Game Story

Worcester, MA – The Worcester Railers picked up their 20th win of the season, beating the Atlanta Gladiators 3-2 in overtime on Friday night.

Both teams made goalie changes from Wednesday’s matchup. Michael Bullion earned his 22nd start for the Railers, stopping 25 shots to improve his record to 9-11-0-2. At the other end, Drew DeRidder made 33 saves for Atlanta, including several key stops early to keep the game close. Worcester’s offense was led by Ryan Mashie, Anthony Repaci, and Anthony Callin, who recorded his first career Gordie Howe hat trick with a fight, two assists, and the game-winning goal—his first career fighting major. Jackson Pierson accounted for both of Atlanta’s goals. With the win, the Railers extended their home point streak to nine games.

Jackson Pierson opened the scoring for the Gladiators at 10:56 of the first period, tipping in a pass from Andrew Jarvis, who sent the puck across the crease from the right circle to beat Hugo Ollas on the back door. The Railers faced the first penalty kill of the game at 13:44 but controlled possession longer than the Gladiators, successfully killing it off. Worcester earned a power play of their own at 16:15 but couldn’t convert, despite generating a couple of late chances. In the final minute of the period, Cole Donhauser and Blake Murray took matching penalties at 19:36, setting up four-on-four play to start the second. Atlanta led 1-0 after the first, with Worcester holding a slight edge in shots, 9-8.

The Gladiators doubled their lead six minutes into the second period, as Pierson netted his second of the game, burying a rebound from Carson Denomie. Michael Bullion had a chance to make the save, but Griffin Luce sent Gladiator forward Ryan Cranford into him, preventing the stop. Just two and a half minutes later, Ryan Mashie cut the deficit in half for Worcester, ripping a shot past Drew DeRidder’s blocker off a setup from Anthony Callin and Riley Ginnell. The Railers trailed 2-1 heading into the third but carried momentum with a power play opportunity, thanks to a late tripping penalty from former Railer Joey Cipollone. Shots were even at 17-17 through two periods.

Early in the third, the Railers capitalized on another power play at 3:48. Just 24 seconds into the man advantage, Anthony Repaci fired home the tying goal from the right faceoff circle after a cross-ice feed from Anthony Callin. A few minutes later, Callin dropped the gloves with Michael Marchesan at 7:10, standing his ground despite Marchesan’s five-inch height advantage. Both teams exchanged penalties down the stretch, but neither generated a high-quality chance to take the lead. Worcester outshot Atlanta 29-24, sending the game to overtime.

With just eight seconds remaining in the extra frame, Michael Bullion sent a pass to Connor Welsh, who quickly relayed it to Anthony Callin. Callin rushed up ice into the Gladiators’ zone and fired a shot over Drew DeRidder’s shoulder, beating both the goalie and the game clock with less than a second left to seal the Railers’ victory.

The three stars of the game were:

  1. Anthony Callin (Worcester) – 1 goal, 2 assists, fight (Gordie Howe hat trick)
  2. Jackson Pierson (Atlanta) –  2 goals
  3. Anthony Repaci (Worcester) – 1 goal

Elsewhere in the Division on Friday night, the Wheeling Nailers topped the Indy Fuel 6-3, while the Trois-Rivières Lions edged out the Jacksonville Icemen 3-2. The Maine Mariners shutout the Norfolk Admirals 3-0 on home ice, and the Adirondack Thunder fell 5-2 to the Lake Tahoe Monsters during their West Coast road trip. The Bridgeport Islanders were shutout by the Wilkes-Barre/Scrantion Penguins, 3-0, Riley Piercey picked up his fourth fighting major of the season and Henrik Tikkanen had 31 saves on 33 shots.

Railers and Gladiators close out the series on Saturday Night at 6:05 p.m. The Railers will be wearing their annual “Pink in the Rink” specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off to benefit the Cup Crusaders.

