Saturday, March 16th, was St. Patrick’s Day at the DCU Center, where we saw the Worcester Railers fall in a physical battle with the Adirondack Thunder 5-1. To kick off the scoring, forward Grant Jozefek scored for the Thunder and put one in with 3:51 remaining in the first period despite a strong start from Worcester as they had the first six shots on goal in the game. The Railers immediately fought back with a goal of their own as Ashton Calder found Jake Pivonka in the slot as he beat Vinnie Purpura. Followed by that was an on-slot of Thunder goals to start the 2nd period as Andre Ghantous picked up his first career ECHL goal and Ryan Smith found the back of the net as the Thunder had two goals in 1:18 to take a 2-1 lead. Shane Harper would beat John Muse, ending his night as for the first time all season Railers Head Coach Jordan Smotherman would pull a goalie mid-game, “No, We’re gonna fight to the end, down three, down four, I’d probably do the same thing,” said Smotherman when asked if that was a hard decision. The 3rd period saw limited action where Worcester tried to fight back, including a desperate effort as they pulled the goalie with 6:11 remaining in the game. With 2:54 remaining in the game forward Mike Gillespie scored an empty netter. From there on out Worcester was not able to obtain enough firepower to keep up with the Adirondack Thunder.
