Worcester Drops Opener to Everblades 3-1

Worcester Railers HC vs. Florida Everblades 

February 21st, 2024 

Hertz Arena 

Meeting 1 of 3 vs. Florida this season 

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

Worcester Drops Opener to Everblades 3-1 

Pivonka with seven points in his last six games 

Estero, FL – The Worcester Railers HC (22-21-4-2, 50pts) lost to the Florida Everblades (25-15-7-2, 59pts) on Wednesday night by the final score of 3-1 in front of a crowd of 5,805 at Hertz Arena. The Railers are back at Hertz Arena against the Florida Everblades on Friday, February 23rd at 7:30pm. 

The Everblades worked their way onto the scoresheet first thanks to a redirect from Sean Josling (1-1-2) to put Florida up heading into the second. After a quiet start to the Worcester second, the Railers tied it up on the power play thanks to Jake Pivonka’s (1-0-1) one-timer. Florida responded just 68 seconds later as Joe Pendenza (1-1-2) finished off the puck backdoor to put the Everblades ahead going into the third. Oliver Chau (1-2-3) slapped a loose puck home on the power play early in the third to give the game its final score of 3-1. 

Worcester out chanced the Everblades in the first period but found themselves trailing after one period. Sean Josling (13th) was parked in front as he redirected the puck past Muse to make it 1-0 Florida. The Railers had their chances in the period, as they outshot the Everblades 8-7 in the first.  

The Everblades came out with more chances in the second, as they outshot Worcester 15-6 on the period. It was Worcester’s Jake Pivonka (14th) who would capitalize on the lone power-play of the game. With Luke Santerno in the box for interference, Treevor Cosgrove sauced a pass to the right circle where Pivonka hammered it past Cam Johnson in net for Florida to tie the game 1-1. The Everblades struck back 68 seconds later when they completed a clean passing sequence in front of the net to Joe Pendenza (16th) to make it a 2-1 Everblades lead heading into the third. 

The Everblades hopped on the power play early in the third and finished off a puck that trickled loose from John Muse in net for Worcester. Oliver Chau (17th) jumped on the loose puck and swatted it into the net to give the Everblades the two-goal lead. Florida outshot Worcester in the third 14-10 and 37-24 on the game.  

Notes: 

Three Stars: 3rd Star: Cam Johnson (23 saves, 1GA, .958 SV%) 2nd Star: Sean Josling (1-1-2, +2, 6 shots), 1st Star: Oliver Chau (1-2-3, +2, 4 shots)… Final shots were 37-24 in favor of Florida...  Cam Johnson (16-10-4-2) made 23 saves on 24 shots for Florida… John Muse (10-4-1-0) made 34 saves on 37 shots for Worcester, while Cole Ceci served as the backup… Worcester went 1-for-2 on the power play while Florida went 1-for-3… Carson MacKinnon (DNP), Andrei Bakanov (DNP), Ryan Verrier (DNP), Tristan Lennox (IR), and John Copeland (IR) did not dress for Worcester… Trevor Cosgrove led the Railers in shots with 6.

#RailersHC