MUSE SHINES IN 5-1 RAILERS WIN OVER MAINE

By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – Worcester beat the Maine Mariners in front of a crowd of 3,328 on Saturday night, 5-1.

The ECHL’s North Division is sub-divided. The top three teams are Wheeling, Norfolk and Trois-Rivieres. Heading into Saturday night their combined record was 48-12-7. That trio will be hard to catch.

Worcester and Maine are two of the four teams fighting for fourth place and there is a not a lot of wiggle room among them.

Saturday, the Railers responded with one of their best efforts of the season. They got goals from five different players and points from nine. John Muse was excellent in goal. He stopped 30 of 31 shots.

“You never play well for a full 60 minutes,” coach Nick Tuzzolino said. “I don’t think that’s realistic. But I think everybody was engaged for 60 minutes, whether it was the power play or the penalty kill. That was probably one of the first games where we played four lines for pretty much all of the second and third periods.”

Brenden Rons, Anthony Repaci, Anthony Callin, Matthew Kopperud and Cole Donhauser were the Railers goal scorers, in order. Rons, Kopperud, Callin and Repaci all had assists as well.

Rons’ points were his first as a professional. Donhauser had Worcester’s first empty netter of the season. Callin was 0-1-1 in his first 15 games this year and is 3-2-5 in the last six.

“For me,” Tuzzolino said of Callin, “seeing him on the board is expected but it hasn’t changed his game. He’s been lights out, and I’m happy for him that he’s getting rewarded but it doesn’t change his ice time. He’s just so important.”

The victory snapped a five-game winless streak for Worcester. The Railers play Maine again Sunday afternoon seeking two straight victories on home ice for the second time this season.

Rons snapped a 50-footer through a screen to put Worcester ahead at 1:15 of the first period.

“To be honest,” he said, “I didn’t know it went in.” The rookie did get to keep the puck as a memento.

Xander Lamppa tied it at 2:46 but Muse blanked the visitors the rest of the way,

Repaci had a gimme 19 seconds into the second period, set up nicely by Griffin Loughran. Callin scored from the left circle on the power play exactly one minute later and Kopperud delivered a killer goal on a high 45-footer at 6:21 of the third period. Donhauser made it official at 18:44,

Matthew Boudens, one of the new Railers, made his Worcester debut and picked up an assist while Ryan Mahshie was not in the lineup. Matt DeMelis did not play, nor did Christian Krygier.

Jack Randl, Cam McDonald and Justin Gill are in Bridgeport. Loughran, however, was back in uniform after missing three games due to injury.

Rons had been sidelined for seven games. His return was memorable.

MAKING TRACKS – Muse nearly had a shutout and a goal. Maine forward Matthew Philip was on the ice for the Mariners goal but was not eligible to play according to the pre-game information provided to the off-ice officials. The Mariners argued that they had an email from the league that made him eligible, and that turned out to be the case. Had it not, the goal would have been disallowed … Late in the game, with the Railers up by three and the Maine net empty, Muse lofted a shot towards the Mariners net but it was knocked down before it got there. He did, however, pick up his first assist in a Worcester uniform. … Attendance was 3,328 … Kolby Johnson made the defensive play of the night. He went horizontal to block a Maine shot at 8:40 of the second period. … Repaci’s two points gave him 167 for his Worcester career. He is tied for second with Jame Pollock of the IceCats in that category. His 85 assists are tied for ninth in that listing with Jeff Panzer (IceCats) and Dan DaSilva (Sharks). … The Mariners stayed over in town rather than take the bus back to Portland. … Callin’s goal was Worcester’s first 5 on 3 goal of the year … Retired AHL player and current amateur coach Dan Collins joined Tuzzolino behind the Worcester bench.

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