For the fourth time in a row, the WorSharks failed to make the playoffs.

The “Just the two of us” Award: Harri Sateri and Troy Grosenick, who were for the first time in 20 years of AHL hockey in Worcester the only two goaltenders to man the net for the entire season.

The “Take your time, we’ll wait” Award: referee Tim Mayer, whose video review (which included a call to the goal judge) of Travis Oleksuk’s disputed goal in the season finale took almost 11 minutes. He eventually ruled the goal was good.

The “44 Award”: Head coach Roy Sommer, who after winning the “35 Award” last season did it again and put the wrong player (43-Bonneau, instead of 44-Comrie) on his game roster. This is the third time in recent memory Sommer has incorrectly filled out a lineup.

The “Wrong Time To Make A Big Mistake” Award: Roy Sommer, who won the “44 Award” while the entirety of San Jose’s hockey operations was at the DCU center.

The “Grand Entrance” award: ATO goaltender Scott Barchard, who, while filling in for an ailing Harri Sateri stumbled out of the bench door as he went on to the ice in warm-ups.

The “Grand Exit” award: Matt Pelech, after receiving 14 minutes in penalties late in the third period against St John’s on April 18th. This is s family blog, so we won’t mention what he did as he passed the IceCaps bench. It was funny as all heck though.

The “Can We See That Again?” award: Referee David Banfield, who went back nearly two full minutes to check to see if Freddie Hamilton’s shot went into the net on January 11th. It did.

The “Just Checking” award: Freddie Hamilton, who after having a goal disallowed for the net being off the pegs on February 1st vs Providence showed referee Jamie Koharski the net was still in place after scoring his “second” of the game by tapping his stick on both posts after celebrating the score.

The “They did it to me again” Award: Freddie Hamilton, who had a goal disallowed against Providence–this time in the WorSharks final game–for “inadvertent goaltender interference” despite there not being a Worcester player close to interfering with PBruins netminder Malcolm Subban.

The David Haas Award: For the seventh time in eighth seasons, there is no winner of this “prestigious” award that goes to the player with the most talent that chooses to use none of it. There has been some squawking that Jon Matsumoto should retroactively be given the award for the 2012-13 season, but his poor play since leaving Worcester saves him from that happening. For now.

WorSharks end disappointing season on up note with 2-0 whitewashing of Providence

The Worcester Sharks were hoping to play spoiler in Saturday night’s game against the Providence Bruins, but with all the AHL’s Eastern Conference playoff teams determined on Friday all the WorSharks were doing was playing for pride, and they showed lots of it after Troy Grosenick’s 23 saves and Eriah Hayes and Travis Oleksuk lit the lamp to defeat the Baby-Bs 2-0 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 6,470 fans. The WorSharks end the season in 11th in the East, 13 points out of the final playoff spot.

The Worcester Sharks salute the crowd after their 2-0 season finale win over
the Providence Bruins. The WorSharks finished the 2013-14 season 36-34-4-2
and missed the post season for the fourth consecutive season.
SHARKSPAGE photo

For video highlights for the final time this season we’ll point to AHLlive.com. Note the Freddie Hamilton disallowed goal in the package and see if you agree it was a terrible call.

Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau (“unavailable”), Konrad Abeltshauser (knee), John McCarthy (hand), Brodie Reid (upper body) and Marek Viedensky (groin). Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender. With Reid being out and Bonneau “unavailable”–note the quotes–the WorSharks used 11 forwards and 17 skaters, one short of the usual 12/18.

Interesting note on Bonneau. By being scratched for the last six regular season contests the three year Worcester enforcer and fan favorite now sits at 320 AHL games, which still qualifies him as a “development player”. AHL teams must dress at least 12 players that have played in 260 or fewer professional games (including AHL, NHL and European elite leagues), and one must have played in 320 or fewer professional games. All calculations for development status are based on regular-season totals as of the start of the season. Bonneau sits right at the max for the 13th player. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on that later.

With the WorSharks doing a “jerseys of their backs” auction Worcester wore their road teal jerseys and Providence decided on their gold third jerseys for the night. A color vs color game is a great thing to watch, and while the AHL plays virtually no role in determining what jerseys teams wear (the edict ‘white at home’ is generally followed but not strictly enforced) they should encourage teams that have the opportunity to go color vs color to do so. The big issue is, apparently, helmet color. Teams don’t want their players wearing the same color helmets because on the fly it can cause issues. The WorSharks had black helmets, the PBruins gold. No issues there.

Worcester announced their team awards during the game, with Freddie Hamilton being named team MVP, Travis Oleksuk earning the Unsung Hero Award, Dan DaSilva receiving this season’s Three Stars Award, and goaltender Troy Grosenick named the Rookie of the Year Award. Sharkspage will be announcing our “210 Awards” later on this month.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 1 Troy Grosenick (23 save shutout)
2. WOR – 21 Travis Oleksuk (g,a)
3. WOR – 18 Eriah Hayes (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Freddie Hamilton.

Even strength lines
Hamilton/Oleksuk/Hayes
Tarasov/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schwartz/Rau/Schmidt
Reid/Higgs/Pelech

Davison/Acolatse
Comrie/Doherty
DeMelo/Mueller

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Oleksuk Wor (slashing), 15:17; Lindblad Pro (hooking), 18:00.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Hayes 12 (Davison, Oleksuk), 5:47. Penalties-Carpenter Wor (hooking), 1:11; Khokhlachev Pro (slashing), 8:07; Acolatse Wor (cross-checking), 19:08.

3rd Period-2, Worcester, Oleksuk 19 (DaSilva, Acolatse), 8:50 (PP). Penalties-Doherty Wor (roughing), 6:13; Subban Pro (delay of game), 7:50; Cross Pro (holding), 8:06; Hayes Wor (tripping), 14:01.

Shots on Goal-Providence 9-9-5-23. Worcester 6-9-12-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 0 / 5; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Providence, Subban 15-10-5 (27 shots-25 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 18-14-0 (23 shots-23 saves).
A-6,470
Referees-Tom Chmielewski (43), Tim Mayer (19).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Jack Millea (23).

WorSharks blanked for seventh time this season

The Worcester Sharks had a game scheduled for Friday night at the DCU Center against the St. John’s IceCaps but apparently no one told the players as the WorSharks were dominated in every single way possible in a hockey game and lost 6-0 in front of 4,909 fans, whose jeering of Worcester head coach Roy Sommer was audible throughout the arena for most of the second half of the game and well after the final buzzer in the DCU parking garage. The loss extends Sommer’s AHL career leading coaching loss record to 590, which is 78 more than Hershey Bear’s legendary coach Frank Mathers has in second place.

Worcester Sharks forward Matt Pelech (#23) was just about the only WorSharks player that showed
any intensity at all in Worcester's 6-0 loss to St John's Friday night. After being elbowed by
the IceCaps Brenden Kichton Pelech jumped the Kichton for some retribution.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights, and to be blunt there’s no reason at all to watch them, we once again point to AHLlive.com.

Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau (“unavailable”), Konrad Abeltshauser (knee), John McCarthy (hand), and Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Troy Grosenick was the back-up netminder. Sena Acolatse returned back to the lineup after missing 24 games with a broken lower leg. With just one more regular season game and no playoffs for the WorSharks the injury list is sort of moot, but it likely will have another member added after Brodie Reid got caught up in a massive check thrown by Worcester captain Rob Davison that accidentally collected Reid while Davison was wiping out two IceCaps players. If Reid can’t go Saturday the WorSharks may play one skater short as everyone else is either injured not available to play.

This writer just about never borrows quotes from other reporters; if I was that interested in getting some I’d go to the dressing rooms post game and get them myself. But what WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer told Worcester T&G reporter Carl Setterlund (Bill Ballou is off covering the Red Sox) really bothered me. You can read Setterlund’s entire story here.

“The other (losses against St. John’s) I thought we played all right, at least we were in them,” Sommer said. “But tonight we weren’t in it, from the first goal on. They got that first goal and you could kind of see the bench just go ‘Uh-oh, here we go again.’ ”

Really? Sommer “could kind of see the bench just go ‘Uh-oh, here we go again.'”? Then why did Sommer stand there for 60 minutes with his hands in his pockets? How could a coach that has a reputation for being great at developing prospects just stand there behind the bench and do nothing when he sees his team struggling? Perhaps the better question is why the San Jose organization thinks Sommer is great at developing prospects, because if he really was there’d be more than the small handful of players developed by him in the playoffs in either the NHL or AHL.

As someone that pays close attention to all the rumors about the western NHL teams moving their affiliates out to the west coach, allow me to add some context to each and every story that has been posted since the one about the Phoenix Coyotes wanting their prospects closer to them hit the internet a couple weeks ago: not a single bit of information in any newspaper story or blog post contains one speck of new information. It’s all rehash of rumors that’s been going on for a very long time. If your search skills are good enough you can find news stories and message board rumors talking about this for years. You’ll find many people saying they have “sources” telling them information and then just rewording the rumors that are already out there. It’s the exact same with all the current news stories. Now it doesn’t mean that it won’t eventually happen, because the odds are good that at some point it will. But all these current stories are just like a meteorologist predicting rain enough times…eventually, they’ll be right.

The three stars of the game were
1. STJ – 17 Jerome Samson (g,3a)
2. STJ – 33 Michael Hutchinson (23 save shutout)
3. STJ – 18 Ben Chiarot (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Matt Pelech.

