Sharks 3 - Lowell 2 OT

Worcester Sharks @ Lowell Devils
January 15th

1st Period
1. Lowell, D. Clarkson (12) (T. Pihlman, M. Mottau) 17:33
2. Worcester, G. Mink (7) (M. Darche, M. Iggulden) 19:52 PP

2nd Period
none

3rd Period
3. Worcester, M. Iggulden (14) (D. Spang, G. Stafford) 11:41
4. Lowell, P. Vrana (6) (N. Bergfors, T. Harant) 15:53

OT
5. Worcester, G. Stafford (6) (D. Spang, M. Darche) 2:47 PP

Sharks 4 - Springfield 2

Worcester Sharks @ Springfield Falcons
January 13th

1st Period
1. Springfield, S. Dufresne (2) (D. Spina, D. Corso) 12:07

2nd Period
2. Worcester, M. Darche (25) (G. Mink, G. Stafford) 9:02
3. Worcester, B. Leisenring (1) (S. Bernier) 18:02

3rd Period
4. Worcester, B. Leisenring (2) (J. Prudden) 0:45 SH
5. Worcester, L. Kaspar (3) (J. Prudden, B. Leisenring) 8:32
6. Springfield, D. Corso (9) (A. Rogers) 11:12

Sharks Game Day: January 13th

Tonight, the Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks) will travel west to the Nest to take on the Springfield Falcons (Tampa Bay Lightning). The Sharks look to even up the season series and are currently 2-3-0-0 against the Birds this season. The two teams last met on January 3rd when the Sharks beat the Falcons 5-3. They will be back at it again one week from today as the Sharks once again travel to Springfield.

“It’s going to be a tough game” said Scott Ferguson “We’re trying to catch teams in front of us and every game is important.”

The Springfield Falcons would take the lead with less than 2 minutes left in the first frame on a power play goal by Eric Healey. Norm Milley and Doug O’Brien would each get the assists on the goal that gave the Birds the lead going into the first intermission.

Ashton Rome would tie the game up with an unassisted goal at 5:22 of the second period. Eric Healey would find the back of the net for the 2nd time in the game, which would earn him the games number 3 star, putting the Falcons back up on top 2-1. That wouldn’t last long as Mike Iggulden scored 3 minutes later to once again tie the teams up before they went into the locker room. Mathieu Darche and Graham Mink would get credited with assists for Iggulden’s first goal of the night.

The Sharks would take the lead early in the third when Tom Cavanagh broke down the right wing boards and fired it past Falcons netminder Karri Ramo. Steve Bernier picked up his first point as a Worcester Shark on the goal just 12 seconds into the final period. Defenseman Patrick Traverse would score his first goal as a Shark, second goal of the season, when his power play tally gave the Sharks a two-goal lead just 4:21 in. Worcester went 1-for-6 with the man advantage. Mathieu Darche and Riley Armstrong would both pick up their 2nd points in the game when Mike Iggulden scored his 2nd goal of the night. Rookie Matt Smaby would add another goal for the Falcons with 58 seconds remaining but it was too late and Thomas Greiss picked up his 7th win of the season with 21 saves.

The Sharks were last in action on Sunday afternoon as they fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack by the score of 2-1. Last night, the Sharks were idle while the Providence Bruins defeated the Springfield Falcons 3-2.

Players to watch for:

WORCESTER:
Thomas Greiss- is currently 4th in GAA for rookies with an average of 2.66.
Mike Iggulden- has 3 goals and an assist in his last 2 games against the Falcons.

SPRINGFIELD:
Eric Healey- has 3 goals and 6 assists in 5 games this season against the Sharks.
Jonathan Boutin- named Goaltender of the Month for December with a record of 5-1-1.

NOTES:
Atlantic Adventure: The Atlantic Division is the only division in the American Hockey League where all the teams are playing at or above a .500 record. The Sharks are in 7th place in the division but have two games in hand against Providence and a game in hand over Lowell, who the Sharks trail by only 1 point. The Sharks will have to play .500 hockey in their next 3 games to catch up to the Springfield Falcons 4th place and the last playoff spot in the division.

