For the first time in Worcester Railers franchise history, they traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, to take on the expansion Gargoyles, where Worcester scored five goals in a row to take a big lead, and then watched it slowly disappear by taking three silly penalties that resulted in Greensboro power play goals. Still, the Railers ultimately held on for the 5-4 win.
Things did not start off great for Worcester when Cam McDonald broke his stick on a one-timer bid, and the Gargoyles were able to race back in the other direction on an odd-man rush, and before McDonald could get fully back into the play, Greg Smith scored on Greensboro’s first shot at 2:57 of the first.
It took until the midway point of the opening frame for the Railers to tie the game, and it was on a nice put-back shot by Max Dorrington at 11:19. Vincent Corcoran’s first pro point was the primary assist. Gleb Veremyev had the second helper.
With Corcoran getting his first pro assist, he obviously decided it was time for his first pro goal, which he managed under two minutes later when he drove the net and jammed one home short side on Gargoyles netminder Ruslan Khazheyev. Jordan Kaplan and Michael Suda picked up points on the play.
With time winding down in the first and Worcester on the power play, Drew Callin made it 3-1 with 33 seconds left on, well, your typical Drew Callin power play goal. Brother Anthony and Veremyev had the assists.
The scoring barrage continued in the second period when Matt DeMelis made it 4-1 after Worcester had multiple rebound bids. You can see the frustration Khazheyev has with his defense, or lack of defense, after the goal. Xavier Jean-Louis and Anthony Repaci got the assists on the goal at 3:48.
It was another rebound opportunity that made it 5-1 Worcester when MacAuley Carson banged one home from just outside the crease at 5:20. Corcoran and DeMelis had the assists on what should have been a goal that allowed Railers fans watching at home to relax a bit.
What it ended up being was the game winner, as once again Worcester’s undisciplined play led to dumb penalties, and the penalty kill was nothing short of terrible Friday night.
The Railers managed to kill off Jean-Louis’ automatic delay of game minor for shooting the puck over the glass on a play where there wasn’t a Greensboro player within 20 feet of him, and none were even facing in his direction. They didn’t kill off Veremyev’s high-sticking minor, a penalty you can’t even see because he was so far behind the play, and when he disappears and reappears on camera, he’s nowhere near a Gargoyles player. Drew Kuzma made it 5-2 at 17:22.
In the third, it was Cole Donhauser heading to the penalty bench for a high-stick, where he apparently just decided to hit Austen May in the face. It’s visible on the video, and there’s literally no reason at all for Donhauser’s stick to be that high off the ice at that point. Nate Hanley then made it 5-3 at 4:16.
It stayed a two-goal game deep into the third until McDonald needlessly tripped Kuzma behind the Worcester net. It was then Kuzma who scored at 16:12 to make it a 5-4 game.
Luckily, that was as close as Greensboro would get. Parker Gahagen earned his 18th win of the year, making 26 saves.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Gabe Blanchard (14-day IR/Upper body), 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, Declan McDonnell (14-day IR/Lower body), Ryan Miotto (14-day IR/Lower body), and Max Ruoho (3-day IR). Thomas Gale was the backup goaltender.
Earlier this week, Jesse Pulkkinen was reassigned by the New York Islanders from Worcester to Bridgeport. Greensboro had so many transactions over the week that they had to skate a player short, going with just 11 forwards. They were soon down to just five defenders after Lincoln Hatten leveled Artyom Borshyov with a huge, clean open ice hit. Borshyov eventually skated off under his own power, holding a towel to his face.
Looking back at last Sunday’s officiating debacle, Reading forward Mikael Robidoux escaped supplementary discipline for his check to the head of Ross Mitton. It was one of the very few calls that referees Alexandre Gagne and Michael Zyla got correct all night, and then the ECHL followed up by deciding that Robidoux’s clear contact to the head wasn’t worth even a fine. Looks like it’s just one more thing to add to the clown show that Sunday was.
There’s been a scoring change from the clown show game, with Max Dorrington losing an assist on Case McCarthy’s second-period goal and Gleb Veremyev gaining one. That goal now reads “3, Worcester, McCarthy 4 (Kaplan, Veremyev), 4:04.”
