WORCESTER — Rookie forward Woody Hudson is the Railers’ first ECHL All-Star.
Hudson, who scored in the last minute of Wednesday night’s 2-1 overtime loss to Reading to salvage a point for Worcester, has 11 goals in 25 games to lead Railers’ forwards in that category. Remarkably, Hudson has not yet been credited with an assist.
He has been especially hot in the last three weeks with seven goals in nine games, including at least one in six of those games. Hudson is one of seven players on the North Division team. The others are goalie Etienne Marcoux of the Indy Fuel, defenseman Matt Petgrave of Brampton, and forwards Alex Krushelnyski of Reading, Ty Loney of Adirondack, Joel Lowry of Manchester and Cody Wydo of Wheeling.
There is one ex-Railer on the Central Division team, defenseman Willie Raskob of the Quad City Mallards. He played one game for Worcester before being traded to the Mallards after the Railers acquired Justin Hamonic.
The ECHL All-Star Classic will be held in Indianapolis at 1 p.m. on Jan. 15. The format has four teams playing a 3 on 3 tournament. The teams are comprised of prospects considered most likely to move up to a higher level. Since those guidelines were put in place in 2002, 51 All-Stars have gone on to play in the National Hockey League.
As the Railers prepared to embark on a six-game road trip that begins Friday night in Adirondack, they deal with more roster issues as the trade they made with Greenville was nullified. Former Worcester Sharks forward Curt Gogol did not pass the required physical due to injury and so remains with Greenville.
Forward Wade Murphy, the Railers piece of the original trade, remains with Greenville but the Swamp Rabbits will send defenseman Brock Beukeboom, a former Tampa Bay draft pick, to Worcester instead of Gogol. Beukeboom was 0-1-1 with no PIM in 15 games with Greenville.