Streak Ends: After tonight’s game a streak will end. The Springfield Falcons are currently on a 3 game losing streak while going 1-5 in their last 6 games. The Sharks are on a 2 game skid with their last win coming on January 5th in Providence.

California Charter: Yesterday the Sharks recalled Jonathan Tremblay from the Fresno Falcons of the ECHL. Also the San Jose Sharks recalled defenseman Matt Carle back to the big club in time for their game against the Phoenix Coyotes. In 3 games for the Worcester Sharks he picked up 2 assists and was a +1.

Road Trip: This is the Sharks 4th city in as many games on their current road trip. They are currently 1-2-0-0 on the trip. They will finish the trip with a game in Portland, Maine tomorrow night and a 2:05 matinee on Monday in Lowell. They return home on Friday night as they complete a home and home series with the Lowell Devils. Once again, the Salter School of Massage Therapy will be on hand to give free massages for the fans. The first 3,000 fans will also receive collector’s edition trading cards.

AROUND THE ATLANTIC:
Hartford (43 pts) @ Portland (43 pts)
Providence (39 pts) @ Binghamton

Three Periods with Riley Armstrong
1st: What do you do in the off-season to prepare for training camp?
RA: “Usually I just work out with my brother. We have a lot of pro guys back home. We do our training there and probably get on the ice 5 times a week. A couple weeks before camp we really skate and work on little things to get back into game shape.”

2nd: When did you first play hockey?
RA: “When I was in grade 9, 14-15 years old. I used to figure skate before that and never really was into that whole hockey thing until my brother started getting good so I figured I would try it out so I started getting serious about hockey at that age.”

3rd: Did you have a hockey idle growing up?
RA: “I’d say Wayne Gretzky because the Oilers were the closest NHL team to my city. There are a lot of other guys who scored goals like Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny that I liked too.”

Hartford 2 - Sharks 1

Worcester Sharks @ Hartford Wolf Pack
January 7th

1st Period
none

2nd Period
1. Hartford, G. Moore (5) (M. Richter, B. Lampman) 12:45
2. Hartford, M. Lee (2) (B. Isbister, N. Dawes) 13:45

3rd Period
3. Worcester, S. Bernier (1) (T. Cavanagh, T. Plihal) 8:45

Sharks Game Day: January 7th

This afternoon, the Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks) travel down to Connecticut’s capital to take on the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers). It will be the sixth meeting this season with the Wolf Pack, with Worcester having a record of 2-2-1-0. In each of the 5 games, the visiting team has picked up 2 points. They will meet 4 more times this season with the next game being on February 16th in Hartford.

The two clubs last met on December 26th, with the Hartford Wolf Pack picking up their 400th regular season win in franchise history with a 2-0 shutout against the Sharks. Brandon Dubinsky would give the Pack all the offense they would need when he scored his seventh goal of the season just 3:14 into the first period. Millbury’s own Marvin Degon would pick up an assist on the goal. Dane Byers would add an insurance power play goal midway through the second period to give the Pack a 2-0 lead. Al Montoya made 20 saves in the win and would later become the AHL player of the week.

Last night, the Sharks traveled up to Portland to play the fifth game of the UnumProvident Challenge. Worcester would get off to a slow start as they found themselves trailing just 3:26 into the game. Curtis Glencross would get his 3rd goal of the season with Nathan Saunders and Ryan Shannon picking up assists on the play. Ryan Shannon, who was sent down from Anaheim on Thursday, would pick up 3 assists in the game and was the game’s third star. Matt Keith and Curtis Glencross would both pick up their fourth goals of the season with the man advantage to make it a 3-0 Pirates lead.

