The Worcester Railers were riding high from their New Year’s Eve comeback win over Adirondack and looked to continue that momentum Friday night at the DCU Center in their first game of the 2025 calendar year as they took on the Reading Royals, but their frustrations with the officiating got the better of them as the Royals were able to erase a Worcester two-goal lead and defeated the Railers 4-3 in a shootout.
Poor officiating is part of the game at every level, but when it’s the same officials over and over again that seemingly gets ignored by the league sometimes players’ and coaches’ emotions get the better of them, and that’s what happened to the Railers Friday night. The fact they were right plays no role in it, but that poor officiation and its aftermath did potentially take what might be an important point in the standings away from Worcester and all but hand it to Reading.
First off, the ECHL did referee Koletrane Wilson a massive disservice by assigning him to a Reading Royals game as Wilson played for the team last season. No matter how well he officiates a game involving the Royals this season his impartiality will always be questioned by players and fans, and that’s absolutely unfair to Wilson as he hopefully develops into a solid game official. For the record, this writer hasn’t made his usual second viewing of the game yet but watching live nothing stood out as being a bad call by Wilson, and he looked to be in a good position most of the time.
Wilson’s partner for Friday, Austin O’Rourke, who somehow works AHL games too, is not a good referee and has literally no feel for the game at all. And it was O’Rourke who the Railers were continually frustrated with.
It was only the Royals who were frustrated early as Justin Gill, wearing the 2001-02 IceCats throwback sweater #7 (Mike Van Ryn), made it 1-0 just 45 seconds into the game. Anthony Callin (#44, Marc Bergevin) and Matthew Kopperud (#18, Lauri Kinos) assisted in the goal.
Lou-Felix Denis would tie it for Reading at 2:18 when he got behind the Worcester defenders and was able to beat Railers goaltender Michael Bullion to the far post.
Just under ten minutes later the same three Worcester players who scored the opener would connect again, this time it was Callin from Gill and Kopperud at 11:59 to make it 2-1 Railers.
With time winding down in the opening period Matt DeMelis (#37, Steve Halko) would grab his first professional goal with 10.6 seconds left in the period to make it a 3-1 Worcester lead. Connor Welsh (#26 Jonathan Fauteux) and Lincoln Hatten (#33 Eric Boguniecki) were the helpers.
In the second period, Jake Smith would cut the Railers’ lead to 3-2 at 9:40 on a shot that Bullion has to make a save on. While he didn’t get a whole lot of help from his defenders Bullion didn’t even react to the shot that beat him high to the stick side until the puck was essentially behind him. He’s had far too many like that over the past few weeks, and he needs to get out of his own head and get back to just stopping pucks without thinking about it.
After several non-calls that always seemed to go against the Railers Cole Donhauser was called for tripping in the neutral zone with just over a minute to go in the period. Worcester head coach Nick Tuzzolino was seen talking to referee O’Rourke at the Railers bench, who then assessed the Railers a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct under rule 75.3, which in this case is essentially using foul language to the referee. According to fans who sit near there Tuzzolino got the bench minor for reminding referee O’Rourke that there are two teams playing on the ice. And, oddly, based on his calls, he may have needed a reminder.
Matt Brown followed up with a five-on-three goal at 19:39 to make it a 3-3 game.
It stayed tied through the third period, and the two teams headed to overtime. It was back and forth, as one would expect a three-on-three overtime to be, but after one long stint in the Royals zone where there were easily three penalties not called on Reading that could have been this writer turned to Railers Booster Club president Rich Lundin and said before the overtime period was over the Railers would be hit with a ticky-tack penalty. Lundin readily agreed.
It took less than a minute before referee O’Rourke called Jordan Kaplan for a slash. First off, it wasn’t much of a slash, it was more of a hook, and yes, it was by the rulebook a penalty. But compared to what was let go for the second half of the third period and the overtime period it didn’t come close to the level of those infractions. As noted above, referee O’Rourke has no feel for the game. Even as play continued Kaplan was voicing his displeasure with O’Rourke, who hit him with a double misconduct after play had stopped and ejected him.
In 171 career ECHL games Kaplan has exactly one Unsportsmanlike Conduct minor, which was a matching minor with Todd Skirving in the 2021-22 season. But somehow referee O’Rourke was so thin-skinned he gave Kaplan two ten-minute misconducts? Something sure seems fishy there.
Thanks to some big saves from Bullion the Railers were able to kill that penalty and move on to the shootout, where Worcester is so bad there was almost no reason to not just hand Reading the bonus point right there. Matt Miller scored on the Royals’ second attempt, and as usual, Worcester didn’t score at all. They are now one for their last 19 shootout attempts going back to last January 20th, when Jack Quinlivan scored in the seventh round against Fort Wayne to win it against the Komets.
The same two teams will go at it again on Saturday, with a 6pm puck drop. And, no, referee O’Rourke is not scheduled to work the game.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Matthew Boudens (IR/upper body), Ryan Dickinson, JD Dudek, Dante Giannuzzi (3-day IR), and Brendan Rons (IR/unknown). Hugo Ollas, who was assigned to Worcester from the New York Rangers on Friday, was the backup goaltender. Anthony Callin was returned to the Railers after playing one game on a PTO with the Springfield Thunderbirds and Cam McDonald was loaned back to Worcester by Bridgeport. Both were in the lineup Friday.
