Woo Rewind – Sharks drop two at home to the IceCaps

Last week, the Worcester Sharks continued their season long six game home stand at the DCU Center by hosting the St. John’s IceCaps on Tuesday and Saturday night. Unfortunately, the Sharks were defeated on both nights, 6-3 and 3-1, for their first regulation losses of the season and saw their record fall to 4-2-0-2 with 10 points.

Cam MacIntyre, Sena Acolatse and Matt Irwin all scored for the Sharks on Tuesday night while goalie Harri Sateri stopped 28-of-33 shots in the loss. Acolatse was the only Shark to have a multi-point game {1-1-2}.

Just 46 seconds into the game, Sharks rookie forward James Livingston was assessed a double minor high-sticking penalty and the IceCaps took full advantage by converting on both power play opportunities to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.

IceCaps forward Jason King scored his fifth goal of the season at 2:38 to give the IceCaps a 1-0 lead. With the puck inside the Sharks zone, IceCaps forward Marco Rosa, who was positioned on top of the lower right face-off circle, fired a shot pass to King, who was positioned right on the edge of the face-off circle in the slot. The puck deflected off King’s stick and ricocheted over the shoulder of Sateri, who was being screened in front by IceCaps forward Shawn Weller, for the goal.

1:43 later, IceCaps forward Aaron Gagnon made it 2-0 with his second goal of the season. From the top of the point inside the Sharks zone, IceCaps defenseman Mark Flood fired a shot on net that Sateri stopped but Weller, who was positioned on top of the goal crease, backhanded the rebound to Gagnon, who crashed the net from the left face-off circle and put the puck into the open net for the goal.

At 11:11, IceCaps forward Kevin Clark made it 3-0 with his second goal of the season. After killing off their bench minor for too many men, IceCaps forward John Albert corralled the puck in his own zone and rushed down along the left side into the Sharks zone 2-on-2 with Clark, who had just stepped out of the penalty box. Doing a give-and-go, Albert left a chip pass in the left face-off circle for Clark, who quickly fired a shot on net that beat Sateri far side on the blocker side for the goal.

MacIntyre got the Sharks on the scoreboard with his second goal of the season at 17:39, extending his goal scoring streak to two games. Corralling the puck in his own zone, Acolatse went coast-to-coast down the left side and from the left face-off circle inside the IceCaps zone, Acolatse centered the puck in front one handed to MacIntyre, who was rushing to the top of the goalie crease. With the puck on his stick, MacIntyre quickly fired the puck past IceCaps goalie Edward Pasquale for the goal. The assist was Acolatse’s first career professional point.

Just 1:15 into the second period, Acolatse corralled a backhanded pass from Sharks rookie forward Mike Connolly, and scored his first professional goal with a rocket of a slapshot from on top of the left face-off circle that zoomed passed Pasquale and pulled the Sharks to within a goal.

Clark regained the IceCaps two goal lead at 3:02 with his second goal of the game.  With the puck loose in the slot between the two face-off circles of the Sharks zone, Albert fanned on the initial shot but Clark followed up with a backhand shot that Sateri got a piece of with his glove but it wasn’t enough to stop it as the puck trickled over the goal line for the goal.

IceCaps forward Patrice Cormier extended the lead to 5-2 with is first goal of the season at 17:26 off a broken play inside the Sharks zone. From behind his own net, Sateri played the puck over to Sharks captain Mike Moore, who was positioned on the right side end board. Moore fed the puck down to Sharks rookie forward Nathan Moon with a quick touch pass but the puck bounced off the stick of Moon, and Cormier picked up the loose puck in the slot and fired a quick wrist shot on net that beat Sateri glove side for the goal.

Sharks defenseman Matt Irwin gave the Sharks a shot at a comeback with his fourth goal of the season at 3:43 of the third period with the Sharks on a power play to cut the IceCaps deficit to 5-3. With Cormier in the penalty box for holding the stick, Moon won the ensuing face-off in the IceCaps zone and got the puck back to Sharks defenseman Sean Sullivan at the top of the right point. Sullivan carried the puck down to the top of the point and passed the puck down to Irwin, who fired a slap shot on net from on top of the left face-off circle that beat Pasquale far post side as Sharks forward Brandon Mashinter screened Pasquale in front.

In the final two minutes, the Sharks pulled Sateri for an extra skater but IceCaps forward Riley Holzapfel scored his fifth goal of the season with an empty netter at 18:15 to seal an IceCaps win.

For the game, the Sharks were outshot 34-33, were 1-for-3 with the man advantage and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill… Mike Connolly extended his point streak to six games while Matt Irwin and Sean Sullivan extended their point streaks to four games… Tony Lucia {scr}, Matt Pelech {scr} and Marek Viedensky {inj} did not dress for the Sharks.