Garrett Stafford's power play goal would put the Sharks on board before the second period ended. Stafford beat Mike Wall with only 46 seconds left to play in the frame. Graham Mink and Mike Iggulden would each pick up points on Stafford’s 5th goal of the year. The Sharks and Pirates would skate a scoreless 3rd period as the Pirates went on to beat the Sharks for only the second time this season. Nolan Schaefer made 17 saves in the losing effort. In other action around the Atlantic Division last night, the Hartford Wolf Pack beat the Springfield Falcons 6-3.

Players to watch for:

WORCESTER:
Matt Carle- has 2 assists in 2 games played with the Sharks and is a plus-one in the player rating department.
Mike Iggulden- has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games played for the Sharks.

HARTFORD:
Brad Isbister- is averaging a point a game in his last 8 games played for the Wolf Pack.
Al Montoya- 5-1 in his last 6 starts with a 1.40 GAA and a .954 Save Percentage. NOTES:

Weekly Honors: Last week, Hartford netminder Al Montoya, was named CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week. Montoya had a record of 3-0-0 during the period, which included 2 shutouts. He got his first shutout of the year back on December 26th, when he blanked the Sharks by the score of 2-0.

Key Goals: When the game is on the line the Sharks pass the puck to Garret Stafford. Garret has scored 5 goals this season: 4 Power Play, 2 Game Winning, and 1 Game Tying. Also, 4 out of his 5 goals have come with less than 4 minutes remaining in the period. He scored his 5th goal of the season last night with 46 seconds left in the 2nd period in a 3-1 loss to the Portland Pirates.

Road Trip: The Sharks are currently 1-1-0-0 on their current 6 game road trip. They will be on the road until they return back to the DCU Center on January 19th as they complete a home and home series with the Lowell Devils. Once again, the Salter School of Massage Therapy will be on hand to give free massages for the fans. The first 3,000 fans will also receive collector’s edition trading cards.

AROUND THE ATLANTIC:
Manchester (49 pts) @ Portland (41 pts)
Springfield (41 pts) @ Providence (35 pts)

Three Periods with Steve Bernier:

1st: How does it feel to be a first round draft pick?
SB: “ It feels great. It’s always fun to be a first round draft pick. But right after the draft, I mean you’re a first round draft pick but it doesn’t matter anymore. You have to prove what you’re able to do and if you don’t do it, you’re not going to be in the NHL. So it’s great to be a first round draft pick but you have to make sure that you don’t think about it after that and just work hard and make sure that you try to improve yourself.”

2nd: What are your thoughts about Worcester?
SB: “It’s a new thing. I’ve come here to play with the Worcester Sharks. I’m going to be at the game the same way I do everyday when I play. Hope I’m going to give my 100% and try to win the game.”

3rd: What are your goals while you are in Worcester?
SB: “To improve my confidence, and try to score more goals. I have to improve my work down low, the way I approach a game and be ready for 60 minutes. That’s why I’m here.”

Portland 3 - Sharks 1

Worcester Sharks @ Portland Pirates
January 6th

1st Period
1. Portland, C. Glencross (3) (N. Saunders, R. Shannon) 3:26

2nd Period
2. Portland, M. Keith (4) (R. Shannon, C. Genoway) 13:09 PP
3. Portland, C. Glencross (4) (C. Wilson, R. Shannon) 17:30 PP
4. Worcester, G. Stafford (5) (G. Mink, M. Iggulden) 19:14 PP

3rd Period
none

Sharks Game Day: January 6th

Tonight, the Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks) will travel up to Maine to battle the Portland Pirates (Anaheim Ducks). The Sharks are currently 3-0-0-1 against the Pirates this season in their quest for the first UnumProvident Cup. Last time these two teams met was on Saturday, when the Sharks beat the Pirates 3-2 in a shootout. Thomas Greiss would stop 45 shots in the win.

“Portland’s a good team, they come out hard and play physical” said defenseman Brad Staubitz. “We’ve just got to play hard hockey,” he continued.

The next time theses two team will meet is on January 14th as they once again travel up to Maine.