Even strength lines
Hamilton/Oleksuk/Hayes
Tarasov/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schwartz/Rau/Schmidt
Reid/Higgs/Pelech

Davison/Acolatse
Comrie/Doherty
DeMelo/Mueller

BOXSCORE

St. John’s 2 2 2 – 6
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period-1, St. John’s, O’Dell 17 (Lipon, Samson), 11:56. 2, St. John’s, MacKinnon 12 (Chiarot), 14:15. Penalties-Mouillierat Stj (roughing), 5:26; Hill Stj (hooking), 17:12.

2nd Period-3, St. John’s, Lunden 4 (Samson, Hill), 11:13. 4, St. John’s, Chiarot 6 (Lipon, Samson), 13:58. Penalties-Doherty Wor (hooking), 0:10; Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 3:17; Riley Stj (hooking), 15:54; Carpenter Wor (hooking), 16:42.

3rd Period-5, St. John’s, Klingberg 22 (O’Dell, Hutchinson), 7:29 (PP). 6, St. John’s, Samson 26 (Lipon, Klingberg), 16:04. Penalties-Acolatse Wor (hooking), 6:56; Kichton Stj (elbowing), 18:36; Pelech Wor (roughing, roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 18:36.

Shots on Goal-St. John’s 8-11-9-28. Worcester 8-8-7-23.
Power Play Opportunities-St. John’s 1 / 5; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-St. John’s, Hutchinson 16-5-1 (23 shots-23 saves). Worcester, Sateri 18-24-2 (28 shots-22 saves).
A-4,909
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Ed Boyle (81).

WorSharks Booster Club announces award winners

Worcester Sharks Booster Club President Rich Lundin announced the winners of the 2013-2014 Booster Club awards at a dinner held Monday night at the DCU Center to honor the Worcester Sharks. Club members voted for each award in late March/early April. The winners were:

Best Offensive Player – Daniil Tarasov
Best Defensive Player – Konrad Abeltshauser
Fan Favorite – Jimmy Bonneau
Best Single Game Performance – Dan DaSilva (Hat Trick, Assist, +4 @ POR on 1/2/14)
“Tough Guy” Award – Jimmy Bonneau
Rookie of the Year – Troy Grosenick
Seventh Player Award – Travis Oleksuk
Most Valuable Player – Dan DaSilva

The Booster Club also recognized the players of the month for February and March:
February 2014 – Brodie Reid
March 2014 – Travis Oleksuk

In addition, because of the large fan reaction from across the league about DaSilva being snubbed by the American Hockey League and not being named the AHL player of the week and it instead going to Joacim Eriksson of Utica, the Booster Club presented DaSilva with a “Fan’s choice player of the week” plaque.

Blanking WorSharks again, Norfolk wins 3-0

The Worcester Sharks followed up Friday’s total team effort win against the Adirondack Phantoms with one on the complete opposite end of the spectrum as they looked like 18 guys that had never been on the ice together before in dropping a 3-0 contest to the Norfolk Admirals Saturday night at the DCU Center in front of a crowd of 4,500 fans for the WorSharks second consecutive shutout loss to the Admirals. As has been the case in many of his losses this season, Worcester rookie netminder Troy Grosenick played well enough to win but his teammates failed him on the other end of the ice.

Worcester Sharks forward Daniil Tarasov (#19) is dwarfed by Norfolk defenseman
Nolan Yonkman as the two battle for position during a WorSharks power play. Yonkman
won the battle and the Admirals won the game 3-0.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights, such as they are, we’ll once again point to AHLlive.com.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Konrad Abeltshauser (lower body), Sena Acolatse (leg), Jimmy Bonneau, Brock Higgs, Nick Jones, and John McCarthy (hand). Harri Sateri was the backup goaltender. It might not be good news on the Abeltshauser injury as despite it being said on the pregame broadcast that his injury “wasn’t serious” Abeltshauser was seen on crutches by many people and reportedly told several that his injury will require surgery during the off season. Hopefully, more on that later in the week.

Worcester was held to just three shots in the second period, with their first shot on goal of the stanza coming with 6:02 remaining in the period. To add further insult to the general incompetence of the period, both Dan DaSilva and Taylor Doherty missed yawning open nets in the middle frame.

Freddie Hamilton had just his third minor penalty of the season called on him when he flipped Travis Oleksuk’s stick back to him. It was in the direction of where the puck carrier was, so referee Tom Chmielewski called a penalty on the play. Technically the right call, although looking at the rest of the penalties Chmielewski called–or maybe more correctly, didn’t call–it stands out as a huge oddity. Referee Chmielewski has done a few WorSharks games this season, and he is clearly not skilled enough to be working AHL games alone. He’s not the reason Worcester lost, but it doesn’t take away from the fact he’s not a very good referee by himself.

On Wednesday’s posting we talked about how poor Matt Tennyson’s plus/minus number is, and how at (-25) he was the lowest any WorSharks player ever was. After a brief investigation it appears Tennyson is only (-3) away from tying the worst plus/minus for any Worcester pro player ever. The current low is Jarrett Deuling’s (-28) in 1994-95, the Worcester IceCats first season in existence when they were the last non-NHL affiliated team in the AHL. In an odd irony, Deuling went on to play three season for WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer with the Kentucky Thoroughblades.

It was a penalty filled night for former WorSharks players in the AHL Saturday, headed by Frazer McLaren and Brad Staubitz, both with the Toronto Marlies, earning game misconducts. McLaren was called for a charging major and a fight, while Staubitz got a fight and a “continuing altercation” game misconduct. Yanni Gourde (Syracuse) was also involved in that huge fracas, receiving charging and roughing minors. In Rockford, Curt Gogol (Iowa) fought Brad Mills and they both earned the silly “taking the helmet off while fighting” misconduct minor, as did Nick Petrecki (Rochester) and Nick Tarnasky in their battle.

The three stars of the game were
1. NOR – 31 Brad Thiessen (28 save shutout win)
2. NOR – 20 Andre Petersson (2g)
3. NOR – 28 Antoine Laganiere (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Troy Grosenick.

Even strength lines
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Tarasov/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schmidt/Rau/Schwartz
Pelech/Viedensky/Reid

Davison/Tennyson
Comrie/Doherty
Mueller/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

Norfolk 1 1 1 – 3
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period-1, Norfolk, Laganiere 10 (Friberg, Steckel), 12:33. Penalties-Stortini Nor (tripping), 14:54; Schwartz Wor (slashing), 18:28.

2nd Period-2, Norfolk, Petersson 21 (Karlsson), 14:56. Penalties-Hamilton Wor (throwing equipment), 0:20.

3rd Period-3, Norfolk, Petersson 22 (Etem), 17:11. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Norfolk 13-8-8-29. Worcester 11-3-14-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 0 / 2; Worcester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Norfolk, Thiessen 5-6-2 (28 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 17-14-0 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-4,500
Referees-Tom Chmielewski (43).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks use full team effort to down Adirondack 4-1

The Worcester Sharks may have been eliminated from playoff contention with Wednesday night’s loss to Hartford, but they put together one of their best games of the season Friday night at the DCU Center against the Adirondack Phantoms and behind multiple point nights by Adam Comrie, Freddie Hamilton, and Travis Oleksuk defeated the Phantoms 4-1 to hand Adirondack goaltender Cal Heeter his AHL leading 25th loss on the season.

Worcester Sharks defenseman Adam Comrie (#44) guards Adirondack winger Derek Whitmore
during the WorSharks 4-1 victory Friday night. Comrie had a highlight game winning goal
and an assist in the contest and was named the game's #1 star.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll do as we usually do and point to AHLlive.com. You’ll have to crank the sound up a bit because the game was on local TV here in Worcester, and that occasionally causes audio issues in the highlights package.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Konrad Abeltshauser (lower body), Sena Acolatse (leg), Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty (lower body), Brock Higgs, and John McCarthy (hand). Troy Grosenick was the backup goaltender.

There were two goals in a game where who scored them was in dispute. In the first period both Brodie Reid and Marek Viedensky took a whack at the puck as it lay just inside the crease and with a yawning net in front of it. The goal was credited to Reid, but we’ll see if that gets changed. The second was Worcester’s third goal originally credited to Freddie Hamilton and changed to Eriah Hayes. Several folks, this writer included, were waiting for the goal to be waved off because while it’s not clear from the video it was definitely clear from our vantage point the puck was redirected into the net by a kicking motion. When the goal was credited to Hamilton that would mean it was the Phantoms defenseman that did it accidentally and it would be a good goal. But when the goal was changed to Hayes that means it had to have been Hayes that kicked it in, so it shouldn’t have counted.

It’s rare for there to be three defensemen on the ice for a goal scored by a team, but Worcester did just that on Adam Comrie’s game winner when Mirco Mueller stepped out of the penalty box after serving his two minutes for boarding. Instead of skating to the bench to get an additional forward on the ice Mueller went into the offensive zone after a loose puck and in a play that was more like a veteran forward as opposed to a teenaged defenseman didn’t force the issue and let the support come to him, finding Comrie screaming into the zone unchecked by a Phantoms player. In an even more head’s up play, Mueller still didn’t go to the bench but instead headed to Comrie’s now vacant defensive spot as Comrie went in basically all alone on Adirondack goaltender Cal Heeter.

