SHARKSPAGE

WorSharks from the past: where are they playing now? (2012-13 edition)

Every year we like to take a look where former Worcester Sharks are playing across pro hockey, and while the NHL lockout pushed this from its normal late December posting to late January now that rosters seemed to have settled it’s time to take another look at who is playing where.

Below is a list every former player for the WorSharks still playing pro hockey but no longer in the San Jose organization, and where they are playing this season. The teams that are listed are the highest level a player had played this season. Back-up goaltenders and other players that were signed but did not appear in games are not listed, nor are players from this season that have been signed and released. This list is accurate as of Sunday, January 27, 2013.

Riley Armstrong – Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL)
Steve Bernier – New Jersey Devils (NHL)
Chris Blight – Cardiff Devils (EIHL)
Joe Callahan – Abbotsford Heat (AHL)
Matt Carle – Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
Jonathan Cheechoo – Oklahoma City Barons (AHL)
Will Colbert – Belfast Giants (EIHL)
Gerald Coleman – Alaska Aces (ECHL)
Jack Combs – Bridgeport Sound Tigers (ECHL)
Mike Connolly – Lake Erie Monsters (AHL)
Chad Costello – Bridgeport Sound Tigers (ECHL)
Dan DaSilva – Ontario Reign (ECHL)
Patrick Davis – CSKA Moscow (KHL)
Ryan Del Monte – Rosenheim Star Bulls (2.GBun)
Frank Doyle – Fassa HC (Italy)
Brennan Evans – Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL)
Bobby Farnham – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL)
P.J. Fenton – Bietigheim-Bissingen SC (2.GBun)
Benn Ferriero – New York Rangers (NHL)
J.D. Forrest – Augsburg Panthers (DEL)
T.J. Fox – Crimmitschau ETC (2.GBun)
Matt Francis – Nottingham Panthers (EIHL)
Riley Gill – Louisiana IceGators (SPHL)
Josh Gorges – Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Ben Guite – Val Pusteria HC (Italy)
Dwight Helminen – Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL)
Kevin Henderson – Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)
Garet Hunt – Stockton Thunder (ECHL)
Carter Hutton – Rockford IceHogs (AHL)
Mike Iggulden – Rogle Angelholm (SEL)
Jeff Jakaitis – South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL)
Kyle Jones – Colorado Eagles (ECHL)
Derek Joslin – Chicago Wolves (AHL)
Lukas Kaspar – Donbass HC (KHL)
Justin Kurtz – Dresden Ice Lions (2.GBun)
John Laliberte – Ingolstadt ERC (DEL)
Ryan Lannon – Graz EC (Austria)
Chris Lawrence – Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL)
Jay Leach – Albany Devils (AHL)
Erick Lizon – Oklahoma City Barons (AHL)
Nathan Longpre – Chicago Wolves (ECHL)
Tony Lucia – Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL)
Daren Machesney – Braehead Clan (EIHL)
David Marshall – Reading Royals (ECHL)
Brandon Mashinter – Connecticut Whale (AHL)
Jamie McGinn – Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
Jim McKenzie – Evansville Icemen (ECHL)
Graham Mink – Providence Bruins (AHL)
Torrey Mitchell – Minnesota Wild (NHL)
Nathan Moon – Evansville Icemen (ECHL)
Mike Moore – Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)
Andrew Murray – Peoria Rivermen (AHL)
Antero Niittymaki – TPS Turku (SM-liiga)
Ian O’Connor – Reading Royals (ECHL)
Brian O’Hanley – San Antonio Rampage (AHL)
Sandis Ozolinsh – Moscow Oblast Atlant (KHL)
Dmitri Patzold – Hannover Scorpions (DEL)
Jason Pitton – Fife Flyers (EIHL)
Tomas Plihal – Karpat (SM-liiga)
Corey Quirk – Hannover Scorpions (DEL)
Ashton Rome – DEG Metro Stars (DEL)
Leigh Salters – Charlotte Checkers (AHL)
Nolan Schaefer – Ambri-Piotta (Swiss-A)
Nick Schaus – Norfolk Admirals (AHL)
Devin Setoguchi – Minnesota Wild (NHL)
Tyson Sexsmith – Novokuznetsk Metallurg (KHL)
Jay Silvia – Mississippi Surge (SPHL)
Dan Spang – HPK Hameenlinna (SM-liiga)
Garrett Stafford – Hershey Bears (AHL)
Brad Staubitz – Anaheim Ducks (NHL)
Dean Strong – Lake Erie Monsters (AHL)
Sean Sullivan – Lake Erie Monsters (AHL)
T.J. Trevelyan – Augsburg Panthers (DEL)
Mitch Versteeg – Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL)
Ryan Vesce – Skelleftea HC (SEL)
Ty Wishart – Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL)
Steven Zalewski – Albany Devils (AHL)

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

The Worcester Sharks once again came out of the gate flat and that slow start resulted in three goals against during the first 9:49 of their Saturday night contest against the Providence Bruins, but the WorSharks slowly dug themselves out that deep hole and managed to steal a point in a 4-3 shootout loss at the DCU Center in front of the 8,198 fans, the largest home crowd of the season so far.

PBruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg watches as WorSharks forward
Brodie Reid's shot bounds into the net for the game tying goal.
Photo courtesy of TEAMSHRED

After a listless Worcester power play early in the contest Providence would get a shot at the man advantage when Denny Urban was whistled for interference, and it took just 18 seconds for the PBruins to grab the lead. As Providence broke into the WorSharks zone on a three on two entry Worcester defenseman Michael Wilson elected to throw a check instead of trying to stop the puck, and that allowed Ryan Spooner a clear path down the right wing side. Wilson’s defensive partner, Matt Pelech, was caught in no-man’s land and was forced to go toward Spooner, and the onrushing forward had a clear path to pass the puck over to Craig Cunningham. WorSharks netminder Alex Stalock couldn’t get back across the crease fast enough to stop Cunningham’s one-timer and it was 1-0 PBruins at 5:38.

Lackadaisical defense from Worcester directly lead to Providence’s second goal at 7:51 when Maxime Sauve was able to wheel the WorSharks net and get three whacks at a loose puck in front of Stalock. Eventually the puck was banged home into a yawning net by Jamie Tardif. The PBruins would make it 3-0 on their fifth shot of the period when a failed clearing attempt by Worcester was intercepted by defenseman Torey Krug, and his shot from the left point was deflected past Stalock by a completely unmarked Justin Florek standing at the top of the crease.

Worcester was then able to wright the ship a little and get some momentum going, and thanks to a gift goal were able to cut the deficit to 3-1 after the opening 20 minutes. The play began when Danny Groulx intercepted a clearing attempt in the neutral zone and broke in down the center. After a pass to Tim Kennedy at the right point Groulx continued hard to the net, and Kennedy fired a return pass to the high slot to Daniil Tarasov who was trailing the play down the same path Groulx had taken. Tarasov’s shot was deflected and lost a lot of speed, and the puck bounded off Groulx and high into the air. Bracken Kearns attempted to bat the puck to the ice to knock it home, but instead the batted puck hit Carter Camper and went into the net.

Referee Darcy Burchell signaled goal, and then no goal, and then upwards to indicate he was going to check the replay. This writer doesn’t know what replay Burchell was watching because it certainly wasn’t the one everyone else in the DCU Center saw. Burchell eventually signaled it was a good goal, but the AHL rules are very clear it should not have counted. From rule 67.6:

A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who bats or directs the puck with his hand directly into the net. A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who bats or directs the puck and it is deflected into the net off any player, goalkeeper or official. When the puck enters the net on a clear deflection off a glove, the goal shall be allowed.

The WorSharks continued to make their uphill climb early in the second period, and managed to get within one at 3-2 just 1:43 into the second period when Mike Banwell and Matt Tennyson threw a couple passes between them as two Providence forwards pressured them just inside the offensive blue line. On Tennyson’s return pass to Banwell the PTO defenseman had no better choice than to shoot the puck, and his 50 foot laser rang off the post and beat PBruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg. The goal was Banwell’s first as a professional, and was also assisted by Tommy Grant.

Despite Worcester really ramping up the pressure it looked like Svedberg and the PBruins were going to make that one goal lead stand up, but a nice individual play by Patrick Rissmiller helped set up the tying goal. Rissmiller was able to keep the puck away from the PBruins defense with some nifty stick work near the left wing half-boards, and his eventual dump in was collected by Jon Matsumoto behind the goal line to the left of Svedberg. Matsumoto wasted no time sending the puck out to Brodie Reid at the top of the crease, and Reid’s blast hit Svedberg and bounded away into the net to knot the game 3-3 at 13:55 of the third.

With three minutes to go in regulation the WorSharks were forced to kill a phantom elbowing call to Rissmiller, but Providence didn’t have any real good chances for the remainder of the third period. In overtime both sides had four shots, but the nest opportunity was Spooner on a breakaway bid that Stalock turned aside. Into the shootout the first four shooters (Spooner, Tarasov, Sauve, and Urban) all scored, but the the goaltenders took over for the next four rounds. Cunningham scored for the PBruins in round seven, and when Svedberg snagged Groulx’s bid the wild comeback ended just a tad short.

GAME NOTES
WorSharks scratches were Taylor Doherty (achilles), Sena Acolatse (jaw), Travis Oleksuk, Mikael Tam, Mike Brennan (Worcester over veteran limit), Sebastian Stalberg, and Jimmy Bonneau (banged up). Harri Sateri was the backup netminder.

During the shootout Curt Gogol was removed from the bench area by referee Darcy Burchell after Gogol was leaning over the dasher jawing at the Providence bench. No penalty was entered into the boxscore, but it appeared to be more than a suggestion that Gogol leave by Burchell.

The AHL All Star break began at the end of Saturday night’s contest, and players will be off until Thursday when they return to practice.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 51 Brodie Reid (game tying goal)
2. PRO – 49 Jamie Tardif (g)
3. PRO – 14 Craig Cunningham (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Mike Banwell

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Providence, Cunningham 8 (Spooner, Camper), 5:38 (PP). 2, Providence, Tardif 20 (Sauve, Spooner), 7:51. 3, Providence, Florek 4 (Krug, Whitfield), 9:49. 4, Worcester, Kearns 10 (Groulx, Tarasov), 14:51. Penalties-Exelby Pro (boarding), 1:33; Urban Wor (interference), 5:20; Cross Pro (hooking), 10:28; Gogol Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:28; Wilson Wor (holding), 18:53.

2nd Period-5, Worcester, Banwell 1 (Tennyson, Grant), 1:43. Penalties-Gogol Wor (misconduct), 8:12.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Reid 10 (Matsumoto, Rissmiller), 13:55. Penalties-Groulx Wor (interference), 2:53; Rissmiller Wor (elbowing), 17:00.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Providence 3 (Spooner G, Sauve G, Mink NG, Tardif NG, Whitfield NG, Camper NG, Cunningham G), Worcester 2 (Tarasov G, Urban G, Kennedy NG, Matsumoto NG, Reid NG, Grant NG, Groulx NG).
Shots on Goal-Providence 12-11-11-4-1-39. Worcester 8-17-7-4-0-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 4; Worcester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Providence, Svedberg 18-6-2 (36 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Stalock 12-9-3 (38 shots-35 saves).
A-8,198
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Bob Paquette (18), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks grab a much needed two points in 3-1 victory over Springfield

The Worcester Sharks traveled an hour west down the Massachusetts Turnpike mired in a five game (0-4-0-1) winless streak to take on the Springfield Falcons, who were riding high as the best team in the American Hockey League and unbeaten in eight in a row (7-0-1-0), but has been so often the case over the last few seasons the WorSharks left Hoop City with two points in their back pockets after defeating their former division rivals 3-1 Friday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 4,021 that included a fairly large contingent of rooters for Team Teal.

Worcester defenseman Denny Urban takes down Falcons Jonathan Audy-Marchessault
during Friday's 3-1 WorSharks victory in Springfield
Photo courtesy of DAVID MOLNAR, Republican staff photographer

When playing a team as hot as the Falcons have been and facing a goaltender like Curtis McElhinney, who entered the game near the top in nearly every major goaltending category and leading the AHL in shutouts, the last thing Worcester wanted to do was come out flat. Unfortunately, the notoriously slow starting WorSharks did just that as the vast majority of the play early on was in their own end. Despite some pretty good play from Worcester netminder Harri Sateri Springfield was able to light the lamp at 3:07 of the opening period when 40 year old Bryan Helmer made an even better play.

The veteran blueliner for Springfield, who has been around so long he was once captain for the Worcester IceCats in the 1999–2000 season and has played for five “triple A” level North American teams that don’t even exist anymore, had the puck at the left point and instead of blasting it through traffic just sort of half slapped it into the pile of players in front of Sateri. Left winger Scott Howes, who was marked pretty well by WorSharks defenseman Michael Wilson, was able to get a stick on the shot at tip the puck just enough to beat Sateri to the stick side as the puck glanced off the far post and went in.

A minute after the Howes tally Worcester would find themselves shorthanded when Mikael Tam was whistled for hooking, but it was newcomer Tommy Grant that turned the tide with a nifty shorthanded goal after picking up a turnover at center ice. Grant grabbed the loose puck and streaked down the left wing side, and with defenseman Nick Holden draped over his back Grant threw a nice backhander that handcuffed McElhinney at 4:18. The goal was Grant’s first in three games with Worcester.

It would stay knotted 1-1 until the midpoint of the second period when John McCarthy and James Livingston would break out together on a two on one rush after McCarthy made a nice bounce pass off the left wing half wall in the WorSharks zone. Livingston then lead the rush down the left side, and with McCarthy heading down the middle of the ice and defenseman Denny Urban streaking down the right side trailing the play. Livingston froze McElhinney by holding the puck until he was deep in the left wing circle and lasered one over the diving Dalton Prout and just under the crossbar to the glove side of McElhinney at 10:32.