Last night, the Sharks traveled down route 146 to face the Providence Bruins. Worcester and Providence held each other scoreless through the first 2 periods. The Sharks had several opportunities but their best chance came in the third when both Mark Stuart and Bobby Allen received penalties to make it a two-man advantage. The Sharks would capitalize on the power play to take the late 1-0 lead. Graham Mink scored his fifth goal of the season with Mathieu Darche and Matt Carle both picking up assists on the play.

The Sharks continued on their man advantage and this time it would be Mathieu Darche finding the back of the net. That would be Darche’s team leading 24th goal of the season with helpers going to Steve Bernier and Garrett Stafford. Both Steve Bernier and Matt Carle were reassigned to Worcester on Tuesday and are averaging a point a game since their arrival. The Sharks went 2-for-6 on the power play to improve their league leading road power play to 24.5%.

Providence would cut the lead in half when they would get a power play goal of their own with a little over two minutes left in the game. Nathan Dempsey would score his first goal of the season and was assisted by T.J Trevelyan and Ben Walter. Thomas Greiss would stop 25 shots in his 7th victory of the season. The Portland Pirates lost to the Springfield Falcons 4-3 last night.

Players to watch for:

WORCESTER:
Mathieu Darche- has recorded five goals and an assist in four games against Portland.
Brennan Evans- leads the team with 87 penalty minutes.

PORTLAND:
Ryan Shannon- reassigned by Anaheim on 1/4. Scored a goal and an assist last night.
Clay Wilson- has two goals and two assists in four games played against the Sharks this year.

NOTES:
Family Reunion: Last Saturday was the first game that Aaron and Ashton Rome played against each other at the pro level. Ashton was a healthy scratch the last 2 times the Pirates and Sharks played. They also have a third sibling, Reagan, who spent some time with Manitoba of the AHL this season, but is now with the Reading Royals.

California Dreaming: Between the two clubs there were a lot of flights between California and New England this past week. In the past 7 days, Steve Bernier and Matt Carle made their way to Worcester while Aaron Rome, Mike Wall, and Ryan Shannon were assigned to Portland. Also, the Ducks recalled Tim Brent and Bjorn Melin.

Greiss Lightning: It’s the only way you can describe Thomas Greiss’s glove hand. Thomas Greiss is 5-0 in his last 5 starts and has a Goals Against Average of 2.73 and a Save % of .904. He currently leads the Sharks in wins with 7. He currently has a record of 7-4 in his rookie campaign.

Road Trip: This is the second stop in the second longest road stand for the Sharks. They will be on the road until they return back to the DCU Center on January 19th as they complete a home and home series with the Lowell Devils. Once again, the Salter School of Massage Therapy will be on hand to give free massages for the fans. The first 3,000 fans will also receive collector’s edition trading cards.

AROUND THE ATLANTIC:
Providence (35 pts) @ Manchester (47 pts)
Hartford (37 pts) @ Springfield (41 pts)
Lowell (37 pts) @ Norfolk

Get to Know ‘Em-
What age were you when you learned to skate?

Steve Bernier: “I started around 4 – 4 1/2, it was fun.”

Graham Mink: “I started skating at 4 and then I started playing organized hockey at 5 in Stowe.”

Nolan Schaefer: “I started skating when I was 2 years old and just been playing ever since. I was a D-man for the first few years and then I changed over to goalie.”

Lukas Kaspar: “ I was around 3-4, very young.”

Josh Prudden: “5 years old.”

Dan Spang: “3.”

Brad Staubitz: “I was young, I think as soon as I could I got started because my older brother and my dad played hockey. So as soon as I could walk, they probably put me in skates. So as long as I can remember.”

