The Worcester Railers and Wheeling Nailers faced off Friday night at the DCU Center in the first of three meetings this weekend between the ECHL North Division rivals, and the Railers got off to a quick start with three first-period goals en route to a 6-3 victory. Worcester had six different goal scorers, and Parker Gahagen made 24 saves on 27 shots for the victory.
It took just 97 seconds for the Railers to take a 1-0 lead against the division-leading Nailers when Ryan Miotto was left all alone in front, and his close one-time bid beat Maxim Pavlenko clean. Anthony Repaci and Gabe Blanchard picked up the assists.
With just under four minutes left in the frame, Riley Ginnell, fresh off the 14-day Injured Reserve list, made it 2-0 on a goal that Pavlenko probably wants another chance on. Max Dorrington and Khristian Acosta had the helpers.
Worcester wasn’t done in the frame, and with 39 ticks left on the clock, Drew Callin launched a one-timer of his own to make it 3-0 after one period. Cole Donhauser had the lone assist.
Wheeling would get one back about six minutes into the middle frame, but at 11:44, Donhauser would grab his second assist, this time helping Anthony Callin play some transition hockey to make it 4-1 Railers.
The Nailers would grab a goal at 15:53, by Matty De St. Phalle, to make it 4-2 after forty minutes.
Halfway through the third period, newcomer Nikita Susuyev would score on a breakaway to give Worcester its three-goal lead back. Michael Suda picked up the lone helper.
Susuyev joins Bo Brauer, Anthony Callin, Ben Thomson, and Cam Berg as the only Railers players to score on their first shot with the team as a mid-season addition to the roster.
Apparently, Wheeling captain Matthew Quercia had an important dinner date he wanted to get to, as after he took a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, he continued to argue with both referees, obviously looking to get the rest of the night off. Eventually, referee Dominic Cadieux obliged, and that was the end of Quercia’s night.
On the ensuing power play, Repaci made it a 6-2 game with a low wrist shot through traffic. Suda and Matt DeMelis had the assists, with Suda picking up his 20th helper on the season.
With the power play goal, Repaci is now the Worcester pro hockey all-time leader with 29 for his Railers career, passing Jame Pollock.
Max Graham would grab a stat-busting power play goal for the Nailers at 18:57 for the 6-3 final.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were MacAuley Carson, Connor Federkow, Michael Ferrandino (14-day IR/Unknown), Thomas Gale, Hunter Hall (3-day IR), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Lower body), and Ross Mitton (14-day IR/Upper body). Tristan Lennox was the backup goaltender.
There was a bunch of transactions involving the Railers this week, starting with Worcester releasing Matt Myers, son of Railers COO Mike Myers, on Wednesday. Fans were hoping Matt would get to play in a WorSharks jersey on Saturday, as that was the team he saw growing up, but sometimes the business of hockey is a cruel mistress, and he heads back to the SPHL’s Birmingham Bulls. Also on Wednesday, Hartford recalled defenseman Case McCarthy, and the St Louis Blues assigned forward Nikita Susuyev from AHL Springfield to the Railers. On Thursday, the Railers released Lazarus Kaebel, a move many saw coming after last weekend’s series in Norfolk. The New York Islanders then re-assigned Calle Odelius from AHL Bridgeport to Worcester.
Having ten shots in a period isn’t that big a deal. A look at the ECHL box scores last night shows that a lot of teams did it Friday night. Last night, both Worcester and Wheeling did it once. So why would we mention that Greenville had ten shots in a period? Well, because they did it in 6:33 of overtime play, all at three-on-three even strength. Even more amazing, the Swamp Rabbits had gaps of 59 seconds, 78 seconds, and 69 seconds without one before scoring the winner 90 seconds after their previous shot. Only one of the ten shots is listed by the ECHL as “Non quality on net”, from defenseman Parker Berge, and based on the location, it’s a place you’d expect a defenseman to be shooting from. And after all that, the tenth shot, which was the game-winner, really should have been stopped by Utah goalie Dominic Basse.
If you follow 210Sports on social media, you’ve seen this link posted earlier on Friday, but for those who don’t, I just wanted to share it again. It’s by former IceCats season ticket holder Tim Ouellette, and it discusses the issues LNAH players face when signing with ECHL and other minor league teams while the season is underway. It helps explain why LNAH players, who in many cases are better than some of the players in the ECHL and lower leagues, don’t seem to bump into those leagues. It’s well worth the couple of minutes it takes to read.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #77 Drew Callin
2. WOR – #81 Anthony Repaci
3. WOR – #17 Nikita Susuyev
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Michael Suda.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / Miotto / Hatten
Donhauser / A.Callin / D.Callin
Piercey / DeMelis / Susuyev
Ginnell / Dorrington / Acosta
Pulkkinen / Samuelsson
McDonald / Suda
Odelius / Blanchard
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers hammer Nailers in 6-3 victory to open weekend
NAILERS: Rough start troubles Nailers in Worcester
Our affiliates last night
Bridgeport 6, Hartford 3
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Adirondack 4, Maine 2
Reading 5, Greensboro 2
Norfolk 5, Trois-Rivières 2
BOX SCORE
Wheeling 0 2 1 – 3
Worcester 3 1 2 – 6
1st Period-1, Worcester, Miotto 8 (Repaci, Blanchard), 1:37. 2, Worcester, Ginnell 4 (Dorrington, Acosta), 16:07. 3, Worcester, Callin 13 (Donhauser), 19:21. Penalties-Works Whl (holding), 3:52.
2nd Period-4, Wheeling, Breazeale 3 (Mahshie, Thompson), 6:17. 5, Worcester, Callin 12 (Donhauser), 11:44. 6, Wheeling, De St. Phalle 5 (Pietila, Johnson), 15:53. Penalties-served by Hernández Whl (bench – too many men), 2:37.
3rd Period-7, Worcester, Susuyev 1 (Suda), 9:48. 8, Worcester, Repaci 12 (Suda, DeMelis), 16:29 (PP). 9, Wheeling, Graham 8 (Mahshie, Johnson), 18:57 (PP). Penalties-Tymkin Whl (high-sticking), 10:53; Quercia Whl (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct), 14:53; Samuelsson Wor (slashing), 17:20; Sutter Whl (interference), 19:37.
Shots on Goal-Wheeling 6-8-13-27. Worcester 10-9-5-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Wheeling 1 / 1; Worcester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Wheeling, Pavlenko 10-8-0-0 (24 shots-18 saves). Worcester, Gahagen 10-3-2-0 (27 shots-24 saves).
A-3,701
Referees-Sam Heidemann (22), Dominic Cadieux (3).
Linesmen-Cody Sullivan (82), Noah Merrow (57).
—
Do you have something you loved (or hated) about the post? Head on over to the 210Sports Facebook page and leave a comment. You could comment on this post too, but fair warning: the spam filter catches a lot of stuff it shouldn’t, and it might be weeks before we see your comment. While you’re there, please give the page a like and a follow.
You can also follow along and comment on the following sites:
Twitter/X (210Darryl), Twitter/X (210Sports), Bluesky, and Mastodon.
-30-
210Sports 
Leave a comment