Tikkanen Shuts Out Stingrays to Open Southern Three-in-Three

Worcester Railers HC at South Carolina Stingrays

February 24th, 2023

North Charleston Coliseum

Meeting 4 of 4 vs South Carolina

Tikkanen Shuts Out Stingrays to Open Southern Three-in-Three

Railers are 1-3-0-0 vs the stingrays.

Anthony Repaci Extends his point streak to 12 games.

North Charleston, SC – The Worcester Railers (26-23-3-0 55 points) defeated the South Carolina Stingrays (29-16-4-1 63 points) in front of 3,690 people by a score of 4-0 to open up their three-in-three weekend. The Railers continue their road trip tomorrow night against the Jacksonville Icemen at 7:00 p.m.

Trevor Cosgrove (2-1-3) scored the first goal of the game in the middle stanza. Anthony Repaci (1-0-1) scored off a pass from Noah Delmas (0-1-1) on the powerplay. Billy Jerry (1-0-1) scored on the empty net and Trevor Cosgrove gave the Stingrays a parting gift to make it a four-goal game.

In their final matchup of the season, it did not take long for these teams to start exchanging pleasantries, early into the game a stingray skated into Railers goalie, Henrik Tikkanen, this led to a scrum in front of Worcester’s goal but no official fighting. Jackson Leppard had a one-on-one with Tikkanen but was unable to get the puck past him keeping the game scoreless. Both teams traded opportunities but neither scored in the first period. Railers were outshot 11-16.

Two and a half minutes into the second period, Trevor Cosgrove (3rd) fired a shot past the blocker of Stingray’s goalie, Tyler Wall. Giving Worcester a one goal lead. Cosgrove nearly scored again seconds after, but his shot was just off left of the post. Nick Fea was called for hooking halfway through the second, giving South Carolina the first powerplay of the game. Nothing would come on that power play. With four minutes left in the second period, Worcester was whistled for another penalty. Henrik Tikkanen made a spectacular save at the end of the penalty kill, keeping the Stingrays scoreless to end the second period.

The Worcester Railers entered the third period up 1-0, looking to keep their streak of never losing when leading after two periods intact. The Railers hopped on the power play thanks to a Matt Anderson tripping call. Anthony Repaci (16th) saw his opportunity while on the power play and scored. Repaci fired a shot past the blocker of Wall off of a pass from Noah Delmas, extending the Worcester lead to two goals. One of the newest Railers, Max Johnson, was on the receiving end of a scary hit leaving him on the ice for a short while, he did get up off the ice and was ready for his next shift with no call made on the ice. The Stingrays pulled Wall in favor of an extra skater with two minutes left. Billy Jerry (4th) scored on the empty net. A late slashing called gave the Railers a powerplay and Trevor Cosgrove (4th) sent the Stingrays home with a parting gift as the Railers won 4-0. Tikkanen picked up his second shutout of the season thanks to his 41 save performance.

Notes: 3rd star: Anthony Repaci (1-0-1). 2nd star: Trevor Cosgrove (2-1-3). 1st star: Henrik Tikkanen 41 saves on 41 shots. Trevor Cosgrove led the Railers in shots with 7 on goal. Bear Hughes led the Stingrays with 6 shots on goal. Tyler Wall had 30 saves on 33 shots. Worcester improves to (26-23-3-0 55 points) on the season.

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