Sharks 2 - Providence 1

Worcester Sharks @ Providence Bruins
January 5th

1st Period
none

2nd Period
none

3rd Period
1. Worcester, G. Mink (5) (M. Carle, M. Darche) 14:13 PP
2. Worcester, M. Darche (24) (S. Bernier, M. Carle) 15:47 PP
3. Providence, N. Dempsey (1) (T. Trevelyan, B. Walter) 17:53 PP

Sharks 5 - Springfield 3

Springfield Falcons Vs. Worcester Sharks
January 3rd

1st Period
1. Springfield, E. Healey (15) (N. Milley, D. O'Brien) 18:19 PP


2nd Period
2. Worcester, A. Rome (4) 5:22
3. Springfield, E. Healey (16) (N. Milley, D. Corso) 11:33
4. Worcester, M. Iggulden (12) (M. Darche, G. Mink) 14:39

3rd Period
5. Worcester, T. Cavanagh (7) (S. Bernier) 0:12
6. Worcester, P. Traverse (2) (R. Armstrong, S. Ferguson) 4:21 PP
7. Worcester, M. Iggulden (13) (R. Armstrong, M. Darche) 14:40
8. Springfield, M. Smaby (2) (B. Jones, E. Healey) 19:02

Sharks Game Day: January 3rd

Tonight, the Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks) will host the Springfield Falcons (Tampa Bay Lightning) at the DCU Center. The Sharks are currently 1-3-0-0 against the Birds this season. The two teams last met on December 9th when the Falcons blanked the Sharks 3-0.

“I hope we’re patient” said Sharks assistant coach Dave Cunniff about tonight’s opponent, “and not fall into their trap.”

Tonight you can receive $2 off tickets just by showing your First Night Worcester button. Also during the game you can receive a free massage around the concourse courtesy of the Salter School of Massage Therapy. After the game, the Sharks will be on a six-game, five-city, road trip and will return home on January 19th to host the Lowell Devils. The teams will next play each other on January 19th as the Sharks head west to the Nest.

The Sharks are coming off one of their best performances of the season. Last Saturday, the Worcester Sharks defeated the Portland Pirates 3-2 in a shootout. Mathieu Darche and Mike Iggulden scored for the Sharks, while rookie netminder Thomas Greiss stopped 45 shots to record Worcester’s 14th win of the season. The two would also score both goals in the shootout with Greiss stopping all four of Portland’s attempts. The Sharks improved their record to 2-5 in the shootout this season with both wins coming against the Pirates.

“It was great and fun to watch” said Cunniff commenting on Greiss’s performance. “Hopefully he can put some games together like that, and if he does, we’ll go with him.”

Players to watch for:

WORCESTER:
Thomas Greiss- stopped 45 shots and all attempts in the shootout on Saturday.
Steve Bernier- 1st round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, 25 pts with SJ this season.

SPRINGFIELD:
Andy Delmore- leads all AHL defensemen with 9 goals.
Karri Ramo- has a record of 3-0 in shootouts. He has a GAA of 2.88 and a .911 save percentage.

NOTES: Today during practice Grant Stevenson, Glenn Olson and Coach Cunniff had a competition that Stevenson saw up in Edmonton. The object was to get 15 out of 20 pucks into an empty net from center ice in 15 seconds. During an Oilers’ intermission, if you could do that, you’d earn yourself a million dollars. Both Grant Stevenson and Coach Cunniff scored 15 goals while Olson managed to get 14. However, Dave went over the time limit, so Grant was the winner. Too bad he wasn’t in Edmonton!

The Sharks return back to the DCU Center on January 19th as they complete a home-and-home series with the Lowell Devils. Once again, the Salter School of Massage Therapy will be on hand to give free massages for the fans. The first 3,000 fans will also receive collector’s edition trading cards of your Worcester Sharks.

Yesterday, the Sharks received right-winger Steve Bernier and defenseman Matt Carle from San Jose. Steve Bernier is a 2nd year pro from Quebec City. In 39 games for the San Jose Sharks, Bernier has recorded 25 points with 11 goals. He also played in 50 games last season in the NHL.

“My goals are to improve my confidence and try to score more goals,” said Bernier on the assignment. “I have to improve my work down low and be ready for 60 minutes.”

Matt Carle is a rookie out of the University of Denver where he was the Hobey Baker award winner in his junior year. He leads all San Jose Sharks defensemen with 3 goals and 18 assists for 21 points. He also played in 11 games last year for the Sharks in the playoffs, picking up 3 assists.