Rookie Daniil Tarasov would complete the goal cycle for Worcester with a power play tally at 2:37 of the third period with a nice blast from the bottom of the right wing circle. The play looked innocent enough after Danny Groulx, playing for the first time in nearly two months since suffering a concussion on November 30th, had attracted some traffic on the left wing side after skating deep into the Falcons zone. Instead of forcing the puck to the net Groulx threw a rink-wide pass from the low left wing circle across the slot to Tarasov at the low right wing circle, and Tarasov’s one-timer beat McElhinney clean at 2:37.

Sateri and the WorSharks would make that two goal lead stand up the rest of the way for the 3-1 final.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Taylor Doherty (achilles), Sena Acolatse (jaw), Sebastian Stalberg, Mike Banwell, Travis Oleksuk, Jimmy Bonneau (unknown injury), and Mike Brennan. For the first time in franchise history Worcester had to healthy scratch a veteran because they were over the limit allowed by the AHL. Banwell could have played but apparently he was not part of the line-up head coach Roy Sommer planned to go with so while Banwell was in Springfield his equipment was not. Instead, defenseman-turned-forward Matt Pelech turned into a defenseman again for part of the game. Tim Kennedy returned to the line-up after missing nine games, while Danny Groulx laced them up for the first time in 21 games. Alex Stalock was the back-up netminder.

Earlier this week the WorSharks released William Wrenn and Michael Pelech from their PTOs and returned them to their ECHL teams.

The Brandon Mashinter trade for Tommy Grant is working out for both teams, as Mashinter has already matched his two goals and three assist in his 30 games in Worcester with the same for Connecticut in just five games. Grant has just a single tally for Worcester in three games, but Grant’s shorthanded goal is something Mashinter didn’t have in 247 regular season and playoff contests with Worcester.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 26 James Livingston (gwg)
2. SPR – 28 Scott Howes (g)
3. WOR – 19 Daniil Tarasov (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Tommy Grant

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 1 1 – 3
Springfield 1 0 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Springfield, Howes 2 (Helmer, Joudrey), 3:07. 2, Worcester, Grant 10 4:18 (SH). Penalties-Ma. Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 0:30; Tam Wor (boarding), 4:07; Gogol Wor (cross-checking), 7:24.

2nd Period-3, Worcester, Livingston 3 (McCarthy), 10:32. Penalties-Goloubef Spr (tripping), 0:29; Erixon Spr (slashing), 5:34.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Tarasov 2 (Groulx, Urban), 2:37 (PP). Penalties-Weber Spr (interference), 1:44; Goloubef Spr (high-sticking), 13:55.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-7-7-18. Springfield 9-6-7-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Springfield 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 8-9-1 (22 shots-21 saves). Springfield, McElhinney 17-7-2 (18 shots-15 saves).
A-4,021
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Derek Wahl (46), Glen Cooke (6).

WorSharks can’t beat the men wearing orange, lose 2-1

The Worcester Sharks finally got back all of the players they expected to return from the San Jose Sharks but the WorSharks offensive woes continued, and when you don’t score many goals beating your opponent is next to impossible. It’s also doesn’t help when you need to beat the guy in the striped shirt too, and that was a hill too high for Worcester to climb as they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Adirondack Phantoms and referee Trevor Hanson Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 6,959 fans.

To be blunt, referee Hanson watched a completely different game than everyone else at the DCU Center Saturday night, and his ineptness overshadowed a pretty good hockey game and fine performance from Phantoms goaltender Brian Boucher. This writer would love for someone from the American Hockey League to watch a video of the game and then go on the record about the multitude of bad calls (made, and not made) by Hanson, but because the AHL has its head in the sand and thinks the officiating in their league is not an issue there’s less than a zero percent chance they’ll take me up on my offer.

Saturday marked Matt Pelech’s official move to right wing. Pelech played about a dozen or so games up front over the last season and a half while Worcester was short of forwards, and his physical style did not look out of place then nor did it look out of place last night. If anything, his intensity was ramped up a notch or two which won’t be good news for WorSharks future opponents. His move to forward also potentially opens a spot for Denny Urban to stick around, which is also another huge positive for the team.

Scratches for the WorSharks were Mike Banwell (healthy), Taylor Doherty (achilles), Sena Acolatse (jaw), Danny Groulx (concussion), Tim Kennedy (lower body), Travis Oleksuk (healthy), Patrick Rissmiller (healthy), Jimmy Bonneau (listed as injured), and Curt Gogol (neck). Harri Sateri was the backup netminder.

Matt (#23) and Michael (#39) sit on the WorSharks bench Saturday night.
Photo courtesy of STEVE CONWAY

Yesterday marked the first time in “modern” Worcester professional hockey history that two brothers dressed in the same game for the home town team when Matt and Michael Pelech skated together yesterday. Ironically, it’s also the first time they’ve ever played on the same team together. Worcester has had brothers play here before, with Jim and Ed Campbell each playing for the IceCats, but they were not on the team at the same time. The Pelechs mark only the third time a Worcester team has had two players with the same last name on team at the same time, the first being in 1998-99 when Geoff Smith and Matt Smith both played for the IceCats. Frazer McLaren and Kyle McLaren were both WorSharks during the 2008-09 season.

The three stars of the game were
1. ADK – 16 Tye McGinn (gwg)
2. WOR – 51 Brodie Reid (g)
3. ADK – 20 Cullen Eddy (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Matt Pelech.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Eddy 1 (Zolnierczyk, Bordson), 2:40. 2, Worcester, Reid 9 (Tarasov, Mi. Pelech), 13:39. Penalties-Slater Adk (fighting), 8:23; Ma. Pelech Wor (fighting), 8:23; Eddy Adk (fighting), 10:11; Kearns Wor (fighting), 10:11; FitzGerald Adk (holding), 11:01; Bordson Adk (high-sticking), 19:00.

2nd Period-3, Adirondack, McGinn 11 (Ford, Syvret), 11:23 (PP). Penalties-Tennyson Wor (holding), 1:54; FitzGerald Adk (fighting), 5:12; Ma. Pelech Wor (fighting), 5:12; Kearns Wor (interference), 5:43; Grant Wor (slashing), 6:47; Matsumoto Wor (slashing), 10:04; Zolnierczyk Adk (tripping), 17:57; Tennyson Wor (roughing), 17:57.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Mi. Pelech Wor (holding), 1:28; Livingston Wor (holding), 3:00; Tennyson Wor (interference), 9:33.

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 7-11-4-22. Worcester 8-7-14-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 1 / 7; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Adirondack, Boucher 1-0-0 (29 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Stalock 12-9-2 (22 shots-20 saves).
A-6,959
Referees-Trevor Hanson (47).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks drop fourth straight; Urban continues to shine for Worcester

The Worcester Sharks had a great opening 90 seconds to start their Friday night contest, with Jimmy Bonneau administering some punishment to Andrei Loktionov for Loktionov’s blind side hit to Curt Gogol on New Year’s Eve and Jon Matsumoto scoring a nice breakaway goal after a long feed from Daniil Tarasov, but that was pretty much the end of the highlights for the WorSharks as they couldn’t light the lamp again and dropped a 3-1 contest to the Manchester Monarchs at the DCU Center in front of 3,437 fans.

Lost in the fog of the WorSharks four game losing streak (0-3-0-1) has been the play of of PTO signee Denny Urban, as the would-have-been ECHL All-Star defenseman has taken Worcester by storm. It looked like Urban would be one of the “one and done” guys that AHL teams call upon in times of need when he was signed for the December 21st game at Providence, but with injuries and recalls to the regulars Urban was brought back and his great play has continued. Since that December game the Robert Morris University graduate and second year pro has played 10 games for the WorSharks–the team has played 13–and he is third on the team in scoring from that point (3-4-7) trailing just Jon Matsumoto (6-7-13 in 13 games) and the NHL bound James Sheppard (2-7-9 in 8 games). Urban also has a nifty shootout goal to his credit.

In a funny story about Urban, this writer and Senior Director of Business & Community Development Mike Myers were talking at the end of the first intermission Wednesday at the game vs Hershey about Urban and how we both really like his style of play. Within seconds of our conversation ending and before either of us could get to our normal perches there was a loud pinging noise of the puck hitting the post, and then the goal horn went off. It was Urban, with a rifle from about thirty feet out that hit the far post, banked into the net and then off the support in the back, and then out again off the near post.

When it’s all said and done Worcester may end up with a logjam at defense. But they need to make sure Denny Urban is part of that group, if not for this season than most definitely for next. Because if Urban is released from the WorSharks he will most certainly be back in Worcester, only in another team’s jersey.

GAME NOTES
The official list of scratches for the WorSharks was Taylor Doherty (achilles), Sena Acolatse (jaw), Danny Groulx (concussion), Tim Kennedy (lower body), Mike Brennan (unknown injury) and Curt Gogol (neck). James Sheppard, Nick Petrecki, Matt Irwin, John McCarthy, Matt Pelech, and Bracken Kearns were all listed as in San Jose, although McCarthy, Pelech, and Kearns were en route to Worcester at game time. Also en route to Worcester is Marek Viedensky, who has recovered from an injury he suffered in San Francisco (ECHL) and has been recalled.

The Sharkspage game post for Wednesday’s shootout loss to Hershey somehow never posted, so word of Brandon Mashinter’s trade to the New York Rangers is now fairly old news. Mashinter was traded for left winger Tommy Grant, and Grant made his debut Friday vs Manchester. San Jose also gets a conditional seventh round draft pick, and all evidence points toward Mashinter re-signing with the Rangers as being the condition.

With the game being on local television the WorSharks wore their teal road jersey while Manchester wore their home whites. Eric Lindquist was joined in the booth by 2008-09 James H. Ellery Memorial Award winner Kevin Shea. The James H. Ellery Memorial Awards are given out in three categories (newspaper, radio, and television) in recognition of outstanding media coverage of the AHL. Worcester Telegram and Gazette writer Bill Ballou is a two time winner in the newspaper category, once in 1996-97 for covering the Worcester IceCats, and again in 2006-07 during his first season covering the WorSharks.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – 31 Martin Jones (28 saves)
2. MCH – 19 Jordan Weal (g)
3. WOR – 18 Yanni Gourde (not sure why)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Jon Matsumoto.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Matsumoto 10 (Tarasov, Reid), 1:30. Penalties-Andreoff Mch (fighting), 0:01; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 0:01; Wilson Wor (kneeing), 6:12; Johnson Mch (fighting), 9:02; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 9:02; Deslauriers Mch (elbowing), 14:08.

2nd Period-2, Manchester, Vey 9 (Kozun, Pearson), 7:33. Penalties-Vey Mch (slashing), 1:29; O’Neill Mch (slashing), 9:49; Tennyson Wor (roughing), 9:49.

3rd Period-3, Manchester, Weal 4 (Legein, Loktionov), 7:27. 4, Manchester, Toffoli 19 (Andreoff, Vey), 18:48. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Manchester 6-7-7-20. Worcester 6-12-11-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 1; Worcester 0 / 2.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 9-13-2 (29 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Sateri 7-9-1 (20 shots-17 saves).
A-3,437
Referees-Chris Brown (86), Dave Lewis (46).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Jack Millea (23).

WorSharks lose 3-1 to Pirates; Sateri shines in losing effort

The Worcester Sharks ragtag lineup once again had issues putting the puck in the net, only in Sunday’s matinee against the Portland Pirates it was due more to the opposing netminder than an ability to generate any offense. But in spite of a great goaltending performance from Harri Sateri the result was still the same as the WorSharks dropped a 3-1 contest at the DCU Center in front of 4,728 fans.

Brodie Reid had the only goal for Worcester, tipping home a nice centering feed from former Holy Cross standout and San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Rissmiller that knotted the game 1-1 in the middle of the second period. Sandwiched around that goal were tallies by Pirates regulars Brett Hextall and Chris Conner. Jordan Szwarz added an empty netter in the last minute of play for the 3-1 final.

Despite losing the game Sateri’s 38 save performance might rank up there as one of the best efforts by a hometown goaltender in the DCU Center as the defense in front of him was, to be kind, very poor. The Pirates could have easily scored seven, eight, maybe nine goals had Sateri not been absolutely on top of his game. Portland’s goaltender, Chad Johnson, was also outstanding and while not very busy in the first half of the game was certainly his normal WorSharks-killing self in the later portions when he needed to be.

GAME NOTES
Officially Worcester had a long line of healthy scratches, although in reality every healthy scratch was either in San Jose or on their way to the left coast. The only new name to that list is Brandon Mashinter, and he was replaced in the line-up by another addition to the long list of try-out players, Andy Bohmbach from the Trenton Devils (ECHL). Alex Stalock was the back-up goaltender.

This season this writer has complained far too much about the officiating in the American Hockey League, and after Sunday’s second period is about to do it again. Every fan thinks they’re a better referee than the guy on the ice when it comes to calling penalties, but it’s a major issue when the people sitting in the seats have a better idea as to what the number of skaters should be for each team than the referee has. During the second period referee Geoff Miller called four minors in less than a minute which resulted in the rare situation of three skaters a side. Miller then called a fifth minor on Worcester, and was about to give Portland a four skater on three power play. Referee Miller had to be recalled to the scorer’s table to be informed that the teams should still be skating with three players a side, and after a long discussion finally got the right number of skaters for each side. To be blunt, it’s embarrassing that a referee this high in the professional ranks didn’t get that right.

