Flying high after taking five of a possible six points last weekend against Adirondack Railers Air descended on Reading, Pennsylvania for the first of a pair of games against the Royals Friday night, and goaltender Parker Gahagen continued his hot play, making 40 saves in Worcester’s 2-1 win.
It was a scoreless opening period, but perhaps it may have been the Railers’ best in quite a while. They came out sharp and played with a purpose, but as he usually is against Worcester, Reading netminder Keith Petruzzelli was outstanding, matching Gahagen save for save.
The second period was essentially a track meet with bodychecking as the sides went up and down the ice, generating lots of quality scoring chances. Again, both goalies were on top of their game. Petruzzelli, however, was getting some help from the posts behind him as several Railers’ bids found the iron.
For most of the crowd, including referee Andrew Bell, it looked like Anthony Callin had hit the crossbar behind Petruzzelli with just under six and a half minutes gone in the second frame. But Drew Callin, stationed opposite of Referee Bell after a feed to younger brother Anthony, knew that shot went in, and two minutes and two seconds later, at the next stoppage of play, everyone knew after a video review, and it was 1-0 Worcester. Riley Piercey was eventually credited with the secondary helper.
There’s no record that this writer is aware of for the longest time replayed after a video review, but that 122 seconds between the goal being scored and the play being reviewed is absolutely the longest in Worcester pro hockey history since the AHL instituted video replay for the 2012-13 season. We’ll be chatting with Bill Ballou to see if he has any notes on the subject, but to the best of my recollection, the previous long was under 20 seconds of play.
A little later in the frame, Royals defender Myles Gendron decided he wanted to fight Riley Ginnell, but that turned out to maybe not be a smart idea, as once Ginnell got his gloves off, that was it for Genron landing punches.
Gendron ended up with an extra four minutes in penalties, and that began a spell of odd-length power plays with varying player strengths, eventually leading to a Ross Mitton four-on-three power play goal at 16:27 to make it 2-0 Railers. Cam McDonald and Ryan Miotto had the assists on the play.
Despite their recent success, Worcester still takes too many silly penalties, and last night was no exception as Piercey took a roughing minor, throwing an absolutely needless gloved punch to the head of Rotals defender Jake Willets. It was a “take a number” moment, and not the best time to potentially take a penalty.
Carson Golder would follow with a power play goal to make it 2-1, but Gahagen was able to make that single goal lead hold up and get another game into the win column.
The two teams will play again Saturday night, with a 7pm puck drop.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were MacAuley Carson (3-day IR), Cole Donhauser (suspended, game 1 of 2), Max Dorrington (suspended, game 4 of 4), Tristan Lennox (14-day IR/Lower body), Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown), and Tanner Shachle (14-day IR/Unknown). Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
There was one transaction of note this week as the Bridgeport Islanders signed defenseman Michael Suda to a Professional Tryout Agreement (PTO). Suda has five assists and is a plus-4 in 12 Railers games, and has been solid throughout his rookie campaign. He is, by this writer’s count, the 29th Railers player to earn a PTO from an AHL team. Every skater signed to a PTO has played at least a game under their try-out contract, excepting Connor Doherty, who was signed by the AHL’s Utica Comets for the 2019 playoffs after the Railers’ season was over, and Blade Jenkins, who ended up signing an AHL deal with Hartford in February of 2024. Suda was a healthy scratch in Bridgeport’s 5-1 loss to Utica, but hopefully Suda will continue the playing trend and get into a game with the AHL-Islanders as opposed to just sitting in the stands watching.
Last Sunday, we called ECHL referees Brendan Schreider and Evan Reddick bafoons, and they totally were, and their calls from last weekend will impact the Railers in their two-game set in Reading, as the league decided to suspend Railers forward Cole Donhauser for his cross-checking major and game misconduct, and he’ll miss both games against the Royals. The league ignored the initial high hit on Donhauser by Jacob Graves, both on the ice and postgame, and only suspended Chase McLane one game for leaving the Thunder player’s bench to go after Donhauser on the Worcester bench.
The Worcester Railers Booster Club held its annual Holiday Party at the DCU Center on Wednesday night, and the party also serves as the Club’s member toy drive. The toy and gift card donations, along with proceeds from raffles at the event, allowed the Booster Club to donate $3,000 in items and cash to The Friendly House. This brings the total the Booster Club has raised for charities since its inception to well over $200,000. There is still one big Club fundraising event before the holidays, with the annual Player Signed Ornament raffle taking place on December 17th, 19th, and 20th during the weekend games against Norfolk. Tickets will be on sale at the Booster Club table on the DCU Center concourse behind section 109, with the drawing held after the second intermission on Saturday, the 20th.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #44 Anthony Callin
2. REA – #9 Carson Golder
3. WOR – #16 Ross Mitton
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Parker Gahagen.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Mitton
Piercey / D.Callin / A.Callin
Ginnell / DeMelis / Hatten
Walsh / – / Veremyev
McDonald / Blanchard
Hora / Ferrandino
Stief / Samuelsson
Dowler
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester takes opener in Reading 2-1
ROYALS: Recap: Golder scores lone goal, Royals late push falls short to Railers 2-1
Our affiliates last night
Utica 5, Bridgeport 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Idaho 4, Trois-Rivières 1
Wheeling 3, Greensboro 1
Florida 8, Norfolk 4
Adirondack 5, Maine 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 2 0 – 2
Reading 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Butcher Rea (hooking), 9:34; Moynihan Rea (high-sticking), 17:50; Callin Wor (interference), 18:03; Saigeon Rea (tripping), 20:00.
2nd Period-1, Worcester, Callin 4 (Callin, Piercey), 6:26. 2, Worcester, Mitton 2 (McDonald, Miotto), 16:27 (PP). Penalties-served by Moynihan Rea (bench – too many men), 0:43; Ginnell Wor (fighting – major), 13:20; Gendron Rea (slashing, instigating, fighting – major), 13:20; Saigeon Rea (tripping), 14:39; Veremyev Wor (interference on the goalkeeper), 15:45; McDonald Wor (tripping), 17:45; McDonald Wor (interference), 19:53.
3rd Period-3, Reading, Golder 8 (Burke, Rizzo), 13:54 (PP). Penalties-Piercey Wor (roughing), 13:05.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 12-15-3-30. Reading 8-14-19-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 7; Reading 1 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 3-0-1-0 (41 shots-40 saves). Reading, Petruzzelli 3-7-1-0 (30 shots-28 saves).
A-2,419
Referees-Andrew Bell (24), Jamie Pavia (26).
Linesmen-Austin March (80), Nicholas Gutekunst (79).
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