WORCESTER—Something strange does not always happen when the Railers play the Maine Mariners, but the unusual has become usual as the rivalry has grown through the seasons.
Maine was scheduled to be in town both Friday and Saturday nights this week but the Friday game was postponed due to issues with the DCU Center ice making equipment.
Thus, there can be no repeat of the last time the Mariners played back-to-back games here. That was the weekend of April 7-8 with the Railers winning by consecutive scores of 8-2 and 9-5. The 9-5 game featured five goals by Worcester forward Ashton Calder. That was a team record and marked only the second time in city pro hockey history a player got five in the same game.
IceCats’ forward John Carter also did it in 1995.
The teams have played 60 times through the years and 15 of the games have gone into overtime. The Mariners have won nine of those. The teams have combined for 10 hat tricks, three by Worcester including Calder’s 5-goal game. Jordan Smotherman and Liam Coughlin have the others.
The Mariners got a four-goal game from Alex Kile among their seven. It came as part of one of the most bizarre games in Railers history, a 9-7 loss in Portland on Dec. 29, 2021 in the middle of Covid roster mayhem. The teams combined for 94 shots on goal.
The homestand continues with a game versus Norfolk on Sunday afternoon. The South Carolina Stingrays are at the DCU Center Wednesday morning for the school day game and and on Friday night.
The Railers head into the homestand after a good five-game road trip. Worcester was 3-2-0 on the journey which included games at Trois-Rivieres, Maine and Norfolk. One of the triumphs was 4-0 victory at Maine.
Worcester teams, and this goes back to the IceCats and the Sharks, have historically been low scoring. One of the Railers goals heading into this year was just that — goals — but so far Worcester is averaging fewer than three a game while giving up fewer than three a game.
“There are things we can do better that other teams are doing better than us, like shooting from distance,” coach Bob Deraney said. “We have the ability to score pretty goals, but it’s not about pretty goals, it’s about scoring goals. I think shooting from distance will help.”
The Railers schedule has not given them a lot of time to practice but that is standard for the ECHL.
“You’re really learning on the fly,” Deraney said. “We’re growing. There are glimpses of how we should be playing but those glimpses have to be bigger moments.”
Some highlights from the season so far:
— The Railers’ 6-5 overtime victory in Norfolk marked just the fifth time in team history they have allowed five goals and won, and the first time ever on the road.
— Anthony Repaci’s overtime goal in that game was the fourth OT goal of his career, setting a new Railers record. Repaci has done it in four straight calendar years including 2021, 22, 23 and now 24. He has 67 career goals, third-most in Worcester hockey history with Eric Boguniecki up next at 69 goals. Repaci’s 141 points are 10th most in city history, two behind Justin Papineau’s 143.
— Henrik Tikkanen’s 4-0 shutout in Maine moved him into second place on the team all-time list in that category with three. Mitch Gillam had six. Tikkanen is tied for ninth on the all-time city list with Harri Sateri. Next up with four are Cody Rudkowsky of the IceCats and Aaron Dell of the Sharks. Dell is playing for upcoming Railers opponent Wichita.
Tikkanen has since been recalled to Bridgeport.
— Riley Piercey is 3-2-5 in the first seven games. It took him 18 games to get to five points last season and 26 games to score his third goal. The Railers have two players among ECHL rookie scoring leaders. Matthew Kopperud has seven points, Justin Gill six.
— Connor Welsh is on the list top scorers on defense with five points and is plus-6 in seven games. Griffin Loughran scored in that 6-5 game at Norfolk. He joined a long list of players with goals in their first game for Worcester. It was not his pro debut, though.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
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