Also in the second period was a video replay involving the goal scored by Chris Conner. It looked like a good goal live, so much so it never even entered my mind it would be reviewed. But it was, and after what seemed to be an hour of watching referee Miller watch the video he eventually ruled it a good goal. My perch is in direct line with the video goal monitor. It took one playing of the video at regular speed to know you couldn’t see the puck (it’s hidden under Sateri) when the net came off the peg. But referee Miller watched it for a very long time at varying speeds before making his ruling.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (38 saves)
2. POR – 14 Chris Conner (gwg)
3. POR – 24 Brett Hextall (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Brodie Reid.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Portland, Hextall 6 (Sinkewich, Klinkhammer), 17:24. Penalties-Gormley Por (tripping), 3:50; Summers Por (interference), 6:39; Reid Wor (hooking), 9:29; Urban Wor (interference), 12:45.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Reid 8 (Rissmiller, Gourde), 12:58. 3, Portland, Conner 7 (Brophey), 15:19. Penalties-Brophey Por (slashing), 0:36; Rechlicz Por (fighting), 13:00; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 13:00; Werek Por (roughing), 13:33; Gogol Wor (roughing), 13:33; Banwell Wor (tripping), 14:00; Klinkhammer Por (holding), 14:24; Wilson Wor (tripping), 14:58; Rechlicz Por (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:21.

3rd Period-4, Portland, Szwarz 6 (Klinkhammer), 19:31 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Portland 16-14-11-41. Worcester 3-8-16-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 3; Worcester 0 / 4.
Goalies-Portland, Johnson 13-7-0 (27 shots-26 saves). Worcester, Sateri 7-8-1 (40 shots-38 saves).
A-4,728
Referees-Geoff Miller (28).
Linesmen-Chris Aughe (74), Todd Whittemore (70).

WorSharks lose to Albany 4-1

The Worcester Sharks, hard hit by several key players being held out of the contest due to they potentially being recalled for the start of San Jose’s training camp, jumped out to an early lead thanks to Freddie Hamilton’s sixth goal of the season–with Daniil Tarasov grabbing his first AHL point with the lone assist–but couldn’t create much other offense and eventually fell 4-1 to the Albany Devils Saturday night at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York.

Do to other obligations this writer had to change his plans of heading to Albany to watch the game, so for the particulars readers can check out Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette with his game article Devils drop short-handed Worcester Sharks and his notes column Devils’ Bobby Butler playing with blinders on. Pete Dougherty of the Albany Tines Union has a trio of articles, Devils win the numbers game, Devils defeat Sharks in front of season-high 7,321, and Petrecki may be getting his first shot at NHL. Phil Janack of the Troy Record has his story Devils overcome slow start to defeat Sharks that includes a decent picture of Worcester defenseman Michael Wilson.

And as usual, the WorSharks’ and Devils’ official sites each have their unique points of view.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Danny Groulx (concussion), Taylor Doherty (achilles), Matt Tennyson (healthy), John McCarthy (healthy), Frazer McLaren (healthy), Sena Acolatse (jaw), James Sheppard (healthy), Bracken Kearns (healthy), Matt Irwin (healthy), Tim Kennedy (lower body), Matt Pelech (healthy), and Nick Petrecki (healthy). According to David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News Matt Tennyson, Matt Irwin and James Sheppard had already skated at Sharks Ice Saturday morning and word was that four more from Worcester (McLaren, McCarthy, Pelech and Petrecki) would be arriving soon. That leaves just Kearns as the lone healthy scratch not mentioned as heading to San Jose, and since it’s pretty safe to assume Kearns didn’t get lost somewhere in Worcester and missed the bus to Albany the presumption is he’s also in (or heading to) San Jose for training camp.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 0 0 – 1
Albany 1 2 1 – 4

1st Period-1, Worcester, Hamilton 6 (Tarasov), 7:16. 2, Albany, Zalewski 6 (Butler), 19:25. Penalties-Wiseman Alb (tripping), 4:18; Tam Wor (cross-checking), 7:42; Leach Alb (hooking), 12:21; Livingston Wor (roughing), 14:49.

2nd Period-3, Albany, Tedenby 9 (Larsson), 3:15 (PP). 4, Albany, Gelinas 3 (Zalewski, Wiseman), 18:54. Penalties-Guimond Wor (holding), 2:55; Sislo Alb (holding the stick), 7:34; Wohlberg Alb (slashing), 11:11; Larsson Alb (holding), 16:08.

3rd Period-5, Albany, Zajac 4 (Tedenby, Gelinas), 8:44. Penalties-Tarasov Wor (hooking), 8:56.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-8-5-17. Albany 8-11-9-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 5; Albany 1 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 12-8-1 (28 shots-24 saves). Albany, Kinkaid 11-7-3 (17 shots-16 saves).
A-7,321
Referees-Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Mike Emanatian (69), Glen Cooke (6).

Petrecki, WorSharks upend Springfield 4-3 in overtime

The Worcester Sharks went into Friday night’s contest with the Springfield Falcons with many of their top players out of the line-up as the NHL gets ready to open training camps for their lockout shortened season, and despite losing three different one goal leads were able to grab the bonus point when Nick Petrecki connected with 42 seconds left in overtime to carry his WorSharks to a 4-3 win at the DCU Center in front of 3,663 fans.

Teammates mob defenseman Nick Petrecki (#29) moments after his overtime game winning goal
vs Springfield Falcons Friday night. Photo courtesy of JIM CORMIER

The Falcons, who entered the game as one of only three AHL teams still in single digits for regulation losses, totally controlled the opening minutes of the game and kept Worcester hemmed into their own end. Through the first three minutes of the game the WorSharks never possessed the puck in the Springfield zone, and wasn’t having much luck in the neutral zone either. A brief offensive flurry gave the WorSharks a power play before a minor for an accidental high stick sent Bracken Kearns off to make it four skaters a side. In a play that started off as mostly nothing rookie Freddie Hamilton broke into the Springfield zone down the left wing side that looked like the Falcons had guarded fairly well. But Hamilton was able to wind his way through the zone and then around Falcons defenseman Cody Goloubef, lifting a shot over Springfield goaltender Curtis McElhinney at 6:05 to give Worcester a 1-0 lead on their first shot on goal. Matt Pelech and James Livingston got the assist on the goal.

Just moments later Jon Matsumoto had a great chance when a bouncing puck ending up on his stick all alone in front of McElhinney, but the netminder made a great save to keep it 1-0. Matsumoto would have another great chance all alone in front of McElhinney at the end of the period, but once again came up empty. On the other end of the ice WorSharks goaltender Harri Sateri was just as sharp, and he needed to be as most of the game was played on his end of the sheet. The Falcons had an 11-5 shot edge in the first twenty minutes but that gap could have been much wider were it not for the several blocked shots in front of Sateri, including a nice block by a stickless Michael Wilson on the penalty kill.

Despite the ice being tilted toward the Worcester end and Springfield totally carrying the play the WorSharks one goal lead held up for almost exactly twenty minutes of play, coming to an end at 6:00 of the second period when the Falcons broke into the Worcester zone three on two. Michael Chaput threw a pass from the left wing side that Sateri thought was going all the way across to his left, but Tomas Kubalik stuck his stick out to deflect it through the five hole to make it 1-1.

The WorSharks would regain their one goal lead at 15:48 of the second when after a face-off win in the Falcons zone the puck ended up on the stick of PTO defenseman Denny Urban, who fired a hard shot on net that deflected off a Springfield player and past McElhinney. Brodie Reid and Matsumoto had the assist on the goal. But once again the Falcons would answer back, this time at 6:28 of the third period when Jonathan Audy-Marchessault fired a hard shot on net. Sateri made the save but Ryan Johansen was able to outmuscle the Worcester defense to get position to bang the puck home to knot the game 2-2.

Despite losing a couple one goal leads Worcester never put their heads down, and for a third time would jump out ahead of the Falcons when Urban blasted a shot from the right point that deflected past McElhinney at 9:55 for a power play tally. At the time this writer tweeted the shot was deflected by Bracken Kearns. The goal was announced in the DCU Center as Urban’s, and that’s how it reads in the boxscore as of posting time. Both the WorSharks and Bill Ballou have written the goal is Kearns’. No matter, it counts the same and gave Worcester a 3-2 lead.

Again trailing by a goal Springfield really picked up the intensity and continually pinned Worcester in their half of the ice. As time was winding down on the third period you could hear the fans all around press row making comments about referee Terry Koharski and his propensity of making some very borderline calls near the end of games. Shocking to some, that call did not come from Terry but instead his counterpart Jamie Koharski, who called Hamilton for interference in the midst of a puck battle deep in the Worcester zone. Considering the stuff let go by both referees all game the call was borderline at best. With the clock winding down the Falcons pulled McElhinney, and with a two man advantage there was no one to fully mark Kubalik in front of the net, and with 58 seconds remaining he was able to bang home a rebound to send the game to overtime.

Now there will be a lot said about Petrecki’s game winner with 42 seconds remaining in overtime, but the WorSharks might not have gotten that chance were it not for a great individual defensive effort by Daniil Tarasov. Until that point the overtime period was all Worcester, but when defenseman Wilson got caught pinching in the Falcons broke out of their zone on an odd man rush. Starting almost flat footed and facing the wrong direction Tarasov was still able to catch the rushing Springfield forwards to break up the rush.

The Petrecki goal, while nice, was almost accidental. Wilson and captain John McCarthy tried to play a sort of give and go deep in the Falcons zone to the left of McElhinney, but Wilson’s return backhand pass missed McCarthy by a country mile. The puck went right to the stick of Petrecki at the left wing point, and the veteran defenseman fired the puck on net and beat McElhinney to the far post for the game winner.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Worcester were Danny Groulx (concussion), Taylor Doherty (achilles), Matt Tennyson (healthy), Sena Acolatse (jaw), James Sheppard (healthy), Yanni Gourde (healthy), Matt Irwin (healthy), Tim Kennedy (lower body), Patrick Rissmiller (signed to a PTO on Wednesday-healthy), Mikael Tam (recalled from San Francisco on Wednesday-healthy), and Jimmy Bonneau (healthy). While not officially announced, in addition to the Tam and Daniil Tarasov recalls and the Rissmiller signing the WorSharks have also signed defenseman Sacha Guimond (San Francisco-ECHL) to a PTO. Alex Stalock was the back-up goaltender.

There was one fight in the contest, with Matt Pelech dropping the gloves with Dalton Smith. Pelech had just dropped Smith with a booming body check that Smith took exception too, and then after they dropped the gloves Smith held on for dear life and was luckily able to keep Pelech from pounding on him. The hit on Smith was just one of a very unofficial count of seven times that Pelech knocked down an opponent Friday night with a body check.

The WorSharks did something in the first period I have never seen before; they got called for icing while they were offside. Neither was a close call.

Very noticeable from press row was the appearance of Worcester City Manager Mike O’Brien in the luxury box taking in the game. Also noticeable was DCU Center general manager Sandy Dunn catching some of the game with him. This writer tweeted late last night that there was some evidence that the lease extension between the WorSharks, DCU center, and the city was signed yesterday. Sources have told Sharkspage that the extension, a two season deal with a mutual option for a third season, will be announced on Wednesday, January 23rd.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 29 Nick Petrecki (gwg)
2. WOR – 37 Denny Urban (2g)
3. SPR – 18 Tomas Kubalik (2g)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Harri Sateri

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Hamilton 5 (Pelech, Livingston), 6:05. Penalties-Kubalik Spr (holding), 4:45; Kearns Wor (high-sticking), 5:29; Gogol Wor (boarding), 13:46.

2nd Period-2, Springfield, Kubalik 7 (Chaput, Erixon), 6:00. 3, Worcester, Urban 2 (Reid, Matsumoto), 15:48. Penalties-Smith Spr (fighting), 11:12; Pelech Wor (fighting), 11:12; Livingston Wor (elbowing), 16:16; Kubalik Spr (interference), 19:06.

3rd Period-4, Springfield, Johansen 14 (Audy-Marchessault, Goloubef), 6:28. 5, Worcester, Urban 3 (Matsumoto, McCarthy), 9:55 (PP). 6, Springfield, Kubalik 8 (Chaput, Erixon), 19:02 (PP). Penalties-Johansen Spr (holding), 9:15; Hamilton Wor (interference), 17:49.

OT Period-7, Worcester, Petrecki 1 (Wilson, McCarthy), 4:18. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Springfield 11-10-7-0-28. Worcester 5-10-9-2-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 4; Worcester 1 / 3.
Goalies-Springfield, McElhinney 17-6-2 (26 shots-22 saves). Worcester, Sateri 7-7-1 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-3,663
Referees-Jamie Koharski (84), Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Robert St. Lawrence (10), Scott Whittemore (96).

Andreoff suspension is a slap on his wrist, and a slap to the face of hockey fans everywhere

On New Year’s Eve in the Worcester Sharks game against the Manchester Monarchs WorSharks forward Curt Gogol received a blind side check to the head by Monarchs rookie forward Andy Andreoff, in which Andreoff intentionally charged at Gogol and targeted Gogol’s head with his elbow and delivered a blow in the open ice far away from the puck. It took medical personnel a significant amount of time to stabilize Gogol’s head and safely remove him from the playing surface on a stretcher, but in the end luckily the most major injury it seems Gogol sustained was a cut lip and a severely lacerated tongue. It has not been announced if Gogol suffered a concussion on the play.

Andreoff received a match penalty for checking the head, which comes with an automatic suspension until, and I quote directly from the AHL rulebook here, “the President has ruled on the issue”. This afternoon the American Hockey League ruled on the issue, and Andreoff was suspended for three games.

Three games.

So for targeting an unsuspecting player’s head and intending to injure that player, the AHL has seen fit to suspend the aggressor just a weekend’s worth of games. Good thing Andreoff didn’t bump into the referee after being given a game misconduct, he may have gotten himself in real trouble for doing that.

