WORCESTER—It is only October, so the Railers season has not had a crash landing.
It has had a crash takeoff.
After losing its only two pre-season games, Worcester opened the regular season schedule with two poor performances at home versus Maine and Adirondack. The net result was an 0-2 start to the year, the Railers being outscored by 10-3, one of opposing goals into an empty net.
Worcester also began the 2024-25 season with consecutive losses at home but the games were more competitive, both being 2-1 defeats. Looking on the brighter side—and it was hard to find much brightness for the weekend—the Railers scored three goals in these first two games as opposed to two last season.
They are on the road this weekend, and a change of scene might be just what they need. Worcester plays in Norfolk on Friday and Saturday nights. The Admiral are 1-1 to start their season. The Railers are 5-5-1 down there through the years.
This is mere small consolation, but the ECHL’s Northern Division as a whole had a dreadful opening weekend on home ice. Its members won just one of seven games at home.
Coach Nick Tuzzolino did not try to paint a prettier picture of the weekend than the raw numbers of the results. The nine goals surrendered were not just the fault of the Railers defensive core.
“God, no,” he said. “They had their problems, but you’re only as strong as your low forward and your wingers that are getting pucks out for you. It’s a commitment to play defense, like it’s a commitment to kill penalties and the two nights we had no commitment to play defense.”
Last year’s Railers were a great comeback team but that is a hard way to win. In recent seasons, and for several different coaches, the Railers have been slow starters in games, especially at the DCU Center.
They could have won Saturday versus Adirondack but fell behind early, 2-0. Worcester had strong second period in which it came back to make it 2-2, fell behind by 3-2, then re-tied the score just eight seconds later.
That kind of momentum swing usually results in a victory but this time the Railers came out flat in the third period. Both the Thunder’s third and fourth goals were scored on gross turnovers in the defensive zone. There were several of those throughout the game.
The Railers defense did not deserve all the blame, according to Tuzzolino.
“God, no,” he said. “They had their problems, but you’re only as strong as your low forward and your wingers that are getting pucks out for you….it’s a commitment to play defense, like it’s a commitment to kill penalties and the last two nights we have had no commitment to play defense.”
The turnovers were a mystery to Tuzzolino who talked to his players about ways to avoid them. He may have to revert to closed captioning.
“It’s almost like as soon as you say it, they do the exact opposite,” he said.
Noteworthy from the Railers opening weekend:
— For the first time in team history, brothers got assists on the same goal. Drew and Anthony Callin combined to set up Worcester’s first goal of the season, scored by Matt Stief in the second period. Only two other brother combinations have played in the same game for the Railers, Chris and Nick Saracino in 2017-18 and Brian and Ted Hart in 21-22.
— Goaltender Luke Cavallin shut out the Railers on Friday night to record his 10th victory over Worcester through the years. Cavallin, the reigning Kelly Cup Most Valuable Player, is the only goaltender to win that many games versus the Railers. Unless he gets called up from Maine to Providence, a definite possibility, Worcester will see Cavallin many times this season.
— Three Railers switched numbers from last year. Kabore Dunn went from 2 to 28, Lincoln Hatten from 33 to 11 and Cam McDonald from 27-6. Drew Callin had 72 in his first two years and has come back with 77. He is the first Railer ever with that number.
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
