December 31, 2021
Santander Arena
Meeting 1 of 12 vs. Reading this season
Railers are 0-1-0-0 vs. the Royals this season
Railers Shut Out by Royals 2-0
Brody Claeys makes 42 saves in Railers debut
Reading, PA – The Worcester Railers HC (8-13-0-1, 17pts) lost to the Reading Royals (10-6-4-1, 25pts) by the final score of 2-0 at Santander Arena on Friday evening. The Railers are back at the DCU Center against the Reading Royals on Sunday, January 2nd at 3:05 p.m..
The first and second periods were both uneventful, as neither team found the back of the net through the first forty minutes. The stalemate was broken in the third period when Patrick McNally (1-0-1) netted the game winning goal, with an insurance goal added by Thomas Ebbing (1-0-1) to make it a 2-0 game. Brody Claeys was a standout player for Worcester, as he made an impressive 42 saves in his team debut. Shots favored Reading 44-14 at game’s end.
It was a quiet opening period, as neither team got on the score sheet. Shots through the first period were 9-4 in favor of the Royals. The Railers had the lone power play opportunity of the period after a hooking call on , but were unable to capitalize on the chance. Both goalies, Brody Claeys for Worcester and Tristan Côté-Cazenave for Reading stood tall through the first twenty.
Another 20 minutes came and went without a goal, as the two teams would head into the second intermission tied at 0-0. Reading had the one power play opportunity of the period and were held scoreless on the chance. Reading had two great chances toward the end of the period, but Railers goalies Brody Claeys made two highlight reel saves to keep the game scoreless. The first save was a pointblank glove save to deny Patrick Bajkov on the doorstep. The second save saw Claeys throw his body through the air to dive back to his right and make the sprawling save on the one-timer from the far side. The shots were 17-5 in favor of Reading for the period.
Reading finally broke through first at the 3:49 mark of the third period as Patrick McNally (3rd) scored the game’s first goal. It then turned into a seven-minute delay as the fans at Santander Arena sent teddy bears flying onto the ice. The Royals found the back of the net again as Thomas Ebbing (4th) beat Claeys on a wrap-around to make it a 2-0 game. Neither team would score the rest of the way, as the game came to a 2-0 finish. Shots were in favor of Reading 18-5 for the third period.
Notes:
Three Stars: 3rd Star: Brody Claeys (42 saves, 2GA, .955 SV%), 2nd Star: Patrick McNally (1-0-1, +1, 4 shots), 1st Star: Tristan Côté-Cazenave (14 saves, 0GA, 1.000 SV%)… Final shots were 44-14 in favor of Reading… Tristan Côté-Cazenave (1-0-0) made 14 saves on 14 shots for Reading… Brody Claeys (0-1-0) made 42 saves on 44 shots for Worcester, while Jason Pawloski served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-1 on the power play while Reading went 1-for-3… Tommy Besinger, Anthony Repaci, and John Furgele all played for Worcester after being activated from the Commissioner’s Exempt List earlier in the day… Nolan Vesey, Reece Newkirk, Brennan Feasey, Myles McGurty, and Jacob Hayhurst are all on the Commissioner’s Exempt… Ross Olsson, Collin Adams, Felix Bibeau, Paul Thompson, Liam Coughlin, Mike Cornell, Will Cullen, Connor McCarthy, and Ken Appleby are up with the Bridgeport Islanders… Blake Christensen and Drew Callin are up with the Springfield Thunderbirds… Jimmy Poreda is up with the Syracuse Crunch… R.J. Burns, Matt Gaudreau, Connor Leen, Beau Starrett, Justin Selman, and Garrett Gallagher all made their Railers debut… Justin Selman led the Railers in shots with 3… The Railers are now 16-16-1-0 all-time vs. the Royals and 7-10-0-0 at Santander Arena against Reading.