Nailers Need Bigger Boat in 3-2 Sharks Overtime Win
ECHL Worcester Railers HC

Nailers Need Bigger Boat in 3-2 Sharks Overtime Win

Published on January 31, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Worcester Railers HC News Release


Worcester Railers forward Anthony Repaci
Worcester Railers forward Anthony Repaci
(Worcester Railers HC)

WORCESTER - The Railers have employed a similar game plan the last two nights and both times it wound up earning them two points.

Friday it was to score early and often. Saturday, it was score early, but just often enough, on Sharks Night.

Worcester followed its 6-3 triumph over Wheeling on Friday with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory against the West Virginians Saturday. The result extended the home team's winning streak to four games, tied for its best of the season. It is 5-2-0 in the last seven games.

For the eighth time in team history it was Anthony Repaci in OT, this time at 2:31. Worcester is 5-2 in overtime this season

Repaci was set up nicely by defenseman Michael Suda, who had room at the Wheeling blue line and moved towards goaltender Taylor Gauthier. Suda detoured into the left circle and when it seemed he would circle the net, slipped the puck over to Repaci just above the crease.

The captain knew what to do with it.

"I had some open ice and I always try to attack the guy head on," Suda said. "Just make a little backhand-forehand move and take it down low. Repaci was just standing in front of the net and I made eye contact with him."

Suda has turned into an assist machine in the last few weeks. This one was his 21st of the season, tops on the team. Suda also has two goals.

"I try to be a distributor back there," he said. "I think of myself as a two-way player. I'd rather not get an assist and not give up any goals, but that's not how hockey works."

Anthony Callin and Gabe Blanchard had the other Worcester goals. Callin was set up by Cole Donhauser, who created a turnover behind the Nailers net. It gave Worcester a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the game.

Blanchard scored his first professional goal at 4:14 on a 55-footer through traffic.

After that it was solid but unspectacular hockey for nearly a half-hour. Worcester goaltender Tristan Lennox was good and so was Gauthier as he prevented a third goal that might have put the game out of reach.

Wheeling turned the momentum tide at 14:56 of the second period with a shorthanded goal by Matthew Quercia as Worcester had trouble getting anything going on its power play, an issue throughout the night.

It remained 2-1 until 7:30 of the third when Brent Johnson scored on a shot that seemed to take a bounce or two on the way in.

That was a DCU Center first. The building has featured a goal scored by Brent Johnson and one allowed by Brent Johnson, the popular IceCats goaltender who is no relation.

The Nailers continued to press but Lennox denied them. Then the home team was awarded a platinum opportunity to retake the lead when a) Bogdans Hodass high-sticked Worcester's Drew Callin in the face, and b) did it about three feet away from referee Dominic Cadieux.

That happened at 13:27. It was a match penalty. Worcester got a five-minute power play during which almost nothing interesting happened.

That led to overtime, which led to Suda and Repaci combining to help grab two more points against the team with the best record in the North Division.

Repaci's goal sent a good crowd of 6,337 home happy on Sharks Night, which featured retro jerseys from that memorable team and in-house appearances by Marc Busenburg, Ashton Rome and Brad Staubitz. As a special, but unintenional nod to Sharks coach Roy Sommer, the home team avoided a shootout, something Sommer hated.

Throughout his nine seasons behind bench, he would look at the floor during a shootout because he couldn't stand the suspense.

Sommer would have liked the way Saturday night turned out.

MAKING TRACKS - He is an ex-IceCat, not former Shark, but IceCats defensive standout Darren Rumble was in the crowd, getting a chance to see his son, Railers assistant coach Chris Rumble, behind the bench. ... The Railers and Nailers finish the series at 3:05 Sunday afternoon. ... Worcester improved to 39-24-6 in the second game of 3 in 3 weekends. ... The Railers finished January with a 7-6-1 record. ... Worcester Red Sox president Dr. Charles Steinberg was part of the crowd, as was American Hockey League vice-president Jason Chaimovitch. ... Suda is 0-6-6 and plus-6 in the last five games.

Check out the Worcester Railers HC Statistics

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Worcester Railers forward Anthony Repaci
Worcester Railers forward Anthony Repaci
   



ECHL Stories from January 31, 2026


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