This was a game the Worcester Railers had no business winning.
And to be honest, just a few weeks ago, they absolutely wouldn’t have. But suddenly the Railers find themselves as one of the hottest teams in the ECHL, with points in their last seven games, and after Friday night’s come-from-behind 5-4 shootout victory over their ECHL North Division rivals Trois-Rivières at the DCU Center the Railers are in a four-way tie for second place in points in the division and are third by points percentage.
The Lions outplayed Worcester over the opening 20 minutes, as Trois-Rivières controlled every aspect of the game. The Railers’ first shot didn’t come until the 9:31 mark of the period, an easy stat for everyone to look up as Joey Cipollone scored on it to make it 1-0.
The second frame was a lot like the first, only this time the Lions would get on the board twice. Just moments after a completely blown call by referee Evan Reddick by not awarding Keeghan Howdeshell a penalty shot after Lions netminder Joe Vrbetic threw his stick at the Railers forward to prevent an easy open net Matthew Boucher would take advantage of a couple of Worcester players misplaying the puck and he rifled one past John Muse at 3:47. Boucher would score again at 8:45 when all five Railers players forgot to play defense and Boucher’s “excuse me” attempt flipped over Muse and rolled over the goal line.
It was Railers captain Anthony Repaci who tied the game for his team as Brendan Robbins picked up what might be the most frustrating assist of his entire hockey career.
The goal tied Repaci with Barry Almeida at 60 for the top spot in Railers’ career franchise history.
That 2-2 tie didn’t last very long as Chris Ortiz scored on a delayed penalty call after John Parker-Jones backed Worcester defender Connor Welsh into Muse, knocking the netminder’s stick out of his hands. The goal was reviewed, but just looking at the broadcast angle, it looks like the right call.
With just 5:23 to go in the third period, it looked like Alex-Olivier Voyer’s power play goal, an absolute rocket over the glove of Muse, would be the backbreaker. And, again, just a few weeks ago they absolutely would have. But at least right now it wasn’t.
Just over a minute later, with Daylan Kuefler and defenseman Noah Laaouan engaging in an NHL-quality battle in front of the Lions’ net, Robbins erased that empty net miss with a dangle and a deflection.
Worcester had a late power play and pulled Muse for a six skater to four advantage but couldn’t convert to knot the score. Turns out that didn’t matter as just moments later Andrei Bakanov would slam dunk one to tie it 4-4.
To the overtime period the teams went, and it was end-to-end action for the whole seven minutes, with neither team being able to light the lamp. Muse was being Muse in the extra session and came up big every time he was challenged.
In the shootout, Aston Calder scored in round one and Boucher in round two to make it 1-1 after three rounds. In the fifth round, Howdeshell scored while Charles-Antoine Paiement’s bid sailed wide to give Worcester two points with the 5-4 win.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Todd Goehring, Christian Krygier (IR/upper body), Tristan Lennox (IR/lower body), Jack Quinlivan (IR/lower body), and Quinn Ryan. Kaden Fulcher was the backup goaltender. On Wednesday the Railers released defenseman Mike Higgins, who played in one game last weekend for Worcester in Reading. Before the game Friday the Railers announced the signing of forward Nick Pennucci, who played for assistant coach Bob Deraney at Worcester State and attended the Railers training camp. Nick Jr, who along with his dad Nick Sr, used to sit next to this writer in the Worcester IceCats and early in the WorSharks days up in section 210, and then in section 212 when the building seating was flipped for the IceCats 2001-02 season.
There’s an unofficial rule in minor league hockey that transactions involving their players going up to the next level are announced by the team at the higher level first. Apparently, some wires got crossed with the Railers and the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem as the Mayem tweeted that goaltender Josh Boyko has been “called up by the Worcester Railers” well before the Railers were ready to make public them signing the netminder. In fact, as of posting time the Railers still haven’t done that. Railers PR extraordinaire Tim Foley wouldn’t confirm the signing, because obviously he wouldn’t until Worcester was ready to, and had a sort of “it is what it is” shrug when asked about it, mostly because it is what it is.