Had a great pregame conversation with WorSharks tough-guy Jimmy Bonneau. He had the night off and was going to be doing some intermission stuff during the TV broadcast so he had a few minutes to kill and struck up a conversation with several of us on the concourse behind press row. Bonneau might not make the NHL as a player, but I have zero doubt that when he’s done playing if he goes the coaching route–and he absolutely could–he will find himself behind an NHL bench someday. Bonneau also has an amazing grasp of the business side of the game and a pretty good eye for talent, so maybe a front office job could be in his future too. The one thing I would love to see is Bonneau take a shootout attempt. With three games left this season, hopefully there’s a chance.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 44 Adam Comrie (gwg,a)
2. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (33 save win)
3. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (g,a)

The boxscore lists Mirco Mueller as the game’s #1 star, but it was announced in the arena and in the radio/TV broadcast as Comrie.

The Sharkspage player of the game was Travis Oleksuk.

Even strength lines
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Tarasov/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schmidt/Rau/Schwartz
Pelech/Viedensky/Reid

The defense went out as mixed pairings throughout most of the game.

BOXSCORE

Adirondack 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 1 2 1 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 11 (Viedensky, Pelech), 5:57. Penalties-Tarasov Wor (hooking), 10:24; Mueller Wor (boarding), 18:47.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Comrie 3 (Mueller, Oleksuk), 1:01. 3, Worcester, Hayes 11 (Hamilton, Comrie), 8:41. Penalties-Brown Adk (hooking), 2:19; Oleksuk Wor (hooking), 11:28; Noebels Adk (hooking), 14:49; Tennyson Wor (goaltender interference), 15:04; Alderson Adk (hooking), 16:32.

3rd Period-4, Adirondack, Alderson 10 (Whitmore, Cousins), 0:52. 5, Worcester, Hamilton 22 (Oleksuk, DeMelo), 18:40 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 11-13-10-34. Worcester 11-13-8-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 4; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Adirondack, Heeter 16-25-2 (31 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 18-23-2 (34 shots-33 saves).
A-3,117
Referees-Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks fall out of playoff chase, but Mo steals the show

Both the Worcester Sharks and Wednesday night’s opponent the Hartford Wolf Pack had one path to the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs–to win out and have the Albany Devils lose all their remaining games in regulation. Unfortunately for the WorSharks it was the Wolf Pack that came out of the game with a 2-1 victory ending Worcester’s longshot playoff hopes. Adam Schmidt had the lone WorSharks tally with his first professional goal, but it was head coach Roy Sommer’s son Marley who stole the show with a rousing rendition of the national anthem.

Former Holy Cross standout Adam Schmidt (#26), pictured from last Saturday's game
against the Hershey Bears, scored his first professional goal Wednesday for the
Worcester Sharks in their 2-1 loss against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we once again point to AHLlive, but the best highlight from the game follows just below.

Prior to the start of the game Marley Sommer, wearing last season’s Autism Awareness jersey with his nickname “Mo” emblazoned on the back of it, was to sing the national anthem while standing on the bench next to his dad Roy. As you will see in the video, Mo, who suffers from both Down’s syndrome and is autistic, was having no part of standing on the bench to sing. He was also having no part of Coach Sommer stealing his spotlight. What follows is one of the greatest moments ever in Worcester hockey.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Sena Acolatse (leg), Jimmy Bonneau, Adam Comrie, Taylor Doherty (lower body), John McCarthy (hand), and Daniil Tarasov (back). Harri Sateri was the backup goaltender. Earlier in the week the Worcester shuttle swung by to pick up Bracken Kearns for the fourth time this season. Marek Viedensky returned to action after missing a handful of games, but it looks like Konrad Abeltshauser might be taking his place on the injured list as in the first period after Hartford had pinned the WorSharks in their own zone for a long spell Abeltshauser intentionally iced the puck and then labored to the bench and off down the tunnel. He did not return. Worcester went with a five man defensive rotation from that point, with Matt Pelech playing defense on the penalty kill.

Worcester had a rare six on three skater advantage late in the third period after Hartford was called for consecutive penalties and Sommer pulled Grosenick for an extra attcker. It speaks volumes that the WorSharks did not have a legitimate scoring chance despite have twice as many skaters on the ice as the Wolf Pack. It then turned to a six on four advantage and all Worcester could manage was a single weak shot on goal. Not the type of play a team wants with their playoff lives on the line.

Upon further review, defenseman Matt Tennyson had a “minus” taken away from him from a recent game to improve, so to speak, his rating to (-25) on the season. Just like was mentioned when he was briefly at (-26), that is the lowest a WorSharks player has ever been at any point during the season. Tennyson is tied for fourth worse in the AHL with Tyler Graovac of Iowa and Mark Flood of Charlotte. Only Iowa’s Zack Phillips (-26), Portland’s James Melindy (-27), and Brian Connelly of Rockford (-33) are worse. The WorSharks record low in that category is (-20) set in 2009-10 by Dwight Helminen and tied the next season by T.J. Trevelyan.

The three stars of the game were
1. HFD – 32 David LeNeveu (35 save win)
2. HFD – 44 Aaron Johnson (2a)
3. WOR – 1 Troy Grosenick (29 saves)

Like there would be any doubt, the Sharkspage “player” of the game was Marley Sommer.

Even strength lines
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schmidt/Carpenter/DaSilva
Schwartz/Rau/Reid
Higgs/Viedensky/Pelech

Starting defensive pairings:
Abeltshauser/DeMelo
Mueller/Tennyson
Davison/Jones

BOXSCORE

Hartford 1 1 0 – 2
Worcester 0 0 1 – 1

1st Period-1, Hartford, Hrivik 11 (Johnson, Lindberg), 13:17 (PP). Penalties-Davison Wor (cross-checking), 11:25.

2nd Period-2, Hartford, Powe 13 (Hensick, Johnson), 15:14. Penalties-Oleksuk Wor (high-sticking), 15:27.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Schmidt 1 10:45. Penalties-served by DaSilva Wor (bench minor – too many men), 4:39; Hayes Wor (slashing), 9:11; McCarthy Hfd (tripping), 10:04; Allen Hfd (tripping), 17:01; Johnson Hfd (interference), 17:56.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 10-15-6-31. Worcester 11-10-15-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 3; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Hartford, LeNeveu 10-8-0 (36 shots-35 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 17-13-0 (31 shots-29 saves).
A-1,836
Referees-T.J. Luxmore (49), Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Scott Whittemore (96).

WorSharks lose 3-2 in OT, see playoff chances hit virtually nil

The Worcester Sharks went into Saturday night’s contest against the Hershey Bears at the DCU Center in “must win in regulation” mode to keep their incredibly slim playoff hopes alive, and after squandering an early lead were able to get into overtime on Dan DaSilva’s WorSharks career goal leading tally late in the third period but a poor line change in the extra session lead to a turnover and a Bears goal to give Worcester a 3-2 loss and virtually kill them in the playoff hunt.

Worcester Sharks forward Dan DaSilva became the franchise's all-time goal scoring leader
with his third period extra attacker strike Saturday night. DaSilva entered the game tied
with Riley Armstrong and Mile Iggulden at 59 career goals.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we point to AHLlive.com because even when the WorSharks lose they still upload highlights, unlike some other New England AHL franchise.

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Adam Comrie, Nick Jones, John McCarthy (hand), Matt Pelech, Daniil Tarasov (back), and Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender.

Pregame there was a large ceremony to acknowledge Roy Sommer breaking the American Hockey League’s record for most games coached. There were many VIPs in attendance, including AHL president Dave Andrews, San Jose Executive Vice President and General Manager Dug Wilson, WorSharks Vice President Jon Gustafson, and WorSharks General Manager Joe Will. It may have been the first time Andrews was not loudly booed at the DCU Center, as over the years it has become somewhat of a tradition for AHL fans to boo the league president. Worcester City Councilor Phil Palmieri, who was there to present Sommer with a Key to the City, did not escape the boos despite many not knowing who he was. Such is the case with many politicians in Worcester.

The turning point in the game was during the first media timeout of the second period. With Worcester controlling play Hershey Bears head coach Mike Haviland really lit into his team as they all were gathered in front of him, to the point he could almost be heard in the stands in front of the press box over the sound of the blaring music. Over at the WorSharks bench Sommer, as he customarily does, did no coaching and basically stood there with his hands in his pockets. From that moment until DaSilva’s extra attacker goal with 35 seconds left in regulation the ice was decidedly tilted toward the Worcester end and the WorSharks were outscored 2-0. Not coaching when the opportunity arises is likely the reason Sommer not only leads the career list of games coached in the AHL but also is well ahead in career losses too.

With DaSilva’s goal giving him the franchise lead at 60 he now has six Worcester IceCats in front of him on Worcester’s all-time pro goal leader list. He should be able to move up a few notches in the next six games as Stephane Roy (61), Jeff Panzer (62), and Jame Pollock (63) are just in front of him. On the Worcester all-time points list DaSilva’s 143 tie him for 6th with Justin Papineau. Getting past Jeff Panzer’s 146 would put DaSilva into the city’s top 5.

It has been a long time since a referee interfered with play more than Nic Leduc did Saturday night. Several times Leduc was hit by the puck and at least twice Leduc was so far out of position he tripped up a player. His calling a holding the stick minor on Konrad Abeltshauser after the rookie defenseman was highsticked in the face also drew some curious glances along press row.

The three stars of the game were
1. HER – 21 Casey Wellman (OTgwg)
2. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (g)
3. HER – 31 Philipp Grubauer (33 save win)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Bracken Kearns.

