The Worcester Railers finished off their three-in-three weekend at the DCU Center Sunday afternoon with a rematch against the ECHL-leading Wheeling Nailers, and despite having to play with a short bench and being down two goals with five minutes to go in regulation managed to pull off the biggest heist of the season by getting the game to overtime and earning a point before finally losing 4-3.
There is no such thing as a “moral victory” in pro sports; you either win, or you lose. It’s as simple as that. But just as certain as that fact is there is also the fact that some losses don’t hurt as bad as others, and that’s exactly the kind of loss Sunday was. Down and out, and with every reason in the book to quit, the Railers didn’t give up and literally willed themselves into tying the game and getting it to overtime.
After a scoreless first period where Worcester had a 15-9 shot advantage, the game continued well into the second frame when the Nailers finally broke the scoreless tie at 8:55 when David Jankowski banged home a Chris Ortiz centering feed past Worcester goaltender Hugo Ollas.
Meanwhile, down the other end of the ice Taylor Gauthier was playing like a brick wall for Wheeling, turning aside everything he could see. So, Cole Donhauser decided to fire one on the net that Gauthier couldn’t see, and it was 1-1 at 14:26. Matt DeMelis and Ryan Mahshie had the assists on the play.
Wheeling was all over Worcester from the ensuing puck drop, and at 15:48 Matty De St. Phalle gave the Nailers a 2-1 lead. At 6:21 of the third period, Ortiz increased that lead to 3-1 with a power play goal, letting a lot of air out of the building. And when Lincoln Hatten was called for tripping at 15:23, it looked to be all over for Worcester.
As it turned out, that started the wheels moving on an incredible theft.
After a long video review for something that looked pretty clearly to not be a goal, Matt DeMelis had his stick broken on the next faceoff. With the puck rolling in on Ollas, DeMelis broke to the bench for a new stick and instead was all but pulled onto the bench as Jordan Kaplan jumped onto the ice from the other end of the bench. And then, this happened:
In case anyone was wondering, no, what the Railers did was not legal. You can’t gain the length of the bench on a line change unless the player leaving the play is completely off the ice before the player entering play touches the ice. And that clearly did not happen.
With time winding down the Railers still needed a goal, but they couldn’t get out of their own end to get Ollas off for an extra attacker as Wheeling continued to force the issue.
They did manage to finally free themselves and get an extra attacker on, and despite playing what seemed like half the third period and most of the last two minutes of regulation, Anthony Repaci had enough left in the tanks for one last gasp. And it was just enough.
Worcester had one quick flurry to begin the extra period, but the team literally had nothing left to give, and Matt Koopman ended the game 49 seconds into overtime to give the bonus point to Wheeling.
But it doesn’t take away the point that the Railers managed to steal.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Matthew Boudens (IR/upper body). Michael Bullion was the backup goaltender. Late Saturday night Bridgeport recalled defensemen Matias Rajaniemi and Cam McDonald, forcing Worcester general manager Nick Tuzzolino to dig into the SPHL to sign defender Anthony Hora from the Evansville Thunderbolts. The Railers played one player short for the game.
There is some familiarity with Anthony Hora for the Railers as the 6’0″ 216-pound native of Cheektowaga, NY attended Worcester’s training camp last October. He didn’t appear in either of the Railers’ preseason games with the defensive corps mostly figured out, but he’s been on the team’s radar ever since. With the need for a blueliner, Tuzzolino wasted no time bringing Hora in. In every shift Hora took Sunday it was as if he was trying to prove he belonged in the ECHL, and while you shouldn’t judge a player on one game Hora did indeed look like he belonged out there. When you add he was playing on about three hours of sleep, it might be worth keeping him around if the Railers are able.
As everyone has come to expect, here at 210Sports we post nothing but hard-hitting journalism, and when a major story pops up readers can count on it getting the full attention of this writer. Such an occasion happened Sunday, and as ethics require, we got to the bottom of it right away. If you’re a regular attendee of Railers games, you know who “Banana Boy” is; the young man who sits in section 108 dressed as, well, a banana. He is accompanied by his dad, who wears one of the gray season member jerseys that were sold back in 2017. Only on Sunday when Wheeling took the lead, he shed his Railers jersey and was wearing an old-school Nailers jersey under it. When the Railers tied it, he put the Worcester jersey back on. And then when Wheeling retook the lead, off came the Railers jersey, only to be put back on when it was tied 3-3. As it turns out he attended high school in Wheeling, and since the Nailers hardly ever come to the DCU Center wanted to show a bit of support for Wheeling. That was ruled as fair, and now we can all sleep better knowing this all.
The three stars of the game were
1. WHL – Matt Koopman
2. WOR – Cole Donhauser
3. WOR – Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Hugo Ollas.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Kaplan / Loughran
Ginnell / Callin / Dudek
Donhauser / DeMelis / Mahshie
Hatten / Johnson / X
Welsh / Luce
Rons / Klee
Hora / Dickinson
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled Sunday
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Trois-Rivieres 4, Norfolk 3
BOX SCORE
Wheeling 0 2 1 1 – 4
Worcester 0 1 2 0 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Lindgren Whl (slashing), 11:37; Dudek Wor (holding the stick), 15:46.
2nd Period-1, Wheeling, Jankowski 5 (Ortiz, Roehl), 8:55. 2, Worcester, Donhauser 4 (DeMelis, Mahshie), 14:26. 3, Wheeling, De St. Phalle 13 (Roehl, Ortiz), 15:48. Penalties-Seaman Whl (high-sticking), 3:09; Bull Whl (delay of game – faceoff infraction), 11:07; Mahshie Wor (delay of game), 17:53.
3rd Period-4, Wheeling, Ortiz 5 (De St. Phalle, Klassen), 6:21 (PP). 5, Worcester, Kaplan 12 (Donhauser, Ollas), 15:23 (SH). 6, Worcester, Repaci 22 (Loughran, Callin), 19:56. Penalties-Quercia Whl (roughing), 3:38; Rons Wor (roughing), 3:38; Kaplan Wor (slashing), 5:42; Quercia Whl (tripping), 11:27; Hatten Wor (tripping), 14:18.
1st OT Period-7, Wheeling, Koopman 7 (De St. Phalle, Ortiz), 0:49. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Wheeling 9-12-10-1-32. Worcester 15-7-15-1-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Wheeling 1 / 4; Worcester 0 / 4.
Goalies-Wheeling, Gauthier 7-4-0-0 (38 shots-35 saves). Worcester, Ollas 4-7-1-2 (32 shots-28 saves).
A-3,900
Referees-Tyler Hascall (8), Scott Allan (54).
Linesmen-Jack McQuesten (53), Noah Merrow (57).
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