By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – The Railers are two points richer today thanks to a generous donation by Parker Gahagen.

He turned in one of the best goaltending performances in team history Sunday. Gahagen stopped 34 shots to blank the Wheeling Nailers, 1-0. The victory allowed Worcester to sweep a 3 in 3 weekend against the team with the best record in the North Division.

The Railers have won five straight games overall. It is their longest winning streak since they won the first nine games of the 2022-23 season.

The game’s only goal was scored by Anthony Callin at 12:05 of the first period. He was set up nicely right in front by Riley Ginnell, who slid a pass to him from behind the goal line. All things considered, there seemed to be no way that 1-0 score would stand up for about 48 more minutes.

In fact, Wheeling dominated play for the next half hour. The Nailers had a 12-5 edge in shots after one period, then outshot the home team by 15-2 in the second period. Gahagen’s goaltending allowed Worcester to survive that onslaught.

It was his first Railers shutout, the third this season by a Worcester goaltender. It was just the fourth Railers 1-0 victory of all time, the second ever at the DCU Center, the first here since Mitch Gillam beat Reading on Dec. 17, 2017.

Gahagen was in net for his team’s 6-3 victory on Friday night, a match with an entirely different feel to it. Score almost doesn’t matter, Gahagen said, although the shutout was very nice.

“My mindset is to keep them wherever they are, whether it’s zero or two,” he added. “Keep them there and keep the momentum in our favor.”

The whitewash was his 14th pro shutout covering three leagues, the AHL, ECHL and SPHL. They don’t count for any more points than a 6-5 game, but they are relatively unique.

“It doesn’t happen that often,” Gahagen said. “A lot of factors, a lot of pieces have to fall into place. So it is a little more special when it happens because it doesn’t happen that often.”

Gahagen has been good wherever he has played but there seems to be something about the DCU Center. He is perfect in seven starts here including six wins with the Railers and one against the Railers, with Reading in October of 2024.

“It takes a lot of patience and confidence in their game,” coach Nick Tuzzolino said of the triumph, “and also understanding that their defense can win the game. I think that was the big lesson. I said to them after the game — did we have our best stuff all night, and the answer was no.

“That’s not gonna happen with a 3 in 3. But when it came to crunch time we were able to make the right plays and be smart and that’s what we were able to do.”

This was the third straight game in which the Railers scored first and they never trailed throughout the entire 180 — make that 182-plus — minutes of hockey. They got off to a strong start Sunday and given how tired both teams were, a wide-open game was a definite possibility.

Callin never thought his early one would be the only goal.

“I was hoping we’d get more of the same,” he said.

Wheeling goaltender Taylor Gauthier was not as busy as Gahagen but as the Railers regained the momentum in the third period, Gauthier same excellent saves. He wound up with 17 for the day.

This a major step for the Railers in their push for a playoff berth but they are in a pack of teams that are in contention.

“It definitely makes us feel good,” Tuzzolino said of the sweep, “but it is kind of short lived. If you look at our division, everybody’s winning.”

If they keep getting the goaltending they’ve been getting from Gahagen and Tristan Lennox, the Railers may not win every game, but they will have a chance to.

MAKING TRACKS – The Railers will get some time to heal in the next few days. They play at Adirondack Wednesday night and at Trois-Rivieres Saturday night. Worcester returns home for a 3 in 3 versus Trois-Rivieres beginning on Friday the 13th. … The Nailers had to play with one man less than the maximum 18 due to injuries and the suspension to Bogdans Hodass for cross checking Drew Callin in the face on Saturday. ... Attendance was 5,123 and the team had a big weekend at the gate. It drew 13,456 for the three games, an average of 4,515. … The Railers improved to 24-39-6 all-time in Game 3s. This was their first sweep since Feb. 14 through Feb. 16 of 2025 in Allen. It was their first home sweep in almost eight years. They took six points the weekend of March 16-18 of 2018. That involved wins over Wheeling, Fort Wayne and Utah.

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