Sharks bite Pirates

Jonathan Cheechoo and Sean Sullivan each scored a goal and an assist to lead the Worcester Sharks to a 4-2 victory over the Portland Pirates in an American Hockey League game played tonight in front of 4,896 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Dan DaSilva and Kevin Henderson also chipped in goals for the Sharks, who improved their record to 13-7-1-4 with the win and moved past the Pirates into second place in the Atlantic Division.

The two Pirates goals both came on power play goals by Corey Tropp and Matt Ellis. Portland has now dropped three straight and six of their last seven, to drop to 14-8-1-1 and third place in the Atlantic Division.

Tropp started the scoring midway through the opening period, beating Stalock on a power play to put the Pirates up 1-0. Worcester would strike twice late in the first as DaSilva beat Pirates goaltender Jhonas Enroth top shelf for his fifth goal of the season to tie the game, and Sullivan connected 50 seconds later to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead. Worcester would extend their lead to two halfway through the second period on Cheechoo’s ninth goal of the season. Continuing the offensive surge, Henderson earned his second goal in as many games against the Pirates to increase the lead to three at 4-1 early in the third. The Pirates would tally one late in the third period on the Ellis power-play goal to finish the scoring.

The Sharks outshot the Pirates 28-26 in the game and Jhonas Enroth took the loss.
The Allied Home Mortgage Three Stars of the game were all from the Sharks. Cheechoo was the first, Steven Zalewski (two assists) the second and Sullivan the third.

The Pirates hit the road for three games this weekend facing the Providence Bruins, Adirondack Phantoms, and Manchester Monarchs. On Friday (December 10), the game can be heard live from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence as the Pirates face the Bruins in a 7:05 p.m. start. The next night (Saturday, December 11), Portland will be in Glens Falls, NY taking on the Phantoms in a 7 p.m. faceoff, and the weekend wraps up in Manchester on Sunday (December 12) for a 3 p.m. game. All Pirates road games can be heard live on News Talk 95.5 WLOB and on-line at portlandpirates.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:50 p.m. in Providence, 6:45 p.m. in Adirondack, and 2:45 p.m. in Manchester.