Pirates Dominate Worcester

Published on January 15, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Portland, ME - Marc-Andre Gragnani racked up five assists, tying a franchise record shared by three others (Keith Jones, Andrew Brunette, and Andreas Salomonsson) in leading the Portland Pirates to a commanding 8-3 victory over the Worcester Sharks in an American Hockey League game played tonight in front of 5,339 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Igor Gongalsky scored his first career AHL goal and seven other Pirates registered goals as they improved to 23-12-4-1 overall and 14-3-3-1 at home.

T.J. Trevelyan and Steve Zalewski each registered a goal and an assist for Worcester as their record dropped to 19-14-2-5.

Offense was in top notch form for the duration of the night, as both teams combined for 11 goals, six coming via special teams (six power-play goals and one shorthanded). In a back-and-forth first period, the Sharks kicked off the scoring spree as Trevelyan beat David Leggio only 58 seconds into the game. The Pirates would have an answer on Gongalsky's first career AHL goal, but Worcester's Dan DaSilva gave the visitors back the lead on a power-play goal at 16:52. Portland defenseman T.J. Brennan tied the game for a second time, beating Carter Hutton on a power-play goal of his own to send both teams into the locker room in a 2-2 deadlock. Late in the second period Worcester and Portland capitalized on different special teams chances, as Zalewski tabbed the second Worcester power-play of the game at 18:12 and Derek Whitmore would answer with a shorthanded goal 34 seconds later for the third tie of the game that would start a streak of six unanswered goals for the Pirates. Three minutes into the third period, Corey Tropp continued his hot play against the Sharks with his sixth of the season (four against Worcester) to give the Pirates their first lead of the game. Mark Mancari, Maxime Legault, Paul Byron, and Drew Schiestel would all contribute to the scoring effort as Portland earned its largest goal total and margin of victory for the season.

The Pirates out-shot the Sharks 36-24 as Leggio improved his record on the year to 11-4-0 and Hutton dropped to 3-2-2.

The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the game were all from Portland: 1. Gragnani, 2. Whitmore and 3. Mancari.

Tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) the Pirates will hit the road to take on the Springfield Falcons in a 2 p.m. showdown at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA. Fans can tune in to News Talk 95.5 WLOB at 1:45 p.m. for the pregame show leading up to the game.

The Pirates are back in action at the Civic Center on Friday, January 21st at 7:00 p.m. when the Worcester Sharks come to Portland for game seven of the fifth annual UNUM Challenge. Worcester currently holds the season edge, owning a 3-2 record against Portland. Fans are encouraged to visit the Portland Pirates website and enter for a chance to be chosen as the UNUM Challenge Fan of the Game. In partnership with the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, UNUM will recognize six teachers and four school administrators who have made a difference in the lives of students in our public schools and who represent excellence in the educational profession. The 10 people to be honored at this game were nominated and selected through UNUM's Fifth Annual Maine Educators' Hall of Fame, supported by the Portland Pirates. Tickets for the game, as well as each of the remaining Pirates home games, are on sale now by calling 207-775-3458, visiting the Cumberland County Civic Center Box Office or on-line at ticketmaster.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 15, 2011


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