Even strength lines
Carpenter/Kearns/DaSilva
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schwartz/Rau/Schmidt
Bonneau/Higgs/Reid

Abeltshauser/Tennyson
Davison/DeMelo
Mueller/Doherty

BOXSCORE

Hershey 0 2 0 1 – 3
Worcester 0 1 1 0 – 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-May Her (cross-checking), 18:20.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Rau 3 (Schwartz, Schmidt), 1:34. 2, Hershey, Herbert 2 (Kolomatis, Taffe), 8:28. 3, Hershey, Genoway 4 (Newbury, Byers), 12:22. Penalties-Abeltshauser Wor (holding the stick), 9:17.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, DaSilva 17 (Kearns, Carpenter), 19:25. Penalties-Kolomatis Her (hooking), 1:19; Watkins Her (tripping), 11:26.

OT Period-5, Hershey, Wellman 17 (Byers), 2:49. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Hershey 6-13-3-1-23. Worcester 13-10-12-0-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0 / 1; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Hershey, Grubauer 12-11-1 (35 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 17-12-0 (23 shots-20 saves).
A-4,024
Referees-Nic Leduc (12).
Linesmen-Chris Aughe (74), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks shoot selves in foot again, lose 3-2 to Providence in shootout

The Worcester Sharks used goals by Konrad Abeltshauser and Eriah Hayes to jump out to a 2-0 lead halfway through their Friday night contest with the Providence Bruins, but then stumbled as the Baby-Bs got within one after two periods and late in the third period the WorSharks allowed an extra attacker goal for the fifth time this season to send the game into overtime and to a shootout. Worcester shooters got the two tallies in the bonus round against Providence goaltender Niklas Svedberg, but Providence netted three against Harri Sateri to take the extra point and deal the WorSharks playoff hopes a huge blow.

The Worcester Sharks celebrate Konrad Abeltshauser's first period goal, but it
was the Providence Bruins celebrating in the end as the PBruins came back
from a two goal deficit to defeat the WorSharks 3-2 in a shootout.
Photo courtesy of the PROVIDENCE BRUINS

There are no video highlights currently available. We’ll edit one in should Providence decide to follow league rules and actually put one up on AHLlive. Don’t hold your breath.

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Adam Comrie, Nick Jones, John McCarthy (hand), Daniil Tarasov (back), Brodie Reid, and Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. Rob Davison returned to the lineup after a three game suspension.

With the shootout loss and the Norfolk Admirals winning the WorSharks playoff chances dropped to nearly nil. To put it in practical numbers, Worcester can get to a maximum of 87 points if it runs the table on their seven remaining games. Because Worcester doesn’t currently hold the tie breaker against either Norfolk or the Hershey Bears if either of those teams gets to 87 points the WorSharks are eliminated. Currently Norfolk has 79, and Hershey has 78. So any combination of points Worcester fails to get or Norfolk gains that equals eight eliminates the WorSharks. That number is nine against the Bears. The WorSharks do play Hershey and Norfolk one more time this season so they can help themselves greatly with regulation wins in both, but both the Admirals and Bears have a game in hand against Worcester and Norfolk and Hershey play each other twice more. While Worcester has a mathematical chance (.3%) the way the games lay it’s all but over.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – 32 Nick Johnson (SO gwg)
2. PRO – 14 Craig Cunningham (g)
3. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (32 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Travis Oleksuk.

Even strength lines
Carpenter/Kearns/DaSilva
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Higgs/Rau/Schmidt
Bonneau/Schwartz/Pelech

Abeltshauser/Tennyson
Davison/DeMelo
Mueller/Doherty

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Abeltshauser 6 (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 6:42. Penalties-Higgs Wor (tripping), 2:43; Griffith Pro (tripping), 9:09; Davison Wor (boarding), 14:56; Tennyson Wor (tripping), 16:56.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Hayes 10 (Oleksuk, Tennyson), 8:55 (PP). 3, Providence, Khokhlachev 20 (Florek, Morrow), 15:37. Penalties-Lindblad Pro (holding), 8:13; Kearns Wor (hooking), 19:30.

3rd Period-4, Providence, Cunningham 25 (Spooner, Fraser), 18:51. Penalties-Randell Pro (high-sticking), 2:28; Parlett Pro (cross-checking), 7:49; Hayes Wor (slashing), 11:56.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Worcester 2 (Hamilton NG, Carpenter G, Oleksuk NG, DaSilva NG, Hayes G), Providence 3 (Cunningham NG, Spooner NG, Khokhlachev G, Griffith G, Johnson G).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-8-8-1-0-25. Providence 12-11-9-2-1-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Providence 0 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 17-22-2 (34 shots-32 saves). Providence, Svedberg 23-15-3 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-8,320
Referees-Jon McIsaac (45).
Linesmen-Chris Millea (33), Jack Millea (23).

WorSharks beat Portland 3-2, keep slim playoff hopes alive

The Worcester Sharks got goals from Travis Oleksuk, Freddie Hamilton, and Matt Pelech and used a 21 save performance from Troy Grosenick to defeat the Portland Pirates 3-2 Tuesday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a sparse but vocal crowd. The win for the WorSharks keeps their faint playoff hopes alive, while Portland’s loss mathematically eliminates them from the Calder Cup chase.

San Jose Sharks first round draft pick from 2013 Mirco Mueller (#41) made his AHL debut
Tuesday night for the Worcester Sharks and he notched an assist on Matt Pelech's game
winning goal in the WorSharks 3-2 victory over the Portland Pirates.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll have to point to SendItToNews.com as AHLLive.com appears to be having issues again.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Sena Acolatse (leg), Rob Davison (suspended, game three of three), Nick Jones, John McCarthy (hand), Brodie Reid (flu), Daniil Tarasov (back), Marek Viedensky (unknown injury). Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender. There were two transactions over the past couple days, with San Jose reassigning Mirco Mueller from the Everett Silvertips (WHL) to Worcester and the WorSharks signing Mercyhurst (AHA) defenseman Nick Jones to an ATO. Jones was a healthy scratch Tuesday. Acolatse has just started skating with the team in a non-contact jersey during practices, and while he intends to play before the regular season is over there is no timetable for his return.

This writer often gets deluged with twitter and email questions when a new player joins Worcester, and it was the case once it was announced Mueller was playing Tuesday. This was a post I made last night on Hockey’s Future about my first impression on Mueller after just one game:

Mueller needs about three dozen cheeseburgers. He really needs to put some weight on that frame, but he’s young so I have little doubt it will happen.

He made a few mistakes, but as I mentioned to folks at the game I liked that he was confident in the plays he made despite it not always being the right thing to do. I prefer young defensemen to be confident in their decisions even if it’s the wrong thing; doing the right thing but hesitating before doing it is often times worse than confidently doing the wrong thing.

He’s very smart, and it’s easy to see that in the decisions he made. Pinched at the right moments, covered for his partners as the game went on when needed (started with DeMelo and about halfway through the first was with Doherty–Mueller is easily more talented than both)…he just made really smart hockey plays most of the time.

Very confident with the puck…has the “I got this” look when a forechecker approaches. Looked good on the power play. I liked his low, hard shot into traffic early and I loved that he never stopped moving on offense.

Worcester Sharks Booster Club president Rich Lundin and I like to try to guess what the boxscore will say for the number of people in attendance. Over the years we’ve both gotten pretty good at it. While there was about 500 people in stands Lundin guessed 1744 would be the published number, while I went a more generic “high 1500s”. Announced total was 1544. I’m calling it a draw between us.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 21 Travis Oleksuk (g,a)
2. POR – 9 Tobias Rieder (2g)
3. WOR – 23 Matt Pelech (gwg)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Freddie Hamilton.

Even strength lines
Carpenter/Kearns/DaSilva
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Higgs/Rau/Schmidt
Bonneau/Schwartz/Pelech

Abeltshauser/Tennyson
Mueller/Doherty
Comrie/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Oleksuk 17 (Hayes), 7:44. Penalties-Werek Por (kneeing), 10:58.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Hamilton 20 (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 3:43 (PP). 3, Portland, Rieder 25 (Miele, Jones), 8:17. Penalties-Hanley Por (slashing), 2:42; Yip Por (tripping), 3:27; Comrie Wor (cross-checking), 13:24.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Pelech 3 (Mueller, Doherty), 6:32. 5, Portland, Rieder 26 (Martinook, Miele), 9:31. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Portland 6-9-8-23. Worcester 11-12-12-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 1; Worcester 1 / 3.
Goalies-Portland, Domingue 9-12-2 (35 shots-32 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 17-11-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
A-1,544
Referees-Geno Binda (22), Ryan Hersey (8).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Scott Whittemore (96).

WorSharks stumble and bumble way to 4-3 shootout win over Albany

The Worcester Sharks entered this weekend’s games needing wins to keep their slim playoff hopes realistically alive, and after being crushed 5-1 by the Manchester Monarchs Friday in New Hampshire in a game where the WorSharks looked like they’d already started the long off-season Worcester took a three hour bus ride west to The Empire State to take on the Albany Devils and played a contest where they made so many mental errors it was hard to count them all. Luckily for Worcester Albany was having issues of their own and the WorSharks were able to survive through overtime and into a shootout where they had the only goal for a 4-3 win over the Devils at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York in front of 5,111 fans. The shootout win gives Worcester a 10-1 record in the bonus round, best in the AHL.

