The Worcester Railers took on the Norfolk Admirals Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in a game that saw both teams lose the lead at least once and ended in regulation tied, where Railers captain Anthony Repaci became the all-time Worcester pro hockey career leader in overtime goals with a game-winning strike just 38 seconds into the extra session to give the Railers a 4-3 win.
Things did not start off great for Worcester as the Admirals were able to get on the board first at 2:20 of the opening period after a wild goalmouth scramble, and with Railers netminder John Muse down and out Carson Musser was able to thread one through traffic and into the yawning net.
At 7:30 of the frame, Ryan Verrier, who had been a scratch for the last few games, put one home after some odd happenings in the Norfolk end.
Currently, Connor Welsh is listed with an assist on the goal, but that will be changed to Griffin Loughran, whose shot hit the post and rebounded to Verrier.
In one of hockey’s oddities, on the Railers’ first goal, Loughran had all 24 square feet to shoot at and ended up hitting the post, and on the second he had about a postage stamp-sized hole to hit, and he buried it to make it 2-1 Railers.
Connor Fedorek would tie it for the Admirals at 17:17 of the frame, and Norfolk would grab their second lead of the game at 8:09 of the second on a goal by Josh McDougall.
But back came the Railers, with Repaci taking a nice feed from Welsh and burying it on the breakaway bid.
The teams would remain tied through the third period, with Worcester needing to kill 35 seconds of a five-on-three Norfolk power play, and then in overtime Repaci struck again to give the Railers the bonus point.
Referee Hunter Mottinger was urged by Norfolk to review the goal, which he did very quickly and confirmed his original call.
With the overtime goal, Repaci is now the career leader in Worcester pro hockey history with five, breaking the tie with the WorSharks Ryan Vesce.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Anthony Callin (IR/lower body), Cole Crowder (3-day IR/unknown), Ryan Dickinson, JD Dudek (IR/upper body), and Brenden Rons. Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. Just prior to warmups Bridgeport announced they had recalled Justin Gill.
There has to be a better way to create a schedule than whatever method the ECHL uses. Obviously to keep travel costs low teams will play opponents multiple times in a short span, but how often some divisional opponents play is, to be blunt, an embarrassment to the league. The Railers and new-again North Division opponent Wheeling play only four times, and those games are spread out over only nine days in January. While the Nailers play Reading 11 times, they face off against Norfolk just twice and Maine only three times. Why are they even in the North Division? Worcester and Sunday’s opponent Norfolk play eight times, with the Railers already having played all the games at the Scope that they’re scheduled to this season. Total silliness on the ECHL’s part.
The ECHL has announced that the Allen Americans will be hosting the All-Star Classic for the 2025-26 season. Hopefully, there will be an actual game, unlike this season where Kalamazoo is the host city for the “2025 Warrior/ECHL Hockey Heritage Week” festivities but there won’t be an actual All-Star game, and instead, Toledo and Kalamazoo will play a regular season game. The ECHL will still select All-Star teams, so imagine that being the only pro All-Star team a player gets named to and then they don’t get an opportunity to play. Just more silliness on the ECHL’s part.
Worcester Railers Booster Club President Rich Lundin asked me to mention that membership renewals have begun. You can download the form right here and bring it to the Booster Club table on the DCU Center concourse behind Section 109 or you can get a form there and fill it out. Dues must be paid in cash or by check. If you first joined the club after March 1, 2024, your membership is good through the 2024-25 season.
The three stars of the game were:
1. WOR – 81 Anthony Repaci
2. WOR – 16 Griffin Loughran
3. NOR – 4 Carson Musser
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Connor Welsh.
Even Strength Lines
Piercey / Kopperud / Donhauser
Randl / Kaplan / Repaci
Bakanov / DeMelis / Loughran
Johnson / Jacobs / Hatten
Luce / Welsh
McDonald / Klee
Rajaniemi / Verrier
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
(Sunday)
Indy 3, Reading 0
BOX SCORE
Norfolk 2 1 0 0 – 3
Worcester 2 1 0 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Norfolk, Musser 3 (Fleurent, McDougall), 2:40. 2, Worcester, Verrier 1 (DeMelis, Welsh), 7:30. 3, Worcester, Loughran 2 (Randl), 14:19. 4, Norfolk, Fedorek 2 (Reifenberger, Musser), 17:17. Penalties-Kaplan Wor (tripping), 0:38; Louis-Jean Nor (high-sticking), 12:12; Musser Nor (tripping), 18:58.
2nd Period-5, Norfolk, McDougall 2 (Timofeyev, Musser), 8:09 (PP). 6, Worcester, Repaci 6 (Welsh), 8:53. Penalties-Luce Wor (delay of game), 6:17; Golder Nor (tripping), 14:59; LA Grissom Nor (cross-checking), 19:24.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Luce Wor (high-sticking), 8:26; McDonald Wor (delay of game), 9:51.
1st OT Period-7, Worcester, Repaci 7 (Kopperud, Welsh), 0:38. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Norfolk 12-8-7-1-28. Worcester 15-11-10-1-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Norfolk 1 / 4; Worcester 0 / 4.
Goalies-Norfolk, Cannata 2-0-2-0 (37 shots-33 saves). Worcester, Muse 1-1-0-0 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-2,539
Referees-Hunter Mottinger (9).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Davids Rozitis (90).
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