'Hockey's right around the corner': Railers host town hall panel with captain, new coaches

WORCESTER — Bob Deraney was all smiles on Thursday.

So, too, were Nick Tuzzolino and Anthony Repaci.

The two Worcester Railers coaches — Deraney the new head coach and Tuzzolino the new associate head coach/general manager — and their captain in Repaci participated in a town hall panel with corporate sponsors, season ticket-holders and media outside of Off The Rails on Commercial Street.

With the Railers opening their season Oct. 19 at the DCU Center, enthusiasm is starting to stir around the hockey team based out of Worcester.

“Every offseason seems to grow long in the tooth by the time you get to Labor Day,” Railers chief operating officer Mike Myers said. “So to have a member event like this where they’re able to meet Nick and introduce Bob as the head coach and reconnect with some of the other fans that they haven’t seen in a little while, it feels like hockey's right around the corner.

“So it’s a long time coming, for sure.”

After the Railers missed the playoffs for a third straight year on the last day of the regular season this April, the ECHL club made changes across their coaching staff and organization over the past four months.

Deraney, 59, took over for Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman, who stepped down after spending two seasons as Railers coach/general manager. Deraney brings 35 years of collegiate and professional coaching experience to Worcester.

“Hockey is pretty close to my heart,” Deraney told the T&G. “I accept the challenge, and I’m excited about what’s ahead and the opportunity that’s been given to me by (owner) Cliff Rucker and Mike Myers.”

Tuzzolino, 38, is the first person to serve as general manager and associate head coach in the organization’s history. A native of Buffalo, New York, Tuzzolino joins the Railers after he spent the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach and director of player development with the Savannah Ghost Pirates.

As a defenseman, Tuzzolino played more than 500 games professionally between the UHL, IHL, ECHL and American Hockey League, from 2007-23.

Now, Tuzzolino finds himself with Worcester in a new role.

“I think we’re in a really exciting place and, in my own mind, I’m feeling very confident at where we are at and with the pieces that we can still add,” Tuzzolino said. “My expectation is a push to play in the postseason. That’s the goal, my mentality and written all over my stuff right now is ‘Win now.’

“We really want to be the team this year that gets over the hump.”

Repaci is set to begin his fourth season in Worcester. The 29-year-old forward is the Railers' all-time leading goal scorer, sitting at 65 goals.

The returning captain is optimistic about his team’s chances going into the 2024-25 season — with less than two months to go until first puck drop.

“As we learned in the past couple years, it’s come down to the last game where we needed a point or needed a win,” said Repaci, who sported stitches above his left eye on Thursday. “So you just can't take a day off in this league, and you go into practice with a purpose every single day.

“And I think Tuzz is going to do a great job and Bob as well, just implementing that with our group.”

For roughly an hour Thursday, the trio of Worcester personnel — along with the voice of the Railers Tim Foley — held court outside Off The Rails. The four answered questions from fans, who enjoyed food and drinks just a stone’s throw away from the home of the Worcester Railers.

Excitement is paramount inside — and outside — the walls of the DCU Center. Especially for the newest member of the bench and front office.

“I’ve been waiting for this type of opportunity for a long time, and I’m very excited,” Tuzzolino said. “These two months have gone by fast, and I hope this next month goes even faster so we can get to the puck drop.”

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'Hockey's right around the corner': Railers host town hall panel with captain, new coaches