Worcester Sharks goaltender Troy Grosenick made several great saves to keep the
WorSharks in their game against Albany and then went a perfect five for five
against the Devils in the shootout to win 4-3 Saturday night.
Photo courtesy of JOHN CARL D'ANNIBALE | Times Union

For video highlights we’ll take a look at the Albany Devils YouTube channel

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Rob Davison (suspended, game 2 of 3), John McCarthy (broken hand), Daniil Tarasov (upper body), and Marek Viedensky. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender. Since our last update the American Hockey League suspended WorSharks captain Davison three games for his check to the head of Phil Lane Wednesday night against Portland. At full speed it looks like Lane had his head down and Davison threw a pretty good check, but slowing it down it pretty clearly shows Davison picked Lane’s head with his elbow. Freddie Hamilton got recalled back to San Jose Wednesday and then was quickly returned to the WorSharks, but because of an illness didn’t fly back east in time to make Friday’s debacle against the Monarchs.

Worcester has relied on its top two lines all season to keep them in games, and anyone that watches the WorSharks knows if their top players don’t score they generally don’t win. Saturday night was a notable exception as the top line of Dan DaSilva, Chad Rau, and Bracken Kearns not only didn’t score, they didn’t have a shot on goal. It’s just the sixth time this season DaSilva didn’t have a shot in a game, but only the second time he didn’t register a point while being shotless. It was the fifth time Kearns was held without a shot during the current campaign. Rau doesn’t even belong on that line, so perhaps now head coach Roy Sommer will see that and insert RPI ATOer Brock Higgs into the top line center spot. Or, perhaps not…

Speaking of Sommer, as everyone has likely heard by now, he set the AHL career games coached record Wednesday night with 1,257. With the next WorSharks home game being Tuesday, which will have just a handful of fans in attendance, there will be a pregame ceremony held next Saturday in their contest against the Hershey Bears to commemorate Sommer’s achievement. Ironically it was Bears’ longtime head coach Frank Mathers that previously held the record. Last season Sommer also set the record for most coaching losses in American Hockey League history, a milestone that wasn’t acknowledged by the organization.

Nothing kills a team more than turning the puck over in their own end, and this season Worcester has had tremendous issues with it. No matter which blue liners are out there it’s a foregone conclusion that at some point that pairing will cough the puck up. That’s just one of a long list of problems the WorSharks defense has had this season, and as the defensive corps was supposed to be one of the strengths of the team it’s one of the big reasons they’re poised to miss the playoffs yet again. While neither goaltender Harri Sateri nor Troy Grosenick has great stats if one were to take away all the goals scored by opponents after the Worcester defense left their netminders out to dry not only would the goalies stats see a marked improvement so would the WorSharks playoff chances.

This writer had a whole section pre-written on the turnaround the WorSharks have made in the shootout from their first seven seasons to this one, but with Saturday night’s game going to a shootout both the Telegram and Gazette’s Bill Ballou and Times Union’s Pete Dougherty have postings all about the shootout. While we have a few things they don’t we’ll just file away the section and get to it at a later time.

The three stars of the game were
1. ALB – 21 Mattias Tedenby (g,2a)
2. ALB – 18 Stefan Matteau (g,a)
3. WOR – 21 Travis Oleksuk (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Eriah Hayes.

Even strength lines
DaSilva/Rau/Kearns
Hayes/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Carpenter/Higgs/Schmidt
Bonneau/Schwartz/Reid

Abeltshauser/Tennyson
DeMelo/Doherty
Comrie/Pelech

BOXSCORE

Worcester 2 1 0 0 – 4
Albany 2 1 0 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Albany, Matteau 13 (Tedenby, Timmins), 8:26. 2, Worcester, Tennyson 7 (Oleksuk), 11:07. 3, Albany, Tedenby 9 (Matteau, Zajac), 11:28. 4, Worcester, Oleksuk 16 19:00. Penalties-Tedenby Alb (tripping), 5:21.

2nd Period-5, Worcester, Hayes 9 (Higgs, Doherty), 6:14. 6, Albany, Zajac 10 (Tedenby, Urbom), 14:39 (PP). Penalties-Oleksuk Wor (holding), 2:27; Pelech Wor (tripping), 8:19; Matteau Alb (roughing), 9:24; Pelech Wor (hooking), 13:05.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-McPherson Alb (holding), 7:37.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Worcester 1 (Reid NG, Hamilton NG, DaSilva G, Carpenter NG, Oleksuk NG), Albany 0 (Boucher NG, Sislo NG, Tedenby NG, Matteau NG, Whitney NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-9-7-1-1-32. Albany 10-7-4-0-0-21.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Albany 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Grosenick 16-11-0 (21 shots-18 saves). Albany, Kinkaid 21-11-5 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-5,111
Referees-Chris Brown (86), Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Chris Low (88), Frank Murphy (29).

WorSharks lose 2-1 to Providence in record-tying game

The Worcester Sharks tied two records Sunday afternoon, with head coach Roy Sommer matching long time Hershey Bears coach Frank Mathers in career AHL games coached at 1,265 and Dan DaSilva tying Riley Armstrong and Mike Iggulden with 59 career WorSharks goals, but the thing Worcester desperately two of were points and it got none of those after dropping a 2-1 contest to the Providence Bruins at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island in front of a crowd announced at 8,869. The loss now means the WorSharks slim playoff hopes got a lot slimmer, and they’ll need a lot of help to even get their chances to “poor”.

Worcester Sharks head coach Roy Sommer tied Frank Mathers in career AHL games coached
and Dan DaSilva equaled the WorSharks career goal scoring record during Worcester's 2-1 loss
Sunday to Providence. The WorSharks playoff chances dropped to .6% with the loss.
Photos courtesy of the WORCESTER SHARKS

For video highlights we once again point to AHLlive.com.

Because of a prior commitment Sharkspage did not catch any part of the game, so for the particulars and notes we’ll send a shout out to WorSharks beat reporter Bill Ballou with his game story “Providence deals Worcester crucial loss in playoff race” and notes column “Injuries sideline key players for Worcester Sharks”. The WorSharks have some further info on their site. There is virtually no information available for the Providence Bruins side of things, so we’ll not bother including any here.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – 37 Zach Trotman (g)
2. PRO – 17 Seth Griffith (2a)
3. PRO – 47 Malcolm Subban (38 saves)

Because the PBruins only seem to think there’s one team on the ice they make it simple to pick a Sharkspage player of the game without seeing a second of the contest: Worcester’s lone goal scorer Dan DaSilva.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Davison Wor (boarding), 4:41; Abeltshauser Wor (roughing), 6:26; Robins Pro (roughing), 6:26; Oleksuk Wor (hooking), 7:59; Davison Wor (fighting), 14:02; Moore Pro (fighting), 14:02; McCarthy Wor (fighting), 15:41; Camara Pro (fighting), 15:41.

2nd Period-1, Providence, Florek 16 (Spooner, Griffith), 18:00. Penalties-Robins Pro (charging), 6:47; Bigos Wor (fighting), 10:32; Flick Pro (fighting), 10:32.

3rd Period-2, Providence, Trotman 6 (Cunningham, Griffith), 13:10 (PP). 3, Worcester, DaSilva 16 (Kearns, Schwartz), 14:06. Penalties-Knight Pro (tripping), 3:29; Johnson Pro (hooking), 9:49; DeMelo Wor (hooking), 11:56.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-13-16-39. Providence 12-7-11-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Providence 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 17-21-1 (30 shots-28 saves). Providence, Subban 13-8-4 (39 shots-38 saves).
A-8,869
Referees-Dave Lewis (46), Pierre Lambert (39).
Linesmen-Jack Millea (23), Chris Millea (33).

WorSharks rally in third period to stun Hershey 4-2

The Worcester Sharks played uninspired, mistake-filled hockey for most of the first 54 minutes of Saturday’s contest against the Hershey Bears to find themselves trailing by a goal and their playoff heartbeat rapidly approaching a flat line, but three quick strikes by Dan DaSilva at 14:04 of the third period, Taylor Doherty at 15:10 and Travis Oleksuk at 17:19 gave the WorSharks a shocking 4-2 win over the Bears at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 4,820 fans. DaSilva’s goal makes him the Worcester Sharks all-time leading scorer.

Dan DaSilva (#22), pictured from Friday night's game with former 'Crazed Rats' linemate John McCarthy (#7),
scored the game tying goal Saturday night to become the Worcester Sharks all-time leading scorer at 139
points. DaSilva is also just one goal shy of tying the WorSharks record for career goals.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we once again point to AHLlive.com.

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Matt Pelech, Mike Pereira, Brodie Reid, Chad Rau, and Lane Scheidl (concussion). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender.

With his goal DaSilva passed Tom Cavanagh to become the WorSharks all time leading scorer at 139 points. That total ties DaSilva for 7th all-time in Worcester scoring with Dan Corso and Stephane Roy. DaSilva’s 58 career goals is good enough for third all-time for the WorSharks, just one behind the 59 of both Riley Armstrong and Mike Iggulden. Presuming DaSilva gets into the 60s he’ll start picking off players on the career goals list pretty quickly with Stephane Roy (61), Jeff Panzer (62), and Jame Pollock (63) within easy reach. In one of the rare Worcester records not held by Terry Virtue, the all-time Worcester goals record is held by Marc Brown at 79.

