The Worcester Railers announced a couple of changes on Tuesday morning. The team and as well the fanbase knew what was coming as they were the last team in the ECHL with a head coach vacancy for the 2024-25 season. The first of which was promoting assistant coach Bob Deraney to head coach and the second was to hire Nick Tuzzolino as the general manager and associate head coach. The Worcester Railers have had a lot of shake-ups recently with a disappointing end to the 2023-24 season, so the fans expect anything at this point.
Deraney takes over for Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman and looks to get the Worcester Railers back into the playoffs. Deraney will be the fourth coach that the Railers would have in their short history. He has been with the team since the 2019-2020 season. Bob has 35 years of collegiate coaching experience to bring to the table as he knows his way around Worcester, between 2021-2023, he coached the men’s Worcester State Ice Hockey team. He won the MASCAC coaching award as he led the team to their first-ever MASCAC finals ever. Deraney also has coached Women’s Ice Hockey as he led the Providence College Women’s Ice Hockey team and he has shown he knows hockey and how to lead. He led the way to three East Championships in nineteen seasons, where in that time, he had a final record of 319-288-73. He is an incredible 20th all-time in Women’s head coaching wins.
The second move that saw Nick Tuzzolino become the team’s first-ever general manager and associate head coach in the team’s history. The season prior he spent his time as the assistant coach and director of player development for the Savannah Ghost Pirates over in the ECHL South. Tuzzolino was a defenseman himself, as he played over 500 career professional games. He does make a reunion to the New York Islanders franchise as he was selected 196th overall by the franchise in the seventh round in the 2005 NHL entry draft. As Tuzzolino has professional playing and coaching experience, it makes him the perfect candidate as the team’s first-ever general manager and associate head coach.
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