Seeing how AHL President David Andrews is, according to the rules, the person responsible for handing down suspensions in this case, perhaps Mr. Andrews can explain his decision to suspend Andreoff for just three games. At the “State of the AHL” during last season All-Star Classic, when asked about suspensions in relation to head hits, according to Donald Rieber Jr on examiner.com Andrews replied “We’re really looking at predatory type hits, whether it’s a head-check or boarding or charging, where you see intent to injure on the part of the player as opposed to a hockey play.”

In an interview with Admiralsrundtable.com just under a year ago Andrews is quoted as saying “…we’ve always taken a pretty strict stand on head shots in the American Hockey League”. And a little later Andrews is quoted as saying “Tougher disciplinary standard is important for player safety…”.

Going all the way back to 2004 when Garrett Stafford and Alexander Perezhogin decided to swing sticks at each other’s heads Andrews was very clear in an interview with Bruce Berlet on currant.com, “We don’t want to take the emotion out of what can be a physical game, but there’s a line to be drawn, and we want the coaches to help establish that line so we have the best product possible,” Andrews said. “We’ve got to get away from the sort of head-hunting that is being seen as a legitimate hockey play. It isn’t, and I believe coaches can help define and respect the game.”.

More from that same interview: “We are going to severely discipline players who are guilty of that (blows to the head with momentum and intentional cheap shots with an elbow), and our coaches are being asked to take the responsibility and make their players accountable for respecting the game and playing it within a code of conduct that we used to have,” Andrews said. “We’re going to really work hard at that because the game has been hurt by the kind of incidents we’ve had in our league and the NHL. We needed to address it, and we are addressing it.”

I’m sorry Mr Andrews, but three games for Andreoff’s actions isn’t “addressing it”. You had the opportunity to send a message that hits like that would not be tolerated in the AHL. But instead you failed not only your league but hockey fans everywhere. That hit has no place in this sport, and it will take a lot more than empty words to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

WorSharks defeat Monarchs 3-2, Gogol injured by cheap shot

The WorSharks spent their fourth consecutive New Year’s Eve on the road and on the strength of a 35 save performance by goaltender Harri Sateri and a game winning goal by captain John McCarthy with just 66 seconds left in regulation celebrated the new year with a 3-2 victory over the Manchester Monarchs Monday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire in front of 9,051 fans.

The celebration for the victory was muted as everyone was concerned about the injury suffered by second year forward Curt Gogol at 12:55 of the second period when he was intentionally run over by Manchester Monarchs rookie Andy Andreoff in the neutral zone far away from the play. Andreoff, who fought Worcester defenseman Sena Acolatse Friday and then taunted the Worcester bench, had shown no interest in fighting Frazer McLaren or Matt Pelech earlier in the contest as the WorSharks were looking to deliver a message. Andreoff again declined to fight when Gogol lined up next to him, but instead chose to deliver a blind hit to the head of Gogol well away from the puck during the ensuing play.

After medical personnel from both teams tended to Gogol he was placed on a backboard and then wheeled off on a stretcher. Gogol did wave to the crowd, which drew a very large cheer from the normally intensely partisan Manchester fans. Soon after the game Gogol was released from the hospital, and reports are that he suffered mouth injuries (including almost slicing his tongue in half). There was no word on if he suffered a concussion, but the fact he was so quickly released indicated if he does have one it probably is a minor one. Andreoff received a match penalty for checking to the head, and as such is supposed to be suspended until a review by the American Hockey League takes place.

Here are video highlights of the goals scored in the contest. The video does not show the hit on Gogol.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Sena Acolatse (broken jaw), Jimmy Bonneau (healthy), Taylor Doherty (achilles), Yanni Gourde (healthy), Danny Groulx (concussion), Travis Oleksuk (groin), and Nick Petrecki (hand). This is the second time in his pro career that Acolatse has suffered broken facial bones after being hit by a puck. Prior to the game Worcester re-signed defenseman Denny Urban to a second PTO contract. If there’s any silver lining to all the defensive injuries for Worcester it’s they’ll now get an extended look at Urban, who in just two games has shown himself to be a very capable puck moving blue liner. Alex Stalock was the back-up netminder.

The win gives Worcester it’s first three game winning streak of the season. It’s been almost a full calendar year since the WorSharks had a three game winning streak, with the last being from January 8-15, 2012 when Harri Sateri put together consecutive shutout wins over Portland and Providence with Tyson Sexsmith adding a shootout victory over Syracuse. The WorSharks last winning streak longer than three games was from December 9-17, 2011 when they ran off five consecutive regulation road wins.

Worthless stat for Monday: The win by Sateri improves his career record against opposition goaltenders also wearing jersey number 35 to 3-2-0-1. To complete the record Alex Stalock is 3-3-0-0 vs goaltenders that wear share number 32, although he’s only ever faced one as Dany Sabourin wore jersey number 32 for one season with Providence. Sateri should get more chances this season to improve on his record, but Stalock is probably stuck at .500 as other than himself no regular roster goaltender in the AHL is wearing number 32 this season.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (35 saves)
2. WOR – 7 John McCarthy (gwg)
3. MCH – 15 Brandon Kozun (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jon Matsumoto

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Matsumoto 8 (Urban), 6:56. 2, Worcester, Hamilton 4 (Sheppard, Tennyson), 9:50 (PP). Penalties-Matsumoto Wor (holding the stick), 2:26; Nolan Mch (slashing), 8:00.

2nd Period-3, Manchester, Hickey 3 (Deslauriers, Pearson), 11:25 (PP). 4, Manchester, Kozun 9 (Vey, Pearson), 19:12. Penalties-McLaren Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 6:31; Andreoff Mch (unsportsmanlike conduct), 6:31; Brennan Wor (roughing), 10:13; McLaren Wor (roughing), 12:55; Andreoff Mch (match – check to the head), 12:55; Cliche Mch (roughing), 12:55; Campbell Mch (delay of game), 14:16.

3rd Period-5, Worcester, McCarthy 5 (Kennedy, Pelech), 18:54. Penalties-Bodnarchuk Mch (tripping), 4:09; Kennedy Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:27; Irwin Wor (double minor – spearing (attempt)), 10:20.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 4-6-8-18. Manchester 11-14-12-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Manchester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 6-6-1 (37 shots-35 saves). Manchester, Mannino 7-4-0 (18 shots-15 saves).
A-9,051
Referees-Jean-Philippe Sylvain (16), Jon McIsaac (45).
Linesmen-Joe Ross (92), Robert St. Lawrence (10).

WorSharks two highlight goals beat Manchester 2-1

The Worcester Sharks got two point nights from Jon Matsumoto and James Sheppard and an outstanding goaltending performance from Harri Sateri to defeat the Manchester Monarchs 2-1 in the back half of a home and home Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 5,008 fans.

Jon Matsumoto scoring the game winner after banking the puck off the legs of Manchester goaltender Peter Mannino
late in the 3rd period of Friday's 2-1 victory over the Monarchs. Photo courtesy of SMUGMUG.COM

After losing 2-1 Wednesday night to Manchester in a game where Worcester generally outplayed their division rivals but couldn’t get enough pucks past Monarchs goaltender Peter Mannino the WorSharks came out and picked up right where they left off and peppered Mannino with half a dozen high quality chances before the game was five minutes old. And like Wednesday, Worcester just couldn’t get the puck past Mannino to light the lamp. The only thing that slowed the WorSharks up was their power play, which has not been very good against Manchester and continued to struggle again Friday night.

The WorSharks first power play chance passed without much in the way for offense, and as the penalty expired Manchester lazily cleared the puck out of their zone all the way down to the Worcester end and looked to change behind the play. The puck ended up on Sheppard’s stick, and with a head of steam rushed up the left wing side blowing past Monarchs defenseman David Kolomatis like he was standing still. All Kolomatis could do was wave his stick at Sheppard as he went by fully focused on the net. Linden Vey, who had been in the penalty box, took the wrong angle on Sheppard as Sheppard cut to the net, and after faking like he was going backhand froze Mannino until he had just enough of an opening to wrist the puck over Mannino’s blocker at 12:06. Matsumoto had the lone assist on the play.

Manchester picked up their play after the Sheppard highlight goal and WorSharks fans started to get the vibe that it would be another period tilted in one direction but ending tied as the Monarchs put decent flurries on Sateri, but Worcester’s rag-tag defensive corps gave Sateri just enough support to thwart the Monarchs offense.

Worcester would end up outshooting Manchester 18-7 in the opening period, but the Monarchs picked up their play in the second period and kept the ice tilted toward the north end of the building. Sateri made several great saves, but Manchester would tie the game on a highlight goal of their own after Tanner Pearson fed Jake Muzzin from behind the goal line to the face-off dot to the right of Sateri. In a one-timer that looked like it was straight out of a video game Muzzin lasered one just over the right shoulder of Sateri and just under the crossbar at 16:21.

For the next 20 minutes of game time it was the Sateri and Mannino show, with each goaltender making some great saves to keep their team tied. Over that span three or four times the WorSharks were able to get the puck within inches of the goal line but just couldn’t get a stick on the loose puck to bang it home. It was becoming obvious it was going to take another highlight effort or a lucky bounce to win the game, and luckily for the WorSharks fans in attendance it was Matsumoto that had the highlight goal.

With Brodie Reid, Sheppard, and Matsumoto hemming the Monarchs in their zone with one of the best forechecking shifts seen in these parts since the days of the Crazed Rats, the three would combine for the eventual game winner after Reid flipped a backhander deep into the Manchester zone. While being pinned to the endboards by Monarchs defenseman Andre Bodnarchuk all Sheppard could do was bump the puck toward the front of the net. Matsumoto beat Marc-Andre Cliche to the loose puck and as the two headed behind the Manchester net Sheppard dug in to stop as Cliche sailed right by him. Matsumoto reversed direction and went around the far post just as Mannino was set up on the near post. As Mannino rushed to get back over to the near post Matsumoto banked the puck off Mannino and into the net at 16:05 of the third period.

Manchester went all out trying to get the equalizer, but Sateri was up to the challenge to give Worcester a much needed home win and two points. These two teams will play again on Monday night in Manchester, with the WorSharks taking on Province at home on Saturday and the Monarchs heading to Bridgeport to take on the Sound Tigers.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty, Curt Gogol, Danny Groulx, Travis Oleksuk, and Nick Petrecki. All are injured except Bonneau. Alex Stalock was the back-up goaltender.

There were two fights in the contest, with Sena Acolatse taking on Andy Andreoff in a first period bout that home town scoring gives to Acolatse. In the second period Mike Brennan and Richard Clune dropped the gloves in the Worcester end, and you have to give Brennan a lot of credit for sticking up for himself against a fighter like Clune. Brennan didn’t win, but certainly acquitted himself nicely.

Despite both receiving game misconducts last Friday night under rules that result in automatic two game suspensions Worcester’s Frazer McLaren and Providence’s Bobby Robins have apparently escaped scot-free. McLaren’s game misconduct, his second of that game, was not even posted to the box score by the AHL until Saturday afternoon, so it seems odd that neither player received the automatic suspension. It also seems Robbins will not face further discipline for his head hunting of Matt Tennyson. This writer expects some on-ice discipline will be handed out when the two teams meet Saturday night.

How’s this for a head-scratcher–Manchester is 1-9-1 on Fridays and 13-14-3 the rest of the week. The good news for Worcester is twice more this season they play the Monarchs on Friday nights.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 15 James Sheppard (g,a)
2. WOR – 11 Jon Matsumoto (g,a)
3. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (win,22 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Brodie Reid.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Sheppard 8 (Matsumoto), 12:06. Penalties-Vey Mch (holding), 9:54; Andreoff Mch (fighting), 13:03; Acolatse Wor (fighting), 13:03; Legein Mch (slashing), 19:26.

2nd Period-2, Manchester, Muzzin 2 (Pearson, Vey), 16:21. Penalties-Clune Mch (fighting), 9:39; Brennan Wor (fighting), 9:39; Sheppard Wor (slashing), 11:27.

3rd Period-3, Worcester, Matsumoto 7 (Sheppard, Reid), 16:05. Penalties-Bodnarchuk Mch (holding the stick), 6:40.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 7-5-11-23. Worcester 18-9-7-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0 / 1; Worcester 0 / 3.
Goalies-Manchester, Mannino 7-3-0 (34 shots-32 saves). Worcester, Sateri 5-6-1 (23 shots-22 saves).
A-5,008
Referees-David Banfield (77), Trent Knorr (44).
Linesmen-Chris Aughe (74), Chris Millea (33).

Matsumoto, WorSharks stun Providence with late game winner

The Worcester Sharks and Providence Bruins played 40 minutes of what you would expect between the two clubs: hard hitting, low scoring hockey with lots of penalty minutes. When the smoke cleared on the final 20 minutes both teams had lost a one goal lead in a period that featured seven goals, culminating in Jon Matsumoto’s game winning strike with just 10.5 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the WorSharks to a 5-4 victory at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island in front of a crowd announced at 7572, including a very large contingent of Worcester fans.

One of the several times during the game that Worcester goaltender Alex Stalock was interfered
with during Friday night's contest against the Providence Bruins.
The PBruins were not penalized for any of the incidents. Photo courtesy of SMUGMUG.COM

The opening period was scoreless due to some outstanding play by the goaltenders, Alex Stalock for Worcester and Niklas Svedberg for Providence. They stopped a combined 25 shots, with many of those being pretty good scoring chances. Tempers flared at 17:18 when, as is pretty much normal for a WorSharks/PBruins game, some pushing and shoving started after the whistle. Providence’s Bobby Robins then blindsided Worcester defenseman Matt Tennyson with a hit to the head which raised the ire of Matt Pelech. Tennyson was uninjured and cooler heads eventually prevailed, but it was obvious Robins was going to have to answer the bell at some point later in the game. At the 20:00 mark Christian Hanson, who had been involved in the earlier scrum, and WorSharks forward James Livingston introduced themselves to each other. They both earned an extra five minute break for their efforts.

