FALCONS LOSE TO SHARKS 3-1
January 30, 2009 - The Springfield Falcons lost to the Worcester Sharks 3-1 on Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. Steven Zalewski opened the scoring at 3:25 of the first period when he tallied his ninth goal of the year giving Worcester a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, each team had a five-on-three power play opportunity, but failed to convert.
FALCONS AUDIO - Jeff Truitt Recaps The Loss In Worcester
Worcester built a 2-0 lead at 3:16 of the third period when Lukas Kaspar scored his 11th marker of the year, but Springfield cut their deficit to 2-1 at 8:11 of the final period when Guillaume Lefebvre scored his third goal of the year.
Worcester's Riley Armstrong added an empty goal with 35-seconds remaining in regulation ending Springfield's comeback bid.
FALCONS LINEUP
Stone - Schremp - Lerg
Trukhno - Brule - Corazzini
Lefebvre - Spurgeon - Sestito
McDonald - O'Marra - Willis
Young - Roy
Peckham - Taylor
Gabinet - Wild
Dubnyk
Sabourin
FALCONS SCRATCHES - Taylor Chorney (Injured), Stephane Goulet (Healthy), Hans Benson (Healthy)
GAME NOTES
Tim Sestito suffered an upper body injury late in the first period and did not return.
Slava Trukhno returned to the lineup after missing 17 games due to injury.
Rob Schremp returned to the lineup after missing 2 games with the flu.
PRE-GAME NEWS
FALCONS RELEASE FORWARD DEREK BEKAR
The Springfield Falcons, proud members of the American Hockey League, announced today that they have mutually agreed with forward Derek Bekar to release him from his standard American Hockey League contract to allow Bekar to pursue European pro options.
Bekar has played in 40 games for the Falcons this year recording nine goals and five assists good for 14 points and +1 rating.
Bekar has played in 490 career AHL games collecting 148 goals and 126 assists for 274 points and 273 penalty minutes. He has reached the 20-goal plateau four times in his pro career, including a career high 27 markers with the Manchester Monarchs during the 2001-02 campaign. Bekar was originally drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the eighth round (205th overall) in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. He has played in 11 career NHL games, one with the Blues, six with the Los Angeles Kings and four with the New York Islanders.
Prior to turning pro, Bekar played his college hockey with the University of New Hampshire from 1995-1998. In 108 career games with the Wildcats, he registered 65 goals and 67 assists for 132 points.
PREVIEW
With the team returning to practice on Thursday, there were plenty of transactions to report over the last 24 hours. Ryan Potulny has once again joined the Edmonton Oilers for their home game tonight against the Minnesota Wild. Goaltender Dany Sabourin has joined the Falcons after clearing waivers earlier in the week and he practiced with the team on both Thursday and Friday. To make room for Sabourin, goaltender Glenn Fisher has been assigned to the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers and earlier in the week, Liam Reddox was recalled by Edmonton.
Back to the season series between the Falcons and Sharks, these two teams just met one week ago tonight with Worcester skating away with a 4-3 overtime win. Ryan Vesce scored the game-winner in that contest, the second time this year he has scored the game-winner in ot against the Falcons this year. Springfield is 1-1-2-0 against Worcester this year with the last two games ending in ot wins for the Sharks.
PRE-GAME TIDBITS
- Falcons goaltender Devan Dubnyk has a 2.49 goals against average and .932 save percentage against the Sharks this year.
- Ryan Vesce leads Worcester in scoring against Springfield with two goals and three assists in four games.
- Worcester defenseman Patrick Traverse is on a four-game scoring streak collecting three goals and six assists in that span.
- Ryan Vesce has points in 13 straight games for the Sharks recording seven goals and 13 assists in that span.
- Falcons forward Shane Willis has four assists in his last four games played.
