Railers Tame Growlers in 5-4 Thriller

Worcester Railers HC vs. Newfoundland Growlers 

November 9th, 2023

Mary Brown’s Centre 

Meeting 1 of 6 vs. Newfoundland this season 

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

Railers Tame Growlers in 5-4 Thriller 

Railers score twice on power play in third straight game 

St. John’s, NL – The Worcester Railers HC (3-4-1-1, 8pts) took down the Newfoundland Growlers (4-5-1-0, 9pts) on Thursday night by the final score of 5-4 in front of a crowd of 2,693 at Mary Brown’s Centre. The Railers are back at Mary Brown’s Centre again against the Newfoundland Growlers on Friday, November 10th at 5:30 p.m. ET. 

Worcester opened the scoring with the only goals of the first period. Blade Jenkins (2-2-4) and Connor Welsh (1-0-1) each scored to get Worcester on the board for the second time this season. Grant Cruikshank (1-1-2) cut Worcester’s lead in half in the second, but Jenkins and Brendan Robbins (1-0-1) fought back with two unanswered goals to reopen a multi-goal lead for Worcester. Jackson Berezowski (2-0-2) cut back into Worcester’s lead to end the second with his fourth of the season and opened the third with his fifth to make it a one-goal game. Tate Singleton (1-0-1) tied it with 3:47 left in regulation before Ashton Calder (1-1-2) delivered the game-winner at the 18:13 mark to make it 5-4. 

Just three minutes into the game, Blade Jenkins (2nd) stood along the far circle and fired one low past the right leg of Dryden McKay in net for Newfoundland to give the Railers the early 1-0 lead. Connor Welsh (1st) followed up with his first goal as a Railer on the power play late in the first to put Worcester ahead 2-0.  

Newfoundland struck back in the second as Grant Cruikshank (6th) snuck one past Tristan Lennox in net for the Railers and made it a 2-1 game. Worcester responded with two unanswered goals. Quinn Ryan came out of the penalty box and intercepted a Growlers clear attempt, then hit Jenkins (3rd) in stride backdoor to make it 3-1. Brendan Robbins (2nd) received a spinning feed along the far circle from Adam Goodsir, then roofed one past McKay to make it 4-1. Jackson Berezowski (4th) continued his hot start to the season with his ECHL rookie leading 13th point of the season to make it 4-2 at the end of 40.  

In the third, Berezowski (5th) struck again 8:45 into the frame to cut Worcester’s advantage down to just one. Tate Singleton (4th) followed to complete the comeback for Newfoundland and tie the game at 4-4 with just 3:47 remaining in regulation. As the Railers faced heading to overtime for the third straight game, James Melindy, playing in his season debut for the Growlers, committed a hooking penalty to set Worcester to the man-advantage. Ashton Calder (5th) maintained his point-per-game pace by beating McKay nearside on the power play to put Worcester ahead for good, 5-4.  

Notes: 

Three Stars: 3rd Star: Jackson Berezowski (2-0-2, +3, 2 shots), 2nd Star: Blade Jenkins (2-2-4, +2, 2 shots), 1st Star: Ashton Calder (1-1-2, GWG, 6 shots)… Final shots were 35-30 in favor of Worcester… Dryden McKay (3-2-0) made 30 saves on 35 shots for Newfoundland… Tristan Lennox (2-2-1) made 26 saves on 30 shots for Worcester, while Henrik Tikkanen served as the backup… Worcester went 2-for-4 on the power play while Newfoundland went 0-for-2… Andrei Bakanov (DNP), Riley Piercey (DNP), Joey Cipollone (DNP), Jack Quinlivan (DNP) and Christian Krygier (IR) did not dress for Worcester… Ashton Calder led the Railers in shots with 6.  

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