The WorSharks would finally get one past Svedberg at 4:39 of the second period on a power play tally with PBruins center Jordan Caron in the box for closing his hand on the puck. Tennyson would get his revenge for the high hit with a booming blast from the point that lit the lamp. The original scoring gave assists to James Sheppard and Matsumoto, but now the box score shows the goal as unassisted.

A few minutes later tempers would flare again after a huge hit gathered all ten skaters together. Sheppard and Lane MacDermid earned themselves 10 minute misconducts while Nick Petrecki and Robins received minors for roughing. At that point Frazer McLaren had seen enough of Robins antics and as soon as the two of them were on the ice together McLaren went right after Robins. Since it was during a media break McLaren was tossed for fighting before a face-off, but Robins was also given the gate after the long brawl. With Worcester PTO defenseman Mike Banwell already in the box for elbowing McLaren’s instigator minor put the WorSharks two men down, and Providence was able to convert just 12 seconds later at 10:31 when Chris Bourque was given credit for a goal that needed to go to review. It originally looked like Stalock had made an incredible glove save, but video review showed he caught the puck after it had crossed the goal line.

In an oddity, Sharkspage was texting with several fans at the game, and every Worcester fan contacted thought it was a goal and the two Providence fans that shared opinions thought it was a save. Go figure.

Late in the second period it appeared the WorSharks had taken the lead when Sheppard banged home a loose puck to light the lamp at 18:49. But referee Tim Mayer ruled that Sheppard intentionally interfered with Svedberg, so not only did the goal not count by Sheppard was given a minor. Worcester head coach Roy Sommer went ballistic and was quickly whistled for a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. That gave the PBruins another two minute five on three advantage, and with a fresh sheet of ice to start the third period Bourque was able to convert 34 seconds into the period to give Providence a 2-1 lead.

This WorSharks team has become a third period squad, and they showed that again with two quick strikes just 47 second apart. The first came from Sheppard, who made sure this goal would count when he collected a rebound of Livingston’s shot and roofed a backhander over Svedberg at 2:15. Bracken Kearns would make it 3-2 Worcester when he tipped Petrecki’s blast past Svedberg at 3:02. The secondary assist went to Tim Kennedy, ending his three game pointless streak.

Worcester didn’t have much time to enjoy their lead as Matsumoto was sent off at 4:44 for a tripping minor that was most clearly a dive. Providence didn’t score with the man advantage, but did connect just two seconds after Matsumoto stepped on the ice when Craig Cunningham banged home a loose puck to knot the game at 3-3. Again the referees would make a questionable call when Stalock took exception to being run into and finally defended his crease and was given a high sticking minor at 7:13. The PBruins would retake the lead 63 seconds later when Jamie Tardif redirected David Warsofsky’s shot past Stalock.

But again, the WorSharks were not done, and after killing another questionable call–this time referees Mayer and Miller somehow chose Petrecki out a large scrum of players to be the only one penalized–John McCarthy knotted the score 4-4 when he redirected a nifty slap-pass from another of Worcester’s PTO defensemen, Denny Urban. Kennedy had another secondary assist on the power play goal.

The WorSharks had to go on the penalty kill one more time, this one to Pelech for the automatic delay of game minor for flipping the puck out of play, but after that kill continued to press the PBruins. With time winding down and Worcester controlling the puck they caught Providence running around in their own zone, and a virtually unmolested Matsumoto was able to roof one over Svedberg and just under the crossbar with 10.5 seconds remaining in regulation for the 5-4 win.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Danny Groulx, Taylor Doherty, Curt Gogol, Sena Acolatse, Matt Irwin, Travis Oleksuk, and Jimmy Bonneau (healthy). Nick Petrecki returned to action for the first time since being injured on November 4th. It’s thought that Acolatse and Irwin are close to returning from their injuries. Over the past week defenseman Mikael Tam was returned to San Francisco (ECHL) and signed puck moving defenseman Denny Urban to a PTO.

The two teams combined for 134 penalty minutes, with Worcester receiving 80 of those. To be blunt, the officiating in the game should be an embarrassment to the American Hockey League. There were many clear errors made, both in what was called and what wasn’t, and at least two misinterpretations of the rules by the referees. That’s a situation that needs to be addressed by the AHL. Worcester fans also will be paying attention to the review of Bobby Robins checking to the head minor, and remember how many games Matt Pelech got for match penalty for a head check that was nowhere near as bad–or as dirty–as Robins’ hit.

A very nice update from Bill Ballou today in his notes column

The Sharks are in the process of finalizing another lease with the DCU Center, according to sources within the organization. The new deal would be for the next two seasons and include an option for a third. The two sides are anticipating making the official announcement in January.

One has to wonder how Alex Stalock can be run into so many times and an opponent never being called for it while 200 feet away his team has a goal called back and a minor given on a play that wasn’t goaltender interference.

The three stars of the game were
1. PRO – 17 Chris Bourque (2g)
2. WOR – 15 James Sheppard (g.a)
3. WOR – 11 Jon Matsumoto (gwg)

Really Providence? A guy with two five-on-three goals and (-2) in a losing effort is the number one star? Really? Well, I guess that let’s me give the Sharkspage player of the game to the guy that should have been the number one star, Jon Matsumoto.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 0 1 4 – 5
Providence 0 1 3 – 4

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Cross Pro (interference), 0:50; Bartkowski Pro (interference), 6:44; Bourque Pro (tripping), 9:49; Petrecki Wor (slashing), 13:29; Pelech Wor (misconduct), 17:18; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 17:18; Hanson Pro (roughing), 17:18; Robins Pro (checking to the head), 17:18; Livingston Wor (fighting), 20:00; Hanson Pro (fighting), 20:00.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, Tennyson 3 4:39 (PP). 2, Providence, Bourque 3 (Camper, Cross), 10:31 (PP). Penalties-Sheppard Wor (high-sticking), 1:14; Caron Pro (closing hand on puck), 3:00; Mashinter Wor (hooking), 7:34; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 7:34; Sheppard Wor (misconduct), 7:34; MacDermid Pro (misconduct), 7:34; Robins Pro (roughing), 7:34; Banwell Wor (elbowing), 10:19; McLaren Wor (instigating, fighting, misconduct – instigating, game misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:19; Robins Pro (fighting, game misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:19; Hanson Pro (hooking), 13:01; Bartkowski Pro (hooking), 18:09; served by Livingston Wor (bench minor – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:49; Sheppard Wor (goaltender interference), 18:49; Brennan Wor (roughing, slashing), 20:00; Tardif Pro (roughing, roughing), 20:00.

3rd Period-3, Providence, Bourque 4 (Camper, Warsofsky), 0:34 (PP). 4, Worcester, Sheppard 7 (Livingston), 2:15. 5, Worcester, Kearns 8 (Petrecki, Kennedy), 3:02. 6, Providence, Cunningham 4 (Sauve, Bartkowski), 6:46. 7, Providence, Tardif 14 (Warsofsky, Trotman), 8:16 (PP). 8, Worcester, McCarthy 4 (Urban, Kennedy), 13:12 (PP). 9, Worcester, Matsumoto 5 (Reid, Sheppard), 19:49. Penalties-Matsumoto Wor (tripping), 4:44; Stalock Wor (high-sticking), 7:13; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 11:00; Sauve Pro (holding the stick), 12:52; Pelech Wor (delay of game), 14:45.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-14-10-36. Providence 13-9-14-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 2 / 8; Providence 3 / 11.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 10-5-1 (36 shots-32 saves). Providence, Svedberg 11-5-1 (36 shots-31 saves).
A-7,572
Referees-Tim Mayer (19), Geoff Miller (28).
Linesmen-Bob Paquette (18), Jack Millea (23).

WorSharks finally special in 4-3 shootout win over Hershey

The Worcester Sharks may have lost the even strength battle but were able to connect for three power play goals and were a perfect five for five while shorthanded, which was good enough to get the game into a shootout where Jon Matsumoto scored the only goal to give the WorSharks a 4-3 comeback win Saturday night over the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

WorSharks rookie Mikael Tam takes on Hershey Bears forward Garrett Mitchell in an
epic length battle Saturday night. Tam was the apparent winner of the bout.
Photo courtesy of DENNIS GOTTESMAN

Things didn’t start off great for Worcester when just 36 seconds into the game the Bears would connect off a clean face off win to the right of WorSharks netminder Alex Stalock. The draw went directly back to defenseman Cameron Schilling, who blasted it from the point and past Stalock. The puck may have hit Worcester forward Bracken Kearns on the way by as Kearns made a bee-line to Schilling to make a shot block attempt.

Worcester would get that goal back with their first power play tally of the night at 6:17 when Travis Oleksuk, who was playing defense on the WorSharks second power play unit, threw a nice pass over to Matt Tennyson. With Matsumoto and James Sheppard both setting a screen in front of the Bears net Tennyson let a shot fly that Matsumoto just got a piece of to deflect it past Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby.

Unfortunately for the WorSharks the Bears would notch two more times in the opening period, with each goal coming from a former Worcester player. Hershey’s second goal came at 10:33 of the period when former WorSharks defenseman Garret Stafford launched one at the net that was tipped by center Mike Carman and past Stalock. The second goal was a hard wrist shot from Zach Hamill that beat Stalock from in front cleanly at 13:26. Former Worcester IceCats forward Jon DiSalvatore had the second assist on that goal.

The opening 20 minutes would see two fights, although referee Ryan Fraser only called major penalties in one of the altercations. It wouldn’t be the only head scratching call from the referee in this game. The ‘real’ fight came at 13:33 of the period when Brandon Mashinter and Alex Berry did battle in front of the Worcester bench. At 14:28 Yanni Gourde, who was celebrating his 21st birthday Saturday night, dropped the mitts with Matt Pope and leveled his much larger opponent quickly. For some unknown reason Fraser only gave out matching unsportsmanlike conduct minors to the pair. That could have had an impact as just a handful of seconds later Mikael Tam picked up a slashing minor to give Hershey a rare four on three power play in regulation. Stalock came up big to keep the deficit at two.

Sheppard would have the only goal of the second period when he connected for the WorSharks second power play goal in the contest. Worcester broke into the Bears zone but didn’t get a great opportunity. Hershey recovered the loose puck at the half-boards to the left of Holtby, but Hamill’s clearing attempt was picked off by Sheppard. His blast went wide and rebounded almost out of the zone. Tennyson was able to just slow it up along the boards–ironically at almost the exact spot that Hamill’s failed clear took place–where Matsumoto was able to recover and feed the puck back to Sheppard at the blue line high between the circles. Sheppard skated in a stride or two and blasted one past Holtby at 4:05.

There was one fight in the middle stanza, and there was no doubting this one would draw majors as Tam took on Garrett Mitchell in a flip-flipping battle that almost seemed to last as long as a championship prize fight round. After nearly a minute of battling the visitor’s side of the press box gave the win to Tam.

The WorSharks entered Saturday night’s contest as the best team in the American Hockey League when trailing after two periods, and the cardiac kids did it again when they converted for their third power play goal of the game at 9:48. This one was almost an exact carbon copy of their first, with the same pass by Oleksuk over to Tennyson and with the same shot into a two player screen. This time it was Sheppard instead of Matsumoto, but the results were the same: tie game.

In one of the most bizarre moments this writer has ever witnessed in a professional hockey game, referee Fraser picked a 3-3 game with 4:59 remaining in regulation to send Sena Acolatse off for ‘inciting’ after a scrum of players got together after a whistle. Fraser then compounded that error by awarding Mashinter a penalty shot on a breakaway where it looked like a minor was more than appropriate. Holtby made the save on that bid, and despite being down one of their best defensemen and having to use a rookie and two try-out players in key situations Worcester weathered the storm and got the game through regulation and overtime and into shootout. Matsumoto as the only shooter to connect, beating Holtby in round four. Oleksuk missed his bid to ice the contest in round five, but Stalock made the save on Boyd Kane’s attempt to give Worcester the 4-3 win.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty, Nick Petrecki, Sebastian Stalberg, Curt Gogol, Danny Groulx, and Matt Irwin. To help bolster the depleted blue line corps the WorSharks have recently resigned Mike Banwell to a try-out contract. It’s Banwell’s second stint with Worcester, and it may have started earlier had he not injured his hand on Veterans Day in a fight while playing in the ECHL. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

By not scoring a goal Saturday Yanni Gourde doesn’t join Sena Acolatse as the only active Worcester player to score on their birthday. Acolatse did it earlier this season, on October 28th vs Bridgeport. Gourde should have become the first WorSharks player to get into a fight on his birthday, but referee Ryan Fraser rained on that parade by only issuing minors for unsportsmanlike conduct. The all time franchise leader for scoring goals on his birthday is Riley Armstrong, who had two on November 8, 2008 at Binghamton. The only WorSharks goaltender to win a game on his birthday is Harri Sateri, who beat Manchester last season on December 28th. Sateri may get a chance to run that birthday winning streak to two games as Worcester plays again this season on that date, ironically at home again against Manchester.

When you look at the stats sheet and see a (-3) next to a player’s name it’s unlikely “good game” pops into your head in a positive way, but Matt Tennyson had a pretty good game despite being on the ice for all three even strength goals against. Tennyson was on the ice for all six goals scored in the contest but doesn’t get a “plus” for any of his three assists on the power play. A close look at the video of the three Hershey regular strength goals shows Tennyson’s play can’t be faulted on any of them.

