The Worcester Railers began their second consecutive four-games-in-five-days week with a Wednesday night matchup against the Reading Royals at the DCU Center, and the intimate crowd saw newly assigned forward Cam Berg score two third-period goals to help lift Worcester to a 4-1 victory.
The Railers played three games last weekend against Florida, and if you didn’t know the dates, you might have assumed it was playoff hockey based on the intensity both teams showed. The question before Wednesday’s game was if the Railers could keep that sort of emotional pace up, and at least for those 60 minutes, the answer was a resounding “yes”.
It was absolutely playoff-style hockey, and with Worcester’s slow start to the regular season, every game is becoming a “must get some points” scenario, even though it’s still mid-January.
Goals were at a premium over the first two periods, and luckily for the Railers, they were the only ones to light the lamp in the opening 40 minutes when Anthony Repaci connected on the power play at 8:17 of the opening period. The Callin brothers picked up both assists on the play, but as you watch the highlight, you can see there’s a chance Berg touches the puck just before the elder Callin passes it to Repaci. Berg will have the final say if he hit it or whiffed it.
That was Anthony Repaci’s 28th career Railers power play goal, tying him with Jame Pollock for the most in Worcester pro hockey history.
In that opening frame, Repaci was called for a matching roughing minor with Reading’s Hunter Johannes. The previous time Repaci served a penalty for roughing was February 13, 2022, in a Worcester 4-2 win over Adirondack. He also had the opening goal in that game. A quick look puts Repaci 469 penalty minutes behind franchise leader Yanick Turcotte, so it’s safe to say that’s one record he’s not going to be grabbing.
Despite the low score, both teams played very solid hockey, with Worcester’s Parker Gahagen and Reading’s Yaniv Perets making timely saves when their defenses faltered in front of them. Gahagen had the best of the night midway through the middle period when he stoned Royals forward Nolan Burke’s breakaway bid just as a Worcester power play was expiring.
Obviously, the next goal was going to be huge, and Berg turned his first shot in a Railers jersey into his first ECHL goal. Repaci and Jesse Pulkkinen had the assists on the tally at 6:24.
Berg became the fourth Railers player to score on his first shot on goal after joining the team mid-season, joining Bo Brauer, Anthony Callin, and Ben Thomson on the list.
There is no “pass of the year” award in any league this writer is familiar with, but if the ECHL had one, Drew Callin’s to Berg would probably be the winner. Riley Piercey’s lead pass to Callin was pretty good, too, just maybe not highlight quality.
With the goal, Berg joins Brauer and WorSharks forward Jack Combs as the only Worcester pros to score goals on their first two shots after joining their team mid-season. No Worcester pro has ever scored goals on their first three shots. Berg is also the third Railers player to score two goals in his first game with the team, joining Blade Jenkins and Devon Paliani in the achievement.
Reading finally broke through, with an extra attacker at 16:31, off a faceoff on a shot through traffic by Nolan Burke that Gahagan probably still hasn’t seen go by him. Every so often, a team lets up a “huh?” kind of goal, and this was one of those for Worcester.
The Royals pulled Perets for an extra attacker again, but Gahagen and the Railers were up to the challenge. Matt DeMelis eventually put the game out of reach with an empty net goal with 45.5 seconds remaining, with Anthony Callin picking up the helper.
Worcester now prepares for three in a row against the Maine Mariners, the first two coming Friday and Saturday at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, and returning to the DCU Center for a Sunday matinee matchup.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were MacAuley Carson (14-day IR/Unknown), Connor Federkow, Michael Ferrandino (14-day IR/Unknown), Thomas Gale, Riley Ginnell (14-day IR/Upper Body), Lazarus Kaebel (3-day IR), Case McCarthy (14-day IR/Unknown), and Porter Schachle (14-day IR/Unknown). Tristan Lennox was the backup goaltender.
With just about a minute gone in the third period, while the Railers were killing a Lincoln Hatten interference minor, Ross Mitton was hit in the face on a shot by Reading forward Hunter Johannes and went down to all fours. The officials blew the play dead as Mitton was bleeding, leaving a small pool in the high slot as he got up and skated off under his own power. He went down the tunnel to the dressing room and did not return.
Wednesday morning, Bridgeport assigned Cam Berg to Worcester and released Cam McDonald from his PTO. He did not play a game under his try-out contract with the AHL Islanders. At 19 days, that was the longest PTO in the Railers franchise history that had the Worcester player not appearing in a game. Later in the afternoon, the Railers announced they’d released Tanner Schachle. Let’s just say someone saw that coming a mile away.
