WORCESTER GOES CAT-CRAZY IN 3-1 WIN OVER READING

By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – The Railers played, and won, a biblical hockey game Saturday night.

They went fourth and multiplied.

In front of the sixth largest crowd in team history, on IceCats Night, Worcester built a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by fourth line forwards Kolby Johnson and Ryan Mahshie and prevailed for a 3-1 victory over the Reading Royals.

Attendance was 8,056. It was the sixth time ever the team has broken the 8,000 mark and the Railers are a perfect 6-0-0 in those games. The triumph extended Worcester’s points streak to three games. That includes two wins and a shootout loss. It is just the second time this season the Railers have picked up points in three straight games, the first time since the last week of November.

The night marked the impressive Worcester debut of rookie goaltender Hugo Ollas. He stopped 31 shots. The saves were not just quantity, they were quality. Ollas never gave up the lead during several Reading surges after the Royals had reduced their deficit to 2-1 in the second period.

“When we got loose (defensively) in the second period,” coach Nick Tuzzolino said, “I thought he bailed us out well. Then we got a little hesitant on the penalty kill and allowed that soft tip, but other than that he was big and reliable.

“We’re not a perfect team. We’ll have breakdowns, and when we did he was there.”

John Muse’s retirement left Worcester scrambling for a replacement. The Railers got Ollas on loan from Hartford, an AHL team they have worked well with on occasion through the years. Ollas had been in Bloomington. Plans are to keep him here, close to Hartford, and work closely on his development.

The game was scoreless after one, but Johnson gave Worcester the lead 21 seconds into the second period. He got his second of the season from in very close. Mahshie made it 2-0 at 6:29 with a power play goal, his first for the Railers.

“To be honest,” Tuzzolino confessed, “I was pretty mad at myself last night. The (bench) penalty I took, and my use of the fourth line. Because of the game, because of the penalty, I really gripped it tight and wound up not playing them at all in the third and late in the second.

“So at the pre-game skate this morning I told (Johnson) that it was my fault and you’re gonna get a regular shift tonight.”

Matt Miller scored the Reading goal at 13:26 of the second period. It came on the power play, less than two minutes after a huge momentum swing. Griffin Loughran had a breakaway for Worcester that Keith Petruzzelli stopped at 12:52, then Loughran was penalized for slashing.

The Railers had a 26-6 edge in shots on goal going into the penalty and were outshot by 26-5 the rest of the way.

Worcester’s last goal was an empty netter by Anthony Callin, a flip from deep in the defensive zone at 18:12 — cue the overture.

Potential All-Star Connor Welsh had two assists to extend his points streak to six games. He is 1-8-9 during the streak. Callin is 8-4-12 in his last 12 games.

The victory allowed Worcester to retain sole possession of fourth place in the North Division. If Reading had won, the teams would be tied with 28 points, so the win was a four-point swing.

MAKING TRACKS – Worcester has a light schedule for the rest of the month. That includes the All-Star break, and the Railers have a few good candidates for that event. Worcester plays eight more games in January, four against first-place Wheeling. It will be Railers-Nailers next weekend in West Virginia, then Worcester is home again on Jan. 17 versus Adirondack. … The Railers’ playoff push would be helped with more success in those shootouts. They have lost all three of them this season and have dropped four in a row going back to last season. Worcester is 0 for 9 individually this year and is in a 1 for 19 skid including the end of last year. The Railers’ all-time best shootout guy is Tommy Kelley, who was 5 for 7. … Ollas is the second Swedish goalie in team history, and city pro history. Linus Soderstrom played here briefly in 2019-20.

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