After having just five shots in his first 10 games Frazer McLaren has 15 in his last six. A lot of that is due to his new lines mates, James Livingston and Freddie Hamilton. They don’t have the firepower of the old ‘Crazed Rats’ line (John McCarthy/Andrew Desjardins/Dan DaSilva), but lately they’ve been playing with the same intensity.

Jon Matsumoto had a goal and an assist in the contest, so he only needed a fight to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick. Odds were good that wasn’t going to happen as Matsumoto has only fought once in the pros, on November 19, 2008 when he took on Albany’s Joe Jensen while a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms. In that game Matsumoto was just an assist short of the Gordie Howe.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 15 James Sheppard (2g)
2. WOR – 5 Matt Tennyson (3a)
3. HER – 19 Zach Hamill (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Jon Matsumoto.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 1 1 1 0 – 4
Hershey 3 0 0 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Hershey, Schilling 3 (Taffe, Potulny), 0:36. 2, Worcester, Matsumoto 4 (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 6:17 (PP). 3, Hershey, Carman 3 (Stafford, Pope), 10:33. 4, Hershey, Hamill 9 (Syner, DiSalvatore), 13:26. Penalties-Hamill Her (slashing), 4:41; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 13:33; Berry Her (fighting), 13:33; Gourde Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:28; Pope Her (unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:28; Tam Wor (slashing), 14:49; Stafford Her (hooking), 19:34.

2nd Period-5, Worcester, Sheppard 4 (Matsumoto, Tennyson), 4:05 (PP). Penalties-Tam Wor (fighting), 3:23; Kundratek Her (slashing), 3:23; Mitchell Her (fighting), 3:23; Hamill Her (delay of game), 8:43; Livingston Wor (cross-checking), 12:00; Tam Wor (holding), 15:21.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, Sheppard 5 (Tennyson, Oleksuk), 9:48 (PP). Penalties-Kearns Wor (interference), 4:41; DiSalvatore Her (high-sticking), 5:11; Marshall Her (tripping), 9:44; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 12:32; Acolatse Wor (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:01.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Worcester 1 (Sheppard NG, Kennedy NG, Reid NG, Matsumoto G, Oleksuk NG), Hershey 0 (Taffe NG, Hamill NG, DiSalvatore NG, Potulny NG, Kane NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-12-13-0-1-35. Hershey 9-5-8-3-0-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 3 / 6; Hershey 0 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 9-5-1 (25 shots-22 saves). Hershey, Holtby 10-8-1 (34 shots-31 saves).
A-10,075
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Scott Adams (20), Leo Boylan (97).

WorSharks’ Kennedy named week’s best

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Worcester Sharks center Tim Kennedy has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Dec. 2, 2012.

Kennedy scored five goals (plus one shootout goal) and posted a plus-5 rating in three road games to help the Sharks regain first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.

On Friday night in Portland, Kennedy notched his first multi-goal game of the season, scoring twice in a 4-3 loss to the Pirates. He came back with two more goals on Saturday night in Bridgeport, and also scored in the shootout to help clinch the Sharks’ 4-3 win over the Sound Tigers. And on Sunday in Providence, Kennedy scored the game-tying goal in regulation as Worcester went on to a 3-2 shootout win over the Bruins.

In 21 games for Worcester this season, Kennedy is tied for third in the AHL in scoring with 23 points and tied for fifth with 11 goals. He finished the week riding a six-game scoring streak (6-5-11).

A Buffalo, N.Y., native, Kennedy is in his fifth professional season after originally being drafted by Washington in 2005. He was an AHL All-Rookie Team selection in 2008-09 when he notched 67 points in 73 games for Portland, and has registered 179 points (54 goals, 125 assists) in 214 career AHL games. Kennedy has also appeared in 112 career NHL games with Buffalo and Florida, totaling 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points.

In recognition of his achievement, Kennedy will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Sharks home game

Press release courtesy of the American Hockey League

Sateri’s 50 saves leads WorSharks over Providence 3-2

The Worcester Sharks were outplayed for huge stretches of their Sunday matinee with the Providence Bruins but thanks to Harri Sateri’s 50 save performance and a little help from video replay were able to get the game to a shootout, where Sateri was once again perfect and James Sheppard connected for the only goal from any of the skaters to defeat the PBruins 3-2 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

In the opening 20 minutes Providence would fire 25 shots on Sateri, many of the quality chances, but the WorSharks netminder matched the Baby-Bs nearly shot for shot. The only one to beat him was a deflection that lead to the first goal of the game as Providence was swarming all over the Worcester end. Defenseman Matt Bartkowski skated deep into the zone from the left point to grab a loose puck and fire it into the slot. Despite Matt Irwin hanging all over him Christian Hanson was able to deflect the puck past Sateri for the 1-0 PBruins lead at 14:23.

The WorSharks special teams have been pretty bad all season, but they’ve been so bad lately that during a pregame interview with broadcaster Eric Lindquist Worcester head coach Roy Sommer said they “sucked” during the first two games of their road three-in-three. Sommer was right, they did, but they picked a good time to step it up when Yanni Gourde converted on the team’s first shorthanded goal in almost a full calendar year. It was actually sort of a “nothing” play, with Gourde collecting a Providence turnover just inside the Worcester blue line and skating down the right side and into the PBruins zone. Gourde turned left and skated across the top of the two circles, cutting in to fire a wrist shot from just at the left side dot. The puck beat Providence goaltender Niklas Svedberg to the glove side, but as Gourde began to celebrate referee Dave Lewis was waiving that it was no goal.

A few moments later after the next stoppage referee Lewis went to look at the replay, and then signaled the goal was good at 19:27.

Providence would regain their lead with bad angle goal that seemed to surprise Sateri. The Baby-Bs had once again hemmed the WorSharks into their own zone, but the undermanned Worcester defense was doing a decent job in keeping the puck away from the front of the net. Unfortunately for the WorSharks that wasn’t enough when a bouncing puck ended up between the skates of Irwin, and Justin Florek was able to smack it free with a backhander just above the goal line to the left of Sateri that that the netminder didn’t see coming until too late, and the puck banked into the net off his skate an in at 3:59.

The much maligned special teams unit would again get Worcester back to even with a power play tall at 10:34 of the middle period when Tim Kennedy and Sheppard pulled off the perfect give and go inside the circle to the left of Svedberg. Kennedy took Sheppard’s return pass and fired a hard wrist shot that beat Svedberg to the far side at 10:34, with Sena Acolatse picking up the second assist.

The third period and overtime would be scoreless thanks to Sateri and Svedberg, although the WorSharks would need to kill off a penalty late in the third period when for the second time in two games Sheppard took a silly penalty late in a game with the score tied. Sheppard did redeem himself by notching the only goal in the shootout to give Worcester the 3-2 victory.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, Taylor Doherty (leg), Nick Petrecki (hand), Matt Pelech (suspended, game three of three), Travis Oleksuk, and Danny Groulx (concussion). With Doherty being injured in Saturday night’s win over Bridgeport the WorSharks only had five healthy defensemen to dress, so they went with 13 forwards. In previous conversations with hockey operations they’ve explained that it doesn’t make sense to rush a defensemen in from the ECHL that doesn’t know the system because he wouldn’t see many shifts, and might cause more harm than good.

The WorSharks wore their usual teal road jerseys while Providence went with their alternate gold home jerseys. This writer is a huge fan of both teams wearing colored jerseys in games, and it would be great to see it more often where possible.

Some figures about Providence having 25 shots on goal in the first period…
…beat the full game totals for 3 AHL teams Sunday, although two of those teams, Portland & Texas, won.
…are more than the Hershey Bears average total for a game (24.1 entering Sunday).
…are more than the Syracuse Crunch average giving up per game (24.6 entering Sunday)

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 15 James Sheppard (shootout game winner)
2. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (50 saves)
3. PRO – 26 Christian Hanson (g,a)

The practice of automatically giving the number one star of the game to the skater that scores the game winning shootout goal has got to stop. The WorSharks could have lost 3-2 in regulation and Sateri was still the number one star. Nothing short of a hat trick should bump a 50 save performance from being the number one star. On that note, despite not usually giving the Sharkspage player of the game to one of the top two stars because he didn’t get the number one star he deserved we’ll give Harry Sateri the nod here.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Providence, Hanson 3 (Bartkowski), 14:23. 2, Worcester, Gourde 6 19:27 (SH). Penalties-Irwin Wor (roughing), 4:51; Sauve Pro (roughing), 4:51; Tam Wor (slashing), 6:44; Cunningham Pro (hooking), 10:50; Kennedy Wor (cross-checking), 11:55; Tennyson Wor (hooking), 17:35.

2nd Period-3, Providence, Florek 1 (Hanson, Hirschfeld), 3:59. 4, Worcester, Kennedy 11 (Sheppard, Acolatse), 10:34 (PP). Penalties-Florek Pro (boarding), 6:48; Tardif Pro (double minor – high-sticking), 9:53; Caron Pro (interference), 17:54.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sheppard Wor (boarding), 15:14.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Worcester 1 (Sheppard G, McCarthy NG, Kennedy NG, Matsumoto NG, Reid NG), Providence 0 (Spooner NG, Hanson NG, Bourque NG, Tardif NG, Cunningham NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 8-13-7-3-1-32. Providence 25-12-9-6-0-52.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 5; Providence 0 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 3-4-1 (52 shots-50 saves). Providence, Svedberg 8-4-1 (31 shots-29 saves).
A-5,315
Referees-Dave Lewis (46), Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Bob Bernard (42), Brian MacDonald (72).

Kennedy, WorSharks upend Sound Tigers 4-3

The Worcester Sharks couldn’t hold on to the two one goal leads given to them by Tim Kennedy, but goaltender Harri Sateri was perfect in overtime and in the shootout to help lead the WorSharks to a 4-3 win over the Sound Tigers Saturday night at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Special teams has been an issue for Worcester over the first quarter of the season, and Saturday night was no exception when the WorSharks generated little offense during their first power play attempt and then surrendered a goal in just four seconds after being shorthanded for the first time. With Curt Gogol sitting on the penalty bench Casey Cizikas won a draw cleanly from the dot to the right of Sateri. The puck went directly to Sound Tigers defenseman Jon Landry, who blasted a shot on goal from the high slot that beat Sateri at 8:12 of the opening period.

Freddie Hamilton would get the WorSharks back to even after he followed his own shot and continued to fight for the puck in front of Bridgeport netminder Kevin Poulin. The play began with try-out defenseman Mike Brennan, who is playing in the spot usually occupied by the suspended Matt Pelech, blasting a shot on goal from the left point. Poulin made the save but the long rebound went right to the stick of Hamilton, who fired the puck back on net. Poulin again made the save, but with James Livingston creating a lot of chaos in front of the Sound Tigers goal Hamilton was able to get to the rebound and throw a backhander on net to finally beat Poulin at 11:02. Gogol was given credit for the second assist.

While Worcester was celebrating the Hamilton tally in front of their bench some of the Bridgeport players took offense to something and eventually all ten players got together, with Brennan and Blair Riley dropping the mitts. Livingston and Brett Gallant would also be sent off to the sin bin but for some inexplicable reason referee Jean Hebert, who didn’t have the best of games, hit Livingston with an extra minor for unsportsmanlike conduct giving the Sound Tigers a power play after starting the fracas. To add injury to insult, Taylor Doherty looked to have suffered a leg injury when he was tackled by Bridgeport defenseman Matt Donovan so low that it would have generated a 15 yard penalty in the NFL for breaking the ‘Brady rule’.

Doherty did not play again until the third period, and it was obvious that he was struggling on the bad leg.

After Gogol and Nathan McIver got together in the WorSharks zone in a one-sided affair at 14:24 that saw McIver land several hard shots, Kennedy would give Worcester its first lead of the game with a bad angle goal at 17:33. Just after Worcester killed off a Sena Acolatse cross checking minor Kennedy hit the defenseman with a nice pass just as Acolatse was stepping out of the penalty box. Acolatse broke into the Bridgeport zone but pulled up in front of the Sound Tigers defense when he could go no further. Kennedy, who had passed the puck from the left wing half-wall in his own zone, rushed up the ice along the boards and Acolatse hit him with a pass. Kennedy couldn’t break toward the Bridgeport net, and as he was running out of ice he fired a hard shot on goal from a near impossible angle that beat Poulin over the left shoulder.

The WorSharks would carry the 2-1 lead into the third period thanks to Sateri, who made several key stops in the middle period as the momentum slowly swung in the favor of the Sound Tigers. The third period started like the second ended, with Worcester back on its heels and not playing very well. Bridgeport would finally get the equalizer after Gogol was unable to get the puck into the Sound Tigers zone deep enough to complete the line change behind him, and as Bridgeport broke out of the zone Nino Niederreiter would eventually beat Sateri to the low stick side at 2:51 to get the Sound Tigers back to even.

Kennedy would again give Worcester the lead with a laser of a shot at 13:52. With Bridgeport totally controlling play and the WorSharks mounting little in the way of offense Worcester was having some issues getting out of their own zone with the Sound Tigers forechecking at every opportunity. Matt Irwin would eventually gather the puck in his own end and hit Bracken Kearns in the neutral zone with a pass, but after entering the Bridgeport zone Kearns got pinned to the left wing half boards by Travis Hamonic. Kennedy swooped into the zone and collected the loose puck, firing a hard wrist shot from right on the left wing dot off the far post and in behind Poulin.

Bridgeport would get back to even again with–what else–a power play goal at 17:32 of the third period after Sateri made a nifty save at the near post but couldn’t get a glove on to the bouncing puck in front of him. Brock Nelson is credited with the goal, but it looked like it may have been John McCarthy knocking the puck under his own goaltender and into the net as he tried to help Sateri cover the puck.