In scoring changes from last weekend, Michael Suda loses an assist on Drew Callin’s Friday night goal, with Ryan Miotto picking one up. That goal now reads “3, Worcester, Callin 9 (Miotto, Hora), 16:22.” On Saturday, Callin loses his secondary assist on Miotto’s tying goal, with Adam Samuelsson picking up the point. That goal now reads “4, Worcester, Miotto 6 (Suda, Samuelsson), 17:00.” And on Sunday, MacAuley Carson’s assist on Suda’s has been changed to Riley Piercey. That goal now reads, “2, Worcester, Suda 2 (Mitton, Piercey), 7:14.”
It’s old news that the Utah Grizzlies have been sold and will be moved to Trenton, but the latest news is that the team will be called the Trenton Ironhawks. Having them called the Titans would have been this writer’s preference, and seeing the old Titans logo updated would have been nice, but the new owners went in a different direction. We’ll let the fans from Trenton decide if they like the name and logo, as, to be honest, they’re the ones who will be buying the merchandise. It’s almost a certainty the Ironhawks will join the Railers in the ECHL’s North Division, with Wheeling likely moving to the Central Division. The New Mexico Goatheads will take Utah’s spot on the West next season, with the un-nicknamed team in Augusta, Georgia, beginning play in the South Division in 2027.
It appears that Nico Blachman’s ECHL career is over as the oft-suspended forward got smacked down by the ECHL with a 12-game suspension for a cross-checking major and game misconduct Sunday in Fort Wayne’s 3-1 loss to Toledo. Soon after, the Komets announced they’d released the Aventura, FL native. Blachman, who has 826 penalty minutes in just 165 ECHL games, will now need to find an ECHL team willing to sign him and hold him on their roster so his 12 games will tick off, all the while paying his salary to the ECHL Player’s Hardship Fund. Knowing how cheap most ECHL owners are, there’s essentially no chance that will ever happen.
With the Mitton injury, we’ll mention that the ECHL made visors mandatory starting with the 2003-04 season, and the AHL followed suit for the 2006-07 season. The AHL eventually changed the wording of their rule to specifically indicate the visor had to cover the eyes when, in the 2007-08 season, Sandis Ozolinsh followed the absolute letter of the rule, having a visor attached to his helmet but covering his forehead so he didn’t need to look through the visor. When each minor league passed the rule, all players were required to wear them immediately. That was not the case in 2013 when the NHL visor rule was added to the rulebook, as then-current players could continue to play without one. Starting the 2025-26 season, only three players are not wearing visors: Dallas’ Jamie Benn, Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, and San Jose’s Ryan Reaves. Tuesday night, that list dropped to two as Benn was wearing a visor after a facial injury in a previous game. Alas, Benn said in a postgame interview that the one game is probably it for the visor, and it’s “back to normal tomorrow.” Eventually, one of those three, along with the last NHL helmetless player, Craig MacTavish, will be the answer to a fun trivia question.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #12 Cam Berg
2. WOR – #35 Parker Gahagen
3. WOR – #77 Drew Callin
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Anthony Repaci.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Dorrington
Veremyev / A.Callin / D.Callin
Donhauser / DeMelis / Hatten
Piercey / Berg / Mitton
Pulkkinen / Samuelsson
McDonald / Suda
Hora / Blanchard
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers grab 4-1 midweek win over Reading
ROYALS: Burke nets lone goal, Royals fall to Railers 4-1
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
No games scheduled
BOX SCORE
Reading 0 0 1 – 1
Worcester 1 0 3 – 4
1st Period-1, Worcester, Repaci 10 (Callin, Callin), 8:17 (PP). Penalties-Gendron Rea (hooking), 6:40; Bannister Rea (tripping), 10:36; Johannes Rea (roughing), 12:10; Repaci Wor (roughing), 12:10; Johannes Rea (boarding), 18:31.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-McDonald Wor (delay of game), 5:04; Willets Rea (holding), 6:38.
3rd Period-2, Worcester, Berg 1 (Repaci, Pulkkinen), 6:24. 3, Worcester, Berg 2 (Callin, Piercey), 14:09. 4, Reading, Burke 6 (Johannes, Meehan), 16:31. 5, Worcester, DeMelis 11 (Callin), 19:14 (EN). Penalties-Hatten Wor (interference), 0:45; Devine Rea (hooking), 10:08.
Shots on Goal-Reading 7-6-9-22. Worcester 8-10-10-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Reading 0 / 2; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Reading, Perets 7-6-1-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Worcester, Gahagen 8-2-1-0 (22 shots-21 saves).
A-1,570
Referees-Evan Reddick (21), Sam Heidemann (22).
Linesmen-Conor Foley (86), Stephen Drain (52).
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