READING, PA — The Worcester Railers HC (9-9-1-1, 20 pts) fell to the Reading Royals (10-9-2-0, 22 pts) on Saturday, December 6th, with a final score of 4-5 in front of a crowd of 3,494 at the Santander Arena. The Railers are back in action on Wednesday night agains the Adirondack Thunder at will take on the Royals again on home ice on January 14th at 7:05 p.m. EST.
Reading struck first with an early goal, scored by Massimo Rizzo (1-2-3), assisted by Nolan Burke (1-1-2) and Carter Berger (0-2-2) at 4:09 in the first. The Royals extended their scoring streak to two goals, the second added by Jeremy Michel (1-0-1), assisted by Rizzo and Ben Meehan (0-1-1) at 15:45 in the first (0-2). Worcester answered with a power play tally of their own at 17:46, scored by Gleb Veremyev (1-0-1), assisted by Anthony Callin (0-1-1) and Drew Callin (0-1-1) (1-2). Reading bookended the first period with their third goal of the night from Burke, assisted by Rizzo and Berger at 19:24. Reading grabbed the only goal in the second period, a tipped shot from Robbie Stucker (0-1-1), redirected by Nick Capone (1-0-1), also assisted by Artem Kulakov (0-1-1) at 7:46. A final Reading goal was scored by Kyle Haskins (1-0-1) at 2:54 in the third. Worcester answered the Royals’ fifth goal with three goals in the second half of the period. The first by Matt DeMelis (1-1-2) (2-5), the second by Anthony Repaci (1-1-2) (3-5), and the third by Lincoln Hatten (1-1-2) (4-5). The clock ran out just as Worcester pushed for their goal to tie the game and force overtime, but the game ended in a 5-4 Royals’ victory.
Reading opened the game with an early lead at 4:09. Royal’s forward Massimo Rizzo (4th) tucked the puck in between the pipe and left skate of Parker Gahagen (0-1). Reading stretched their lead to two goals with a score from Jeremy Michel (1st) at 15:45 (0-2). A chance for the Railers to narrow the gap came late in the period as they went on their third power play of the night, which opened the ice for Anthony Callin to feed a pass from behind the net to Gleb Veremyev (2nd) for Worcester’s first goal at 17:46 (1-2). T.J. Walsh headed to the box shortly after the tally for holding, which put Reading on their first power play of the night. Nolan Burke (3rd) nabbed a goal for the Royals 28 seconds into Walsh’s penalty to re-establish their two-goal lead. Shots on goal were 12-16 in favor of Reading.
The Royals’ fourth goal of the night came just over a third of the way through the second period from forward Nick Capone (2nd). Worcester played the period on the defensive and found themselves down a man on two separate occasions. Neither penalty resulted in a Royals goal, but Capone’s scored soon after the clock ran out on Riley Ginnell’s time served for high-sticking. Worcester was kept off of the board in the second which left the score at 4-1 Reading to close the second. Worcester trailed in shots on goal with nine to Reading’s 12. Reading was assessed one penalty served by Ben Meehan.
As play resumed in the third, Worcester worked to cut into the Royals three-goal lead, turned four as Kyle Haskins (5th) added another to Reading’s tally for the evening at 2:54. Worcester opened the floodgates on Reading’s net and scored three times in the second half of the period. Matt DeMelis scored an even strength goal at the 12:41 mark to make it a three-goal game. Worcester then called its timeout and pulled goaltender Thomas Gale to give the team an extra attacker. Repaci (6th) (3-5), and Hatten (8th) (4-5) each added their own goals with the extra-attacker on to get back to within one. Despite their offensive push across the final 2:30 of the third, Worcester fell short by one as the final horn sounded. The final score was 5-4 Reading. Final shots were 41-35 Worcester, and final penalties were six for the Royals and three for the Railers.
NOTES: Three stars: 3rd Star: Anthony Repaci (1-1-2, +0, 6 shots), 2nd Star: Massimo Rizzo (1-2-3, +2, 3 shots), 1st Star: Jeremy Michel (1-0-1, +2, 3 shots)… Final shots were 41-35 in favor of Worcester… Yaniv Perets (4-2-1) made 37 saves on 41 shots for Reading, while Parker Gahagen (3-0-1) made 24 saves on 28 shots for Worcester for the first and second period, and Thomas Gale (0-2-0) made 6 saves on 7 shots in the third… Worcester went 2-for-6 on power plays while Reading went 1-for-3… The Railers are now 1-2-0-1 this season vs. the Royals and 1-1-0-0 at Santander Arena…Worcester extended their power-play goal streak to four games with Gleb Veremyev’s goal in the first period… Michael Ferrandino (IR), Tanner Schachle (IR), Porter Schachle (IR), Matt Stief (IR), Brendan Dowler (DNP), Tristan Lennox (IR), and Cole Donhauser (SUS) did not dress for Worcester…
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