The overtime stanza, which started with a rare three on three as McCarthy and Jordan Hill were both in the box for penalties as regulation expired, was tilted entirely to the Sound Tigers with all three shots in the extra stanza being taken by Bridgeport. The WorSharks looked to have a good breakout going just over a minute into overtime, but James Sheppard took a bad interference minor behind the play to give the Sound Tigers a man advantage. Sateri stood tall while shorthanded to keep Worcester in the game, and was perfect in the shootout stopping all four attempts against him while Sheppard and Kennedy scored for the WorSharks for the 4-3 win.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for Worcester were Jimmy Bonneau, Danny Groulx (concussion), Frazer McLaren, Matt Pelech (suspended, game two of three), Nick Petrecki (hand), and Sebastian Stalberg. With Danny Groulx going down Friday night Mikael Tam was recalled from the San Francisco Bulls, the WorSharks ECHL affiliate. Earlier this week Worcester signed former Boston College defenseman Mike Brennan to a try-out contract to replace Pelech in the line-up. In two games so far Brennan has two assists, two roughing minors, and a fight.

Worcester needed just the minimum three shooters to win the shootout. It’s fourth time in franchise history they’ve done that, and in all four cases it was a fourth round save by the WorSharks goaltender that won them the game. Worcester has never had the first three of its shooters score to win a shootout at the end of the third round.

The Sound Tigers, who in this writer’s opinion usually wear one of the sharpest looking jerseys in the AHL, wore special camouflage jerseys for Military Appreciation Night that were auctioned off after the game. Worcester went with this season’s new teal road jerseys. The camouflage jerseys Bridgeport wore may have been the reason referee Jean Hebert seemed to have an issue calling a penalty on the Sound Tigers for repeatedly running Sateri over while Sateri was in his crease. My unofficial count of that happening was at five, while the official count of penalties being called for doing so was at zero.

Streaking WorSharks: Tim Kennedy has a five game point streak (5-5-10) and has back-to-back two goal games. Bracken Kearns has a three game point streak going (1-2-3), and PTO defenseman Brennan has a two game assist streak. Kennedy, Kearns, Matt Irwin, and the injured Petrecki all have been even or better in eight straight games. John McCarthy has a seven game streak at even or better, as does Stalberg, who was a healthy scratch Saturday night.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 35 Harri Sateri (35 saves, perfect in shootout)
2. BRI – 22 Nino Niederreiter (g,a)
3. WOR – 22 Tim Kennedy (2g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Freddie Hamilton.

Even strength lines
McCarthy/Kennedy/Kearns
Mashinter/Reid/Sheppard
Gourde/Matsumoto/Oleksuk
Gogol/Hamilton/Livingston

Irwin/Tennyson
Doherty/Acolatse
Tam/Brennan

BOXSCORE

Worcester 2 0 1 0 – 4
Bridgeport 1 0 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Bridgeport, Landry 4 (Cizikas), 8:12 (PP). 2, Worcester, Hamilton 3 (Brennan, Gogol), 11:02. 3, Worcester, Kennedy 9 (Acolatse), 17:33. Penalties-Brennan Wor (roughing), 4:00; McIver Bri (roughing, roughing), 4:00; Gogol Wor (roughing), 8:08; Brennan Wor (fighting), 11:02; Livingston Wor (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:02; Gallant Bri (roughing, misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:02; Riley Bri (fighting), 11:02; Persson Bri (interference), 11:46; Gogol Wor (fighting), 14:24; McIver Bri (fighting), 14:24; Acolatse Wor (cross-checking), 15:22.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Irwin Wor (slashing), 7:58; Nelson Bri (interference), 17:33; Mashinter Wor (slashing), 19:31.

3rd Period-4, Bridgeport, Niederreiter 10 (McDonald, Hamonic), 2:51. 5, Worcester, Kennedy 10 (Kearns, Irwin), 13:52. 6, Bridgeport, Nelson 8 (Niederreiter), 17:32 (PP). Penalties-Nelson Bri (hooking), 8:35; Kennedy Wor (slashing), 9:14; Donovan Bri (slashing), 9:14; Acolatse Wor (high-sticking), 16:39; McCarthy Wor (slashing), 18:33; Hill Bri (closing hand on puck), 18:33.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sheppard Wor (interference), 1:19.

Shootout – Worcester 2 (Sheppard G, McCarthy NG, Kennedy G), Bridgeport 0 (Niederreiter NG, Sundstrom NG, Nelson NG, McDonald NG).
Shots on Goal-Worcester 14-10-9-0-1-34. Bridgeport 5-14-16-3-0-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 4; Bridgeport 2 / 7.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 2-4-1 (38 shots-35 saves). Bridgeport, Poulin 6-5-1 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-3,587
Referees-Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Derek Wahl (46).

WorSharks beat down the Pirates, 5-1

The WorSharks got two goals from rookie Yanni Gourde, three assists from Tim Kennedy, and a Gordie Howe hat trick from Brodie Reid to pound the Portland Pirates both on the scoreboard and in most of the eight fights in the contest during their 5-1 victory Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Worcester Sharks forward Brandon Mashinter skates away after knocking Portland
Pirates defenseman Mathieu Brodeur to the ice during their second period fight.
(photo courtesy of Worcester T&G/STEVE LANAVA)

Despite there being nothing even close to an altercation between the two teams during warm-ups as word made it through the DCU Center that both teams were dressing their heavyweights the fans on hand knew it might be a long night for the official scorers. As it turns out the AHL should have sent Mills Lane and Richard Steele to officiate the contest instead of Graham Skilliter and Chris Brown, as the latter pairing dished out 143 minutes in penalties–all deserved, mind you–including 15 majors for fighting.

The WorSharks would grab the only goal in the opening period while the teams skated four on four after Yanni Gourde and Bob Klinkhammer got into a mini-altercation in front of the Pirates net at 6:33 of the period. Thirteen seconds later Reid collected Matt Tennyson’s pass and played a little give and go with Freddie Hamilton. Portland defenseman David Rundblad got a piece of the return pass, but Reid stuck with it and was able to push a backhander through the five hole of Portland goaltender Mark Visentin for the 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period was when the writer’s cramp for the official scorers started to kick in as Curt Gogol and Chris Brown–the Pirates right wing, not the referee, that would be a pretty big deal one would think–at 1:42 that was really nothing more than a wrestling match. At 2:12 Frazer McLaren took on Mark Louis as the WorSharks wanted a little payback for Louis taking captain John McCarthy into the endboards hard late in opening period. Louis got the win in that contest.

Two seconds later the true heavyweights took the stage as Jimmy Bonneau and Joel Rechlicz went at it in the Worcester zone. Both landed some decent punches in a battle that home town scoring gives an edge to Bonneau. At 3:06 the real fireworks started when Phil Lane wanted to get at Hamilton at the Portland blue line. Lane instead ended up going with Sena Acolatse, and Lane got pummeled for his troubles. While that fight was starting Brandon Mashinter picked off Mathieu Brodeur as Brodeur skated toward Hamilton, and Mashinter used Brodeur as a punching bag before knocking him to the ice with a nasty right hand.

Not only did Lane get beaten up, to add insult to injury he got an additional minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. A few moments later Pirates defenseman Chris Summers was called for crosschecking Gourde, giving Worcester a two man advantage for 1:19. Danny Groulx would only need 30 seconds of that time when he took a Sebastian Stalberg feed and blasted a one-timer from above the left wing circle off the far goal post in. Kennedy had the second helper on the play.

Late in the period the WorSharks would put the game out of reach with two goals in 90 seconds. Gourde had the first one after the rebound from Reid’s blast from the blue line went sky high in the air. Leave it to the smallest skater on the ice to be the first one to locate the puck after it landed, and the rookie batted the puck home at 17:17. Acolatse was credited with the second assist. Gogol would make it 3-1 Worcester skating on the top line with McCarthy being no longer available when Kennedy sent him in alone on a mini-breakaway against Visentin.

Tempers would flare again in the third period after Acolatse jacked up Portland center Brendan Shinnimin at the back end of the Worcester bench by driving him into the stanchion with a legal check. Louis took exception to the hit and slashed Acolatse and then jumped him to prevent Acolatse from landing any clean shots. The WorSharks would get a power play out of the deal, and Gourde would connect again at 7:18 when he collected a Kennedy pass and buried it past Visentin.

At 11:47 of the period all hell would break loose again after Rechlicz high sticked Taylor Doherty behind the Worcester net and all ten skaters paired off. Rechlicz was pulled from the pile by the linesmen but escapted the official and skated to the top of the crease to challenge Stalock, but the netminder just stood in the blue paint like Rechlicz wasn’t even standing there. The WorSharks bench, and Bonneau in particular, went nuts as Rechlicz was skated past the bench and off the ice by the linesmen. Unfortunately for Worcester Reid and Darian Dziurzynski got into an altercation while the Rechlicz’ meltdown was taking place, and Reid fell on his previously injured shoulder.

Three second later Matt Pelech had apparently seen enough, and after the puck drop in the Pirates zone jumped center Jordan Martinook for his own mini-meltdown. Martinook wisely turtled, so Pelech turned his sights on Lane, who probably should have turtled. In the ensuing four on four play Rundblad ruined Worcester goaltender Stalock’s shutout bid at 13:45, and the way the defenseman celebrated you’d have thought he’d just won the Calder Cup.

The two teams meet again next Friday in Portland.

GAME NOTES
The scratches for Worcester were Jon Matsumoto (upper body), Nick Petrecki (hand), Travis Oleksuk, and James Livingston. With both John McCarthy and Brodie Reid going down Saturday night both Livingston and Oleksuk will probably be in the line-up Sunday against Syracuse. Harri Sateri was the back-up goaltender.

Reid’s Gordie Howe hat trick is the first for the WorSharks since Brandon Mashinter had one on February 4, 2012 At St John’s. Mashinter also had the three previous ones for Worcester with another on December 30th 2011 vs Connecticut and two his rookie season, Veterans Day in 2009 vs Lowell October 9, 2009 at Bridgeport.

In the third period Yanni Gourde came within inches of getting his hat trick goal but Pirates the bouncing puck hit Pirates goaltender Mark Visentin and the rebound bounced just out of reach of Gourde.

How good was Alex Stalock Saturday? In warm-ups the only two players to beat Stalock were Taylor Doherty and Jimmy Bonneau.

According to the WorSharks, over 300 teddy bears were thrown to the ice after Reid scored early in the first period to benefit the Pernet Family Health Services courtesy of Bay State Savings Bank.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 18 Yanni Gourde (2g)
2. WOR – 32 Alex Stalock (37 saves)
3. WOR – 51 Brodie Reid (Gordie Howe hat trick)

For the second game in a row, the Sharkspage player of the game is Tim Kennedy.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Worcester, Reid 2 (Hamilton, Tennyson), 6:46. Penalties-Klinkhammer Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 6:33; Gourde Wor (slashing), 6:33; Dziurzynski Por (roughing), 12:16; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 14:14.

2nd Period-2, Worcester, Groulx 2 (Stalberg, Kennedy), 4:17 (PP). 3, Worcester, Gourde 4 (Reid, Acolatse), 17:17. 4, Worcester, Gogol 3 (Kennedy), 18:47. Penalties-Brown Por (fighting), 1:42; Gogol Wor (fighting), 1:42; Louis Por (fighting), 2:15; McLaren Wor (fighting), 2:15; Rechlicz Por (fighting), 2:17; Bonneau Wor (fighting), 2:17; Brodeur Por (fighting), 3:06; Lane Por (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 3:06; Acolatse Wor (fighting), 3:06; Mashinter Wor (fighting), 3:06; Summers Por (cross-checking), 3:47; Stalberg Wor (tripping), 11:06.

3rd Period-5, Worcester, Gourde 5 (Kennedy, Irwin), 7:18 (PP). 6, Portland, Rundblad 1 (Bolduc, Szwarz), 13:45. Penalties-Tennyson Wor (interference), 0:13; Louis Por (slashing, fighting), 6:25; Acolatse Wor (fighting), 6:25; Reid Wor (hooking), 8:01; Dziurzynski Por (fighting), 11:47; Rechlicz Por (high-sticking, roughing, roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct, game misconduct – continuing altercation), 11:47; Acolatse Wor (roughing), 11:47; Doherty Wor (roughing), 11:47; Reid Wor (fighting), 11:47; Lane Por (roughing), 11:50; Pelech Wor (instigating, fighting, misconduct – instigating, game misconduct – aggressor), 11:50; Irwin Wor (hooking), 16:28.

Shots on Goal-Portland 9-12-17-38. Worcester 8-14-7-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 / 7; Worcester 2 / 8.
Goalies-Portland, Visentin 2-4-1 (29 shots-24 saves). Worcester, Stalock 8-3-0 (38 shots-37 saves).
A-3,320
Referees-Graham Skilliter (48), Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks beat Monarchs in overtime, 4-3

The Worcester Sharks scored two quick goals in their Black Friday contest against Manchester but still found themselves trailing 3-2 entering the third period, where Captain John McCarthy would connect to send the game to overtime and rookie Freddie Hamilton would notch his second pro goal–and second game winner–to lift the WorSharks to a 4-3 victory over the Monarchs at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

WorSharks Freddie Hamilton battles the Monarchs Marc-Andre Cliche
in the corner during the second period of their game Friday.
(photo courtesy of Mark Bolton/Union Leader)

Worcester would get an early power play when Manchester center Marc-Andre Cliche was called for high sticking on the first shift of the game, and the WorSharks would make the Monarchs pay with a Tim Kennedy goal just 50 seconds into the contest. The play began with Danny Groulx tracking down a pass from Sena Acolatse and the sending a feed over to Kennedy in the right face-off circle. From there Kennedy fired a laser over the glove of Manchester netminder Martin Jones for the 1-0 lead. Curt Gogol would make it 2-0 Worcester when he was in perfect position to tip Matt Tennyson’s blast from the right point past Jones at 3:17. James Livingston picked up his 5th assist on the season with the second helper.