And in the long run, no one may ever recall the Boyko signing announcement fiasco as after Friday night’s win veteran hockey report Bill Ballou dropped a bombshell of a tweet announcing that Railers general manager Jordan Smotherman had signed Ross Olsson to a contract. Olsson retired after last season with the Orlando Solar Bears and was head of hockey operations and head coach at the Hillside School in Marlborough. Olsson’s trade to Orlando is on the list of worst trades ever in Worcester hockey history as the Railers got absolutely nothing for him after defenseman Nolan Valleau refused to report. When Olsson left, he was third in career penalty minutes with the Railers at 236 and was second all-time in franchise power play goals with 12, including a record 10 in the 2021-22 season before being traded.
There were two scoring changes from last weekend’s series in Reading. On John Copeland’s first professional goal last Saturday, Zsombor Garat gained an assist while Keeghan Howdeshell lost one. That goal now reads “2. WOR Copeland, (1) (Garat, Jenkins), 15:07”. Also in Saturday’s game, Anthony Repaci’s assist on Blade Jenkins’ tying goal now belongs to Andrei Bakanov. That goal now reads “3. WOR Jenkins, (7) (Callin, Bakanov), 14:10 (PP)”.
Now I’ve been very vocal about many things the Railers and general manager Jordan Smotherman have done, or not done, over the last year and I stand by all of those comments, but Smotherman has crossed the line here folks, and it needs to be addressed publicly. How dare he wear such a cool-looking hat during a TV interview. It was like he was taunting fans by saying “I have one of these cool hats and you don’t”. Well, sir, I do now, and I did it just to spite you. So there. That hat, and a couple others that help benefit Operation Hat Trick, can be found at the merchandise stands at Railers games and at the team shop.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
2. WOR – 17 Keeghan Howdeshell
3. TR – 49 Matthew Boucher
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Brendan Robbins.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Jenkins / Callin
Kuefler / White / Calder
Bakanov / Cipollone / Piercey
Howdeshell / X / Pennucci
Kulakov / Garat
Verrier / Copeland
Welsh / Robbins
Our affiliates last night
No games
In the ECHL’s North Division
Reading 2, Idaho 1
Indy 3, Norfolk 2
Adirondack 5, Maine 2
Utah 4, Newfoundland 3 OT
BOX SCORE
Trois-Rivières 0 3 1 0 – 4
Worcester 1 1 2 0 – 5
1st Period-1, Worcester, Cipollone 4 (White, Calder), 9:31 (PP). Penalties-Repaci Wor (slashing), 3:12; Parker-Jones Tr (cross-checking), 8:59; Verrier Wor (interference), 11:20.
2nd Period-2, Trois-Rivières, Boucher 10 3:47. 3, Trois-Rivières, Boucher 11 (Ortiz, Ducharme), 8:45. 4, Worcester, Repaci 10 (Robbins, Jenkins), 14:48. 5, Trois-Rivières, Ortiz 4 (Voyer, Laaouan), 17:45. Penalties-Lariviere Tr (tripping), 8:59; Komuls Tr (high-sticking), 12:51; Welsh Wor (slashing), 13:30; Verrier Wor (tripping), 18:14.
3rd Period-6, Trois-Rivières, Voyer 6 (Tourigny, Boucher), 14:37 (PP). 7, Worcester, Robbins 6 (Welsh, Calder), 15:41. 8, Worcester, Bakanov 5 (Repaci, Jenkins), 19:10. Penalties-Tourigny Tr (tripping), 11:12; Welsh Wor (holding), 13:20; Komuls Tr (holding), 16:41.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Trois-Rivières 1 (Novak NG, Boucher G, Voyer NG, Ducharme NG, Paiement NG), Worcester 2 (Calder G, Jenkins NG, Repaci NG, Callin NG, Howdeshell G).
Shots on Goal-Trois-Rivières 10-11-8-5-0-34. Worcester 4-8-12-7-1-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Trois-Rivières 1 / 5; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Trois-Rivières, Vrbetic 8-13-2-1 (31 shots-27 saves). Worcester, Muse 3-0-0-0 (34 shots-30 saves).
A-2,812
Referees-Evan Reddick (21).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Stephen Drain (52).
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