Railers Fall Short 2-1 to Royals

Worcester Railers HC vs. Reading Royals

December 27, 2024

Santander Arena

Meeting 4 of 9 vs. Reading this season

Railers are 0-4-0-0 vs. the Royals this season

Railers Fall Short 2-1 to Royals

Anthony Repaci scores Railers lone power-play goal.

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (10-16-1-2 23pts) lost to the Reading Royals (10-15-4-0, 24pts), on Friday night by the final score of 2-1 in front of a crowd of 3,583 at Santander Arena. The Railers are back on the ice next at the DCU Center taking on the Reading Royals on Saturday, December 28th at 6:05 p.m. EST.

It wasn’t until the second period when Reading struck first, just 12 seconds into the second frame. It was Shane Sellar (2-0-2) who broke the scoreless tie for Reading. Reading made it a 2-0 game 8:17 into the second with Shane Sellar's second goal of the night. The Railers made it a 2-1 game with Anthony Repaci’s (1-0-1) power play goal 1:02 into the third period.

Neither team was able to net one through the first 20 minutes on Friday. The Railers had a few chances on breakaways in the period but were unable to get one by the Reading netminder Vinnie Purpura. Michael Bullion made 9 saves for the Railers in the first frame. Neither team was penalized in the first. Shots favored Worcester 13-9.

It only took 12 seconds of action into the second period before Shane Sellar (3rd) was able to put Reading up 1-0. He banked a shot from the far corner off the helmet of Bullion and in. His goal came off assists from Kenny Johnson, and Todd Skirving. Shane Sellar (4th) did not stop there as he went on to score his second of the night eight minutes later, making it a 2-0 game 8:17 into the second. The Royals got a chance to make this a 3-0 game in the second with a two minute 5-on-3 sequence, but the Railers successfully killed off the Reading power play. Shots favored Reading in the second 15-6.

The Railers got the third period scoring started with a power play goal from Anthony Repaci (19th) 1:02 into the final period to make it a 2-1 game. The Railers made a late effort to tie things up by going to the empty net with three minutes remaining. Worcester sustained three minutes of constant zone time. They generated multiple high risk chances and shots on net, but were unable to cash in with the extra skater on the ice ending the game with a 2-1 final score. Shots favored Worcester 13-7 in the third and 32-31 on the game.

Notes:

Three Stars: 3rd Star: Anthony Repaci (1-0-1, 3 Shots), 2nd Star: Todd Skirving (0-2-2, +2, 1 Shot), 1st Star: Shane Sellar (2-0-2, +2, 4 shots)… Final shots favored Worcester 32-31… Vinnie Purpura (4-2-0-0) made 31 saves on 32 shots for Reading… Michael Bullion (4-9-0-1) made 29 saves on 31 shots for Worcester, while Joe Spagnoli served as the backup… Worcester went 1-for-2 on the power play while Reading went 0-for-3… John Muse (IR), Matt DeMelis (IR) Christian Krygier (DNP), Kolby Johnson (DNP) did not dress for Worcester… Anthony Callin led the Railers in shots with 11… The Railers are now 26-32-5-2 all-time vs. the Royals and 13-17-3-1 at Santander Arena against Reading.

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