As you may have expected, the DCU center got pretty rowdy late in the third period with the WorSharks stunning comeback. Save for Hamilton’s second period goal the loudest cheers early in the game came from the large Holy Cross contingent rooting on newcomer Adam Schmidt, who skated four years for the Crusaders. Schmidt holds the Holy Cross record for most career games played at 151 and lead the Crusaders in scoring this season (14-15-29). When asked recently about Schmidt this writer called him “a potential diamond in the rough”. While making any decisions about a player’s talent after one game is silly, Schmidt certainly didn’t do anything to change my opinion–there looks to be something there, and hopefully the Sharks organization can get his game to work at the pro level.

Another ATO player, Brock Higgs, has slowed his torrid scoring pace of last weekend but still looks like a keeper. After a ‘no so good’ first period–and to be honest, not many WorSharks looked good in the opening 20 minutes–he got back into the flow of things and led all players with six shots on goal. Higgs best bid came in the third period when Hershey goaltender David Leggio made two great acrobatic-style saves and still managed to get a pad down to stop Higgs from stuffing the puck in the net.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (g)
2. WOR – 4 Taylor Doherty (gwg)
3. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (g,a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was John McCarthy

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Kearns/DaSilva
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schwartz/Higgs/Schmidt
Bonneau/Viedensky/Hayes

Abeltshauser/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo
Comrie/Bigos

BOXSCORE

Hershey 1 0 1 – 2
Worcester 0 1 3 – 4

1st Period-1, Hershey, Wellman 16 (Deschamps, Stoa), 10:40. Penalties-Watkins Her (tripping), 12:05; Newbury Her (slashing), 13:29; Oleksuk Wor (slashing), 19:02; Kolomatis Her (hooking), 20:00.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Hamilton 19 (Tarasov, Davison), 18:47. Penalties-Kearns Wor (hooking), 1:36.

3rd Period-3, Hershey, Deschamps 14 (Wellman), 9:36. 4, Worcester, DaSilva 15 (McCarthy, Kearns), 14:04. 5, Worcester, Doherty 4 (Viedensky, Hayes), 15:10. 6, Worcester, Oleksuk 14 (Hamilton, Abeltshauser), 17:19. Penalties-Latta Her (cross-checking), 6:50; Newbury Her (high-sticking), 9:52.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 10-8-9-27. Worcester 16-6-18-40.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0 / 2; Worcester 0 / 5.
Goalies-Hershey, Leggio 18-17-3 (40 shots-36 saves). Worcester, Sateri 17-20-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-4,820
Referees-Keith Kaval (40), Nic Leduc (12).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks third period collapse puts slim playoff hopes in jeopardy

The Worcester Sharks once again found themselves behind and scoreless after the first period, but unlike Sunday against Manchester their second period offensive onslaught didn’t put away their opponent and the Springfield Falcons came roaring back for three third period goals to defeat the WorSharks 4-2 at the DCU Center in front of a crowd of 4,241. With his goal and an assist in the game Dan DaSilva tied the late Tom Cavanagh as the franchise’s career scoring leader at 138 points.

Worcester Sharks Dan DaSilva had a goal and an assist to move into second place for the
season in team scoring and to tie Tom Cavanagh for most points as a WorSharks player.
File photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll point to AHLlive. It’s too bad it doesn’t show more of the action leading up to the Jimmy Bonneau/Will Weber fight as we’ll have more on that later.

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Mike Pereira, Brodie Reid (foot), Chad Rau (vet limit), Lane Scheidl (concussion), and newly signed ATO forward Adam Schmidt (from Holy Cross). Harri Sateri was the backup goaltender. Word is both Reid and Scheidl are close–if not already ready–to return.

There was some sad news for WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer and his family as they mourn the passing of Roy’s nephew. Roy traveled to California to be with his family and it’s believed Sommer will be back for Saturday’s game. Associate coach David Cunniff took over for Sommer for the night, with Bryan Marchment handling the defensemen and Mike Ricci assisting with the forwards. The standard policy of the AHL is games that head coaches miss under these circumstances count in their game totals/statistics, so he still on target to break the AHL’s all-time games coached record. Sharkspage sends its condolences to Roy and his family during their time of troubles.

As noted above DaSilva is now tied as the all-time scoring leader for the Worcester Sharks, but he is a long way from the top of the Worcester professional hockey list. DaSilva’s (and Cavanagh’s) 138 points ranks them both at 9th on that list. One more point will tie DaSilva with Daniel Corso and Stephane Roy at 139, and both Justin Papineau (143) and Jeff Panzer (146) are in reach. The next three on the list are Eric Boguniecki (155), Marc Brown (160), and Jame Pollock (167). As with most all-time hockey record in Worcester, the highest point total belongs to Terry Virtue at 210.

This writer is very outspoken about how poorly the AHL is officiated, and while the referees didn’t cause the WorSharks to lose they certainly played a small part in it. After the Bonneau/Weber fight referee Dave Lewis somehow decided that Bonneau deserved an extra two minutes. Of course, Springfield scored on that power play to take a 4-2 lead. For more on that, we turn to Worcester Sharks beat writer Bill Ballou:

It wasn’t the goal so much as the power play, which Springfield got when Jimmy Bonneau was given an extra two minutes by referee Dave Lewis for roughing as a result of a fight with Will Weber at 2:32.

“I’m not happy about this,” said Bonneau, who headed directly to the Sharks’ videotape machine at the buzzer. “I have always given respect to the refs and the job they do, but Dave Lewis called the name on the back of the jersey, not the play…it cost us the game.”

Bonneau took an elbow to the head from Weber and skated toward him to ask him to fight. Weber’s gloves were off before Bonneau’s, and Bonneau won the bout easily. It seemed like a standard double major, but Lewis felt differently. The ref told Bonneau he was the instigator and deserved an extra two minutes, but not the full 17 he would have gotten otherwise. “He told me it was for distance traveled, that I went blue line to blue line, and that’s insane,” Bonneau said. Lewis added insult to injury, according to Bonneau, who said the referee told him, “Jimmy, that’s the fastest I’ve seen you skate in five years.”

The reason it’s a shame the highlight video doesn’t show the pre-fight action is that it would show Bonneau didn’t go blue line to blue line, nor did he skate a significant amount of distance to get to Weber. It would show two players known for fighting deciding they were going to fight, and they did. Not only did referee Lewis get the call wrong his comments are out of line. It’s also pure laziness that determined Lewis didn’t call an instigator and not any other reason. Every instigator call results in the referee having to file paperwork with the league. That’s why you see the two for roughing added to a player in the AHL on so many occasions; it’s a lazy referee not wanting to fill out the paperwork.

The WorSharks also got the short of the stick, no pun intended, when Adam Comrie was highsticked late in the third period. As often happens when the whistle blows the two teams scrummed a bit with nothing really happening, but referee Lewis somehow determined that of all the players in that pile Bracken Kearns did something worth two minutes, so the skaters were evened up four on four. With Grosenick puled for an extra attacker Lewis struck again, calling DaSilva for a trip after the Falcons player tripped over his own stick. By that point DaSilva had seen enough and lit into Lewis, who gave in an extra ten minutes misconduct. In reality the AHL should be showing Lewis the door.

EDIT: This video of the Bonneau/Weber fight just surfaced. Note where Bonneau and Weber both start (in front of the WorSharks bench) and where thye fight (the blue line in front of the Falcons bench). They are never more than a stick length apart. So much for referee Dave Lewis’ call.

The three stars of the game were
1. SPR – 17 Sean Collins (g,a)
2. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (g,a)
3. SPR – 14 Dana Tyrell (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Bracken Kearns.

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Kearns/DaSilva
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schwartz/Higgs/Hayes
Bonneau/Viedensky/Pelech

Abeltshauser/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo
Comrie/Bigos

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Springfield, Joudrey 11 (Urban, Camper), 3:27 (PP). Penalties-DaSilva Wor (kneeing), 3:20; Hayes Wor (boarding), 13:08; Davison Wor (delay of game), 13:43; Sedlak Spr (interference), 18:42.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Kearns 6 (DaSilva, McCarthy), 5:44. 3, Worcester, DaSilva 14 (Abeltshauser, Kearns), 18:45 (PP). Penalties-Thompson Spr (goaltender interference), 8:10; Goloubef Spr (cross-checking), 18:13.

3rd Period-4, Springfield, Tyrell 12 (Vogelhuber, Joudrey), 0:22. 5, Springfield, Taormina 8 (Jacques, Collins), 4:18 (PP). 6, Springfield, Collins 13 (Camper, Bass), 11:41. Penalties-Weber Spr (fighting), 2:32; Bonneau Wor (roughing, fighting), 2:32; Hansen Spr (hooking), 7:05; Bass Spr (high-sticking), 14:48; Kearns Wor (roughing), 14:48; DaSilva Wor (tripping, misconduct – abuse of officials), 19:02.

Shots on Goal-Springfield 13-8-9-30. Worcester 7-15-10-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 2 / 5; Worcester 1 / 4.
Goalies-Springfield, McKenna 20-7-1 (32 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Grosenick 14-11-0 (30 shots-26 saves).
A-4,241
Referees-Dave Lewis (46), Pierre Lambert (39).
Linesmen-Chris Aughe (74), Joe Ross (92).

