The Worcester Railers headed to Glens Falls, New York, Friday night looking to end their three-game losing streak, and once again continued to have issues with their power play and, combined with some incredibly undisciplined hockey, ended up in a hole too deep to crawl out of in a 3-2 loss to the Adirondack Thunder at Harding Mazzotti Arena.
The opening period was entertaining, with neither team able to light the lamp, and Parker Gahagen and Jeremy Brodeur both playing at the top of their games. It was more of the same early on in the middle period, and since the Railers posted a nice Gahagen breakaway save, we’ll pass it along.
To quote the late Patrick Stewart, playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 21: Peak Performance, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose.” That is unfortunately a great description of Jordan Klimek’s goal at 7:09 of the second as the Railers had everyone covered, but Klimek’s shot somehow found a small opening through traffic, and it was 1-0 Adirondack.
After the goal, Tanner Edwards received an unsportsmanlike conduct minor. What happened is not visible on the video, and an inquiry to friends at the arena indicated it must have been something vocal, as Edwards was not near the Railers bench nor really close to any Worcester player. In any case, it doesn’t matter, as the hapless Railers power play allowed their fifth shorthanded goal of the season when Tristan Ashbrook connected at 8:45 after MacAuley Carson turned the puck over at the Thunder blueline.
It doesn’t matter that the interference minor to Sam Stange in the third period was a terrible call; it only matters he was in the box for Cole Donhauser’s high-sticking minor, which he was absolutely guilty of. Thirty-eight seconds later, Jeremy Hanzel made it 3-0 at 9:38 of the third on one that Gahagen probably wants another chance at. Well, he probably wants another chance at every one that gets past him, but you get the idea.
Late in the third, the Railers headed to another power play, and giving up another shorthanded goal at that point would be meaningless, so head coach Nick Tuzzolino pulled Gahagen for an extra attacker to play six skaters on four. Stevie Moses then scored his first career ECHL goal at 18:25, with helpers from Michael Suda and Matt DeMelis.
Now down two Tuzzolino pulled Gahagen again once Worcester gained possession, and less than a minute later DeMelis had his third of the season, with assists to Stange and Moses, and it was 3-2 with 43.6 seconds left.
The Railers are not listed with a shot on goal after that tally, but they had a golden chance to tie it when DeMelis’ bid with under two seconds left just went over the crossbar. The 3-2 loss looks better than a 3-0 loss, but it’s just that, “looks”. Like last season’s April winning streak, it’s nothing but cosmetics. Worcester is going to need real changes soon, or they will once again be outside the playoffs looking in.
The clock is ticking, on one thing or the other.
The good: It’s great to see this team play hard for 60 minutes.
The bad: It’s hard to believe last season’s terrible power play got worse, but here we are.
The obvious: Bringing in better offensive players solves the overwhelming majority of problems this team has. It’s better to release players you know can’t score for players who might be able to. They’re already losing, so there is literally no downside.
GAME NOTES
Scratches for the Railers were Gabe Blanchard, Connor Federkow, Matt Hobbs, William Lavallière, Cooper Moore (3-Day IR/Lower body), and Anthony Repaci (7-day IR/Upper body). Gabriel Carriere was the backup goaltender. As he has been doing recently, Repaci was behind the bench with head coach Nick Tuzzolino and assistant coach Chris Rumble, standing with the forwards.
In this week’s transactions, on Tuesday, Caige Sterzer was assigned to the Railers by the Hartford Wolf Pack and Sam Stange was reassigned to the Railers by the Springfield Thunderbirds. To make room for them on the roster, general manager Nick Tuzzolino released forward Michael Abgrall. In what is likely nothing but a paperwork move, Cooper Moore was added to the 3-day injured list Friday so Riley Ginnell could be activated from injured reserve.
There was a scoring oddity in the game Friday night, one that this writer hasn’t seen before. It came after the Vinny Corcoran elbowing major to the head of Brady Fleurent, which I originally thought was a weak call and should have been a minor, but after reviewing the video, the Railers defender will likely be getting a phone call from the ECHL this weekend. Jordan Klimek jumped in to defend his teammate, and he and Adam Samuelsson threw a few good bombs at each other after Samuelsson peeled Klimek off Corcoran in defense of his own teammate. The penalties appear to be pretty straightforward: “Samuelsson Wor (fighting – major), 11:54; Klimek Adk (instigating, fighting – major), 11:54”. Only Klimek didn’t instigate a fight with Samuelsson; he instigated an unpenalized altercation with Corcoran. Players who reach their tenth fighting major in the ECHL get suspended one game, but fights where their opponent received an instigator don’t count against that total. So the question is, does that fight count for Samuelsson? My guess is it doesn’t, because the strict letter of the rule says he doesn’t. But based on what happened on the ice, it probably should count. In the end, it’s probably meaningless as there’s little to no chance Samuelsson reaches ten fighting majors this season. But it is one of those things to think about.