As a bonus, here is Acolatse discussing his first professional goal with Eric Lindquist on the SharksVision YouTube channel.

On Saturday night, Brodie Reid had the lone goal for the Sharks, his first career career professional goal, while goalie Tyson Sexsmith stopped 17-of-19 shots in the loss.

Sharks rookie forward Curt Gogol got the home crowd going with his third fight of the season at 12:48 of the first period as he dropped the gloves with IceCaps defenseman Ben Chiarot in a terrific scrap that saw Gogol end the fight with a right hand that landed flush on Chiarot and dropped him.

However, Weller would quiet the crowd with his third goal of the season at 14:25 to give the IceCaps a 1-0 lead. With Connolly in the penalty box for holding, the Sharks won the ensuing face-off in their own end and Sharks forward John McCarthy attempted to clear the puck out of the zone with a shot along the lower right boards from behind his own net. IceCaps defender Jason DeSantis held the puck in at the blue line and from the right point, DeSantis fired a slap pass towards Weller, who was cutting in front of the goalie crease. The puck deflected off the backhand of Weller’s stick and ricocheted top shelf over Sexsmith’s shoulder for the goal.

At 9:20 of the second period, Reid tied the game at 1-1 with his first goal of the season as the result of a strong forecheck by Mashinter, who pressued IceCaps defender Zach Redmond into a turnover by positioning himself on top of Pasquale’s goal crease as Redmond held the puck behind his own net. As Redmond attempted to send a pass along the left boards from behind the net, Mashinter got his stick out and intercepted the pass. From just outside the top of the left face-off circle, Mashinter fired a backhand shot on net that Pasquale stopped but Reid, who positioned himself on top of the goalie crease, was there for a rebound and put the puck into the open net for the goal.

Fireworks erupted three minutes later as the result of a questionable hit delivered by Cormier on Sharks forward Ryan Del Monte inside the Sharks zone.  As the Sharks attempted to breakout of their own zone, Cormier came in on Del Monte behind the play and delivered a low check that left Del Monte laying on the ice holding his leg/knee.  Acolatse went after Cormier as he threw his helmet and gloves off but was beaten to the punch by Moore, who got a hold of Cormier and dropped him with one punch.  Del Monte had to be helped off the ice by the Sharks’ trainer and did not return to the game.

For those who don’t know, Cormier was banned for the remainder of the 2009-10 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League {QMJHL} season, his last in juniors, after delivering a vicious elbow to the head Mikael Tam on Jan. 17, 2010 {video courtesy of YouTube user “p00njabiHD“}.

After Cormier’s hit on Del Monte, continuous scrum ups ensued for the remainder of the period, and MacIntyre tried to fight Cormier at the end of the period but Cormier turned away as the linesman stepped in to separate MacIntyre from Cormier.

In the third period, the Sharks, specifically defenseman Nick Petrecki, tried to get back at Cormier but Cormier continuously hid behind two teammates when challenged and duped Petrecki into taking a bad tripping penalty at 12:16, causing Eric Lindquist to say on air, “If you’re going to take a penalty on Cormier, make sure you get your money’s worth.”

Prior to Petrecki’s penalty, Weller scored his second goal of the game at 11:32 to give the IceCaps a 2-1 lead. With Sharks forward Ben Guite in the penalty box for tripping, Gagnon fired an outlet pass from his own blue line to DeSantis, who was positioned along the right side in the neutral zone. DeSantis quickly got the puck past the Sharks defense with a chip pass to Weller, who corralled the puck onto his stick inside the right face-off circle of the Sharks zone and quickly roofed a backhand shot over Sexsmith’s shoulder for his fourth goal of the season.

In the final four minutes of the game, the Sharks had a golden opportunity to tie the score at 2-2 with 81 seconds of 5-on-3 power play time but could only manage two shots on goal, both of which were the result of the Sharks forwards jamming the bouncing puck into the pads of Pasquale.

Sexsmith was pulled for an extra skater in the final 90 seconds of the game but the Sharks were unable to get the puck past Pasquale, who made 30 saves on the night, and Cormier sealed the IceCaps win with an empty net goal at 19:49, his second goal of the season.

For the game, the Sharks outshot the IceCaps 31-20, were 0-for-6 with the man advantage and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill… Mike Connolly had his six game point streak snapped while Matt Irwin and Sean Sullivan had their four game point streaks snapped…The Sharks are seventh in the AHL on the power play at 23.1%, 17th on the penalty kill at 81.6% and third in penalty minutes with an average of 21.5 per game… Marek Viedensky made his professional debut and registered two shots on goal… Jimmy Bonneau {scr}, Matt Pelech {scr} and Nathan Moon {scr} did not dress for the Sharks.

As a special treat, here is a fun video from the SharksVision Youtube channel that tracks the progress the Sharks have made with their mustaches for Movember.