—

Stay in the loop and never miss an update on Worcester Railers hockey by following Woo Hockey on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also get involved and connect with other fans of the team in the Worcester Railers Fan Club Facebook group, where you can share your thoughts on the team and discuss all things hockey.

Box Score

Box Score

Scoring 1 2 3 OT T
1 1 0 0 2
0 1 1 1 3
Shots 1 2 3 OT T
8 9 7 3 27
9 8 12 7 36
Score Team Time Scored by Assisted by Type
1 – 0 ATL 10:56 – 1st J. Pierson (5) A. Jarvis, R. Cranford
2 – 0 ATL 6:00 – 2nd J. Pierson (6) C. Denomie, J. Hanzel
2 – 1 8:36 – 2nd R. Mahshie (3) A. Callin, R. Ginnell
2 – 2 4:02 – 3rd A. Repaci (23) A. Callin, J. Kaplan PP
2 – 3 6:59 – 1st OT A. Callin (13) C. Welsh, M. Bullion

Rosters

# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 31 E. Haider 0 0 0 0 0
G 34 D. DeRidder 0 0 0 0 0
D 4 J. Hanzel 0 1 0 1 0
D 6 A. Jarvis 0 1 +1 1 2
F 7 E. Armstrong 0 0 0 0 0
D 10 C. Hausinger 0 0 0 0 0
D 11 Z. Yoder 0 0 0 1 4
D 12 A. Firriolo 0 0 0 0 0
F 16 C. Sylvester 0 0 -2 3 0
F 18 C. Denomie 0 1 +2 4 0
F 19 J. Pierson 2 0 +2 3 0
F 20 C. Galloway 0 0 0 0 2
F 21 R. Cranford 0 1 +2 3 0
D 27 D. Carabia 0 0 +1 2 0
D 28 D. Topatigh 0 0 -1 2 0
F 33 M. Marchesan 0 0 0 2 5
F 71 J. Cipollone 0 0 -2 0 2
F 81 R. Hernández 0 0 -1 3 2
C 92 B. Murray 0 0 0 2 2
F 96 D. Marcinkevics 0 0 0 0 0
Team:
Player MIN SH SVS GA SV%
34 D. DeRidder (L) – 36 33 3 –
Totals: – 36 33 3 –
# Player G A +/- SH PIM
G 30 H. Ollas 0 0 0 0 0
G 32 M. Bullion 0 1 0 0 0
D 3 A. Hora 0 0 0 2 0
F 4 R. Mahshie 1 0 0 3 0
F 9 R. Ginnell 0 1 0 4 0
F 10 J. Kaplan 0 1 +1 3 0
D 14 M. Rajaniemi 0 0 -1 1 0
C 15 J. Dudek 0 0 0 0 0
F 20 M. Cheremeta 0 0 0 1 0
D 22 G. Luce 0 0 0 2 0
D 24 M. Klee 0 0 0 3 0
D 25 R. Dickinson 0 0 -1 1 0
D 26 C. Welsh 0 1 +1 3 0
F 29 C. Donhauser 0 0 0 1 2
F 33 L. Hatten 0 0 -1 0 0
F 37 M. DeMelis 0 0 0 0 2
F 44 A. Callin 1 2 0 4 7
F 55 M. Ustaski 0 0 -1 0 0
F 81 A. Repaci 1 0 0 8 0
Team:
Player MIN SH SVS GJ SV%
32 M. Bullion (W) – 27 25 2 –
Totals: – 27 25 2 –

Penalties

Time Team Player Mins Infraction
13:44 – 1st A. Callin 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)
16:15 – 1st Z. Yoder 2 Delay of Game (63.2)
19:36 – 1st B. Murray 2 Roughing – minor (51.2)
19:36 – 1st C. Donhauser 2 Slashing – minor (61.2)
10:35 – 2nd C. Galloway 2 Holding – minor (54.2)
19:45 – 2nd J. Cipollone 2 Tripping – minor (57.2)
3:48 – 3rd A. Jarvis 2 Slashing – minor (61.2)
7:10 – 3rd M. Marchesan 5 Fighting – Major (46.14)
7:10 – 3rd A. Callin 5 Fighting – Major (46.14)
8:30 – 3rd M. DeMelis 2 Holding – minor (54.2)
8:51 – 3rd R. Hernández 2 High-sticking – minor (60.2)

