The Worcester Railers took on the Greensboro Gargoyles Saturday night at the First Horizon Coliseum in the second of three meetings this weekend between the ECHL North Division rivals, and it was a goaltenders’ duel as Worcester’s Thomas Gale and Greensboro’s Ruslan Khazheyev combined to make 65 saves on 69 shots, with the Railers ultimately coming out on top 3-1.
Before we get to the particulars, while Gale was the big reason Worcester was able to grab two points, another thing high on the list was that the Railers avoided taking many dumb penalties. Yes, referee David Lilly essentially took the night off, making just a single discretionary call, but Worcester made that easy by playing much more disciplined than they usually do. The only call Lilly had to make was a hooking call on Anthony Callin against Noah “Mr. Minus” Delmas, and while Callin was guilty, almost three seconds elapsed before Referee Lilly raised his arm, only doing so after Delmas complained.
If that’s the only officiating complaint about the game, and it is, and the only close to undisciplined play Worcester had, and it was, there’s a pretty good game.
It was a scoreless opening frame as the netminders combined for 24 saves, and it took until the 10:55 mark of the middle stanza for the opening goal, which belonged to Worcester when Max Dorrington’s wrist shot hit a defender on its way toward Khazheyev and the back of the net. Gleb Veremyev and Ross Mitton had the helpers.
Later in the period, neither team was able to capitalize on what would be their only power play opportunities of the game.
It stayed 1-0 Railers into the third period, where the Gargoyles came out on fire, and Worcester was sleepwalking a bit. Despite a couple of nice early saves from Gale, the onslaught was finally too much as Greg Smith tied the game at 3:10.
Veremyev is not known as a fighter, entering the game with just two AHL fights to his credit. But he decided to stand up for himself Saturday night after Blake Dangos had picked off Veremyev at the Greensboro blue line earlier in the game, and then later, the much-smaller Dangos decided to throw gloved punches at Veremyev on two separate occasions during the same shift. Dangos would regret those gloved punches soon after.
Fourteen seconds after Veremyev pummels Dangos, Drew Callin would give the Railers the lead when he converted off a Gargoyles turnover.
Greensboro would have multiple good bids after, but Gale was up to the task each time.
With under a minute to go, Anthony Repaci would ice the game with a 190-foot unassisted empty netter for the 3-1 final.
Worcester’s win, coupled with Norfolk’s loss, means the Railers cannot finish worse than sixth in the North Division.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Gabe Blanchard (14-day IR/Upper body), Connor Federkow (14-day IR/Lower body), Riley Ginnell (14-day IR/Lower body), Lincoln Hatten (suspended, game one of three), Anthony Hora (14-day IR/Lower body), Xavier Jean-Louis, Tristan Lennox (Unavailable/Unknown reason), Declan McDonnell (14-day IR/Lower body), and Ryan Miotto (14-day IR/Lower body). Parker Gahagen was the backup goaltender.
Worcester has, as of posting time, six players on the 14-day Injured Reserve List, and after Saturday’s game, it looks like there may be a seventh, as Vinny Corcoran went down awkwardly after throwing a check against the much larger Drew Kuzma just inside the Railers zone by the Worcester bench. As play continued, Corcoran essentially crawled to the bench using both arms and just one leg, and was pulled onto the bench by fellow blueliner Adam Samuelsson and Head Equipment Manager Todd MacGowan. Corcoran did not return to action.
Friday, Greensboro started down a forward and then lost defender Artyom Borshyov to a huge, clean open-ice hit. On Saturday, the Gargoyles dipped into the FPHL to sign former Railers winger Zach White for that open forward spot. The Milford, CT native went 12-10-22 in 55 games for Worcester in 2023-24, but despite averaging over a half-point per game, hasn’t been able to find a full-time ECHL spot, and instead dropped two levels–one might argue a level and a half, but whatever–to play in the FPHL for the Twin City Thunderbirds. He’s gone 60-72-132 in 102 games the last two seasons with Carolina/Twin City.
And more on that completely clean hit Lincoln Hatten threw against Borshyov. The ECHL announced they have suspended Hatten for three games for what they’re calling an “unpenalized illegal check to the head.” I’ve watched the video several times, compared it with Mikael Robidoux’s penalized but non-suspensioned hit to the head of Cole Donhauser, and let’s just say I disagree with their assessment in both cases. So, the clown show continues.
While this is the Railers’ first trip to Greensboro, it’s not a first for Worcester hockey as the IceCats played two games at the Greensboro Coliseum during the 1996-97 season against the Carolina Monarchs, winning both. The IceCats won the opener of the series on November 6th, 4-2, on two goals by Gary Leeman. Rory Fitzpatrick and Chris Kenady had the other goals. On November 8th, it was a 5-4 Worcester win, with Stephane Roy scoring twice and Konstantin Shafranov, Bob Lachance, and Leeman all scoring once. The IceCats also swept both games at the then Centrum in Worcester in early December on scores of 4-3 and 6-1. Jamal Mayers had a hat trick in the opener on December 6th, and Terry Virtue in the second game on December 7th. The second game had another Worcester hockey first as, while not listed on the game sheet, Erin Villiotte, who worked for the IceCats and had previously played goal on the Harvard Women’s team and attended the Baton Rouge Kingfish (ECHL) training camp, was the emergency back-up goaltender as Travis Scott became “gruesomely ill” and could not dress for the game. Villiotte did not sit on the bench. That was the last season of the Monarchs in Greensboro as they were bought and moved to New Haven, CT, to make room for the incoming Carolina Hurricanes.
The Gargoyles were playing the game rebranded as the Greensboro Monarchs, and wearing throwback jerseys of the previous ECHL entry in Greensboro. They look very nice, and they’ll wear them again on Sunday.
The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – #77 Drew Callin
2. WOR – #7 Max Dorrington
3. WOR – #81 Anthony Repaci
The 210Sports Player of the Game is Thomas Gale.
Even Strength Lines
Repaci / A.Callin / D.Callin
Donhauser / DeMelis / Kaplan
Piercey / Carson / Duhart
Veremyev / Dorrington / Mitton
McDonald / McCarthy
Samuelsson / Ruoho
Suda / Corcoran
Press Releases
RAILERS: Worcester grounds Gargoyles 3-1 on Saturday
GARGOYLES: Smith ties game in third, Railers top Monarchs 3-1
Our affiliates last night
Ottawa 3, NY Islanders 0
Lehigh Valley 7, Bridgeport 3
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Trois-Rivières 6, Adirondack 3
Wheeling 6, Reading 2
Maine 7, Norfolk 2
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 1 2 – 3
Greensboro 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-1, Worcester, Dorrington 5 (Veremyev, Mitton), 10:55. Penalties-Callin Wor (hooking), 13:01; Swetlikoff Gso (delay of game), 17:35.
3rd Period-2, Greensboro, Smith 13 (Price, Groll), 3:10. 3, Worcester, Callin 23 15:41. 4, Worcester, Repaci 22 19:11 (EN). Penalties-Veremyev Wor (fighting – major), 15:27; Dangos Gso (fighting – major), 15:27.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 15-16-9-40. Greensboro 9-9-11-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0 / 1; Greensboro 0 / 1.
Goalies-Worcester, Gale 3-6-0-0 (29 shots-28 saves). Greensboro, Khazheyev 7-25-4-0 (39 shots-37 saves).
A-6,035
Referees-David Lilly (25), -.
Linesmen-Jeff Flannigan (76), Evan Knox (83).
—
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