Injuries, under-performance and transactions led to a less-than-stellar season from the Worcester hockey squad. But coaches aren’t dwelling. As the season opens this weekend, the idea is to “get rid of that sour taste” and win a bunch
WORCESTER – Last hockey season had another disappointing ending for the Railers, and they spent the late spring, summer and early fall trying to make sure it does not happen again.
There were injuries, transactions and under-performances that led to them missing a playoff spot on the final game of the season for the second straight year. For all of that, Worcester’s failure to qualify for the post-season probably came down to two words: Ryan MacKinnon.
The defenseman rightie sliced into just nine games for the Railers last season and Worcester was a perfect 9-0-0 in those games. The team wasn’t going to log in a 72-0-0 season, no matter how often he was on the roster. But if MacKinnon had skated in from Bridgeport a couple more times, the Railers would have had the points they needed.
MacKinnon plays with Belleville of the AHL these days, and deservedly so. It’s not productive to dwell on the past, but the thought of him playing a few times in Worcester is a huge “What if?”
So here we are upon opening night, the Railers’ sixth since they arrived in the ECHL. The team opens its 2023-2024 schedule Saturday night at the DCU Center versus — who else? — the Adirondack Thunder. Worcester also plays at home Sunday afternoon versus the Trois-Rivieres Lions.
General Manager-Coach Jordan Smotherman is in his second year on the job. He did not necessarily dwell on 2022-23 during the summer, but did spend a lot of time and energy dissecting it.
“Last year obviously leaves a very, very sour taste in my mouth the way things went,” he said, “so we’re kind of a team on a mission this year. The guys we brought back we brought back for a reason. The guys we didn’t bring back, we didn’t bring them back for a reason.
“And so the guys here this year who were here last year, I think have that same sour taste in their mouths.”
The guys they brought back–some of them under contract with Bridgeport–include goalie Henrik Tikkanen, forwards Quinn Ryan, Andrei Bakanov, Adam Goodsir, Blade Jenkins, Jack Quinlivan, Anthony Callin and fan favorite Anthony Repaci.
Only two defensemen return, and that probably says something. One is Bridgeport signee Trevor Cosgrove. The other is late arrival Artyom Kulakov.
The Railers began 2022-23 by winning their first nine games, an ECHL record. They finished at an even .500 with a 34-34-4 mark. Do the math and you can see how things slipped away.
Break-even hockey isn’t terrible. It means that about as many things went right as went wrong.
Let’s start with what went right.
“The beginning of the season, definitely,” Smotherman said, “and there were a lot of things that happened last year.
“In general, I take responsibility for the way some of the players were treated throughout the season. A lot of the situations we had them in were very difficult on them and it’s hard to ask athletes to perform at their peak if you’re not providing them with what they need to perform, so that’s what we’ll take on the organization side.”
There were also things the team could not control, like which uniform MacKinnon wore, and all the player shifting and shuffling, which numbered in the hundreds. So did the injuries. And that’s just on the Railers end. There was also a domino effect in which injuries with the NHL Islanders and Blues, and AHL Islanders and Thunderbirds, all tumbled down onto the Worcester roster.
“All the way up and down,” Smotherman said, “St. Louis, New York, Bridgeport, us–there were injuries like you’ve never seen. That definitely hurt but was not a reason for us missing the playoffs last year.”
To help deal with that level of roster flux, the Railers ended their affiliation with Springfield and the Blues.
“One affiliation would help us with a little more control over our part of the roster,” Smotherman said. “You have eight or nine guys that are your ECHL forwards and four, five or six ECHL defensemen. We’re hoping to get those guys called up, but also hoping that having them will give us a little more roster consistency.”
For opening night the Worcester roster will include seven players on Bridgeport contracts — defensemen Cosgrove and Christian Krygier; goalie Tikkanen; and forwards Riley Piercey, Joey Cipollone, Jake Pivonka and Ashton Calder; and one on an NHL deal, rookie goalie Tristan Lennox.
Players on Railers contracts include forwards Zach White, Ryan, Bakanov, Adam Goodsir, Jenkins, Quinlivan, Callin, Repaci and Keeghan Howdeshell. Defensemen include Ryan Verrier (briefly a Railer two seasons ago), Jake Schultz, Connor Welsh, John Copeland, Kulakov and Zsombor Garat.
One other change is not a roster item. Bob Deraney, who has worked unofficially as a coach for several seasons as well as coaching Worcester State, has replaced Jimmy Sharrow as Smotherman’s assistant for 2023-24.
The goal is simple to envision, but perhaps not as simple to achieve. Worcester would love to start as well as it did last season, but finish a lot better. The quest for the team’s first playoff berth since 2017-18 begins this weekend.
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
