The Worcester Railers headed off to Wheeling, West Virginia, to take on the Nailers in a three-game set starting Friday night, and the Railers laid a gigantic goose egg in the opener, failing to beat Wheeling netminder Taylor Gauthier a single time in a 4-0 loss.
Hopes were high when it was announced Drew Callin was off the Injured Reserve list and that Jordan Kaplan was heading to the Railers after being claimed off waivers earlier in the week. Neither was any help as Worcester’s anemic offense once again failed to get the job done.
The power play, which is so bad it defies description, has now gone 40 consecutive attempts without scoring. That’s by far a Worcester pro hockey record, and while the ECHL doesn’t appear to keep such a mark in its record books, there’s no way it isn’t one.
Wheeling’s first goal is the kind that has haunted the Railers all season. They were skating on the power play when Cole Donhauser was careless with his stick, setting up some four-on-four action. Less than a minute later, Jesse Pulkkinen lost his man in the Worcester zone, and Tristan Thompson was all alone in front, and backhanded one over Parker Gahagen for the 1-0 lead.
It was 2-0 Nailers just 27 seconds into the middle frame when Wheeling was offside, allowing the Railers defenders ample time to control the puck and make a play. Instead, Case McCarthy threw it right on the tape of Connor Lockhart’s stick, and he beat Gahagen high over his right shoulder.
As if allowing one goal in the first or last minute of a period was bad enough, Worcester did it again in the third when Matthew Quercia scored nine seconds into the third with Wheeling on a four-on-three power play. We won’t mention referee Brendan Schreider’s incredibly weak and late tripping call on Anthony Callin to set up that overtime-like man advantage. We also won’t mention that once again the Railers’ skaters left a man completely wide open in front of their own net.
Down 3-0, Railers head coach Nick Tuzzolino pulled Gahagen for an extra attacker with seven minutes to go in the game. It didn’t matter, as they probably could have put a dozen skaters out there and not have been able to put the puck in the net. Ryan McAllister made it the 4-0 final with the empty netter about 90 seconds later
In something we teased last weekend, mentioning there was a player who was one game shy of tying a consecutive games mark set in the Railers’ inaugural campaign of 2017-18. That record was missed because of that meaningless empty net goal. McAuley Carson entered the game on a 17-game streak of being even or better, but was on the ice when Ryan McAllister scored, earning him a minus-one for the game and ending the streak. Matt Lane holds that record, going 18 straight from February 27, 2018, until the end of the season. The next season, Lane went on to add one ECHL game with Atlanta and then five with AHL Milwaukee for a very impressive 24 games in a row at even or better.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Gabe Blanchard (14-day IR/Upper body), Vincent Corcoran, Dalton Duhart (14-day IR/unknown), Connor Federkow (14-day IR/Lower body), Riley Ginnell (14-day IR/Lower body), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Lower body), Tristan Lennox, Ryan Miotto ((14-day IR/unknown), Ross Mitton, and Max Ruoho (3-day IR). Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
Despite the ECHL trade deadline passing last week, Railers general manager Nick Tuzzolino was very busy this week, releasing Max Dukovac and Michael Ferrandino on Monday. Also on Monday, the Hartford Wolf Pack sent defenseman Case McCarthy back to the Railers. On Tuesday, the Railers released forward Anton Rubtsov, but let’s just say this writer thinks we haven’t seen the last of Rubtsov in a Railers jersey. Wednesday was a busy day for Tuzzolino, who released goaltender William Lavalliere, another candidate for a potential future return, claimed Jordan Kaplan off waivers from Cincinnati, and signed defenseman Vincent Corcoran from Bemidji State University. Also on Wednesday, Parker Gahagen was sent to Worcester by AHL-Bridgeport, and Gleb Veremyev was reassigned from the AHL-Islanders to the Railers by the New York Islanders.
The most shocking transaction on Wednesday was the addition of Ryan Miotto to the 14-Day Injured Reserve list. Miotto was on the ice for the next-to-last Worcester shift in Sunday’s 4-3 over Adirondack, and did not appear to be injured when he skated off the ice to make a line change during a stoppage in play. Almost as shocking was the addition of Dalton Duhart to the 14-day IR list on Friday, as he was traded twice on deadline day and hasn’t played since. It is within the realm of possibility that the Railers could seek additional compensation from Indy with Duhart being injured, unless that injury happened after the trade was finalized. We may hear more about this in the future.
Speaking of Sunday’s game, Thunder forward Brian Carrabes managed to escape supplementary discipline for the slew-foot infraction for which he was penalized. You can see the incident on the video, but the more you watch it, the more it looks like Railers defender Michael Suda may have simply been out-muscled by a much smaller player. That seems to be what the ECHL saw, too, as slew footing infraction is a match penalty and is automatically reviewed by the league.
In some Worcester hockey alumnus news, former Worcester IceCats head coach Don Granato has been named head coach of the 2026 U.S. Men’s National Team that will compete in the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship that will take place May 15th-31st in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland. Granato served as head coach of the IceCats from 2000-2005, where he received the AHL’s Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the league’s most outstanding coach in the 2000-01 season, and had a record behind the Worcester bench of 192-130-60.
The three stars of the game were
1. WHL – #33 Taylor Gauthier
2. WHL – #37 Connor Lockhart
3. WHL – #22 Matthew Quercia
The 210Sports Player of the Game is no one.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / A.Callin / D.Callin
Carson / DeMelis / Piercey
Donhauser / Kaplan / Hatten
Veremyev / Dorrington / McDonnell
McDonald / McCarthy
Suda / Pulkkinen
Samuelsson / Jean-Louis
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester drops series opener to Nailers 4-0
NAILERS: Gauthier makes more history in 4-0 shutout win
Our affiliates last night
Bridgeport 3, Laval 2 SO
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Reading 3, Norfolk 0
Kalamazoo 4, Adirondack 3
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 0 – 0
Wheeling 1 1 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Wheeling, Thompson 5 (Lockhart, De St. Phalle), 17:57. Penalties-Sutter Whl (tripping), 16:10; Donhauser Wor (high-sticking), 17:18.
2nd Period-2, Wheeling, Lockhart 19 0:27. Penalties-Bennett Whl (slashing), 5:22; McDonald Wor (roughing), 18:09; Pietila Whl (roughing), 18:09; Callin Wor (tripping), 18:27.
3rd Period-3, Wheeling, Quercia 13 (Lockhart, De St. Phalle), 0:09 (PP). 4, Wheeling, McAllister 4 (Bennett, Lockhart), 14:25 (EN). Penalties-Posma Whl (holding), 7:31.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-12-11-34. Wheeling 10-8-5-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 3; Wheeling 1 / 2.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 15-9-4-1 (22 shots-19 saves). Wheeling, Gauthier 17-7-2-3 (34 shots-34 saves).
A-2,336
Referees-Brendan Schreider (12), Ian Rapp (47).
Linesmen-Joe Sherman (46), Austin March (80).
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