WorSharks stun Monarchs 5-1 for sixth win in a row

The Worcester Sharks found themselves Sunday afternoon where they have been far too often this season after one period, scoreless and trailing. But thanks to a four goal second period explosion the WorSharks were riding high and on their way to a second consecutive three-in-three weekend sweep by stunning the Manchester Monarchs, the number one team in the AHL’s Eastern Conference, 5-1 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 4,645 fans. The win was the sixth in a row for Worcester.

UMass alum Mike Pereira scored his first AHL goal, the game winner, Sunday during the Worcester
Sharks 5-1 win over Manchester. The WorSharks wore specialty jerseys to benefit the SHINE Initiative
to raise awareness about mental illness in children and young adults as a mainstream health issue.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights, and they’re well worth watching for a number of nice goals, we point to AHLLive.com

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Eriah Hayes (neck), Matt Pelech (vet limit), Brodie Reid (foot), and Lane Scheidl (concussion). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender.

For the first time this season the WorSharks have six wins and a row, which is one shy of the team record of seven set from March 16 to 31, 2007. It won’t be an easy task to get the streak to seven as after dispatching the best team in the East on Sunday Worcester takes on the number two team in the Springfield Falcons at a game at the DCU Center on Friday. The rest of next weekend’s schedule isn’t that much easier as on Saturday the WorSharks will face perennial Calder Cup contender Hershey Bears before heading down route 146 to take on the Providence Bruins Sunday afternoon. This could easily be called a “make or break” weekend for Worcester.

Worcester was shutout in the first period Sunday so their streak for scoring in consecutive periods stopped at 11, although looking at the streak it was a hodgepodge of information as it counted some overtime periods and not others. Yesterday this writer guessed it was, or had to be close to, a team record. Nope, it’s not. The team record is 15 periods in a row with a goal, and the streak didn’t contain a single overtime period so there’s no ambiguity. It was set from December 27th 2009 to January 8, 2010.

In one of those plays that doesn’t end up in the boxscore, during the second period in a faceoff at the Manchester blue line the Monarchs decided to try something different and had their three forwards and a defenseman lined up to make four players along the “line”. Kyle Bigos, who was spent most if the year in the ECHL, quickly nudged his defensive partner Konrad Abeltshauser toward the “open” Monarchs player to cover him directly off the faceoff. Worcester won the faceoff right to Bigos, and with Abeltshauser blocking the path of the fourth Manchester player the WorSharks we able to get full control and set up a good entry into the Monarchs zone.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 19 Daniil Tarasov (2g)
2. WOR – 13 Brock Higgs (g,a)
3. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (26 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Travis Oleksuk.

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Kearns/DaSilva
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schwartz/Viedensky/Higgs
Bonneau/Rau/Pereira

Abeltshauser/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo
Comrie/Bigos

BOXSCORE

Manchester 1 0 0 – 1
Worcester 0 4 1 – 5

1st Period-1, Manchester, Crescenzi 2 (O’Connor, Livingston), 16:26. Penalties-Andreoff Mch (fighting), 1:55; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 1:55; Kearns Wor (cross-checking), 10:25; Bodnarchuk Mch (roughing), 13:47.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Oleksuk 13 (DaSilva, Bigos), 3:17 (PP). 3, Worcester, Pereira 1 (Rau, Abeltshauser), 5:24. 4, Worcester, Tarasov 16 (Oleksuk, Hamilton), 7:10. 5, Worcester, Higgs 3 (Schwartz, Abeltshauser), 12:12. Penalties-Bishop Mch (tripping), 2:31; McCarthy Wor (slashing), 16:21.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Tarasov 17 (Higgs, Oleksuk), 15:14 (PP). Penalties-DaSilva Wor (slashing), 10:18; Schultz Mch (slashing), 14:14; Sateri Wor (delay of game), 15:44; O’Neill Mch (high-sticking), 16:27.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 3-14-10-27. Worcester 7-9-5-21.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 4; Worcester 2 / 4.
Goalies-Manchester, Berube 23-15-2 (15 shots-11 saves); Niederberger 1-1-1 (6 shots-5 saves). Worcester, Sateri 16-20-1 (27 shots-26 saves).
A-4,645
Referees-Geno Binda (22), David Banfield (77).
Linesmen-Chris Low (88), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks make it five with 4-0 shutout of Bridgeport

The Worcester Sharks, after not being able to get out their own way for the longest time, once again dug into their bag of tricks and used two goals from newcomer Brock Higgs, two point nights from John McCarthy, Konrad Abeltshauser, and Dylan DeMelo and a 25 save shutout by Harri Sateri to defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-0 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut in front of a crowd of 4,135. The win gives the WorSharks their first five game winning streak of the season.

RPI alum Brock Higgs, shown from his AHL debut on Friday against Providence,
scored his first two professional goals and his first pro game winner Saturday
night against Bridgeport in the WorSharks 4-0 win over the Sound Tigers.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For video highlights we’ll use the Sound Tigers YouTube channel.

Scratches for Worcester were Sena Acolatse (leg), Eriah Hayes (upper body), Matt Pelech, Brodie Reid (foot), and Lane Scheidl (concussion). Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. For the first time since early 2013 the WorSharks had too many veterans on the roster, so Matt Pelech was forced to sit out. Needing a forward Worcester–and one would presume San Jose–reached out to UMass winger Mike Pereira and signed the forward to an ATO. Pereira’s brother Joe skated with the WorSharks one game toward the end of the 2010-11 season, making them the second set of brothers to play for the team. Matt and Michael Pelech were the first, and they actually skated on the same line together a couple games during the 2012-13 season.

Like Friday night, Worcester dodged another bullet thanks to video replay. This time the circumstances were different, as it was used Saturday to determine if the net was still on the pegs when–or even if–the puck crossed the goal line. With the puck behind Sateri and moving toward the yawning net captain Rob Davison intentionally crashed into the cage knocking it off its pegs. Referee Trevor Hanson immediately ruled no-goal, but then went to video. Now had the puck crossed the goal line after Davison knocked the net off by rule Hanson probably should have counted the goal. It’s covered under rule 63.6:

63.6 Awarded Goal – In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions a defending player, the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in the act of shooting) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts.

Now watching the TV angle all those conditions were met except for if the puck crossed the goal line, which couldn’t be seen clearly. Referee Hanson confirmed his no-goal call, so he either got the rule wrong or the puck didn’t cross the goal line. Unlike the NHL the AHL does not provide clarifications for goal reviews one way or the other. To add further confusion to all this the ensuing faceoff was in the neutral zone, meaning it was Bridgeport that knocked the net off the pegs. Enough said about that.

Looking at Jimmy Bonneau’s line in the boxscore (0-0-0, 2 shots, 0 PIMs) you’d just presume it was a standard game without a fight for the WorSharks tough man, but that would be far from the truth. Bonneau had three great scoring chances early, and when Brett Gallant tried to goad Bonneau into fighting while Worcester was leading 2-0 Bonneau, being the cagy veteran he is, knew where the line was and didn’t cross it. Gallant, on the other hand, was intent on starting something so when it didn’t occur decided to take his frustrations out in a brief conversation with Referee Hanson. That didn’t turn out so well as Gallant was invited to sit for a couple minutes in the sin bin.

Worcester has scored a goal in 11 straight periods, which if it isn’t a team record it had to be close. Maybe more on that tomorrow. The Sound Tigers haven’t scored a goal in 170:59, their fourth-longest streak in team history. According to Sound Tigers beat reporter Michael Fornabaio the team record is 215:58, so that’s in play for their game against Adirondack today.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 10 Konrad Abeltshauser (g,a)
2. WOR – 7 John McCarthy (2a)
3. WOR – 22 Dan DaSilva (g)

Head scratcher here as they didn’t list Harri Sateri nor Brock Higgs. With all due respect to Sateri’s shutout, we’re going with the young man from RPI as the Sharkspage player of the game is Higgs. I’m sure Harri will understand…

Even strength lines, courtesy of the aforementioned Fornabaio
McCarthy-Kearns-DaSilva
Tarasov-Oleksuk-Hamilton (A)
Schwartz-Higgs-Viedensky
Pereira-Rau-Bonneau (A)

Davison (C)-Bigos
Abeltshauser-Doherty
Comrie-DeMelo

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 1 2 – 4
Bridgeport 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period-1, Worcester, Higgs 1 (DeMelo, Oleksuk), 12:56 (PP). Penalties-DeMelo Wor (cross-checking), 7:45; Leboeuf Bri (holding), 12:31; Persson Bri (slashing), 15:09.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, DaSilva 13 (McCarthy, Abeltshauser), 5:28 (PP). Penalties-Pedan Bri (slashing), 4:31; Sateri Wor (tripping), 7:42; Broda Bri (high-sticking), 9:02; Gallant Bri (cross-checking), 12:40; Gallant Bri (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:25.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Abeltshauser 5 (McCarthy, DeMelo), 3:01 (PP). 4, Worcester, Higgs 2 (Schwartz, Viedensky), 15:26. Penalties-Langlois Bri (interference), 1:17; served by Clark Bri (bench minor – too many men), 2:52; Viedensky Wor (hooking), 5:13; Hamilton Wor (interference), 12:06.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 16-8-10-34. Bridgeport 8-7-10-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 3 / 8; Bridgeport 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 15-20-1 (25 shots-25 saves). Bridgeport, Poulin 0-5-0 (34 shots-30 saves).
A-4,135
Referees-Trevor Hanson (47).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Kevin Redding (16).

