Photo | Courtesy of the Worcester Railers
Over 8,000 fans attended the Worcester Railers game on Jan. 4, held as part of a special tribute to the Worcester IceCats.
February 3, 2025
Railers attendance up compared to last season, potentially reversing downward trend
Photo | Courtesy of the Worcester Railers
Trax, the mascot of the Worcester Railers, takes in the action during the team's IceCats Weekend in January.
With 29 games left in their 2024-25 season, the Worcester Railers are drawing more fans to their games compared to last year, potentially reversing a trend which has seen the team’s attendance drop each year since its first season in 2017-18.
Through 24 home games at Worcester’s DCU Center, the Railers are drawing an average of 3,782 fans, a 3.2% increase over the full-season average of 3,666 fans seen during the team’s 2023-24 campaign, according to stats provided by LeagueStat.com.
Earlier start times for Saturday games and the successful roll-out of IceCats Weekend, a two-game celebration of the former American Hockey League team which called the DCU Center home from 1994 to 2005, are two factors in the attendance bump, said Railers Team President Kim Golinski.
Railers home games on Saturdays now start at 6:05 p.m., an hour earlier than the start time of 7:05 p.m. seen in previous seasons.
“Just having that earlier game time is really helpful when you've got a family,” Golinski said. “The six o'clock games for Saturdays have been trending really well, and our Sunday games have really, really taken off.”
Formerly consisting of just one game, this year’s tribute to the IceCats was held across two games on Jan. 3 and 4.
While the game on Jan. 3 drew 3,305 fans, it saw the franchise set a number of business-related records, including breaking its record for the most single-game tickets sold on a Friday and the highest single-game ticket for a Friday game, according to the team.
The second IceCats tribute game on Saturday drew 8,056 fans, the sixth-highest total in franchise history and breaking a franchise record for the most single-game ticket revenue for any day of the week. The large demand for tickets saw the team open up the DCU Center’s 300 level, the highest deck of seats typically curtained-off for games.
Overall, the IceCats games set a weekend franchise record for merchandise sales.
“This year, when we were planning out our schedule, the team said, ‘Hey, let's do two games,’” Golinski said. “And you run a risk with that because you don't know if you are going to cannibalize one night over the other. But we saw such great attendance in one game last year, so we thought, let's do it.”
Photo | Courtesy of Worcester Railers
Stephanie Ramey (left), the former team president of the Worcester Railers, stands in front of the DCU Center next to her replacement, former Wormtown Brewery president Kim Golinski.
The former president of Wormtown Brewery in Worcester, this season represents Golinski’s first at the helm of the Railers. She took over for former team president Stephanie Ramey, who is now working for the Railer’s parent company, Beverly-based Rucker Investments, as the firm’s vice president of special projects.
The Railers sit in 19th in average attendance out of the 29 ECHL teams, with the Jacksonville Icemen leading the league by drawing an average of 9,017 fans.
The team’s attendance figures could continue to improve this season, as it has in year’s past. The team sat at an average of 3,541 fans through 26 home games last season before climbing to the final total of 3,666, the lowest total seen in the team’s seven seasons in Worcester.
As numbers currently sit, this season’s average attendance would rank sixth out of the team’s seven seasons in the city, needing to climb above an average of 3,934 to surpass the fifth highest attendance average seen in 2022-23.
The team’s highest season average sits at 4,393, a mark set in its inaugural season in 2017-18, with attendance declining slightly each year since. The Railers cancelled their 2020-21 season due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team’s most recent home game, a Friday contest against Adirondack Thunder of Glen Falls, New York, drew 4,049. That crowd may have been boosted by an appearance of the Boston Celtic’s championship trophy, part of a night honoring the NBA team’s successful 2023-2024 season. The Railers won 4-3.
The Railers’ next home game is on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. against the Atlanta Gladiators and will serve as Sensory Friendly Night, featuring decreased auditory and visual stimulation for those with sensory sensitivities.
Additional promotional home games left on the 2023-24 calendar include Women in Sports Night on Feb. 7 and Pink in the Rink on Feb. 8, an annual awareness event about breast cancer which sees the DCU Center’s playing service painted pink.
The team is planning alternative identity nights for two games on the weekend of Feb. 28 and March 1. Golinski said the team’s alternative identity for those games is still top secret, but hinted the team’s temporary name and uniforms will be something related to Worcester.
“Keep an eye out for that,” said Golinski of the alternative identity weekend, “because we have some really talented people in our team. Our graphic designer took this idea and made a logo and ran with it, and it's going to be awesome.”
Focusing on the team’s on-the-ice performance, the Railers are in the midst of a playoff hunt. The team sits in fourth in the North Division, putting the team in the final playoff spot ahead of the Reading Royals by one point with one extra game remaining to play.
While the Railers are the only professional hockey team in Central Massachusetts, they compete for attention with a number of other pro teams within an hour’s drive of Worcester, including the NHL’s Boston Bruins, the AHL’s Providence Bruins and Springfield Thunderbirds, and the Boston Fleet, a team in the Professional Women's Hockey League which plays at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the Railers' playoff situation, saying they sat one point out of the playoffs by being in ninth place in the conference. In reality, the top four teams in each division make the playoffs, and the Railers sit in fourth place in the North Division, meaning they would make the playoffs if the season ended today.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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