WORCESTER RAILERS HC SIGN DEFENSEMAN MASON KLEE FOR 2024-25 SEASON

WORCESTER RAILERS HC SIGN DEFENSEMAN MASON KLEE FOR 2024-25 SEASON

Railers officially have eleven forwards, five defensemen, and two goaltenders signed for the upcoming season.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester Railers Hockey Club (@RailersHC), proud ECHL (@ECHL) affiliate of the New York Islanders (@NYIslanders), and General Manager & Associate Head Coach Nick Tuzzolino, announced today that the club has signed defenseman Mason Klee to an ECHL contract for the 2024-25 season.

Klee, 24, re-signs with Worcester after joining the Railers at the end of the 2023-24 season. Klee signed with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League on an amateur tryout after five games and one assist with the Railers. During his time with San Jose, he had one goal in six games. Klee originally joined Worcester from Ohio State University, where he spent his final season of college hockey after spending four seasons with the RPI Engineers. Across his NCAA career, the 6'2", 194lb defenseman totaled 21 points (5G, 16A) along with 84 penalty minutes in 126 games played.

"We're really excited to add Mason Klee to our very talented defensive corps," Head Coach Bob Deraney said. "Mason is a hybrid defenseman in that he is terrific defensively, and offensively we're going to look for him to create points from the defense position. There's a lot of room for improvement, which adds to the excitement. We saw glimpses of it last season, and look forward to Mason consistently displaying it this season from day one."

Prior to playing collegiate hockey, Klee spent two seasons in the United States Hockey League with the Lincoln Stars and Sioux Falls Stampede. Klee won a Clark Cup during the 2018-19 season with Sioux Falls. In 118 USHL games, the Morrison, CO native recorded 17 points (4G, 13A) along with 133 penalty minutes and a +16 rating. Klee is the son of Ken Klee, who played over 900 games at the NHL level, and was the head coach of the inaugural PWHL champions, PWHL Minnesota.

"I'm super excited," Klee said. "The group of guys we had there last year was great and made me feel welcome right away. The coaching staff was awesome, the fans were really supportive, and it's a great city. I look forward to trying to bring a championship back to Worcester."

The Railers have announced eighteen players officially signed for the 2024-25 season as Klee joins Joey Cipollone, Artyom Kulakov, Matt DeMelis, Austin Heidemann, Matthew Barnaby Jr., Ryan Dickinson, Jordan Kaplan, Michael Bullion, Griffin Loughran, John Muse, Cole Donhauser, Ryan Verrier, Colin Jacobs, Connor Welsh, Anthony Callin, JD Dudek, and Anthony Repaci as the eighteen signees. More announcements are expected over the coming weeks.

The Worcester Railers HC 2024-25 Opening Weekend at the DCU Center is Sat., Oct. 19th and Sun., Oct. 20th vs. the Reading Royals. The new 508 Club is now on sale for the 2024-25 season! Get access to games this season, exclusive events and additional benefits by calling the Railers front office at 508-365-1750 or by visiting RailersHC.com.

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