By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – Not as long as the Ming Dynasty but longer than the War of 1812.

From the debut of pro hockey here on Sept 30, 1994 until Thursday night, no Worcester defenseman of any description had ever recorded a hat trick. The man who ended that drought was Case McCarthy, with three of the five Railers goals in their 5-3 victory over the Reading Royals.

Those goals, and goals by two other Worcester defensemen — Jesse Pulkkinen and Michael Suda — helped keep the Railers’ playoff hopes alive.

“First hat trick since I was about eight,” McCarthy said in answer to the obvious question.

Many Worcester defensemen have had two-goal games through the years. IceCats captain Terry Virtue had a hat trick on Dec. 7, 1996 on home ice. However, Virtue was used as a right wing that night, not a defenseman.

As far as five goals by defensemen in a Worcester game — that will take a lot of digging. The last time as many as three happened was April 6, 2024 when Trevor Cosgrove, Ryan Verrier and Connor Welsh all scored.

The total length of McCarthy’s goals was about 150 feet. He scored on slap shot from just inside the blue line, a wrist shot a little deeper and a fluke at 1:38 of the third period.

McCarthy delivered the shot on the fluke from just inside the Reading zone with the Railers shorthanded. It hit a Royals defender and went skyward like an infield fly.

Reading goaltender Carson Bjarnason lost track of it, as did everyone in the DCU Center. The puck landed behind him in the crease and bounced into the goal.

“I shot it, and I was falling and more like just trying to get it on net,” McCarthy said, “and it kind of rainbowed up and disappeared. I saw it land. I saw that the goalie really didn’t see where it was.”

McCarthy scored at 6:36 and 12:36 of the first period. His second goal was on the power play and snapped the Railers all-time worst power play slump in the same same season. 

They had been 0 for 50 before that. The streak included 13 games and part of a 14th. The only other slump that came close happened in the last 14 games, and part of a 15th, in 2021-22.

That was 0 for 46 to end the season, but the Railers went 0 for 7 to open the 2022-23 year. That total was 0 for 53.

Worcester wound up 3 for 7 on power plays. It was the first time the Railers had three power play goals in the same game in 2026. They were 3 for 8 on New Year’s Eve in Wheeling.

Railers’ goaltender Parker Gahagen was sensational at times as the Railers got careless in their own end on occasion. Reading’s goal scorers were Jeremy Michel, Carson Golder and Ben Meehan.

Bjarnason, a rookie, made his first ever ECHL start but had previously played 30 games in the AHL for Lehigh Valley.

It was a significant night for Anthony Repaci, if not as spectacular as McCarthy’s. Repaci had Worcester’s first shot of the game at 1:11 of the first period. It was his 966th for the Railers, breaking Virtue’s record for most career shots in the city.

Repaci assisted on Pulkkinen’s goal. It was his 50 point of the year, giving him 50 or more in four of his five seasons here. He scored his 250th career point for Worcester in last Saturday's game against the Wheeling Nailers as he picked up the Railers' only goal that night.

Max Dorrington had two assists for the Railers as did Declan McDonnell. Suda was 1-1-2.

MAKING TRACKS – One of Worcester's all-time best offensive defenseman, Darren Rumble, was at the game and saw the hat trick. ... The teams meet again at 7:05 Friday night. … Attendance was 1,921. … In the Waste of Time Dept., there were three goal-review stoppages and the call on the ice was upheld each time. … There were at least four Liberty Bell ringers off posts. One was with the goalie out in the final minutes. Another was off a Cam McDonald shot that looked destined to break his scoreless drought but bounced the wrong way … Railers’ players who were not in uniform included Tristan Lennox, Anthony Hora, Riley Ginnell, Ryan Miotto, Max Ruoho, Dalton Duhart, Jordan Kaplan, Vincent Corcoran, Connor Federkow and Gabe Blanchard. That adds up to 10.

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