For the third game in row the Worcester Railers took on the Trois-Rivieres Lions, only this time it was at the Colisée Vidéotron in Quebec instead of the comfortable confines of the DCU Center, but the two points earned by Worcester were the same no matter where they played as Anthony Repaci’s overtime game-winner gave the Railers a 3-2 victory.
There was only one goal scored in the opening 20 minutes, and that belonged to Worcester as they took a page out of the Lions’ play book when Tanner Schachle threw a wide shot on the Trois-Rivieres net that goaltender Luke Cavallin could only kick save, with the rebound heading right to a streaking Lincoln Hatten. Pito Walton had the secondary assist at 12:56.
In the second frame Walton made it 2-0 on a booming slapshot that a goaltender like Cavallin should have eaten up, only he spilled a little and the puck rolled across the goal line at 6:07 with Connor Welsh and Justin Gill grabbing assists on the four-on-four play.
Thirty-two seconds later, with each team still playing a man short, Nicolas Guay cut the Worcester lead to 2-1 when the Lions outnumbered the Railers up high, allowing Guay to skate in unmolested and beat Railers netminder Michael Bullion.
In a game chat with a couple others this writer mentioned he needed to watch the video because it looked like Guay should have been Anthony Callin’s player to cover, but watching it a few times it seems like Trois-Rivieres may have found a little hitch in Worcester’s four-on-four defense. Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino might need to make some adjustments there in the future, especially if these teams meet in the post season.
We don’t usually post “keys to the game” on Twitter, but there was one last night, one which seems obvious but for the Railers does need some mentioning: stay out of the penalty box. Before the Guay goal the Lions had one power play. After that point, they had five, including one in overtime. At some point the Trois-Rivieres power play, which coming into this weekend series was tops in the ECHL, is going to wake up. And that will be bad news for Worcester.
The Lions second goal came on the man advantage, with Hatten in the sin bin for goaltender interference, when Jakov Novak blasted one past Bullion at 14:10 to make it 2-2.
From there both teams got a little frisky as they racked up a combined 46 penalty minutes over the final 1:43 of the middle period.
In the third the Railers had to kill three penalties, none of which were in the “had to take” category, while not looking so good on their man advantage chance that included about 20 seconds of five-on-three time.
Like they did on Saturday the Railers managed to drag the game into overtime, but unlike their thrilling home win where they controlled the puck in the Trois-Rivieres’ end for all but 14 seconds of that extra session this time they had it in the offensive zone for just seven ticks of the clock and no shot attempts before the rush where Repaci scores.
And Repaci’s shot was a bit of a misfire, but with Justin Ducharme inadvertently setting a screen in front of Cavallin, it was enough to light the lamp.
Matt DeMelis and Bullion picked up the helpers on Repaci’s 14th Railers career game winning goal, tying him with Marc Brown, Blake Evans, and Jeff Panzer for the top spot in Worcester pro hockey history.
The team teams will play again Saturday, with a 3pm ET start.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Alec Cicero, Ryan Dickinson (3-day IR), JD Dudek (IR/unknown), Kabore Dunn, Riley Ginnell (IR/unknown), Kolby Johnson (IR/upper body), and Matt Ustaski (IR/unknown). Hugo Ollas was the backup goaltender.
On Tuesday, Bridgeport assigned defenseman Cam McDonald to Worcester, and the Railers created a roster space for him by moving JD Dudek from the 3-day IR list to the 14-day list and adding Ryan Dickinson to the 3-day list. On Wednesday, Worcester activated Anthony Hora from IR and then released him.
This is where we would usually list any scoring changes, but as is typically the case with multiple games at the DCU Center, there were none from last week’s dual 5-4 victories over Trois-Rivieres. They’re pretty good at the Cross Insurance Arena too, and there were also no changes from Friday’s loss in Portland.
In this blog you will see the name Bill Ballou mentioned quite frequently, and if you ever have the pleasure of walking into the press box at Polar Park you’ll now see it every time as it’s been renamed “The Bill Ballou Press Box”. For the record, Ballou deserves every single accolade thrown at him, and hopefully, soon, one of them will be induction into the Worcester Hockey Hall of Fame. But I must add that there may be no bigger pandering organization in New England than the Worcester Red Sox. They are so disingenuous that the team logo should be pictured in the dictionary next to the definition of the word. People eat it up, though, so you can’t fault them for continuing to do it.
Wednesday night was supposed to see Reading playing in Norfolk in one of the two games in hand the Royals have over the Railers, but instead, it saw poor ice conditions and a long delay before the game at The Scope was postponed. After a delay that frankly took too long, the game has finally been rescheduled, with the two teams facing off on April 2nd. And because some fans don’t know the difference, “postponed” means the game is going to be played at a later date, and “canceled” is when it won’t be played at all. They are not the same thing.
One more thing: the NCAA regionals being held at SNHU Arena is not a precursor to professional hockey returning to Manchester. This regional was awarded to the city in 2020 and has nothing to do with any future pro team playing at SNHU Arena. Next season, these regionals will be returning to the DCU Center, with Holy Cross being the host team. The dates for those regionals will be March 27-29, 2026.
The three stars of the game were a complete joke, but they are
1. TR – Nicolas Guay (#9)
2. TR – Anthony Beauregard (#91)
3. WOR – Pito Walton (#8)
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Repaci.
Even Strength Lines
Donhauser / Callin / Repaci
Kopperud / Kaplan / Gill
Kobryn / DeMelis / Loughran
Schachle / Mahshie / Hatten
Welsh / Walton
Luce / Klee
Rajaniemi / McDonald
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers Take Third Straight Over Lions To Open Weekend
LIONS: Lions lose in a playoff-atmosphere type game
Our affiliates last night
Rochester 6, Bridgeport 0
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Wheeling 2, Cincinnati 0
Norfolk 5, Savannah 0
Reading 4, Maine 1
Adirondack 3, Indy 0
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 1 0 1 – 3
Trois-Rivières 0 2 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Worcester, Hatten 8 (Schachle, Walton), 12:56. Penalties-Luce Wor (delay of game), 18:59.
2nd Period-2, Worcester, Walton 2 (Welsh, Gill), 6:07. 3, Trois-Rivières, Guay 12 (Jandric, Beauregard), 6:39. 4, Trois-Rivières, Novak 21 (Guay, Beauregard), 14:10 (PP). Penalties-Loughran Wor (roughing), 4:46; Novak Tr (roughing), 4:46; Martin Tr (cross-checking), 11:49; Hatten Wor (interference on the goalkeeper), 13:26; Hatten Wor (fighting – major), 18:17; Luce Wor (roughing), 18:17; Schachle Wor (roughing), 18:17; Dufort Tr (fighting – major), 18:17; Hylland Tr (roughing), 18:17; Paquette Tr (roughing), 18:17; Kopperud Wor (double – roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 20:00; Cormier Tr (double – roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 20:00.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Klee Wor (hooking), 2:06; Gill Wor (slashing), 4:35; Martin Tr (hooking), 6:18; Novak Tr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:57; Loughran Wor (tripping), 11:17.
1st OT Period-5, Worcester, Repaci 27 (DeMelis, Bullion), 5:53. Penalties-Kaplan Wor (high-sticking, misconduct), 1:04.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-10-9-1-31. Trois-Rivières 9-7-5-4-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Trois-Rivières 1 / 6.
Goalies-Worcester, Bullion 16-13-0-2 (25 shots-23 saves). Trois-Rivières, Cavallin 18-8-1-1 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-2,397
Referees-Chad Ingalls (15).
Linesmen-Matthew Heinen (93), Guillaume Ouellet (51).
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