Worcester Railers end 2022 with loss to Maine Mariners

WORCESTER – This specific vacation celebration has change into New Yr’s Evil for professional hockey right here.

The Railers continued town’s lack of success on New Yr’s Eve Saturday evening once they misplaced to the Maine Mariners, 6-2. The Railers are 0-4 on Dec. 31s since they arrived on the town. The Sharks and IceCats have been solely barely higher.

Backside line? Worcester groups are 3-12-1 on New Yr’s Eve by means of the a long time and have by no means received on the DCU Middle.

The Mariners of December are enjoying just like the Railers of October and December and completed the month with a 9-2-0 document, enjoying assertive hockey backed by strong goaltending. Saturday evening they received targets from Mathew Santos, Cam Askew, Alex-Olivier Voyer, Patrick Shea, Reid Stefanson and Marc-Olivier Duquette.

Duquette’s was into an empty internet.

Bobby Butler, who at 34 was the oldest participant on the ice for both crew, was the very best participant on the ice for the Railers and had each their targets. He leads the crew with 13.

Worcester has misplaced 5 in a row and allowed 26 targets in its final 4 defeats. The Railers are 2-10-0 of their final 12 video games.

Maine dominated the primary interval. The Mariners’ 18-8 edge in photographs on objective was a good barometer of how issues went, however Butler’s late objective allowed the Railers to hold some momentum into the break.

Santos’ wrist shot from 35 ft gave Maine a 1-0 lead at 6:43, the objective coming simply 10 seconds after the Mariners went on an influence play. Askew made it 2-0 at 14:22, beating Henrik Tikkanen from between the circles.

Butler scored at 19:55, snapping a wrist shot previous Francois Brassard from the best dot with the groups skating 4 on 4. He was arrange by Trevor Cosgrove’s lengthy cross from deep within the Worcester finish.

Any Worcester momentum was short-lived as Voyer made it 3-1 for Maine at 1:53 of the second interval. Butler scored once more, this time from the left circle, at 14:51 to convey the Railers to inside a objective. Then the Mariners scored the sort of killer objective Worcester specialised in early within the season as Shea restored Maine’s two-goal lead by beating Tikkanen from 15 ft at 15:17.

Stefanson received one other early Maine objective as he made it 5-2 at 3:34 of the third interval the Duquette scored his first of the season at 14:10 after Railers coach Jordan Smotherman pulled Tikkanen with Worcester happening an influence play.

MAKING TRACKS – The sport marked the return of linesman — the outline based on the field rating — Laura Schmidlein. She made historical past on Dec. 11, 2021 as the primary feminine official in league historical past. A month later, she broke a leg working a recreation on the DCU Middle and missed the remainder of the season. Sunday was her first recreation again. … Regardless of the latest skid the Railers had a very good 2022. They have been 42-31-7 for the calendar 12 months. … Worcester performs at Maine Sunday afternoon with the puck drop at 3:05. The Railers’ recreation in Portland final week was a 9-3 loss with the Mariners getting same-game hat tips from Tim Doherty and Voyer. That was the primary time that occurred in 1,989 Worcester professional video games, playoffs included. … With the return of Cosgrove and Blade Jenkins, who additionally had an help, Worcester launched ahead Jake Schultz after one recreation. Schultz was the primary participant the Railers ever signed instantly from the Federal League. … The referees have been veterans Casey Terreri and Sam Heidemann. It marked the primary time ever the Railers had two refs in a regular-season recreation at residence.