RinkWise podcast: Mike Myers on growing the Worcester Railers

Mike Myers joined the latest RinkWise podcast.

Mike Myers knows what it takes to build a professional hockey team in Worcester, Mass.

Prior to joining the Worcester Railers, Myers was the Senior Director of Business and Community Development for the AHL’s Worcester Sharks for nine seasons.

He began as team president of the Railers in May 2016 and in May 2020, got promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

Recently, he joined RinkWise podcast host Stephanie Wood to discuss growing hockey in Worcester and his strategy to do so.

On building the Railers in Worcester: 

Myers: We had a neat, sort of once-in-a-lifetime chance to really build something in a place that had a preexisting team but was never as homegrown. It enabled us the chance to really decide what we wanted to look like as an organization. One of the things that’s always been near and dear to my heart, and even during my time with the Sharks and how I got into the pro side of sports, was community relations. We really build our community relations team and outreach from Day 1 being early 2016.

On the current state of the Railers: 

Myers: It’s our fifth season with the Railers. A monumental season but it’s also our 25th season of pro hockey in Worcester between the Ice Cats, Sharks and Railers. Our fan base is celebrating that. We have a couple special theme nights to celebrate that and yeah, the team got off to a great start. We’ve got a new coach in Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman, Westborough, Mass., native, who was our captain and leading scorer last year. He led the team to a 9-0. start which is the best record in ECHL, breaking the 8-0 mark by the Trenton Titans.