WorSharks snatch victory from jaws of defeat in 4-3 OT win against Providence

The Worcester Sharks have spent all season finding new ways to lose games, but over the last week or so the WorSharks are using some old ways to win some when after trailing in the last minute against the Providence Bruins Brodie Reid scored with 45.4 seconds remaining in regulation for the WorSharks first goal of the season with an extra attacker on the ice and then Daniil Tarasov scored Worcester’s first overtime marker since January 11, 2013 to give the WorSharks a 4-3 win over the Baby-Bs Friday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island in front of a crowd of 8,038.

The Worcester Sharks celebrate Brodie Reid's (#15) game tying goal with under a minute
left in regulation Friday night against Providence. The team would celebrate again a few
minutes later when Daniil Tarasov connected in OT for the 4-3 WorSharks win.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

For highlights we’ll point to AHLlive.com, who have apparently fixed the issues of last weekend. The Providence Bruins still haven’t fixed theirs as they still continue to refuse to show replays of opponent’s goals, although as the Baby-Bs often think their the only team in the league that’s understandable.

Usually we do scratches first, but with so many transactions lately we’ll start there. As of the last posting the Worcester Sharks still hadn’t signed Yanni Gourde, whose contract ran out after last Saturday’s game against Portland. Sunday morning Gourde signed an NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, ending his run with the WorSharks. Gourde will report to the Syracuse Crunch on an AHL contract until the end of the season and then start a two year NHL entry level contract. When you consider the total lack of offensive talent under contract to San Jose in the minors it’s inexcusable that the Sharks organization didn’t sign a player like Gourde. The AHL’s trade deadline was last Wednesday, and Worcester GM Joe Will was pretty busy shipping guys away as Nick Petrecki was reassigned to the Rochester Americans and Sebastian Stalberg was sent to the Portland Pirates. In neither case did the WorSharks get a player in return. Later in the week Worcester recalled defenseman Kyle Bigos from the Ontario Reign (ECHL) and signed forward Brock Higgs (RPI) to an amateur contract. Higgs made his AHL debut Friday and had an assist on Rob Davison’s first period goal.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Sena Acolatse (leg), Kyle Bigos, Bracken Kearns (was recalled under emergency conditions Thursday and was reassigned to Worcester Friday evening), and Lane Scheidl (concussion). Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder. Hopefully the injury list won’t be getting longer after Eriah Hayes was boarded by Providence’s Bobby Robins in the third period. Hayes did not play afterward, but according to Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette it was head coach Roy Sommer that decided not to play Hayes.

Just when you though you’d seen everything a new one happened for Worcester Friday night. While trailing Providence late in the game Sommer signaled Grosenick to the bench for an extra attacker…and then never sent out an extra attacker. In a head’s up play by Grosenick, the rookie netminder raced back from the bench area into his goal while the five on five action commenced in the Baby-Bs zone. Worcester did finally get it right a little later on and scored with the sixth skater. Grosenick later raced the entire 200′ length of the ice surface to celebrate Tarasov’s overtime winner. It’s likely the second jaunt down the ice was less stressful than the first.

Providence had a goal overturned at the horn to end the second period when after referee Fred Leblanc signaled goal even though the green light to end the period was on instead of the red goal light. When LeBlanc checked the video he overturned his call and ruled no goal. Having no access to the overhead replay video it’s impossible to tell what he saw–or didn’t see–but from the angle of the highlights shown it looked like a good goal when shown live.

This writer keeps track of just about every stat possible…except extra attacker goals. Would have come in handy right now. Such is the life of a blogger.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 19 Daniil Tarasov (2g,OTgw)
2. PRO – 24 Ryan Spooner (g,a)
3. WOR – 15 Brodie Reid (tying goal, a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Rob Davison.

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Viedensky/DaSilva
Tarasov/Oleksuk/Hamilton
Schwartz/Higgs/Reid
Bonneau/Rau/Hayes

Abeltshauser/Doherty
Davison/DeMelo
Comrie/Pelech

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 1 1 1 – 4
Providence 1 2 0 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, Davison 3 (Reid, Higgs), 7:46. 2, Providence, Warsofsky 6 (Khokhlachev, Spooner), 9:41 (PP). Penalties-Viedensky Wor (hooking), 0:12; Abeltshauser Wor (hooking), 8:25; Schwartz Wor (cross-checking), 12:53; Robins Pro (slashing), 19:55.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, Tarasov 14 (DaSilva, Oleksuk), 2:48 (PP). 4, Providence, Spooner 7 (Cunningham, Parlett), 5:43. 5, Providence, Camara 9 (Khokhlachev, Griffith), 10:48. Penalties-Cross Pro (tripping), 0:49; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 3:57; Robins Pro (fighting), 3:57; Khokhlachev Pro (double minor – high-sticking), 6:26; Cross Pro (hooking), 11:59.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Reid 10 (Schwartz, Abeltshauser), 19:14. Penalties-Robins Pro (boarding), 13:51.

OT Period-7, Worcester, Tarasov 15 (DeMelo, DaSilva), 3:16. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Worcester 13-10-9-1-33. Providence 12-9-5-1-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 6; Providence 1 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Grosenick 14-10-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Providence, Svedberg 20-14-3 (33 shots-29 saves).
A-8,038
Referees-David Banfield (77), Fred Leblanc (30).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks sneak past Pirates 3-2

The Worcester Sharks played a good opening twenty minutes where they got goals from Freddie Hamilton and Brodie Reid, and then had a sloppy last two periods where they needed an odd deflection goal from Eriah Hayes to finally be able to put the Portland Pirates away 3-2 Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 5,455 fans.

Worcester Sharks forward Brodie Reid (#15) tips one past Pirates goaltender
Louis Domingue with just 1.5 seconds remaining in the first period. The
WorSharks would go on to defeat Portland 3-2.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

No idea what’s happening with AHLlive and highlights this weekend, but the WorSharks don’t have any highlights listed and they most certainly put a package together because it’s on their main site, so we’ll link to there. You might have to dig around a little, but they do have them (was story #2 as we post this).

Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, J.P. Anderson (hand), Sena Acolatse (leg), Rob Davison (hand), and Rylan Schwartz. Troy Grosenick was the back-up goaltender. After Friday night’s game against Providence there were several reports that captain Rob Davison had suffered a catastrophic injury to his hand, which included a compound fracture. Just like the San Jose Sharks, the WorSharks seldom talk about the severity of injuries to their players but were clear in their comments that the injury to Davison was nowhere as serious as the reports indicated. The fact Davison bussed back with his teammates Friday night is a sign that the injury wasn’t as initially thought.

In other roster news, at the end of Saturday night’s game Yanni Gourde’s 25 game professional try-out deal ended and as of last night he still had not signed another deal with the team. His point per game scoring pace is badly needed by Worcester if they wish to keep their extremely faint playoff hopes alive, and if rumors are true that Gourde is looking for an AHL deal that includes next season GM Joe Will should absolutely sign Gourde, and should have done it the second Gourde asked. Wayne Thomas made a huge error last season not re-signing Gourde during the summer, so now we’ll get to see if Will makes the same error.

Despite him being traded Wednesday Saturday night was still James Livingston bobblehead night at the DCU Center, and in kind of a humorous irony Livingston notched two goals for his new team, the Manchester Monarchs. Livingston has had only two multi-goal games in his pro career, the first being his second game with Worcester to go along with last night’s in his second game with Manchester.

In a head scratcher, the only two WorSharks without a shot on goal last night were puck moving defensemen Dylan DeMelo and Konrad Abeltshauser. Both did have great scoring chances, and both missed with shots going wide right. Abeltshauser’s miss could have been a big one as Worcester played some tic-tac-toe on an odd man rush and Abeltshauser missed a yawning net by about six inches.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (28 save win)
2. WOR – 25 Marek Viedensky (a)
3. WOR – 44 Adam Comrie (a)

It’s odd that no goal scorers were named stars, so we’ll fix that by picking Freddie Hamilton as the Sharkspage player of the game.

Even strength lines
Gourde/Oleksuk/Hamilton
McCarthy/Kearns/DaSilva
Hayes/Rau/Tarasov
Scheidl/Viedensky/Reid

Abeltshauser/Doherty
Comrie/Pelech
Petrecki/DeMelo

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Hamilton 18 (Tarasov, Gourde), 14:06 (PP). 2, Worcester, Reid 9 (Comrie, Viedensky), 19:58. Penalties-Gourde Wor (hooking), 1:04; Gourde Wor (slashing), 5:30; Klassen Por (slashing), 13:51; Scheidl Wor (tripping), 15:48; Rieder Por (tripping), 17:02.

2nd Period-3, Portland, Todd 3 11:18. Penalties-Murphy Por (cross-checking), 3:39; Tarasov Wor (tripping), 13:29; Miele Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00; DeMelo Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Hayes 7 (Doherty, Rau), 7:54. 5, Portland, Martinook 10 (Lessio, Miele), 18:46. Penalties-Doherty Wor (high-sticking), 1:48; Hextall Por (slashing), 8:13; Hextall Por (interference), 13:34; Hextall Por (hooking), 16:01.

Shots on Goal-Portland 9-10-11-30. Worcester 12-9-16-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 5; Worcester 1 / 6.
Goalies-Portland, Domingue 7-11-2 (37 shots-34 saves). Worcester, Sateri 14-20-1 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-5,455
Referees-Jon McIsaac (45), Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).