2019-20 Year In Review 2019-20 Season in Review Season in Review: NEW ERA On November 27, 2019 David Cunniff was named the second ever General Manager/Head Coach in franchise history. It was a homecoming for Cunniff who had spent eight seasons from 2006-14 with the Worcester Sharks as an assistant and associate coach. Cunniff coached his first game as a member of the Worcester Railers on November 27, 2019 in a 4-1 loss vs. the Newfoundland Growlers at the DCU Center and picked up his first win on November 29, 2019 in a 6-4 win over the Newfoundland Growlers at the DCU Center. LET THE HATS FLY It took 161 games in franchise history to see the first ever regulation hat trick as Dante Salituro broke the drought on November 27, 2019 with a goal in each period in a 6-4 win over the Newfoundland Growlers. Then ten games later Shane Walsh recorded his first professional hat trick with a goal in all three periods on December 21, 2019 in a 7-3 win over the Brampton Beast, which was the most goals scored in a single game by Worcester during the 2019-20 season. HEY SHORTY The Railers finished the 2019-20 season 4th in the ECHL with 12 short-handed goals. The 12 short-handed goals were just one shy of the single season franchise record of 13 during the 2017-18 season. Nic Pierog led the club with five short- handed goals ranking him tied for first in the ECHL. The five short-handed goals also set a franchise record for most short-handed goals in a season which was previously held by Chris Langkow who collected four during the 2017-18 season. GORDIE HOWE HAT TRICKS In his Worcester Railers debut veteran forward Kyle Thomas recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick on Opening Night October 12, 2019 in a 5-1 victory over the Adirondack Thunder. Rookie forward Ross Olsson registered the second Gordie Howe Hat Trick of the season with two goals, an assist, and a fighting major on January 5, 2020 in a 5-3 win over the Jacksonville Icemen at the DCU Center. COMING OVER FROM THE DARK SIDE A year after leading the Manchester Monarchs in goals with 32, 11 of which came against Worcester, forward Nic Pierog inked a deal with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on July 11, 2019. He led the Railers in goals (22), shots (203) which was 4th in the ECHL and was also second on Worcester with 35 points. Pierog skated 13 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the American Hockey League (AHL) where he notched his first AHL point on November 1, 2019 at Syracuse in a 5-1 loss and scored his first AHL goal on November 6, 2019 in a 1-0 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Pierog ended the 2019-20 season with Bridgeport registering two goals and an assist in his last four games. IN’S AND OUT’S During the 2019-20 season the Worcester Railers saw 45 different players dawn the Railers uniform, 20 of which were rookies. In the last game of the season on March 10, 2020 in a 5-4 win at Adirondack the Railers dressed 12 rookies and of the 18 players dressed that night only six were on the Opening Night roster. IRON MAN Rookie defenseman Justin Murray finished as the team’s “Iron Man” playing in 51 consecutive games to end the season. The London, ON native skated in 59 games during his rookie campaign collecting 10 points (2-8-10) along with four fighting majors which was tied for second on the club. AHL EXPERIENCE Seven different players on the Railers roster made appearances in the American Hockey League this season. Kyle Thomas signed a PTO with the San Diego Gulls on December 26, 2019 and skated in two games for the Gulls before being sent back to Worcester. Nic Pierog (13, 3-2-5), Ben Thomson (5, 0-1-1), Arnaud Durandeau (21, 5-3-8), Mike Cornell (25, 0-2-2), and Jakub Skarek (16GP, 3-10-1, 3.27, .888) all appeared with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Also playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers was Ryan MacKinnon (8, 0-1-1) who made his AHL debut on October 12, 2019 at Charlotte. TOUGH GUY TURCS For the third consecutive season Railers forward Yanick Turcotte led the Railers in penalty minutes with 153 which ranked third in the ECHL. Turcotte who was sidelined due to inury during the season played in 30 games tallying 10 points (1-8-9) which included a career long four game point streak from December 21, 2019 until January 10, 2020. 