Scheduling in the ECHL has often caused fans and front offices alike to scratch their heads over some combinations the league comes up with, but perhaps one of the oddest this season is that the Railers will play just two games at Harding Mazzotti Arena this season while the expansion New Mexico Goatheads will play there three times. One would think that two teams in the same division, as Worcester and Adirondack are, and being under three hours apart, they’d play a more balanced schedule. But they don’t, as the Thunder will visit the DCU Center six times this season, and at one point the teams will go 83 days between games seeing each other.
With this being the first time the Railers and Thunder have faced each other this season, we’ll take a look at some roster and area connections. For Adirondack, goaltender Henry Welsch spent five seasons at UMass-Lowell. Defenseman Pierson Brandon played one season with those same River Hawks, serving as the captain in 2024-25. Fellow defender Charlie Leddy played two seasons at Boston College, and Brendan Dowler played three games for Worcester in 2025-26. Forward Shane Harper played three games against the WorSharks with the Adirondack Phantoms in the 2011-13 seasons, scoring a goal at the DCU Center on March 11, 2012. Winger Cristophe Tellier played a season at Northeastern University. For the Railers, goaltender Parker Gahagen played for seasons at the United States Military Academy in West Point. Defenseman Ryan Wheeler played three seasons with the Thunder, captaining Adirondack in 2025-26. Forward Tyson Fawcett also played for the Thunder in the 2025-26 campaign, as did Jordan Kaplan, who played there in 2021-22. Lincoln Hatten played one season at United States Military Academy in West Point.
In case anyone was wondering what former WorSharks forward Brian Yandle was up to, and trust me, after watching the following video you should be, he’s the coach of a youth hockey team. No big deal, because lots of retired players in all pro sports go back to their roots and coach youth teams. But what Yandle did recently was teach a player an important lesson about respecting the game. After trying to embed the video and it being so large that it messed up the formatting for everything, we’ll link to the Facebook reel instead, and trust me, it’s worth the click.
The three stars of the game were
1. ADK – #9 Tristan Ashbrook
2. ADK – #42 Jordan Klimek
3. WOR – #12 Stevie Moses
The 210Sports Player of the Game was Matt DeMelis.
Even Strength Lines
Moses / DeMelis / Stange
Piercey / Carson / Hatten
Sterzer / Kaplan / Fawcett
Ginnell / Donhauser / McDonnell
Corcoran / Suda
Wheeler / Kehrer
Samuelsson / McDonald
Press Releases
RAILERS: Railers comeback falls short in 3-2 loss to Adirondack
THUNDER: Thunder slip past Railers 3-2
Our affiliates last night
Providence 7, Springfield 6 OT
Hartford 4, Bellville 1
In the ECHL’s North Division last night
Norfolk 3, Greensboro 2 OT
Maine 3, Trois-Rivières 2 OT
Trenton 2, Reading 1
BOX SCORE
Worcester 0 0 2 – 2
Adirondack 0 2 1 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Graves Adk (hooking), 7:46.
2nd Period-1, Adirondack, Klimek 1 (Edwards, Lee), 7:09. 2, Adirondack, Ashbrook 3 (Grasso), 8:45 (SH). Penalties-Edwards Adk (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:09; Sterzer Wor (fighting – major), 9:47; Graves Adk (fighting – major), 9:47.
3rd Period-3, Adirondack, Hanzel 2 (Harper, Ashbrook), 9:38 (PP). 4, Worcester, Moses 1 (Suda, DeMelis), 18:25 (PP). 5, Worcester, DeMelis 3 (Stange, Moses), 19:16. Penalties-Suda Wor (slashing), 5:27; Stange Wor (interference), 8:38; Donhauser Wor (high-sticking), 9:00; Corcoran Wor (elbowing – major, game misconduct – elbowing), 11:54; Samuelsson Wor (fighting – major), 11:54; Klimek Adk (instigating, fighting – major), 11:54; Tellier Adk (misconduct – continuing altercation), 11:54; Tymkin Adk (tripping), 17:18.
Shots on Goal-Worcester 11-12-9-32. Adirondack 12-9-15-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 1 / 3; Adirondack 1 / 4.
Goalies-Worcester, Gahagen 1-3-0-0 (36 shots-33 saves). Adirondack, Brodeur 1-1-0-0 (32 shots-30 saves).
A-4,508
Referees-Charles Gamache (61), Brendan Schreider (12).
Linesmen-Philippe Pilon (68), Felix-Antoine Voyer (57).
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