Railers forward Repaci returns Saturday for special Cancer Night event
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A summer of rehab and nuptials kept him busy. A return to the ice kept him focused.
Anthony Repaci, the team’s career scoring leader and one of the city’s most popular athletes, makes his highly-anticipated return on Saturday when the Worcester Railers host the Wheeling Nailers (6:05 p.m.) at DCU Center.
Repaci had labrum surgery in May and was cleared to play earlier this week.
“I can’t wait,” he told the Telegram in a phone interview Wednesday. “There’s nothing that gets you going better as a hockey player than being out there with the boys. I’m looking forward to getting out there in front of our fans. I have so much fun playing at the DCU.”
Repaci, whose jersey No. 81 is a common sight in the arena and around the city, initially dislocated his left shoulder and suffered a torn labrum last February. He had the choice of having surgery then or rehabbing and finishing out the season.
He chose the later option and played a career-high 72 games, finishing with a team-high 54 points.
“I wanted to be part of that final push for the playoffs,” he said.
Repaci got married on Aug. 15 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the new couple spent two weeks in Italy on honeymoon. Being away from hockey brought mixed feelings.
“It was weird. The downtime is sort of nice to make sure your body’s feeling great, but you feel like you’re missing out on a lot of stuff. You’re going in early (for workouts) and you have to sometimes leave a little later,” he said. “It’s a bit of a different schedule than most of the group. You do what you have to do to get your body back at 100% and that’s how I feel now.”
Repaci returns for Railers Fight Cancer game
The Railers already had a special night planned for Saturday. Before the Railers-Nailers game, the Boston Bruins alumni team will play Why Me all-stars, who will be representing and raising money for Why Me, which provides services to families with childhood cancer.
There will also be a jersey auction as the likes of former Bruins Ken Linseman, Reggie Lemelin, Kenny Hodge, Joe Mullen and Bob Sweeney are scheduled to be on the ice.
In addition to his return to game action, Repaci is also looking forward to the main attraction for the night.
“Those specialty nights, those are games we always have circled on our calendar,” he said. “The energy in the building will be off the charts. And it obviously has a lot of meaning. What these kids deal with, we can’t even begin to fathom what their day-to-days look like. Our worst days don’t compare with their best days.
“To be able to go out there and be able to put on a show and entertain them, it means the absolute world to us and we know it means a lot to them.”
‒Contact Tim Dumas at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram at tdumas1 and X, formerly known as Twitter, @TDumas2112.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Railers forward Repaci returns Saturday for special Cancer Night event