17 SECONDS Rookie forward Ross Olsson set a franchise record on January 5, 2020 in a 5-3 win over the Jacksonville Icemen scoring a pair of goals 17 seconds apart from one another. Olsson scored his fifth goal of the season at 12:40 of the third period and then his sixth goal at 12:57 of the final frame. CALLIN GETS HOT Rookie forward Drew Callin was held pointless for his first ten game of the season and registered just four points (1-3-4) in his first 16 contests. Callin would finish the season with 21 points (13-8-21) in his final 38 games ranking tied for third with 14 goals highlighted by an overtime winner vs. the Maine Mariners on March 8th. OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN In his eighth professional season Captain Barry Almeida would lead the Worcester Railers in scoring with 37 points (16- 21-37). Almeida’s 21 assists were first on the club as well as his 10 multi-point performances. The Springfield, MA native scored the first Railers short-handed goal of the season on November 14, 2019 vs. the Brampton Beast in a 5-2 loss and his 50th goal as a Railer on December 18, 2019 vs. the Allen Americans in a 5-4 loss. He currently ranks first all-time in franchise history in games played (192), goals (60), assists (90), and points (150). 2019-20 Game by Game Summaries 10/12/19 Adirondack 1 at Worcester 5 Centre. Rookie defenseman Justin minutes as it was the fifth time the Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored the first Murray picked up his first fighting major Thunder and the Railers had met in just goal of the Worcester Railers third while both goals came on the power-play the ninth game of the season for season of play in front of 8,137 fans on for the Railers thanks to Jordan Worcester. Opening Night at the DCU Center in a 5- Samuels-Thomas and Cody Payne as 1 Railers victory over the Adirondack the club finished 2-for-5 on the man 11/10/19 Worcester 2 at Adirondack 6 Thunder on Saturday night. Waltham, advantage. Unfortunately, the Beast In front of a ruckus crowd at the Cool MA native Kyle Thomas registered a grabbed two power-play scores of their Insuring Arena on Sunday afternoon Gordie Howe Hat Trick in his Worcester own, one from Chris Clapperton who Worcester allowed two goals in the debut while JD Dudek scored his first finished the game with two goals and two opening 6:30 eventually falling 6-2. Jake professional goal. 19-year-old netminder assists. Linhart provided four assists for Jakub Skarek made 24 saves in net for Adirondack while Cody Payne and Matt the Railers in his North American pro 10/27/19 Worcester 0 at Brampton 6 Schmalz recorded goals for the Railers. debut. Worcester suffered their worst loss of the Linus Soderstrom made a career high 39 season Sunday afternoon getting saves and defenseman Jack Stander 10/18/19 Maine 2 at Worcester 3 (SO) thrashed by the Beast 6-0 in Brampton. made his Railers debut. Kyle Thomas tied the score at 2-2 with The game featured 66 penalty minutes in just 2:09 to play in regulation and Nic which the Beast would go 3-for-10 on the 11/13/19 Reading 6 at Worcester 4 Pierog scored the lone goal in the man advantage. Kyle Thomas and Jake On Wednesday morning Worcester shootout while Jakub Skarek stopped all Bolton were the only players for the hosted their annual school day game in three shooters en route to the Railers Railers to not finish with a minus. front of 6,718 and Ryan MacKinnon who second straight victory on Friday night. had been loaned from the Bridgeport Tanner Pond scored his first goal as a 11/1/19 Newfoundland 2 at Worcester 5 Sound Tigers that same day provided a Railer as Worcester was able to come The defending Kelly Cup Champions the five on three power-play goal and two back after going down 2-0 12:44 into Newfoundland Growlers scored three assists in a 6-4 loss to the Reading the first period thanks to a pair of goals goals in a span of 3:42 seconds in the Royals. Kyle McKenzie scored his first from Dillan Fox. Jakub Skarek made 24 middle stanza on Friday night in a 5-2 goal of the season which also happened saves in net for his second straight victory over the Railers at the DCU to be his 100th professional game and victory. Center. JD Dudek and Barry Almeida Cody Payne extended his point streak to (PPG) each scored their second goals of three games with an assist. Barry 10/19/19 Worcester 2 at Adirondack 3 the season while Almeida also added an Almeida collected three assists for his Despite having a 2-1 lead going into the assist.