Notes

  • Worcester Scratches: Benjamin Lindberg, Griffin Loughran, Kolby Johnson, and Matthew Boudens.
  • Atlanta Scratches: Brenden Datema, Eric Neiley, Patriks Marcinkevics, and Tyler Drevitch.
  • The ECHL announced on Friday that the Railers game against the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Saturday, March 8 has been moved up from 7 PM to 3 PM. Saturday games in Trois-Rivieres are commonly played at 3 PM so they do not compete with Hockey Night in Canada.
  • In a surprising announcement on Thursday, the New York Islanders activated Tristan Lennox from injured reserve. Lennox has been out with a lower-body injury for over a year. He last played on December 15, 2023 for the Railers in what ended up being a 5-2 loss at Reading. EBUG Joel Eisenhower finished the game after Lennox left around the 13-minute mark of the second period of that game. It is still early to figure out how this impacts Worcester with both the New York and Bridgeport Islanders dealing with more than a handful of injuries, including two goaltenders with the NHL club.
  • Griffin Loughran served game two of a three-game suspension. He’ll complete his suspension after Saturday night’s game against Atlanta.
  • Following Friday Night’s game, the Railers had the following scoring streaks and droughts:
    • Ryan Mahshie snapped his point drought after 5 games.(1/24/2024 @ Maine)
    • Connor Welsh is now on a three-game point streak with an assist. (2-1-3)

    Railers Lines

    Forward Lines LW C RW
    Forward Line 1 Cole Donhauser #29 Jordan Kaplan #10 Anthony Repaci #81
    Forward Line 2 Riley Ginnell #9 Anthony Callin #44 Ryan Mahshie #4
    Forward Line 3 Mark Cheremeta #20 Matt DeMelis #37 JD Dudek #15
    Forward Line 4 Matt Ustaski #55 Lincoln Hatten #33 –
    Defensive Pairings LD RD
    Defense Pair 1 Griffin Luce #22 Connor Welsh #26
    Defense Pair 2 Anthony Hora #3 Mason Klee #24
    Defense Pair 3 Brenden Rons #17 Ryan Dickinson #25
    Rotated Defensemen – –
    Goalie Tandem G
    Starting Goaltender Michael Bullion #32
    Backup Goaltender Hugo Ollas #30

    Gladiators Lines

    Forward Lines LW C RW
    Forward Line 1 Cody Sylvester #16 Joey Cipollone #71 Randy Hernández #81
    Forward Line 2 Dominiks Marcinkevics #96 Blake Murray #92 Easton Armstrong #7
    Forward Line 3 Carson Denomie #18 Jackson Pierson #19 Ryan Cranford #21
    Forward Line 4 Michael Marchesan #33 Connor Galloway #20 Zach Yoder #11
    Defensive Pairings LD RD
    Defense Pair 1 Anthony Firriolo #12 Derek Topatigh #28
    Defense Pair 2 Jeremy Hanzel #4 Christian Hausinger #10
    Defense Pair 3 Andrew Jarvis #6 Dylan Carabia #27
    Rotated Defensemen – –
    Goalie Tandem G
    Starting Goaltender Drew DeRidder #34
    Backup Goaltender Ethan Haider #31

    On-Ice Officials

    – –
    Referee Ryan Siegel (42)
    Referee –
    Linesman Davids Rozitis (90)
    Linesman Maxime Bedard (65)


Highlights

–

Notable Tweets as the Game Happened


Railers Lines


Gladiators Lines


Jackson Pierson goal


Jackson Pierson goal


Ryan Mahshie goal


Anthony Repaci goal


Michael Bullion save


Anthony Callin GWG