It was 14 years ago, but April 10, 2012, saw a lot of WorSharks news happening. In the afternoon the AHL announced that Jimmy Bonneau had been suspended for eight games, defenseman Matt Pelech was suspended for four games, and assistant coach David Cunniff was suspended for one game, all because of a postgame brawl in Portland when referee Mark Lemelin allowed Brett Sterling, who was ineligible because he was serving a misconduct, to shoot in the shootout, where he scored the winner and then taunted the Worcester bench. No Pirates player was disciplined. The AHL admitted the error to both teams, but nothing was ever announced publicly. Later in the day, the WorSharks were hosting the Manchester Monarchs, and, well, it’s better to just show you what happened there.
Days later, the AHL announced Monarchs right wing Justin Johnson had been suspended for three games and left wing Richard Clune was suspended for one game. Worcester Sharks left wing Frazer McLaren was suspended for three games, and Worcester left wing Curt Gogol was suspended for one game. Amazingly, there were no fights in the actual game.
Holy Cross Women’s ice hockey head coach Katie Lachapelle has been named the New England Hockey Writers Association 2025-26 Division I Women’s New England Coach of the Year. Lachapelle had already been named the Hockey East Coach of the Year. She was also a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association National Coach of the Year award. This season, Lachapelle led the Crusaders to the Hockey East semifinals for the first time in program history, while breaking school records for the most Hockey East victories and most Hockey East points in a single season. The Holy Cross team spent four weeks ranked in the USCHO national poll, reaching a high of #13. It marked the first time any Crusader women’s program had ever been nationally ranked at the Division I level.
And, finally, if you’re a longtime reader or follower on the used to be named Twitter, you know how much I love color on color games, and I don’t think hockey does enough of them. To be blunt, there’s no reason why they don’t happen more often. So, to further prove my point that it’s a great thing for hockey, I present a highlight video of the NCAA national semi-final, the second-most important college hockey game of the season, and it’s Denver wearing maroon and Michigan wearing maize (bright yellow). The fact that Michigan lost here played absolutely no role in the posting of this video. OK, almost no role.
No chance for a color vs color national championship game as both schools, Denver and Wisconsin, wear a shade of red.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #25 Vincent Corcoran
2. GSO – #20 Drew Kuzma
3. WOR – #37 Matt DeMelis
The 210Sports Player of the Game is MacAuley Carson.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / A.Callin / D.Callin
Donhauser / DeMelis / Kaplan
Piercey / Carson / Hatten
Veremyev / Dorrington / Mitton
McDonald / McCarthy
Samuelsson / Jean-Louis
Suda / Corcoran
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers hold off Gargoyles 5-4 in first trip to Greensboro
GARGOYLES: Kuzma Gordie Howe hat trick gives Gargoyle late charge in 5-4 loss
Our affiliates last night
No games scheduled
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Maine 6, Norfolk 3
Reading 3, Wheeling 2
Adirondack 4, Trois-Rivières 3
BOX SCORE
Worcester 3 2 0 – 5
Greensboro 1 1 2 – 4
1st Period-1, Greensboro, Smith 12 (Groll, Swetlikoff), 2:57. 2, Worcester, Dorrington 4 (Corcoran, Veremyev), 11:19. 3, Worcester, Corcoran 1 (Kaplan, Suda), 13:10. 4, Worcester, Callin 22 (Callin, Veremyev), 19:21 (PP). Penalties-Piercey Wor (roughing), 6:08; Rask Gso (tripping), 15:41; Dangos Gso (slashing), 17:44.
2nd Period-5, Worcester, DeMelis 18 (Jean-Louis, Repaci), 3:48. 6, Worcester, Carson 5 (Corcoran, DeMelis), 5:20. 7, Greensboro, Kuzma 4 (Hanley, Skelly), 17:22 (PP). Penalties-Hatten Wor (fighting – major), 0:53; Kuzma Gso (fighting – major), 0:53; Jean-Louis Wor (delay of game), 11:44; Veremyev Wor (high-sticking), 16:02.
3rd Period-8, Greensboro, Hanley 2 (Kuzma, Brown), 4:16 (PP). 9, Greensboro, Kuzma 5 (May, Groll), 16:12 (PP). Penalties-Donhauser Wor (high-sticking), 2:24; McDonald Wor (tripping), 15:38.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 15-12-5-32. Greensboro 7-15-8-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 2; Greensboro 3 / 5.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 18-11-4-1 (30 shots-26 saves). Greensboro, Khazheyev 7-24-4-0 (32 shots-27 saves).
A-5,167
Referees-David Lilly (25), -.
Linesmen-Jake Rennert (57), Evan Knox (83).
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