WORCESTER OPENS NON-DIVISIONAL STRETCH WITH A WIN

By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – The last two minutes of a one-goal hockey game can seem like forever, so imagine what 86 days feels like.

That is how long it took the Railers to get back to the .500 mark this season. It happened as a result of their 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Gladiators Wednesday night at the DCU center.

With the triumph, Worcester evened its record at 19-19-6. That last time it finished a game at .500 was on Nov. 10 when it was 6-6-0. The Railers had to work awfully hard to get the numbers back to even. On Dec. 27, not that long ago, they were six games in the red at 10-16-3.

Since then Worcester is 9-3-3, good for 21 points in 15 games. That figures out as a .700 points percentage, among the best in the ECHL. Perhaps the best, even, over that stretch.

The two points moved the Railers back into sole possession of fourth place in the North Division. They are two points ahead of Reading with one game in hand.

The Railers played one man short, using just 17 skaters. That was because Griffin Loughran is serving a three-game suspension for a boarding major at Maine on Sunday. Worcester will also be a short a body for the next two games here versus Atlanta. Those games are Friday and Saturday.

The manpower shortage did not seem to make much of a difference, if any.

One positive is being able to creatively employ the two wingers who do not have a fourth-line center, coach Nick Tuzzolino said, adding, “It can really be a nice piece to have because it gives you a different look every time a line goes over the wall, but at the same time it is taxing.”

Worcester never trailed and once again outscored the opposition in the third period. Anthony Callin gave the Railers a 1-0 lead at 17:06 of the first period and it was a 1-1 game heading into the third.

Matt DeMelis scored on a wraparound to make it 2-1 at 3:19. Connor Welsh put one over Atlanta goalie Ethan Haider’s glove at 4:58 and it was 3-1.

Blake Murray and Connor Galloway scored for the Gladiators. Both goals were a result of odd-man rushes.

In order to keep the game 1-1 heading, though, the Railers had to kill a double minor for highsticking called on Mark Cheremeta at 17:52 of the second period. It turned out that Worcester had the best scoring chance of the penalty, with Haider rejecting Matt Ustaski’s breakaway at 19:10.

Callin was 1-1-2 and plus-2. The game marked the return of Anthony Repaci after an injury absence and he made his presence known on Callin’s goal. Repaci has scored a lot of goal-of-the-week goals. This time, though, he had an assist-of-the-week.

Repaci, between the circles, made a headfirst dive and used the shaft of his stick to slide the puck to Anthony Hora at the left point. Hora snapped a wrist shot at the net and Callin re-directed it home.

Hugo Ollas played another solid game in net with 21 saves. The Railers have earned at least one point in six of his seven starts.

The victory made Worcester’s record perfectly symmetrical. They are 10-10-5 at home, 9-9-1 on the road.

It was a bumpy road for the Railers to get there.

MAKING TRACKS – Due to the suspension, the Railers did not dress newly acquired defenseman Benjamin Lindberg nor forward Kolby Johnson although both were healthy. … Worcester’s first goal was All-Anthony. The point getters were Callin, Hora and Repaci. … The Railers have won three straight for the second time this season. … Goalie Jakub Skarek made his NHL debut with the Islanders Sunday. He is the second Railer to advance to the National Hockey League after playing for Worcester. Arnaud Durandeau is the other. All told, eight men have played for the Railers and also in the NHL. The others are Ben Thomson, Paul Thompson, Ken Appleby, Bobby Butler and Kayden Fulcher.

#RailersHC