WORCESTER—The Railers celebrate the city’s industrial history Saturday and Sunday with Monkey Wrenches Weekend, playing host to Maine, then Adirondack, at the DCU Center.
That event is preceded by a road game Friday night against a team that threw a monkey wrench into Worcester’s recent seven-game points streak, the Trois-Rivieres Lions.
The home ice festivities are presented by Country Bank. The team wears Monkey Wrenches specialty jerseys which are later auctioned off to benefit Be Like Brit. There’s also a reversible bucket hat giveaway as part of the plan for the weekend.
The monkey wrench was invented in Worcester by Loring Coes in 1840 back before artificial intelligence could be used to tighten a bolt. The Coes Wrench Company dominated the adjustable wrench market for decades and in 1909, advertised a six-foot-long “key” wrench for use on railroads.
That predated the Railers’ arrival here by almost 100 years.
Saturday is a 6:05 p.m. faceoff. Sunday’s game starts at 3:05 p.m.
The weekend commences in Canada with a match versus the Lions. Trois-Rivieres is two points behind the Railers in the North Division standings and has won six of its last seven games. The Lions are one of the most goalie-dependent teams in the league.
Trois-Rivieres is 14-5-0 with Hunter Jones in net, 9-16-4 otherwise.
Friday night marks Worcester’s 50th game of the season. The Railers are, as of mid-week, five points out of fourth place in the North Division, the final playoff spot. They are slated to play teams currently above them in the standings 13 times in their final 22 matches.
This particular 3 in 3 weekend is a little different. Worcester is playing a different team in each game. The last time that happened at the DCU Center was Jan. 20-22 of 2023. Those opponents were Newfoundland, Maine and Trois-Rivieres in that order.
Worcester heads into the weekend coming off a historic trip to Rapid City, S.D., where the Railers won two of three games from Feb. 19–20. The visit marked the first time any Worcester professional sports team has played a game in South Dakota.
Drew Callin scored five goals in the series’ first two games. That is one goal shy of the team record for goals in consecutive game. Blade Jenkins is the only Railer with back to back hat tricks. That happened in February, 2004.
Ashton Calder had his record five-goal game in April of that month, plus had one-goal games before and after.
Worcester had 53 shots on goal during its 5-4 victory Friday night. That was second-most in team history, one less than its 54 shots at Maine on Oct. 22, 2021. The Railers were 0-4-0 before that when they had 50 or more shots.
To the best of this reporter’s knowledge, and unofficially, the awarded goal in Rapid City on the Rush’ empty netter Saturday night was the first such goal in Worcester hockey history. Cameron Buhl got it when he was taken down from behind on an empty-net breakaway.
The IceCats are the only Worcester team charged with an own goal. Dec. 13, 1995 they pulled goalie Eric Fichaud for a delayed penalty at the Centrum and put the puck in their own net. Saint John won the game, 5-2. Joel Bouchard was credited with the goal even though he committed the penalty.
Some milestones are in play for the weekend games. Anthony Repaci has played in 268 games, two behind Jame Pollock of the IceCats in fifth place on the city’s all-time list. Anthony Callin is two games behind Barry Almeida for second on the Railers’ games played list. Almeida had 192. Callin is one assist behind Jeff Panzer (IceCats) and Dan DaSilva (Railers) for 10th place on the assist list. Callin has 93.
Finally, the last Railers goalie to be credited with an assist is Michael Bullion. He had one on March 25, 2025. Worcester goalies have had assists in 21 games through the years and have earned points in 20 of them.
As part of the Wrenches frolic, the team is encouraging fans to send in to their website recordings of their best lighthearted pranks. They will go out on social media, winners to be selected by fan voting. The grand prize is $508 in cash, a Zamboni ride and a photo inclusion on a DCU Center digital marquee.
There is a lot going on off the ice. On the ice, the Railers are hoping to use Monkey Wrenches Weekend as a chance to tighten up the ECHL North Division playoff race.
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
