By Bill Ballou

WORCESTER – This is strictly a judgment call, but it can be said with some certainty that the Railers’ last shot of 2025-26 was their best.

It was taken by Gleb Veremyev at 5:06 of overtime Sunday. It gave Worcester one of its most emotional victories of the 72-game season, a 4-3 decision over the Adirondack Thunder that capped a dramatic comeback. It provided the home team with its sixth straight victory, second straight in overtime.

How is it that things work this way in sports?

One of the assists on the overtime winner went to Railers goaltender Thomas Gale. It was the first, and last, assist by a Worcester goaltender of the entire season.

The OT goal was Veremyev’s second of the game. He got the tying goal at 16:39 of the third period as the Railers fought back from a two-goal deficit. The winner came on a long, long breakaway — something like 150 feet — when the puck squirted free from a scrum in front of Gale.

Thus, Veremyev was able to ponder his move as he closed in on Thunder goaltender Henry Welsch.

“I saw I had a lot of time,” Veremyev said, “and I saw the goalie was super far out so I knew that with speed I could beat him wide and I went for it.”

As he got ready to make the play Veremyev checked the rearview mirror.

“I took a peak behind me,” he said, “and saw there wasn’t anybody really close so  I knew I had a lot of time.”

It was thanks to Gale that the Railers were in position to tie the game. They were badly outshot and outplayed into the early minutes of the third period but led, 1-0, on Vincent Corcoran’s goal in the first period.

Adirondack then scored three goals in a span of 4:01. Jeremy Hanzel got the first at 7:18. Jace Isley scored his first pro goal, then Brannon McManus connected for his 31st of the season at 11:19 and the Railers looked disorganized and disheartened.

That changed just 62 seconds after McManus scored.

Max Dorrington won a faceoff in the right offensive circle, sending the puck cleanly to Mitton. He sizzled a wrist shot home from 25 feet. Worcester then tied it at 16:39 on Veremyev’s deflection of Case McCarthy’s shot from the left point, Mitton getting another assist.

Both teams had chances in overtime but Gale stopped all the visitors shots, then set up Verymev for the winner.

“That line has been hounding the puck the last couple of games,” coach Nick Tuzzolino said of the deciding breakaway, “and even tonight I thought they were great and I think he almost scored almost a whistle before that. I think it was one of those things where if you give him a chance he’s gonna score.

“He’s very hot right now.”

The Thunder held a 7-0 edge in shots on goal as the first period approached the 9-minute mark but Worcester withstood the early pressure thanks to some fine saves by Gale. The offensive tide turned just about when the period was half over. Not long after that the Railers took the lead.

Vinny Corcoran got the goal, his second of the year, at 13:16. Anthony Callin set it up with a pass from the right.

The second period was scoreless but not chanceless. Adirondack had the better of those chances by far. Gale stopped all 16 shots he faced as the Thunder had twice as many shots on goal as Worcester. The Railers buzzed around the Adirondack net on occasion. Jordan Kaplan had a nice bid rejected by Welsch.

The Railers also had a Liberty Bell ringer off the right post at 3:38.

MAKING TRACKS – Worcester finished the year with a season-best six-game winning streak, tied for second longest in team history. … The Railers were 9-5 in overtime for the season. The weekend marked the first time in team history they won back to back overtime games. … Attendance was a great 6,121 for the Peanuts event and 12,139 for the weekend. The overall gate was up 7,251 from last season. The average of 4,087 was the third best in franchise history behind the team’s first two seasons in town. … It was as appropriate theme since Charles Schulz was an avid hockey player. Not only was Snoopy on hand, the video board played hockey themed Peanuts videos during breaks in the action … Jordan Kaplan replaced Dalton Duhart in the lineup at forward. Connor Federkow was in, Xavier Jean-Louis out on defense. … Welsch made his second appearance of the season overall in net, first ever versus Worcester. … This marked the first time the Railers won their last game of the season since 2019-20. It snapped a four-game losing streak in those matches.

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