But the WorSharks would find themselves back to even after surrendering two goals for the Monarchs. Defenseman Nick Deslauriers beat Worcester goaltender Harri Sateri with a wrist shot from the right wing half boards for a power play goal at 6:03, and then at 14:56 Jordan Nolan buried a loose puck past Sateri to knot the game. In the second period the scoring string for Manchester continued when the Monarchs hemmed Worcester into their own zone for a long while, with finally defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk beating Sateri over the left shoulder and just under the crossbar at 16:44.

While the WorSharks already had three comeback wins when they were trailing after two periods this season, that single goal looked like a huge mountain to climb considering Worcester had earned just three points in their last seven games in Manchester, with many of those contests not being very close at all. But McCarthy showed that “C” on his chest wasn’t too heavy for him when he got the WorSharks back to even at 13:13 of the third. Groulx started the play with a shot from the point, and then Worcester’s top line crashed the net, with Kennedy and Bracken Kearns both getting good whacks at the puck while the Monarchs defenders did everything they could to clear the puck away from Jones. Kennedy finally was able to corral the puck and feed it to McCarthy, who roofed it over Jones for the game tyer.

Hamilton would get the WorSharks the win on their only shot in overtime when he took a Groulx feed from the right wing boards and deked Jones from backhand to forehand, and the rookie pushed it into the yawning net as Jones was sliding away haven bitten on the original fake. Brodie Reid had the second assist on the goal at 2:59 of overtime.

GAME NOTES
Jon Matsumoto (upper body), Travis Oleksuk, Nick Petrecki (hand), and Jimmy Bonneau were the scratches for Worcester. On Wednesday Worcester loaned center Daniil Tarasov to their ECH affiliate, the San Francisco Bulls. Alex Stalock was the back-up goaltender.

The win Friday night ties the WorSharks and Manchester Monarchs for first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division with identical records (8-6-1-1). Manchester currently has two more regulation/overtime wins than Worcester, which is the first tie breaker, so on paper they lead the division.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 12 Freddie Hamilton (OTgwg)
2. WOR – 7 John McCarthy (gtg)
3. MCH – 37 Thomas Hickey (2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game is Tim Kennedy.

BOXSCORE

Worcester 2 0 1 1 – 4
Manchester 2 1 0 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, Kennedy 6 (Groulx, Acolatse), 0:50 (PP). 2, Worcester, Gogol 2 (Tennyson, Livingston), 3:17. 3, Manchester, Deslauriers 1 (Voynov, Vey), 6:03 (PP). 4, Manchester, Nolan 1 (Kozun, Hickey), 14:56. Penalties-Cliche Mch (high-sticking), 0:18; Groulx Wor (high-sticking), 5:34; served by Johnson Mch (bench minor – too many men), 19:02.

2nd Period-5, Manchester, Bodnarchuk 2 (Hickey, Andreoff), 16:44. Penalties-Andreoff Mch (high-sticking), 2:44; Nolan Mch (boarding), 4:34; Mashinter Wor (roughing), 20:00; Deslauriers Mch (roughing), 20:00.

3rd Period-6, Worcester, McCarthy 2 (Kennedy, Kearns), 13:13. Penalties-Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 8:21.

OT Period-7, Worcester, Hamilton 2 (Groulx, Reid), 2:59. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Worcester 10-11-10-1-32. Manchester 9-9-11-1-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Manchester 1 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Sateri 1-4-1 (30 shots-27 saves). Manchester, Jones 7-6-1 (32 shots-28 saves).
A-5,443
Referees-Jamie Koharski (84).
Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Robert St. Lawrence (10).

WorSharks grab first place with another come from behind win

The Worcester Sharks defeated the Portland Pirates 4-2 Wednesday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine and found themselves in first place in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division at the end of the night for the first time since April 11, 2010.

The bad habit the WorSharks have gotten into lately of giving up goals early in games–and worse, on the opponent’s first shot on goal–continued against Portland when a bad bounce allowed Rob Klinkhammer to break in down the far side. It all began when Bracken Kearns’ shot beat Pirates goaltender Mark Visentin but rang off the near post. The puck bounded to the point right toward Sena Acolatse, but the defenseman fell allowing Klinkhammer to gather the puck and break out of the zone. Klinkhammer fired a wrist shot on Worcester netminder Alex Stalock that Stalock misplayed and the puck ended up in the net just 68 seconds into the contest.

The WorSharks wouldn’t be trailing for long when they converted on their first power play chance of the game. Sebastian Stalberg, who has been struggling as of late, scored his first goal in seven games when he took a feed from Matt Tennyson and blasted a one-timer past Visentin at 3:37. Tennyson faked like he was going to blast one on net but instead threw a nice pass to the slot to a wide open Stalberg in the left wing circle. Matt Irwin had the second assist on the goal.

Klinkhammer would strike again for the only goal in the middle stanza when he and Brendan Shinnimin to break into the Worcester zone two on one against Danny Groulx. Shinnimin simply out-waited both Groulx and Stalock before throwing a pass to Klinkhammer at 8:27 for the 2-1 Portland lead.

Despite the large number of NHL players in the AHL due to the lockout the WorSharks only have one player they can point to and say he’s here just because of the labor issue, and that’s James Sheppard. After missing a couple of seasons because of injuries Sheppard is showing he is back near 100%, and if there was any doubts of that Sheppard erased them with one play in the third period that got Worcester back to even. Sheppard took a Yanni Gourde feed and skated through the neutral zone into the Pirates zone. Defenseman Maxim Goncharov bumped Sheppard off the puck, but in one motion Sheppard regained the puck and fired a hard wrist shot that beat Visentin clean at 11:05 of the third. Groulx was credited with the second helper.

Tim Kennedy would give Worcester the lead on what looked like a harmless play at the Pirates blue line. Kearns had carried the puck into the Portland zone and then slid an easy pass over to Kennedy. Instead of carrying it deeper Kennedy wound up and blasted the puck by Visentin at 12:13. Acolatse also picked up an assist on the play. Stalock and the WorSharks made that goal stand up, including having to kill off a minor to Irwin as time wound down, but the defenseman made amends by notching an empty net goal with 7.5 seconds remaining to ice the contest.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Brodie Reid (shoulder), Frazer McLaren (groin), Jon Matsumoto (undisclosed injury), Daniil Tarasov, Nick Petrecki (hand), Mikael Tam, and Marek Viedensky. Just before posting time for this story Tam and Viedensky were loaned to the San Francisco Bulls, the ECHL affiliate of the Sharks. Harri Sateri was the back-up netminder.

The win against Portland was the third in a row on the road for the WorSharks. That’s the first time it’s happened since December 9-17, 2011 when they ran off five in a row, all in regulation.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 22 Tim Kennedy (gwg)
2. POR – 12 Rob Klinkhammer (2g)
3. WOR – 15 James Sheppard (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Sebastian Stalberg.

BOXSCORE

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

1st Period-1, Portland, Klinkhammer 4 1:08. 2, Worcester, Stalberg 5 (Tennyson, Irwin), 3:37 (PP). Penalties-Rechlicz Por (interference), 2:22; Pelech Wor (fighting), 13:46; Louis Por (fighting), 13:46; Tennyson Wor (interference), 17:59.

2nd Period-3, Portland, Klinkhammer 5 (Shinnimin, Brodeur), 8:27. Penalties-Gormley Por (holding), 1:59; Pelech Wor (cross-checking), 5:34; Kearns Wor (goaltender interference), 12:39; Doherty Wor (cross-checking), 14:26; served by Brown Por (bench minor – too many men), 16:01; Brophey Por (tripping), 16:58.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Sheppard 2 (Gourde, Groulx), 11:05. 5, Worcester, Kennedy 5 (Kearns, Acolatse), 12:13. 6, Worcester, Irwin 1 (Acolatse), 19:52 (EN). Penalties-Sheppard Wor (tripping), 8:33; Irwin Wor (hooking), 17:43.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-10-10-32. Portland 7-9-6-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 4; Portland 0 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Stalock 7-2-0 (22 shots-20 saves). Portland, Visentin 1-2-1 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-3,264
Referees-Jean Hebert (43), Geoff Miller (28).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Kiel Murchison (79).

WorSharks beached by the Whale, lose 6-2

The Worcester Sharks once again dug themselves an early whole, only this time they kept digging and never really gave themselves a chance against the Connecticut Whale in dropping a 6-2 contest Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts to end their five game points streak. The loss drops the WorSharks to .500 for the season at 5-5-1-1.

As has happened far too often for Worcester this season, it was their opponents who struck early when Tim Kennedy’s clearing attempt was intercepted by Kris Newbury above the circles. Newbury took a couple strides and fired a wrist shot on Harri Sateri that the unscreened netminder should have made the save on, but didn’t, to give the Whale a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game 1:24 into the period. Christian Thomas would make it 2-0 with a power play goal into a yawning net at 14:40 after Chad Kolarik’s misfire was kicked away by Sena Acolatse. The puck deflected right on the stick of Thomas for the easy bang home.

Worcester’s best chances came early in the second period as they swarmed Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot, but a couple of deflections and a nice save or three kept them off the board. WorSharks fans figured it might be a long night when a bouncing puck went right to John McCarthy all alone in front of a wide open net and the puck harmlessly bounced over the blade of the Captain’s stick. Connecticut would increase their lead to 3-0 in that period on a wrist shot by Logan Pyett at 10:19 that was another that Sateri most definitely should have had.

The WorSharks would get on the board while on a power play that carried over from the second period. Whale forward Brandon Segal was called for throwing a check to the head of WorSharks center Bracken Kearns as the forward skated through the neutral zone. It looked like a pretty clean hit to this writer and Kearns, who told Worcester T&G beat reporter Bill Ballou that the hit was partially his (Kearns’) fault, looked unaffected by the hit.

The goal would eventually come from Acolatse at 49 seconds of the third period when he roofed a wrist shot over Talbot’s glove and just under the crossbar, with McCarthy and Kennedy grabbing the assist.

Just when it looked like Worcester was about to mount some sort of a comeback the Whale would grab a back breaker on another long range shot Sateri probably should have had. This one came off the stick of Thomas from up high in the zone at 3:22 as the WorSharks were shorthanded, and while there was some traffic in front Sateri saw the shot the whole way and just couldn’t make the save. The Whale would make it 5-1 at 5:17 when Danny Groulx couldn’t prevent Tommy Grant from deflecting Matt Gilroy’s pass into the net on a bid Sateri had little chance on.

Worcester kept fighting, and would close the gap to three goals at 5-2 when Acolatse wheeled the Whale net and found Kearns all alone at the top of the crease at 15:51. Trailing by three and skating four on four WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer pulled Sateri for an extra attacker, and while the WorSharks carried the play the Whale for the most part kept the puck away from Talbot. Connecticut iced the game with 89 seconds left with a J.T. Miller empty netter for the 6-2 final.

GAME NOTES
Scratches for the WorSharks were Brodie Reid (shoulder), Nick Petrecki (arm), Frazer McLaren (groin), Mikael Tam (foot), Marek Viedensky, Daniil Tarasov, and Jimmy Bonneau. Tam was walking without a limp and indicated he hoped to be ready to go soon. Alex Stalock was the back-up goaltender.

This writer has never seen a game where the home team was tossed out of so many face-offs. It was painful to watch linesmen John Grandt and Bob Bernard hold on to the puck so long before dropping it. They also got the icing rule wrong on several occasions. There was an AHL supervisor of officials at the game, so hopefully these errors will be corrected soon.

The three stars of the game were
1. CT – 11 Kris Newbury (g,2a)
2. CT – 92 Christian Thomas (2g)
3. CT – 97 Matt Gilroy (2a)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Bracken Kearns.

BOXSCORE

Connecticut 2 1 3 – 6
Worcester 0 0 2 – 2

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Newbury 5 1:24. 2, Connecticut, Thomas 3 (Kolarik, Newbury), 14:40 (PP). Penalties-Jean Ct (tripping), 11:34; Mashinter Wor (hooking), 13:46; Collins Ct (interference), 17:48.

2nd Period-3, Connecticut, Pyett 2 (Newbury, Kreider), 10:19. Penalties-Haley Ct (high-sticking), 1:23; Matsumoto Wor (holding), 7:35; Tessier Ct (hooking), 10:00; Gogol Wor (high-sticking), 10:00; Sheppard Wor (tripping), 14:14; Segal Ct (checking to the head), 19:02.

3rd Period-4, Worcester, Acolatse 4 (McCarthy, Kennedy), 0:49 (PP). 5, Connecticut, Thomas 4 (Kreider, Gilroy), 3:22 (PP). 6, Connecticut, Grant 5 (Gilroy, Kolarik), 5:17. 7, Worcester, Kearns 5 (Acolatse, McCarthy), 15:51. 8, Connecticut, Miller 2 (Jean, Segal), 18:31 (EN). Penalties-Irwin Wor (holding), 2:49; Klassen Ct (roughing), 6:13; Gogol Wor (charging, roughing), 6:13; Kreider Ct (slashing), 8:16; Parlett Ct (holding), 15:31; Kennedy Wor (hooking), 15:35; Newbury Ct (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – continuing altercation), 19:20; Gogol Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – continuing altercation), 19:20; Pelech Wor (roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 19:20.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 7-6-12-25. Worcester 7-8-8-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 2 / 7; Worcester 1 / 6.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 4-2-0 (23 shots-21 saves). Worcester, Sateri 0-4-1 (24 shots-19 saves).
A-3,215
Referees-Trent Knorr (44).
Linesmen-John Grandt (98), Bob Bernard (42).