RAILERS COME UP SHORT IN SHOOTOUT AGAINST WHEELING

Worcester Railers HC vs. Wheeling Nailers

January 11, 2025

WesBanco Arena

Meeting 1 of 4 vs. Wheeling this season

Railers are 0-0-0-1 vs. the Nailers this season

RAILERS COME UP SHORT IN SHOOTOUT AGAINST WHEELING

Dudek tallies first of the season.

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Railers HC (13-17-1-4 31pts) lost to the Wheeling Nailers (25-6-2-0, 52pts), on Saturday night by the final score of 4-3 in the shootout in front of a crowd of 5,701 at WesBanco Arena. The Railers are back on the ice next at WesBanco Arena taking on the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday, January 12th at 4:10 p.m. EST.

Worcester got the scoring started Saturday, as Anthony Repaci (1-0-1) scored to give the Railers the early 1-0 lead. Wheeling answered back with a goal from Chris Ortiz (1-1-2), but less than a minute later JD Dudek (1-0-1) grabbed the lead back for Worcester heading into the second period. Matt Koopman (1-0-1) scored for the Nailers making it 2-2 15:05 into the second. Griffin Loughran (1-0-1) then gave Worcester the 3-2 lead 19:25 into the second. The Nailers tied the game for a third time with a goal from Gabe Klassen (1-0-1) 10:41 into the third period. Neither team was able to get the lead before regulation came to an end leading us into overtime. Overtime was not enough to decide the winner, leading the game into a shootout. It was Worcester scored in the first round before Wheeling picked up goals in the next two rounds, giving them the 4-3 win.

Anthony Repaci (20th) put Worcester ahead 1-0 just 2:54 into the first period as he scored on a redirected shot off the stick of Ryan Dickinson. Wheeling went on to tie the score 16:06 into the first with a goal from Chris Ortiz (3rd). Only 52 seconds later J.D. Dudek (1st) scored on a breakaway off a pass from Justin Gill to give Worcester the 2-1 lead to cap off the first period scoring. Shots favored Worcester 13-10 in the first period.

Wheeling got the scoring started in the second period when Matt Koopman (5th) scored Wheeling’s second goal of the night 15:05 into the second to tie the score at 2-2. It wasn’t until the final minute of the second period that Worcester would regain the lead following a backhanded goal from Griffin Loughran making the score 3-2 heading into the third. Shots favored Wheeling 8-5 in the second period.

The Nailers got the third period scoring started 10:41 in with a goal from Gabe Klassen (8th) making it a tie game with under 10 minutes to play. Despite power play chances for both teams neither were able to net the game winning goal in regulation leading us into overtime. Shots favored Worcester 12-11 in the third.

Seven minutes of extra hockey was not enough for these two teams to find a winner, leading us into a shootout to decide tonight’s winner. It was Jack Beck who scored the game winning goal in the shootout period for Wheeling giving them the 4-3 win over Worcester. Shots favored Wheeling 5-2 in overtime and 35-32 in the game.

Notes:

Three Stars: 3rd Star: Chris Ortiz (1-1-2, -1, 4 Shots), 2nd Star: Gabe Klassen (1-0-1, 4 Shots), 1st Star: Jack Beck (0-1-1, -1, 1 shot)… Final shots favored Wheeling 35-32… Sergei Murashov (15-2-1-0) made 29 saves on 32 shots for Wheeling… Hugo Ollas (3-7-0-2) made 32 saves on 35 shots for Worcester, while Michael Bullion served as the backup… Worcester went 0-for-2 on the power play while Wheeling went 1-for-3… Matthew Boudens (IR), Dante Giannuzzi (IR) and Brendan Rons (IR) did not dress for Worcester… Anthony Repaci led the Railers in shots with 5… The Railers are now 4-4-0-3 all-time vs. the Nailers and 1-1-0-3 at the WesBanco Arena against Wheeling.

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