WHEELING, WV – The Worcester Railers HC (8-7-1-1, 18 points) handed the Wheeling Nailers (10-5-2-0, 22 points) their first regulation home loss in a 4-3 Railers win in front 2,005 fans at the WesBanco Arena on Saturday evening.
A near postgame brawl ended a feisty game that saw six total fighting majors and 64 total penalty minutes. Nick Saracino scored his first two goals of the year including the game winner midway through the third period. Jeff Kubiak and Woody Hudson also scored for Worcester while Eamon McAdam made 34 saves in net for the win. Mike Cornell added two assists as the Railers ended the week 1-1-0-1 on the road.
Yanick Turcotte got the crew fired up with a long fight off the opening faceoff with Jeremy Beirnes and Kyle McKenzie picked up his first fighting major vs. Dylan Zink at 5:17. The Nailers scored the only goal in the opening frame with a 5-on-3 power play one timer strike by Garrett Meurs (11th of season) at 13:52. Wheeling had four power plays in the first and outshot Worcester 11-8 through twenty minutes.
Jeff Kubiak (2nd of season) tied the score at 44 seconds of the second period after Barry Almeida got the puck in front from the corner and Kubiak slid the puck through the pads of goaltender Adam Morrison. The Railers went ahead at 10:45 after Nick Saracino (1st of season) broke free after a nice feed by Yanick Turcotte and Nick had a nice finish from in tight. Eamon McAdam made some big saves in the frame but Wheeling found the back of the net late at 19:33 as Hunter Fejes (7th of season) snapped home a third chance. Shots were 26-13 Wheeling after 40 minutes with the score tied 2-2.
Dan Milan (2nd of season) put the Nailers ahead 3-2 at 2:57 of the third period with a one timer blast from the left circle. Woody Hudson (4th of season) deflected a Mike Cornell shot into the net at 9:53 to tie the score at 3-3. Just over two minutes later, Nick Saracino (2nd of season) ripped a shot five home from 30 feet at 11:57 for the game winner. Both benches emptied after the game with Ashton Rome and Dan Milan getting majors and game misconducts as several skirmishes broke out but did not fully develop.
Notes: Three Stars: 3rd star – Nick Sorkin (1 assist); 2nd star – Eamon McAdam (34 saves, Win); 1st star – Nick Saracino (2 goals, Game winning goal) …Final shots were 37-24 in favor of Wheeling… Adam Morrison (0-1-0) made 20 saves on 34 shots for Wheeling …. Eamon McAdam (5-3-2) made 34 saves on 37 shots for Worcester…. Mitch Gillam was the backup goalie….Worcester went 0-for-2 on the power play while Wheeling went 1-for-5…. Wade Murphy, Matt Lane, Frankie DiChiara, and Connor Doherty (injured) did not dress for Worcester… Ashton Rome now has a five-game point streak (3-2-5) and picked up his first fighting major of the season… Yanick Turcotte, Ben Masella, TJ Syner, Barry Almeida, Justin Hamonic, and Ashton Rome also picked up assists. Yanick Turcotte leads the ECHL with eight fighting majors… On Friday, the Railers head to Adirondack, NY to close out a four-game road trip vs. the Thunder at 7:05 p.m. On Saturday, Dec 2, the Railers return home to the DCU Center vs. the Manchester Monarchs at 7:05 p.m.
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