Growlers Outlast Railers in Shootout as Worcester Falls 3-2

Worcester Railers HC at Newfoundland Growlers

November 12, 2021

Conception Bay South Arena

Meeting 1 of 9 vs. Newfoundland this season

Railers are 0-0-0-1 vs. the Growlers this season

Conception Bay South, NL – The Worcester Railers HC (1-4-0-1, 3pts) opened up their first road three in three weekend losing 3-2 to the Newfoundland Growlers (7-1-0-0, 14pts) in front of 1,168 fans at the Conception Bay South Arena on Friday evening. The Railers face off against the Newfoundland Growlers on Saturday, November 12^that 5:30pm.

The Railers held the lead twice in this game, as Paul Thompson (1-0-1) and Jacob Hayhurst (1-1-2) each put Worcester up on separate occasions. Evan Cormier made 29 saves in net for Newfoundland, and stopped three of the Railers four shootout attempts to lock up the victory for the Growlers. Appleby made 29 saves as well for Worcester in the loss.

Paul Thompson (1^st) gave the Railers the opening 1-0 lead with 12:45 to go in the first. Five minutes later, Nathan Noel (1^st) hit a point-blank one-timer to beat Appleby blocker side and tie the game 1-1 with 7:40 left in the period. Late in the period with 1:25 to go, Jacob Hayhurst (2^nd) tucked home the rebound of a Charlie Spetz blast to put Worcester up 2-1. The Railers would head into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead while outshooting Newfoundland 12-10.

The second period saw the first penalties of the game, but no goals. Worcester went 0-2 on the power play, and neither team were able to convert on the four-on-four opportunity that came up with six minutes to go in the period. Newfoundland outshot Worcester 11-4 in the second, to bring the shot total to 21-16 in favor of the Growlers.

The Growlers went on the powerplay early in the third after a Blake Christensen hooking penalty, which opened up the door for Orrin Centazzo (2^nd) to tie the game at 2-2 on the man advantage. Neither team would score for the rest of the period. Worcester outshot Newfoundland 11-8 in the frame to bring the shots to 29-27 in favor of the Growlers at the end of regulation.

In overtime the Railers had their chance on the power play, but were unable to convert as the seven-minute period came to a close with no scoring from either side. Worcester outshot Newfoundland in OT 4-2.

In the shootout, Blake Christensen and Zach O’Brien each scored in the first round. Hayhurst got stuffed by the pad of Cormier in round number two, as Appleby was able to match and make the glove save on Riley McCourt. In the third round, Paul Thompson was stopped by the left pad of Cormier, as Appleby would make another save on Centazzo to keep the shootout alive. In the fourth round, Nolan Vesey was stopped by the glove hand of Cormier, while Marcus power was able to beat Appleby on the left side to give the Growlers their seventh victory of the season.

Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star: Zach O’Brien (0-2-2, +1, 6 shots) 2nd star: Jacob Hayhurst (1-1-2, +1) 1st star: Marcus Power (0-1-1, SO winner) … Final shots were 32-31 in favor of Newfoundland … Evan Cormier (3-1-0) made 29 saves on 31 shots for Newfoundland … Ken Appleby (0-2-1) made 29 saves on 31 shots for Worcester while Matt Jenkins served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-4 on the power play while Newfoundland went 1-for-3 … Liam Coughlin (DNP), Brett Beaudoin (IR), Tyler Poulsen (DNP), JD Dudek (DNP), Ross Olsson (DNP) and Karl Boudrias (DNP) did not dress for Worcester… Colten Ellis, Nick Albano, and Nic Pierog are all up with the Springfield Thunderbirds … Jacob Hayhurst recorded his second multipoint game in three contests, and now has points in four of six games for Worcester… Charlie Spetz tallied an assist and now has points in back to back games in his first two professional contests… Grant Jozefek registered his first professional point with an assist. Paul Thompson scored his first goal as a Railer in his fifth game for Worcester… Paul Thompson led the Railers with 8 shots… Worcester has 66 games left on the regular season 33 of which are at the DCU Center… The Railers are now 4-12-1-1 all-time vs. the Growlers and 1-6-1-1 at Newfoundland.