A bit on the Hugo Ollas situation, who is under an NHL contract with the New York Rangers. With the Railers in need of a legitimate everyday goaltender to replace John Muse and the Rangers wanting Ollas to be closer to the coaching available in New York and Hartford, it’s a handshake agreement that works for both parties. As when Worcester had a few St. Louis/Springfield players on the roster, this was separate from their affiliation agreement with the New York Islanders. Yes, it’s a bit unusual for two NHL and AHL rivals to have players each assigned to the same affiliate, but it’s still a situation which all parties gain at least a little bit from. Ollas previously played for the ECHL’s Bloomington Bison under his contract, so while we’ll have to double-check with Railers COO Mike Myers, it’s likely he can’t return there once he plays a game with the Railers unless the Rangers trade his NHL contract. With the transaction, the Bison needed an EBUG for Friday and turned to Jason Proot, a ticket account executive with the team. Worcester’s Senior Director of Ticket Sales Connor Haynes was unavailable to answer questions about the possibility of him becoming an EBUG for the Railers.
And as we’re talking about Ollas, longtime Worcester hockey fan Tim Charest probably said it best, “(We) replaced Moose with an actual moose. That’s a large man.” The NHL lists Ollas as 6’6″ and 251 pounds. The AHL has him at 6’8″, and 238 pounds, and the ECHL lists him at 6’7″ and 251 pounds. No matter what his actual size is, that’s one big goaltender. Ollas was drafted by the Rangers in the 7th round (#197) in 2020, 17 picks ahead of the Islanders drafting another huge goaltender, Henrik Tikkanen. Railers defender Matias Rajaniemi was also taken in that draft by the Islanders, in the 6th round (#183). Ollas played three seasons for Merrimack College, where he was teammates with Worcester hockey alumni Steven Jandric and Max Newton in 2020-21.
Joining Railers head coach Nick Tuzzolino behind the bench this weekend is his brother Tony Tuzzolino. Tony, who was drafted in the 5th round, 113th overall, by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, is a two-time Calder Cup champion, winning with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1999-2000 and the Houston Aeros in 2002-03. He played in nine NHL games, including two for the Boston Bruins. The elder Tuzzolino also represented Italy in the 2006 Olympics in ice hockey. A quick search of game recaps on the site shows Tony scored a goal against the IceCats for the Providence Bruins on December 5, 2001, and Bill Ballou made several mentions of him over the years in the Worcester Telegram.
In a bit of head-scratching news, Railers defender Ryan Dickinson was not suspended for his interference major against Alex Young with 5:51 remaining in regulation on New Year’s Eve in Adirondack. Dickinson absolutely jacked up Young, who was in no way considered the puck carrier in the play at all, in the neutral zone. In the live action, it looked like a borderline hit, but watching it on video, and it took just a single gander, referee Austin Rook got the call correct. Dickinson was a scratch for the Railers Friday.
The three stars of the game were
1. REA – Matt Miller
2. WOR – Anthony Callin
3. WOR – Matthew Kopperud
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Justin Gill.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Kaplan / Loughran
Kopperud / Callin / Gill
Donhauser / DeMelis / Hatten
Ginnell / Mahshie / Johnson
Welsh / Luce
McDonald / Klee
Krygier / Rajaniemi
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Trois-Rivieres 7 Adirondack 2
Wheeling 5, Norfolk 4
Tahoe 3, Maine 2 OT
BOX SCORE
Reading 1 2 0 0 – 4
Worcester 3 0 0 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Worcester, Gill 2 (Callin, Kopperud), 0:45. 2, Reading, Denis 5 (Sedley, Caufield), 2:18. 3, Worcester, Callin 7 (Gill, Kopperud), 11:59. 4, Worcester, DeMelis 1 (Welsh, Hatten), 19:49. Penalties-McMenamin Rea (slashing), 3:31; Welsh Wor (tripping), 8:54; Loughran Wor (tripping), 15:44.
2nd Period-5, Reading, Smith 6 (Brown, Sedley), 9:40. 6, Reading, Brown 6 (Miller, Smith), 19:39 (PP). Penalties-Klee Wor (delay of game), 3:14; Stucker Rea (roughing), 9:08; Gill Wor (roughing), 9:08; Kopperud Wor (holding), 10:01; Stucker Rea (holding), 11:23; served by Mahshie Wor (bench – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:58; Donhauser Wor (tripping), 18:58.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Gratton Rea (tripping), 1:55; Smith Rea (slashing), 9:05.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Kaplan Wor (slashing, misconduct, game misconduct – abuse of officials), 4:58.
Shootout – Reading 1 (Caufield NG, Miller G, Brown NG), Worcester 0 (Callin NG, Repaci NG, Loughran NG).
Shots on Goal-Reading 10-8-3-6-1-28. Worcester 13-8-9-2-0-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Reading 1 / 8; Worcester 0 / 4.
Goalies-Reading, Purpura 5-2-0-0 (32 shots-29 saves). Worcester, Bullion 5-10-0-2 (27 shots-24 saves).
A-3,305
Referees-Austin O’Rourke (10), Koletrane Wilson (53).
Linesmen-Davids Rozitis (90), Sam Schildkraut (46).
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