Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | September 4, 2017 | wbjournal.com BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor The Worcester Railers plan to succeed where two other minor-league hockey teams failed, by creating stronger ties to the community Third time's a charm A nyone could be excused for thinking the Worcester Railers already took to the ice long ago. Trax, the minor league hockey team's mascot, has attended events throughout the city for the bet- ter part of a year. The Railers are a major sponsor of the POW! WOW! Worcester art mural project and gave $250,000 to the EcoTarium to get its blue and gray colors painted on the museum's Explorer Express Train. Railers Owner Cliff Rucker is building a two-rink athletic facility in the Canal District, a restaurant called Railers Tavern across from the DCU Center, and bought a stake in The Palladium to help boost the down- town concert hall's events schedule. As the Railers become the third Worcester minor league hockey team since 1994 when the puck drops on their inaugural season on Oct. 14, all these community and economic efforts are part of a larger plan to succeed where their predecessors – the Sharks and the IceCats – failed, especially as the Railers face the greater pressure of moving down a tier in the hockey hierarchy. "We're not just a team," said Railers President Michael Myers, surrounded by a wall of hockey jerseys and a shelf lined with bobblehead dolls in his When pitching the idea of an expansion team to the ECHL, Cliff Rucker touted Worcester's economic growth and his commitment to being part of the community. Railers President Michael Myers is a former executive from the Worcester Sharks, planning to use his first-hand knowledge to build a sustainable minor league hockey team in the city. P H O T O S / N A T H A N F I S K E

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