By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – No professional hockey team in the 21st Century has dominated its league like the Florida Everblades have dominated the ECHL.

They showed why Friday as they beat the IceCats, in the Railers’ weekend persona, 4-1. The Everblades have earned at least one point in 18 of their last 20 games. Florida is 16-2-2 in that span, good for a winning percentage of .850.

“They prey on the immaturity of the league,” Railers coach Nick Tuzzolino said, adding that Florida coach Brad Ralph has a good system in place, with good team accountability and culture.

“Those guys stick to it until you make a mistake.”

Worcester has lost three in a row, its longest losing streak since early November. The team has scored just four goals in the three defeats.

The Everblades provided an example of how they manage to win so regularly late in the second period.

Drew Callin scored for Worcester at 16:22 to close the home team’s deficit to 2-1. Florida responded just 32 seconds later to regain its two-goal lead as Tarun Fizer beat Tristan Lennox with a 25-footer under the crossbar.

The home team never recovered from that scoreboard trauma.

“A lot of goals that are scored against us are difference makers,” Tuzzolino said, “because we don’t score enough, so one can look like a mountain and two looks like two mountains.”

The teams’ rosters featured two of the ECHL’s most accomplished veteran goaltenders in Parker Gahagen of Worcester and Cam Johnson of Florida. Combined, they have 221 ECHL wins and four Kelly Cup titles to their names, all of the cups with the Everblades.

Neither played. The IceCats went with rookie Lennox. Florida started second-year man Will Cranley, owner of the third-best goals against average in the league. Lennox made 22 saves, Cranley just 13 as Worcester managed only 14 shots on goal.

“As coaches we always think we can fix it,” Tuzzolino said of his team’s offensive challenges. “At the end of the day there are a lot of guys in that room who have had successful years playing hockey with multiple systems that aren’t putting up the numbers.”

The first period ended in a scoreless tie. The IceCats had their best scoring chances closer to the 20-minute mark. Adam Samuelsson and Florida’s Oliver Cooper got the crowd energized with a bout at center ice about halfway through the period but that energy did not translate into any goals.

The next period made up for that. When it was over the Everblades had a 3-1 lead.

Craig Needham gave his team a 1-0 lead at 6:46 on deflection, then at 12:25   Logan Will converted the rebound of a shot by Quinton Burns that hit the post and went directly back into the slot.

Callin cut the Worcester deficit in half at 16:22. Michael Suda put a soft shot towards the net that Callin redirected home from the bottom of the right circle. Fizer got that goal right back to send it into intermission at 3-1.

While the Railers did not win the period, they won the period’s only fight. Max Dorrington took on Florida defenseman Sean Allen at 4:21. Dorrington had a big advantage in punches landed and wound up on top, but the Everblades came back with a goal a little more than two minutes later.

Ross Mitton had Worcester’s best chance in the third period as he hit iron from about 20 feet out at 13:40. This time the puck did not wind up between the circles, though.

Fizer hit an empty net in the final minutes to create the final score.

MAKING TRACKS – Original Railer Connor Doherty wore his familiar Number 28. The only player on this year’s Railers who skated with Doherty here is Drew Callin. … Gahegan and Johnson had a long ice-level conversation while stretching along the red line during pre-game warmups.  … The list of Railers who did not play, injured or otherwise, included six skaters and goalie Thomas Gale. The skaters were Michael Ferrandino, Lazarus Kaebel, Tanner Schachle, Porter Schachle, Case McCarthy and MacAuley Carson. … The teams play again at 6:05 p.m. Saturday night as IceCats weekend continues.

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