WORCESTER—The Railers become the Monkey Wrenches this weekend, if just for two games. It is an appropriate alternate name for a team that resides in a blue collar city with fans that like blue collar hockey.
Or, even better, black-and-blue collar hockey.
This season’s Railers are in their annual battle for fourth place in the ECHL’s North Division. They won that battle in 2017-18 and made the Kelly Cup playoffs for the first and only time. Worcester has missed the post-season by a matter of one victory in each of the previous three seasons.
After a slow start, the Railers have moved up in the standings. Some of that rise has been counter-intuitive. Instead of staying out of the penalty box they have been crowding into it, playing the kind of black-and-blue collar hockey Worcester fans have always enjoyed.
The Railers returned from a long and successful road trip early this week with the fourth-highest penalty minutes total in the league. That has meant killing a lot of penalties. It has meant, due to disciplinary suspensions, playing almost every game with fewer than the 18 skaters they allowed to dress by rule.
They seem to be on to something.
In order, the five most penalized teams in the ECHL are South Carolina, Iowa, Norfolk, Worcester and Florida. Each of those teams would make the playoffs if they started today. Their combined record is 152-90-27, good for a winning percentage of .612.
Worcester has already accumulated more penalty minutes so far this season than it has in a full season since 2019-20. Its 30 major penalties are the most since 2018-19. Kolby Johnson is the team’s first 100 PIM player since 2021-22 when Ross Olsson also had 100.
Because of suspensions, the Railers have had to play with a short roster in 10 of their last 12 games. Their record in those games is 8-4-0.
Recent suspendees include Johnson, who is a multiple offender, as well as forwards Jordan Kaplan and Griffin Loughran. The latter two forwards are second and third on the PIM list behind Johnson.
The Railers went two full seasons between Gordie Howe Hat Tricks — goal, assist, fight — and have two already this year. They are owned by Kaplan and Anthony Callin, who got into the first fight of his career the night of his Howe Hat.
Worcester briefly had veteran Matthew Boudens, who played in five games and had two fighting majors in that span. He broke a hand in the second one, ending his Railers career as Boudens was traded last week.
One reason the penalties have not destroyed Worcester’s season is that the Railers have, especially lately, killed penalties very well. They are 36 for 40 (90 percent) in their last 13 games. The overall league average is 81 percent.
The weekend “Monkey Wrenches” series is against the new Bloomington Bison. The teams are meeting for the first time and have several similarities. Both are in fourth place in tight playoff races. The Railers are one game above .500, the Bison one game below.
Bloomington’s top scorer is Eddie Matsushima, who had a brief stay here at the end of the 2019-20 season that was shortened by Covid. He has had a great career since then, scoring 92 goals over four seasons.
Austin Heidemann, who began the year here, is with the Bison. Railers goalie Hugo Ollas started 2024-25 in Bloomington where he was 2-7-1 in 11 games. Ollas is 7-3-2 in a Railers uniform.
The Bison also gave a look to Andrei Bakanov. He was 1-0-1 and minus-7 in nine games for Bloomington. Bakanov is currently with Norfolk, his fifth ECHL team this season. Worcester was his first.
After Friday the Railers’ regular season will be three-quarters over. They will have 18 games left and their schedule is daunting. Eight of those 18 games will be against Trois-Rivieres, tied with Florida for the best record in the ECHL. Six of those eight matches will be at Trois-Rivieres where the Lions have earned at least one point in 20 of 23 games to date.
Worcester has begun to get players back from Bridgeport with defenseman Cam McDonald the latest reinforcement. The Railers welcomed Matthew Kopperud last weekend and he responded with four goals in three games.
Oh, and one fighting major, too, so he fit right in with the plan.
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