AROUND THE ATLANTIC:
Providence (35 pts) @ Hartford (34 pts)

Get to Know ‘Em-
Who was your hockey idol when you were growing up?

Graham Mink: “I like Cam Neely and John LeClaire. Obviously he’s from Vermont too, so I try to play like those two guys.”

Brad Staubitz: “Kevin Lowe in Edmonton for a bit, and then when I wanted to be a goal scorer it was Pavel Bure, but that never fanned out.”

Dan Spang: “You know being from Boston, I’ve always heard all the stories of Bobby Orr and I’d see old film of his and Ray Bourque was playing when I was younger so I loved watching him and pretty much those two guys just because I was a big Bruins fan when I was younger. You don’t get two better defensemen playing in one city than those two guys.”
Thomas Greiss: “I didn’t have one.”

Josh Prudden: “A little bit of Wayne Gretzky. I also liked Mike Modano a lot and I was always going to Merrimack College because it was in my town when I was younger, and Andy Hines was one of their better players at the time.”

Nolan Schafer: “When I was growing up I always watched Patrick Roy on TV. I liked the glove save that he made. Then it ended up changing to my brother because he made it to the NHL.”

Sharks 3 - Portland 2 SO

1st Period
none

2nd Period
1. Portland, C. Wilson (5) (I. Moran, M. Keith) 4:07 PP

3rd Period
2. Worcester, M. Darche (23) (P. Traverse, B. Staubitz) 1:12 PP
3. Worcester, M. Iggulden (11) (T. Cavanagh, T. Plihal) 2:17
4. Portland, M. Keith (3) (C. Wilson, B. Melin) 8:41 PP

OT
none

Shootout
Round 1 - POR - Bjorn Melin - No - WOR - Mike Iggulden - Yes
Round 2 - POR - Colby Genoway - No - WOR - Graham Mink - No
Round 3 - POR - Zenon Konopka - No - WOR - Mathieu Darche - Yes
Round 4 - POR - Brett Skinner - No

Manchester 5 - Worcester 3

Worcester Sharks @ Manchester Monarchs
December 29th

1st Period
1. Manchester, R. Murphy (5) (P. O'Sullivan, P. Kanko) 3:26
2. Manchester, J. Zeiler (9) (G. Gauthier, M. Moulson) 10:37

2nd Period
3. Manchester, J. Zeiler (10) (G. Gauthier, M. Moulson) 2:45
4. Worcester, A. Rome (3) (D. Spang, J. Prudden) 5:35
5. Worcester, G. Mink (3) (B. Evans, M. Darche) 7:54

3rd Period
6. Manchester, B. Schmidt (3) (N. Clarke, M. Moulson) 0:36 PP
7. Worcester, G. Mink (4) (M. Iggulden, D. Spang) 18:07 PP
8. Manchester, T. Jackman (5) 19:31 EN

Hartford 2 - Sharks 0

Hartford Wolf Pack Vs. Worcester Sharks
December 26th

1st Period
1. Hartford, B. Dubinsky (7) (B. Isbister, M. Degon) 3:14

2nd Period
2. Hartford, D. Byers (5) (B. Dubinsky, G. Moore) 10:56

3rd Period
none

Lowell 2 - Sharks 1 SO

Lowell Devils Vs. Worcester Sharks
December 23rd

1st Period
none

2nd Period
1. Lowell, G. Marshall (3) 5:54

3rd Period
2. Worcester, J. Kurtz (2) (L. Kaspar, S. Ferguson)

OT
none

Shootout
Round 1 - WOR - Graham Mink - No - LOW - Chris Minard - No
Round 2 - WOR - Mike Iggulden - No - LOW - Justin Papineau - No
Round 3 - WOR - Lukas Kaspar - No - LOW - Grant Marshall - No
Round 4 - WOR - Garrett Stafford - No - LOW - David Clarkson - No
Round 5 - WOR - Riley Armstrong - No - LOW - Stephen Gionta - Yes