The Worcester Railers headed south to Norfolk, Virginia, to take on the Admirals Friday night, looking to put the debacle of last week behind them, but after a quick start, it was just like opening weekend again as Worcester allowed four unanswered goals in a 4-1 loss.
After three games, the Railers are dead last in the ECHL with no points. Their offense is 28th in the league (1.33 goals per game), and so is their defense (4.67 goals against average). It was obvious, looking at the opening night roster, that scoring was probably going to be an issue. For some reason, it has almost always been in Worcester over the years. But for a team that was allegedly built around defense and goaltending, being at the bottom of the league in those areas is worrisome.
The last few seasons have shown how important every point in the standings is. Right now, all the Railers are doing is throwing them away. They need to quickly figure out a way to start collecting them, or they will once again find themselves outside the North Division playoffs.
One way will be for Captain Anthony Repaci to get hot. As he goes, so go the Railers. And they need him to get going. Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear the golden tones of Tim Foley on this goal due to technical difficulties on the Norfolk side of things, so just imagine him loudly saying “…and Repaci scores!!!”.
What followed was, over the next 50 minutes, virtually every time Worcester either individually or as a team forgot to do their job, the puck ended up behind Tristan Lennox.
And two more points ended up in the trash.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Kabore Dunn, Thomas Gale (3-day IR), Riley Ginnell (14-day IR/Unknown), Jason Horvath, Kolby Johnson, Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), and Tanner Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown). Henrik Tikkanen was the backup goaltender.
With it being the first time Worcester and Norfolk have played this season, we’ll look at some area and roster connections. After last week, we were going to redefine “area”, but no need this week, as no one even remotely qualifies. Admirals defender Brehdan Engum spent four years at UMass-Lowell and a graduate season at Boston University. Forward Andrei Bakanov played 112 games with the Railers over three seasons, going 18-20-38 with a minus-21 rating, and fellow forward Matt Crasa spent four seasons at UMass-Lowell. For Worcester, Tanner Schachle played 33 games for Norfolk in the 2022-23 season, going 6-5-11.
Looking back at last Sunday’s game, Anthony and Drew Callin became the first brothers in Worcester pro hockey history to figure in the scoring of the same goal. But they weren’t the first brothers on the ice when a goal was scored by a Worcester team. Brian and Ted Hart managed to do it twice in the one game they played together for the Railers. It was in one of the most head-scratching losses in Worcester hockey history when the Railers managed to score seven goals in Maine and still lost 9-7 to the Mariners on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, at the Cross Insurance Arena. That was the game where Jason Pawloski had the worst single goaltending performance of anyone wearing a Worcester pro jersey, but couldn’t be replaced in goal because his backup, Brody Claeys, was an EBUG and wasn’t allowed to play unless Pawloski got injured. The Harts were on the ice for Nick Albano’s goal, with Brian getting the primary assist, which tied the game 3-3. They were then on the ice together again, on Devon Paliani’s tally, that made it 5-4 Worcester. We’ve never had a bother assist on his brother’s goal so far, but that’s something that should change, hopefully soon.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention former Railers goaltender Colten Ellis making his NHL debut Wednesday night and getting the 4-2 win for his Buffalo Sabres over the visiting Detroit Red Wings as the River Denys, Nova Scotia native made 29 saves on 31 shots, including several stops of the highlight variety. He’s the first former Railers netminder to earn a win in the NHL, and for a very brief period of time, was the first former Railers player to earn an NHL point after playing for the team. Alas, his secondary assist on Tyson Kozak’s goal was changed to Mattias Samuelsson, and his point was lost. We’ll have lots of videos posted on Monday in our weekly look at Worcester Hockey Alumni highlights.
And speaking of goaltenders, the Idaho Steelheads, as they’ve done on occasion over the last few years, used former Huntington Blizzard netminder Doug Melvin as an EBUG. Not a big deal until you realize that the Blizzard’s last year in the ECHL was 2000, and Melvin is 62 years old. Melvin’s first pro game was with the Eastern Hockey League’s Utica Mohawks in the 1979-80 season. That EHL is not the same as the EHL the Worcester Warriors played in; it was the renamed Northeastern Hockey League that eventually folded in 1981. There is a local connection for the old Blizzard franchise, though, as it eventually became the ECHL version of the Manchester Monarchs.
The three stars of the game were
1. NOR – #44 Ben Zloty
2. NOR – #30 Issac Poulter
3. NOR – #93 Grant Hebert
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Repaci.
Even Strength Lines
Walsh / Miotto / Donhauser
Repaci / A.Callin / Mitton
Kobryn / D.Callin / Dorrington
Piercey / DeMelis/ Mitton
Odelius / McDonald
Stief / Fraser
Hora / Ferrandino
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers open road trip with 4-1 loss to Admirals
ADMIRALS: Admirals shine in home opener against Worcester
Our affiliates last night
Bridgeport 3, Hartford 0
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Reading 4, Greensboro 1
Trois-Rivières 3, Adirondack 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 1 0 0 – 1
Norfolk 1 1 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Repaci 1 (Mitton), 10:00. 2, Norfolk, Hebert 2 (Dureau, Zloty), 14:18. Penalties-Hebert Nor (delay of game), 2:44; Mitton Wor (interference), 18:21.
2nd Period-3, Norfolk, Reifenberger 1 (Yavash, Engum), 16:31. Penalties-Callin Wor (cross-checking), 9:55.
3rd Period-4, Norfolk, Zloty 2 (Young), 3:37. 5, Norfolk, Fedorek 1 (Osmundson), 8:34. Penalties-Miotto Wor (closing hand on puck), 0:17; Yavash Nor (high-sticking), 9:48.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-11-9-32. Norfolk 6-9-8-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 2; Norfolk 0 / 3.
Goalies-Worcester, Lennox 0-2-0-0 (23 shots-19 saves). Norfolk, Poulter 2-0-0-0 (32 shots-31 saves).
A-7,645
Referees-Emile Charron (43), -.
Linesmen-Matt Fox (63), Evan Knox (83).
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