WORCESTER, Mass.- On Saturday evening, the Newfoundland Growlers played the Worcester Railers at the DCU Center in Worcester for the last of the three-game weekend series. The Growlers took a convincing 9-3 victory, in what would be their last game in the ECHL, as the team would have their membership revoked a few days later with the team going out of business. For the Railers and their fans, the evening was filled with many moments of recognition and appreciation for the Military Veterans on hand, including Gold and Blue Star families. The Railers wore Military themed jerseys and selected honoree’s participated in Ceremonial puck drops.
As for the game, the two teams would each trade a pair of goals in the first period, the game tied 2-2 after one period. Grant Cruikshank and Issac Johnson scored for the Growlers, with goals from Brendan Robbins and Connor Welsh for the Railers. In the second period, Marko Sikic would get his first professional goal giving the Growlers the lead at 3-2, 1:39 seconds into the period. Neil Shea pushed the lead to 4-2 just 24 seconds after Sikic’s goal. Jake Pivonka would put the Railers to within one goal again at 4-3, just a minute and 8 seconds later. Lightning would strike again 21 seconds later but it was Newfoundland’s turn as Issac Johnson would get his second goal of the game. But after that, it was all Growlers on the score sheet. Newfoundland’s Mathieu Gosselin and Neil Shea would add goals before the second-period horn, giving the Growlers 5 goals for period 2.
The third period would have the Growlers getting goals from Tyler Weiss and Issac Johnson (his third for a hat trick). Worcester’s emergency back-up goaltender (EBUG) Joe Spagnoli entered the game in the third period for John Muse, who headed to the locker room with athletic trainer Alex Maring. Spagnoli stopped 11 of 12 shots he faced, giving up the lone goal to an uncovered Issac Johnson, with five seconds left in the game.
The three stars of the game were- #1-Issac Johnson-(Hat Trick)-NFL, #2-Tyler Weiss-NFL, #3-Joe Spagnoli- WOR.
Check out this photo gallery from Inside The Rinks’s Rich LeBlanc for highlights from the game.
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