By Bill Ballou
WORCESTER – The Worcester Monkey Wrenches lost at the DCU Center Saturday night as they fell to the Maine Mariners, 2-1.
The home team scored first but could not hang on. Worcester led 1-0 after 20 minutes, Maine gained the lead early in the second period and the Monkey Wrenches were not able to regain the momentum.
“I think the 6 a.m. bus ride (from Trois Rivieres) got to us in the second period,” Tuzzolino said, “but we definitely had our push in the third. At the end of the day, both sides on special teams have got to be better, got to contribute.”
Worcester was 0 for 4 on the power and rarely tested Maine goaltender Brad Arvanitis. The Monkey Wrenches had six full minutes of power play time in the third period but could not take advantage.
Anthony Repaci scored his 17th goal of the season to give Worcester an early lead.
The Wrenches dominated the early minutes of the first period and Brad Arvanitis played well to keep the game scoreless for as long as he did. Eventually, Ryan Miotto forced a turnover at the top of the offensive zone and the puck went to Repaci on the left wing.
The goal was vintage Repaci. He took a couple of quick strides, went forehand-backhand on the way in and lifted a high backhander under the crossbar from just outside the crease.
Shortly thereafter the home team missed a wonderful chance to go ahead by 2-0. Miotto was involved again as he crashed the net alone through the left circle. He had a clear shot from 25 feet but chose to make a pass.
It was smothered by a sliding Maine defenseman.
The Mariners came out hot to start the second period and before it was three minutes old had a 2-1 lead.
Jacob Hudson scored off a faceoff at 1:36, notching his 18th goal and 38th point of the season in 47 games. The score went from 1-1 to 2-1 exactly 70 seconds after that as Liam Gorman slammed in the rebound of a shot that bounced off the backboards.
That was it for the scoring as Worcester played its second 2-1 game in 24 hours with one victory — on the road — and the defeat at home.
The triumph extended Maine’s winning streak to seven games, all on the road.
The Monkey Wrenches are home again Sunday afternoon at 3:05. They play the Adirondack Thunder, who are 14-7-2 on the road this season.
MONKEY SHINES – Tristan Lennox stopped 27 shots in the Worcester net. … Parker Gahagen got the night off entirely after the trip back from Canada as Thomas Gale served as Lennox’ backup … Worcester finished with a .500 mark for February. It was 4-4-3. … Attendance was 5,720.
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